Digital Home Thoughts: The Quest To Build My Next PC (Part 1)

As a digital media enthusiast and creative professional, I place great demand on computing performance and power. My primary workstation is a circa 2001 Dell Dimension PC running an antiquated 1.7GHZ Pentium 4 (Willamette) with 768MB of RDRAM (bleh). For today’s applications and games, it’s just not up to the challenge. I bang my fists on my desktop every time I work in Photoshop and Macromedia Studio MX as the system slowly renders images, filter effects ooze onto the screen. Grrrr! Needless to say, it’s time to drag this old clunker out into the pumpkin patch and play stick ball with it. Or drop it off the nearest highway overpass (don’t do that, kids).

My problem is that I am left somewhat at a crossroads as to what kind of system will replace it. My PC serves a dual role; it's a workstation that I earn my living from in the creative field (well partly anyway), and it's my personal entertainment system...or gaming box. Traditionally, I purchase an off-the-shelf box from Dell and spice it up a bit to suit my needs. But there’s a slight catch this time around; I want this machine to be a Media Center PC as well. On the gaming front, Intel falls well short of the curve in performance compared with AMD offerings. That means no Intel for me. Combining two distinctly different PCs; one Gaming, one Media Center, into one unit is going to be interesting. But heck, I love a challenge! My overall budget for this system will probably be somewhere around $1,500, give or take. I'm not looking to build the absolute fastest system here, just one that has a high-end dual core processor, gaming-focussed graphics card (not sure whether to go ATI or nVidia yet), big hard drive (over 100GB), and lots of RAM. And of course, the machine will be running Windows Media Center 2005. The classic gaming rig, plus Media Center. Understand? Good, because I'm lost. And so it begins...



As I began my quest to map out a new system I was blown away, and somewhat disappointed, by the dizzying array of hardware choices on the market. Step one in the process, for me anyway, is choosing a case. Sounds simple, right? Au contraire! It has been a bloody nightmare, largely because I am so fussy about aesthetics and tasteful design. To put it mildly I'm not your average PC geek. I have a fetish with sleek design and sexy looking hardware. It's one of the reasons why I love Apple hardware. As such, I want something stylish and elegant in a PC enclosure, like the PowerMac G5 tower. In fact, I even gave serious thought to buying a G5 case (available from some websites for around $200-300). But after reading what hellish lengths one must go through to fit a PC motherboard into a G5 (soldering and metal cutting is involved) I quickly tossed that idea into the dustbin. So I’m back to looking at aftermarket case options. Again, not fun.

Much to my astonishment, aftermarket case options for someone of my tastes are rather sucktacular. Most cater to the gaming crowd who seem to have a bizarre fixation with LED illumated cases. Personally, I have no desire to display the innards of my PC like some half-arsed aquarium, or freakish computer peepshow. I just want something sleek, understated, elegant. Something that would impress my geeky friends and Martha Stewart at the same time! :wink: Is that so hard to understand?



Ok, so while I didn't find a swell of prime choices in my first attempt, I did find a small assortment of really nice looking cases from SilverStone, a company that specializes in aluminum HTPC chassis and other high-end enclosures, some of which are highly rated by hardware review sites. Speaking of home theater PCs, I almost went with an HTPC case, but decided against it due to expansion issues and the fact that this PC will be sitting on my desk, not in the living room next to the TV. HTPC cases are cool, but a traditional tower is probably better suited to my tasks.



Not pleased with aftermarket options, I toyed briefly with the idea of turning a Dell PowerEdge server or Precision Workstation into a gaming rig. In fact, I just ordered a PowerEdge 2500 case dirt cheap off eBay just to play around with for this or other purposes. I have an odd fixation with the PowerEdge server, and often gaze longingly at its perforated metal cage façade. Hey, I said I have a design fetish! But, as with the PowerMac, certain compatibility challenges exist with accommodating standard PC components into a Dell chassis (which are designed strictly for Intel motherboard configurations). There’s also a possible issue of noise. Servers are designed to be heard, not seen. Converting one into a gaming box with a multitude of fans may prove impractical. That said, I still haven’t completely written this idea off, partly because I think it might be fun. If anyone has feedback on this subject I would love to hear it.



So back we go again to aftermarket cases. This time a slight glimmer of hope begins to peek through an overcast sky. I found two cases that jump out at me. One is NZXT’s Lexa case. This unit is definitely unique in design. It features a curved façade with a semi-chrome polish to it. Unfortunately it also has the widely used aquarium side-window that I detest. Say it ain't so! Well scratch another case off my list. So close, so far.



Then I happen to stumble on a post in a hardware forum by a user bragging about the awesome system which he just built. As I click on the link to his personal homepage, I feast my eyes on a case that may finally be the one for me. It’s the GigaByte 3D Aurora…and it is indeed a sweet little box. Available in two colors, silver or black, with an all-aluminum design and front LED that adds a graceful blue light. Best of all…NO SIDE-WINDOW! Can this be the case that will satisfy my hunger? Which to get...silver or black?

So I thought it might be interesting to turn my project into a sort of Open Source effort, building on the advice and input of the Digital Media Thoughts community. In a sense, letting you guys build this PC for me...or rather choose what goes into it. I get first dibbs on the case though!! :wink:

Give me your feedback in the forum.