Storage
I network our household computers through a home-built server unit that features 4TB of storage capacity so I have not been that concerned about disk space on the local machines. However, after a total meltdown with Windows Home Server earlier this year, I have become a bit more interested in keeping backups of critical files on the local machines, plus game and application installations are multi-gigabyte affairs now. Windows Server 2008 has replaced WHS and an upgrade to 8TB is coming online after Computex, so the network storage requirements are set for the near future.
I have always favored a fast hard disk on the local machine and the 150GB WD Raptor has been my favorite drive the past couple of years. However, after looking for the best balance of price, performance, and storage, one drive stood out from all others - so much so that the majority of my home machines are now sporting the Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB hard drive. At $99 it is pretty much a no brainer purchase if you are looking for a new hard drive on the desktop. The WD SE16 640GB is one of those drives that offers a near perfect blend of capacity, performance, acoustics, and thermals at an incredible price point. The one exception I have is in my HT machine that utilizes a couple of the Seagate DB35.3 750GB drives dedicated to video recording activities.
Considering my daughter's machine will need to perform BD (Blu-ray Disc) playback at various times plus the need for the standard DVD burning activities, I decided to get a BD combo drive for her. Another pressing need for a combo drive stems from the SG03 case only having a single 5.25" external slot. I already have the LG GGW-H20L drive in my HT machine and just recently traded a couple of ATI 2900XTX cards for the LG GGC-H20L drive that is seeing duty in the server now.
Yes, I can stream HD video through the network so I do not truly need a combo drive, but my daughter's friends like to bring over BD discs and it is just easier for me to let them play the titles locally. The LG GGC-H20L would be the logical choice as we still have several HD-DVD titles (about 45 or so - thanks Toshiba) but even the very reasonable street price of around $170 is out of reach thanks to my earlier budget busting activities. We utilize the Sony BDU-X10S drives in our test beds and it is a terrific drive. Once again, the average street price is around $170, putting it just out of reach for us, as I needed to purchase a standard DVD drive for my machine. One would think I would have something in the closet of lost dreams, but for whatever reason I tend to be hard on optical drives and actually have several that need to be disposed of shortly.
I ended up getting the ASUS BC-1205PT drive for $150. After a firmware update, this drive has actually impressed me and BD playback is flawless even with the BD-R DL playback locked at 2x. Seek times seem to be a little high to me compared to the LG and Sony drives while overburns are limited along with the inability to set book type on DVD+R or DVD+RW media. Overall, write quality is very good and that was my major concern. Of course, it is a SATA drive so cable management is a big plus in our cramped case. The LITE-ON DH-401S-11 drive was available at $130, but the last one I bought did not last very long. Those things happen, but I did not want to go down that path again.
I did not hesitate in purchasing the Pioneer DVR-215D 20x DVD-R/+R drive for my system. Fortunately, I got the black OEM version for $27 on sale; otherwise, my next choice would have been the Samsung SH-S203N or the new Samsung SH-S223F drive. One thing I have learned as of late is the need for a multi-card reader what with everyone in the household having various camera and camcorder formats, so it was about time to purchase a couple of additional units. I was able to snag two Transcend M3 units at a local store for $9.99 each - a heck of a deal on a top-flight unit.
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deruberhanyok - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
Just wanted to say I've never really understood the collective first person pronouns ("we" etc) in the context of an article, even when I was doing it myself. It seems to be accepted in journalism, but if an article is written by one person I don't understand why it isn't written with the singular terms.Also, nice writeup!
strikeback03 - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
Myspace requires users to be at least 14, don't they? Are you encouraging your daughter to lie about her age already?gochichi - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
I wish I had found more value in this but I simply think these choices were pretty random. Whenever you include a sound card in a "budget system" you already lost me, particularly when the superior Q6600 is "out of budget" and you force the situation into an oddball 3-core processor... all of this for less than the price of the completely uneccessary/absurd sound card. My speakers were $150.00 a few months ago and there is simply no discernable difference between an Audigy and onboard sound, they both sound fantastic. (I made a mistake and purchased a sound card, I would never recommend it to anyone, certainly not anyone on any sort of budget... unless you were connecting it to $500+ of sound equipment).To me getting the best core components makes sense when "on a budget" rather than buying 8GB of RAM, buy 4GB and leave expanding to 8GB later. The oddball 3-core processor is pretty much non-upgradeable... it is replaceable, not upgradeable. I guess my main problem is with the Phenom choice... and to pretend that this is a budget driven decision is beyond me. But it feels more like a bribe induced decision (budget... you take the payout, it's good for your budget) than a logical decision, particularly for a system with 8GB of very fast RAM.
Taking the rest of the selection into account, you have the fast RAM, the fancy-pants power supply... why not spend $50.00 on Q6600 and get your 3.0Ghz+ quad-core system?
