My Choice for Parts |
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Last Updated: May 31, 2008
New PC
If I had to build a new PC today, the parts below are what I would choose. I want a computer that can process RAW photo files quickly, edit AVHCD video faster than most computers, and run quietly. Although this setup could overclock to 3GHz without much of an effort, I'm not sure I want to do that for energy consumption and extra heat reasons.
| Price | Part | Description |
| $118 | Case | Antec Sonata 3 |
| $130 | Power supply | SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT |
| $21 | Case fan | Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan, 1200rpm |
| $56 | CPU heatsink | Zalman CNPS9500 LED (quad core) |
| $189 | Motherboard | ABIT IP35 Pro (quad core, fanless, gigabit, esata, firewire) |
| $275 | CPU | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6MB L2 Cache 1333MHz FSB |
| $61 | RAM | G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) |
| $61 | RAM | G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) |
| $130 | Hard drive | Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB - use RAID 1 mirroring |
| $130 | Hard drive | Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB - use RAID 1 mirroring |
| $30 | DVD | Pioneer DVR-115DBK 20X |
| $157 | Video card | ECS 9600GT 512MB, 2560×1600 for 30 inch LCD, HDCP ready, fanless |
| $36 | USB card | PCIe x1 to 5-port USB |
| Firewire card | Built into motherboard | |
| $21 | Card reader | Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader |
| Sound | Built into motherboard | |
| $1,415 | Subtotal | |
| $246 | LCD | Acer AL2216Wbd 22" widescreen LCD, 5ms, 1680×1050, HDCP support, black |
| $110 | Keyboard | Microsoft Natural Wireless Ergonomic Desktop 7000 Keyboard |
| Mouse | Included with keyboard | |
| $106 | Speakers | Logitech Z-2300 2.1 Speaker System |
| $100 | Windows | Vista Home Premium |
| $1,977 | Subtotal | |
| $280 | Software | Microsoft Office 2007 Professional (full version cheaper than other versions) |
| $10 | Software | McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 |
| $11 | Software | WinDVD 5 (current version is 9.0 for $80) |
| $11 | Software | Nero 7 Ultra (current version is 8 Ultra for $65) |
| $102 | Software | Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 w/ Premiere Elements 4 Bundle |
| $23 | Software | Intuit Quicken 2008 Premier |
| $36 | Software | Acronis True Image 11 Home (backup software) |
| $2,450 | Total |
A faster system would include 6 hard drives in a larger case in two RAID arrays.