Dream Machine 2008

It is always a joyous occasion to build a new machine, and this time is no different. After almost 4 years of reliable service, the "toasteroven" (a Shuttle SB75G2) will be put into semi-retirement (ie. given to my wife).

This is a shopping list of all of the components I just ordered yesterday:

• COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKR3-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case Real Power Pro 1000W Power Supply - Retail
• ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail (yesss... this shall be overclocked.)
• MSI NX8800Ultra-T2D768E-HD-OC GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
• G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
• 2x Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM (these beauties will probably be put in RAID0 array)
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
• Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 Video Recorder, TV/FM Tuner Card PCI Interface - Retail (this will also serve as a MythTV box)
• Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail (I obviously skimped here- Linux doesn't seem to support the X-Fi series very well, but luckily I'm not much of an audiophile anyway...)
• SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L - OEM
• ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T OEM (the designated ripper)
• ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail
• 4x Thermaltake A1926 120mm Blue LED Case Fan - Retail (I thought about water cooling, but I'm filling the whole side of the stacker with fans instead.)
• 6x OKGEAR 10" SATA II Cable Model GC10ATASM - Retail
• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Future expansions will definitely include another 8800Ultra to run in SLI mode, 4 more GBs of memory, and a 2nd 1TB drive to run in a RAID1 configuration (so that I don't have to concern myself too much with backing up my data anymore).

So the morphball is indeed excited. I know there's a growing trend (especially in Japan) of using more gadgetry and gaming consoles as opposed to monstrous systems like this one, but I'm old-fashioned I guess... I just enjoy a powerful, centralized entertainment system that I can fully tweak and upgrade.