It's not the only random choice by any means, and calling this system a "budget system" is simply outdated, a budget computer system in 2008 means around $500.00 not around $1000.00. It is certainly a faux pas in this day and age to go above $500.00 and go AMD. I can't let that slide, and I'm not a fanboy either, I am just a reasonable guy that would buy a $75.00 AMD processor without flinching if it fit the need and the budget. AMD is a great choice for a one task system, particularly if that one task is playing bluray disks and media center because of the superior onboard graphics that are available. But for an 8GB of RAM workhorse?? Yikes!
Basically for the reader of this website, the choices are simply too arbitrary to be useful. I concede that we were warned that this would be a blog and not an article, but still.
Comdrpopnfresh - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - link
I feel something should be made of the fact that all the builds were overbudget. Even more so, I feel that mail in rebates should be used to allow for a component in the system (processing, graphics, storage, etc.) to be expanded a bit further. I feel the mail in rebates for the builds were used to minimize the already rampant budgets. Considering the companies that release the rebates will look for every possible way to void them, it isn't smart to treat them in this way.I've had the same problem in making systems to fit a budget envelope. However, a good change I think that could have been made is no graphics. The words that really stuck out with me are that the sims three and spore are upcoming. If the integrated gfx meet the needs, and the taxing demands have not been released, why not wait (esp. in the case of a computer for your child) to either get the same gfx upgrade for less, or more for the same?
I feel with current custom building, even with prices falling for components across the board, budgeting is the hardest part. I hope that this point is highlighted, because, even though this article shows the evils of this issue, it certainly brings it to the forefront nonetheless.
ishould - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
I would have liked to see a GPU with hybrid SLI technology chosen primarily because you said you don't use it for gaming much. Pairing the chipset with a 9600GT, while it may be a little more expensive, will likely make up the cost in power requirements multiple times over by not having to run 100W+ idle all the time. Just my 2 centskmmatney - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
It would seem to me that you would want a dual slot Video card, rather than a single slot, for an mATX system. That way you are blowing the video card heat out of the small case. Would a dual-slot card fit in the case?jmurbank - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
It seems you selected components that you desperately want to get for your next setup. To decrease the price of each setup, you will need to rate each component what you need to get by and what you dream to have. I think you can get by with out a dedicated graphics card by playing games at the lowest quality settings and still use the LCD native resolution. Next I suggest go back in your junk closet and try to find AV receivers that are capable of handling digital audio. If you have three, you decrease the price by about $300. IMHO, card readers are not required for a setup. I suggest buy one unit that will work in each computer. Of course everybody in the household will be fighting over the device, but set rules where it should be placed. I think your dream components can wait for the upgrade budget that comes into play later.My opinion about Pioneer optical drives is they are poorly manufactured. I suggest change it to an ASUS optical drive. My Pioneer drive gave me problems at the beginning. The drive took hours to write a single layer DVD disc, so I use a 3rd party firmware to fix that. Then a few years later, it does not handle playing back movies from start to finish. My ASUS optical drive is lasting me 7 years and counting.
I doubt you need 600 GB of hard drive space. I think users will be waiting for programs to load up, I suggest downgrade the space and upgrade to low latency. I suggest a Western Digital 'Raptor' 150 GB or 75 GB. To store more data, setup a file server for everybody in the household to access files.
If you are thinking of over clocking the Phenom processor in the future, I suggest select motherboards with an EPS power connector. This does not guarantee the motherboard can handle the over clock or higher TDP processors, but provides a possibility.
I prefer Seasonic power supplies because they are high quality for their price. Also they are very energy efficient, regulate voltage well, filter the power well (low ripple voltage), universal voltage, puts less strain on your electrical system (circuit box and AC oultet) because of its active PFC feature. Power and Cooling power supplies are poor for the price. Be careful with Silverstone power supplies because they have a high minimum wattage rating.
psychobriggsy - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - link
If you read the article, you can see his logic for a lot of your points.I really really don't understand why a ten year old needs such a setup. I'm sure we all have stories about the 14" monitors we had when we were 10, and how the computer had a single 2" speaker built in, and the like. We coped and the systems were awesome.
My computer build for a ten year old would be my old system, handed down.
Does she have a 42" plasma TV and personal satellite TV in her room as well?
Kobaljov - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Interesting article, but sometimes I didn't find the connections between the intended usage and the selected hw components. Look like the most common error in the "new PC" projects: performance (cost, power consumption, etc.) overkill.A Phenom CPU, 8 GB RAM, 640 GB HDD and a 8800 GT videocard is really needed for IM, MySpace, Sims, WoW, etc. in the next 3 years ?? I don't think so (maybe if the Sims 3 will use the CryEngine 2.. ;-)
"Just the normal daily life for a ten year old who apparently needs at least a 24" monitor just to keep track of the thirty or so open windows at any given time"
This come from a local PC Shop's marketing materials ? (The next "must have" will be the Optimus Maximus keyboard for word processing or a new Hi-Speed 256 GB SSD for listening online music) :-)
larson0699 - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Utmost...