Maybe one day when I can afford it. Right now though...uh uh.

I'm currently running a Phenom II x4 920 on a Gigabyte GA-MA770-US3, with 8gb Corsair DDR2 RAM; a OCZ Vertex 120gb SSD as my boot drive for Win 7 Home Premium; 3x2tb WD HDD's; a Igb GTX260-OC, and a Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Pro soundcard inside a Thermaltake V9 case with glowing red top, rear and front fans.

However, my mobo may be on its way out and I'm possibly looking at throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  AM2 socket motherboards are becoming as rare as hen's teeth, and getting quite expensive, too, so I'm having to look at an AM3 mobo, which also means an AM3 CPU because my current one isn't compatible.  I'd also be looking at DDR3 RAM as well... probably 2 kits of 2x4gb sticks to make up 16gb

So, what I'm looking at is the AMD Phenom x6 1100T; a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H; and 2 Corsair 8GB kits (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Unbuffered RAM.  Total cost $553 AUD. Added to the 120gb OCZ Vertex 120 it'd be a pretty awesome machine.  And don't anyone ask: "Why not go Intel?"  I looked at going with an i7 975, but all up it was going to be $850 + for the CPU, mobo and equivalent RAM.  That's 300 bucks difference and not particularly good value in my book.

If funds permit, however, I'd like to add a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe Fatal1ty Pro for $169AUD... and if I forego a few buckets of shandy [plus beg the missus like all buggery] I'd love a Gigabyte N560OC-1GI - GTX560 TI, 900Mhz, 1G, DDR5 graphics card for an extra $257 AUD as well.  And I wouldn't even be close to getting those if I went Intel.

I'm probably dreaming if I think I'm gonna get all of it in one hit, but the mobo, CPU and RAM would be starters if my mobo goes guts up. Thing is, prices may not stay this low if the US buck goes up [and word is it soon will], so I may have to make a decision sooner rather than later.  The sound and graphics cards could always come later, but yeah, they're the ones I like at this stage.

The 'bits' that make up my machine ....[home-grown]
 
Logitech DiNovo Edge Bluetooth Keyboard

MS Explorer 2 wireless mouse

ASUS MW221u 22" LCD

Canon Iide600f USB scanner

Canon Pixma IP3000 printer [x2]

Canon Pixma MX885 Multifunction

Logitech G25 wheel and pedals.

Logitech X530 Speakers

Playseat Evolution 'cockpit'

Saitek X52 Pro  Joystick and throttle.

********************

Lian Li PC-A6010 case [black]

Antec TruePower Quattro 1000w PSU

ASUS P6T-se  X58 i7 MoBo

Intel i7 920 2.66Ghz LGA1366 CPU

12G OCZ Triple [6x2G] PC12800 DDR3 Gold Ram

CoolerMaster V8 CPU Cooler [that bloody big thing]

Vantec EZ2 Sata hot-swap racks [x2][black]

1TB Seagate Sata2 7200 HD [x2] [redundancy backup/data]

2TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [x2]

Shintaro Harddrive Docker.

500G WD Sata2 7200 HD [game backups]

250G Seagate Sata2 7200 HD [x2] [secondary/alternate OS installs in racks]

60G OCZ Summit SSD [for OS]

ACR-105 Multi card reader

LG Sata DVD-RW [x2][black]

XFX 1G GTX285 Black Edition GPU [factory o'clocked]

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit RTM. ....

That'd be right! Just when I Think I'm getting some good shit together, you go a sprout off a list like that.

SKITE!!!!! 

Hehe, I like nothing more than an invite to a pissing contest.

Yup, the nuns on toilet duty at convent school always said I'd be a high achiever in that regard. 

However,, I'll wait until my upgrade is done before I go boasting a list of internals and peripherals as long as my arm. 

Yeah, it'd look more impressive with a 6 core beast of a CPU and 16gb of RAM, wouldn't it, though I'm not too sure about the graphics and/or sound cards as yet. I have saved some for PC related stuff since my last proper upgrade nearly 2/1/2 years back, but probably not enough to get both of them at this stage.  Still, what I've got isn't too shabby... a little outdated, yes, but I'm not exactly playing with an abacus as yet.

