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A couple of years ago I caught the computer building bug and over a few months I built five; one for my home office, one for my wife, one for my son, one for work, and an HTPC for my bedroom. Subsequently, I added some bells and whistles to all (more memory, disk space, etc) but I kind of maxed them out so I took a break.

A couple months ago my good friend that I do a lot of cases with asked me where I get my computers, because he was finally going to retire the antique that's been wheezing along in his office for at least ten years. I told him I build my own, and he asked would I build him one. I said sure, but give me some time to find good deals on the components.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving a lady hires us for a hearing that's happening the next Monday after the holiday and pays us a pretty nice fee since it's last minute. My friend said use his half of the fee and build him a new machine. So I built him a computer with:

3.4 ghz quad core CPU
16 GB DDR1600 RAM
1 TB Western Digital Black Hard Drive
Radeon 6000 series with 1 GB Video Ram
Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler
Asus Motherboard and Asus DVD Burner
550 watt PSU
All put together in an Antec case.

So my buddy, who's smart as hell (CPA and attorney) but practically computer illiterate, got what's probably one of the most powerful computers in my small town for Christmas. He loves it. It's fast as hell, really quiet, and idles at only 26-28 degrees C.

I then decided to build myself a new HTPC for the den. Networked, I have several TB's of my DVD collection stored on drives both in my home office computer and my bedroom HTPC. So I just finished building the new computer for the den.

Similar specs to my friend's, but for this one I used a Corsair case, added a 120 GB Samsung SSD for the OS, and a 2 TB drive for storage. Plus I used 16 GB of DDR1866 RAM for a little extra speed.

I finished it after work today and installed the OS. After the usual updates to Windows, you can hit restart and it shuts down, reboots, and completely loads Windows 7 in less than 20 seconds. That little SSD is amazing!

Anyway, I'm going to put it in the den where the main TV and surround system is located. I'll hook it up to the network and be able to access all the content I have on my office PC and the bedroom PC, plus stream whatever I want on to the big screen.

Boris wrote:Asus Motherboard

Love my Asus desktop. Best computer I've ever owned and it only cost $350.

Boris wrote: he asked would I build him one. I said sure,

Do you do laptops?

I have an over 6-year old Toshiba Satellite I'm getting ready to retire. It has been nothing short of perfect, and I am planning on getting a new Toshiba Satellite fro a replacement.

Boris wrote:3.4 ghz quad core CPU
16 GB DDR1600 RAM
1 TB Western Digital Black Hard Drive
Radeon 6000 series with 1 GB Video Ram
Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler
Asus Motherboard and Asus DVD Burner
550 watt PSU
All put together in an Antec case.

...

Similar specs to my friend's, but for this one I used a Corsair case, added a 120 GB Samsung SSD for the OS, and a 2 TB drive for storage. Plus I used 16 GB of DDR1866 RAM for a little extra speed.

That looks pretty damn close to the new system I am about to build for myself, though it will have to wait until May or so, for financial reasons...

Intel Core Ivy Bridge i7-3770, 4x 3.40GHz
1155 ASUS P8Z77-M, Z77
NVIDIA Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI
16384MB DDR3 Dual Channel 1600MHz KINGSTON (PC3-1600)
Samsung SSD 830 Series 128GB SATA3 6Gb/s
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB SATA 6Gb/s
24x SATA-II DVD Burner
be quiet! System Power 7 600W ATX 2.31
Cooler Master Silencio 550 silenced case
Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B cooler
2 x be quiet! Dark Wings DW1 120mm (case front and backside)

Not sure about the graphics card yet - I used to stick with nVidia after some bad experiences with Ati's drivers a few years ago. But now I have issues with nVidia as well.

Zak wrote:Not sure about the graphics card yet - I used to stick with nVidia after some bad experiences with Ati's drivers a few years ago. But now I have issues with nVidia as well.

I've put ATI cards in all my builds and didn't have any problem until the one I built for my friend. When I installed the driver on the enclosed CD, it kept freezing the system. I uninstalled it and let Windows find one it liked online. Worked like a charm.

On the one I just built, it's a slightly different video card, but taking no chances I just let Windows find a driver itself. I only used it last night, but it found a driver and seems to be working fine.

I didn't mention the fans, but on my friend's build, the case had top and rear which provide good airflow, plus the 120mm fan on the CPU cooler.

My new one has front and rear stock, plus the CPU, but I'm going to put an exhaust on the top and an intake on the bottom. You can never have enough ventilation.

ORFflyer wrote:Do you do laptops?

I have an over 6-year old Toshiba Satellite I'm getting ready to retire. It has been nothing short of perfect, and I am planning on getting a new Toshiba Satellite fro a replacement.

I have never done laptops. I prefer using a bigger case with lots of space and good airflow. When you use the multi-core CPU, lots of RAM and big video cards, you build up lots of heat right away. Plus I like being able to add more hard drives and stuff. For example, the HTPC in my bedroom has a TV card so I can use it as a DVR.

My five year old laptop does fine for me when I'm on a trip or out of the office working, but it gets warm, even sitting on a cooling pad. Too much electronics stuck in a little box with no air.

Boris wrote:Wednesday before Thanksgiving a lady hires us for a hearing that's happening the next Monday after the holiday and pays us a pretty nice fee since it's last minute. My friend said use his half of the fee and build him a new machine.

Income in kind is still taxable

Sweet set-up though. I still want to build a Hackintosh.

Nosedive wrote:

Boris wrote:Wednesday before Thanksgiving a lady hires us for a hearing that's happening the next Monday after the holiday and pays us a pretty nice fee since it's last minute. My friend said use his half of the fee and build him a new machine.

Income in kind is still taxable

Sweet set-up though. I still want to build a Hackintosh.

My friend's been practicing in US Tax Court since the 80's so I'm sure he knows a bit about taxable income...

Boris wrote:

Nosedive wrote:

Boris wrote:Wednesday before Thanksgiving a lady hires us for a hearing that's happening the next Monday after the holiday and pays us a pretty nice fee since it's last minute. My friend said use his half of the fee and build him a new machine.

Income in kind is still taxable

Sweet set-up though. I still want to build a Hackintosh.

My friend's been practicing in US Tax Court since the 80's so I'm sure he knows a bit about taxable income...

Haha of course