Falchion's Edge

Spent most of the last week building up my new Computer Rig. I have to say that it has been long in the planning stages but just to my dismay that it had to be executed in what is the busiest month that I have had this year since Jan or Feb.

So while I pretty much have my Windows XP up, running and reaping the benefits of my upgrades. Not everything is complete, especially my Ubuntu. There is to be a new version of Ubuntu to be release later this month, and so I am just making do while waiting.

So it has been 4-5 years since the last time that I did a full upgrade for my rig. A full upgrade to me basically means changing the CPU, mainboard and RAM, which has to be changed together anyways generally. Changing or replacing the other components are what I call gradual upgrades, like adding a bigger harddisk and such.

The most economical method calculated is to go all out for a big full upgrade with some of the best stuff valuable at the time. That should cover things for the next 18 months, baring any need to replace failing parts that didn’t get changed. After that, during the next 18 months, some gradual upgrades can be done; slotting some RAM here, maybe a new video card if really needed. This gradual upgrade should help extend the run time of the rig by another 9 to 18 months, which ends up with a nice, comfortable 4.5 years life time before starting the whole process again. Such is the life-cycle of electronic devices.

Below are some of the choices that I made and the reasoning behind them.

CPU/Mainboard:
This is really the biggest decision of the whole upgrade and is here where I really have to go all out in order to lengthen the lifespan cycle and make it really last. The CPU itself is an easy choice, just go for the most economical version of the most powerful CPU out at the moment. In this case would be the Intel Duo 2 Core, one of those new CPUs that actually has two processors working in tandem.

Turns out the choice wasn’t so easy after all, the E6600 model is considered to be the mid-range of the series on the market now. However in local markets, this isn’t the case as the E6400 model is priced more aggressively. After the trouble I had in securing the Mainboard that I wanted however, I went with the E6400 in the end.

And the Mainboard is the one component that I the most problem finding as my requirements were quite strict. It had to come from the manufacturer Asus, it needed to have the usual 4 IDE ports instead of the more common 2 IDE ports nowadays, it needed a heat-pipe cooling system, be able to support Ubuntu Linux, and last but not least, it needed to be able to support SLI for Graphic cards. Needless to say, this board was hard to come by, but I managed to nail down the Asus P5N32-SLI Mainboard one night in Sim Lim. It was a little more expensive than I had caculated but that did end confirm the choice of which CPU model to go with in the end.

Graphical Cards:
Got to be a little extravagant here, the SLI on the Mainboard was just too tempting not to take advantage of. SLI is basically using two video cards to spilt the load between them so that graphical tasks like games and video will run faster. Since two cards are going to be used, I can afford to go with mid-range cards that will be just a little more than a single top-of the line but with the benefit of having load balancing. Therefore 2 Asus Nvidia 7600GT cards will suffice.

RAM/Memory
Here is were I pretty much messed up. The guys at the store were very helpful and I guess my guard was down as things were going so well after getting the Casing and PSU that I needed. Seems like they were trying to dump away some cheap RAM, so I somehow got talked into getting their “recommendation”. I then end up with 2 sticks of 512Mb of RAM that I had to chance twice, only to have to under-clock them below the stated speeds just so that they would run stable. Really regret not checking better. Most likely will be my next upgrade, as I’m looking to put in 2 sticks of 1Gb RAM eventually.

Casing/Power Supply Unit
Current casing is old,dirty and rusting so good to pick up a new one. Has to be a Coolermaster of course, as they pretty much make the most functional casings. The new PSU to support the Duo 2 Core CPU and Graphical cards is also a Coolermaster product, 500 watts to keep everything stable.

Planning has to be taken before buying any computer component, and from this I am totally enjoying the raw power that this new rig has given. In fact it may be a little too much as now I’m hard pressed to find anything to really push it graphically but that’s the head-space that upgrading now gives. I’m very aware of the fact that I best enjoy it now before the upgrade curve catches up to me again.