As stated above, I did look at going with an i7, but the 920 is no longer available and the best price I could find for the 975 is like $150 more than the AMD Phenom II x4 975.... and best price for an Intel 6 core is $585.  That's 32 bucks more than I'm paying for the AMD 6 core and mobo and RAM.  I've wanted a core i7 since they first came out, but not at those prices.  No, I think I'll stick with AMD for now... and the Phenom II x6 1100T is no slouch, BTW... runs at 3,7ghz on the 'Turbo' setting.

Just the issue of copy/paste from a text file that likes to double space....otherwise it's not that long...

920 was best [Intel] bang for your buck when I did it....

...the way FSX can use as much CPU grunt as you can throw at it I wish I'd gone 975 and hang the expense....

My list, in terms of text, would likely be similar to yours in length.. just different stuff, that's all.  For instance, I don't have a race car cockpit hooked up like you do, but I do have a Hi-fi VCR and a projector connected to a 7.1 surround sound system instead.  I'm not much into gaming, more home entertainment, as would be indicated/suggested by the junk I've hooked up to my rig.[

quote who="Jafo" reply="6" id="2960030"]920 was best [Intel] bang for your buck when I did it....

...the way FSX can use as much CPU grunt as you can throw at it I wish I'd gone 975 and hang the expense....[/quote]

I just looked up the price of an i7 975 again... not on the list today, but yesterday it was $355.  The Phenom II x4 975 Black Edition goes for $184... and is not too far behind performance-wise.  Yes, Intel is slightly ahead in terms of performance [bang for your buck], but AMD is streets ahead in terms of value for money while only being a little way behind in terms of performance.

There again, you could always go for the Intel i7 990X -3.46GHz, Six Core, LGA1366, 12MB Cache, 6.4 GT QPI"  for $1,149.00.  Nice piece of CPU tech, but at too high a price for most.  The thing is, however, the current prices reflect the AUD's strength against the greenback, and from what I'm reading on the financial pages, that may soon be coming to an end, meaning prices on PC parts and etc will inevitably rise. 

As I recall, my current CPU [the 920] was just under $400 a couple of years back, the Phenom II x4 965 [a better, much faster CPU] today is just $158, less than half of what I paid.  Yeah, well the distributor I've been dealing with reckons prices will climb sharply if the AUD falls back to its former position, and thus I might not be waiting to see if my current mobo is going guts up or not.

Okay, here's what I eventually ordered, though it is somewhat different to my original list due to availability and figuring "why not do a proper upgrade while I'm at it.  In other words, why do things by half measures?  I had to make sacrifices, however... like no shandy 'til Xmas to help pay for it; no other luxuries or hankering after wild, wild women. LOL.

Anyhow.....

1 - CPU AMD Phenom II x6 1100T Black Edition

2 - Mobo Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7

3 - Graphics Card Gigabyte GTX560OC-1GI

4 - RAM Corsair XMS3 — 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) x1

5 - RAM Corsair XMS3 — 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C8) x1

6 - Sound Card Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium

I'll be adding this to ....

1 - Case Thermaltake V9 Full Tower

2 - SSD OCZ Vertex Sata 2 120GB Solid State Drive

3 - Monitor Viewsonic 2226w 22" LCD x2

4 - Printer Epson Stylus Photo TX710W

5 - Internal HDD's  1TB WD Caviar Black x2 - Hitachi 1TB 7200 - WD 500Gb 7200 x2

6 - External HDD's  Seagate Expansion 7200 2TB  x4 - Western Digital 1TB 7200 x2

7 - Speakers Creative Inspire 5.1 Surround Digital 5600

8 - Keyboard/Mouse Logitech Wireless Desktop MK320

9 - TV Tuner Avermedia AVerTV Hybrid Super 007

10 - VHS Panasonic NV-HV62 [for editing home video, etc]

11 - DVD Burners LG Sata II DVD RAM Writer x2

12 Projector Pro-Optics PT110A & Column Speakers PT-65

13 Modem/Router Netgear WRG614

There is probably other stuff [either not installed or connected as yet] but right now I can't think of it.. my head's all a buzz with excitement and anticipation over putting my next build together.

Oh, and I didn't cheat with a quickie copy and paste.

I bet FSX will still want more.....

Probably... I'm told it is quite resource intensive ... GPU as well as CPU and RAM.

Me, right now, can't sleep.... BUGGER it!!!!!  I went to bed around 9.00pm so I could get an early start, do some banking and B-Pay my order so I've got it by Thurs arvo ... yeah, right... all night I'm dreaming PC building and stuff... keep waking up in a tiz woz cos I'm repeatedly assembling something wrong [in the dream, that is]

"Sod it," I thought: "I'll get up [1.24am] and have a cup of tea while I B-Pay my invoice."  Nah, no such luck... a transfer from my savings account [not electronically linked.. less temptation to spend frequently that way] to my working account hasn't taken place as yet. Oh well, never mind, it can take up to 24 hours and I'm sure it'll be there in the morning [now today]... a few more hours won't hurt.

And I did forget stuff... LG multi card reader and a floppy disc reader that won't be in the rebuild.  I left it in last time because I still had floppies with some useful data on them.  I've since gone through them, recovered what I wanted and consigned them to the garbage. 

As for the floppy drive... I'll keep it just in case I run into somebody 'old school' who hasn't discovered discs or USB sticks as yet.

Well my stuff is paid for and it should be arriving in the arvo about 2.00pm..... oooohhhh, I can't wait... new toys....they're bringing me my new toys... he he, ha ha, he he, ha ha... they're bringing me my new...... those nice young men in their clean white coats..... with my nice new toys he he, ha ha...

Hmmmm, think I'll take some meds and go lie down for a while..

Remember when you went away and I got on my knees and begged you not to go or else I'd go berserk?

Well....

Western Digital Caviar Green 750GB SATA x2

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB)  DDR3 1333
 
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner X2

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W

XFX HD-467X-DDF2 Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3

EPSON Stylus Photo 1400

Logitech Wireless Keyboard and mouse

Western Digital MyBook 1TB External Storage x2

ACER P241w HDMI Monitor

They're coming with my new toys today... he he, ha ha... they're coming with my new toys today...

... and the anticipation is driving me berserk.

Yeah, I had another BSOD last night... me thinks my current configuration is not long for this world.  I had a rig years ago that displayed similar symptoms... turned out to be the mobo, went guts up, never to work again. 

Oh well, it's just another 4 -5 hours [why does it feel like 40 - 50?] and... those nice young men in their clean white delivery coats will see that I have the parts to rectify that situation.

Case: Lian-li PC-B25FWB (rectangular window, not the stock dog biscuit shaped one) (Corsair Obsidian 650 on order)
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67-Deluxe B3
CPU: Intel i7-2600K
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB
PSU: Corsair HX1000
HDD: (2) WD Black 2 TB SATA III
         (2) WD Black 1 TB SATA II
         (1) Seagate 1.5 TB SATA II
         (1) WD 2 TB eSATA (External)
SSD: (1) Corsair Force 3 120 GB (may switch to Force GT 120)
GPU: (2) ASUS EAH -6850
Optical: (2) Samsung DVD Burners (No idea what the model numbers are)
Mouse: Logitech MX Revolution
KB: Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 (Logitech WAVE in box on the shelf)
Cooling: Corsair H60
             (4) Xigmatek fans (2) 120 & (2) 140
Speakers: BOSE Companion 5 (Don't Knock 'em! They sound great)
Monitor: LG 24 inch

I know the feeling... I think I have more fun building a rig than using it.  Well that's not true but it is sure on equal ground.

Whenever someone close to me (friends/family) talk about getting a new computer, I can't seem to help trying to convince them to let me build them a far superior rig for less money than the "off the shelf" computer they might get.  It usually works.  Although, I think the mention of less money sounds appealing to just about anyone.

Funny though, when they find out they can get some really awesome custom work done, they tend to spend a little more... why is that?

Here is some specs to my ever-evolving rig of the past 1.5 years.

Case - Full tower Coolermaster HAF 932 (interior painted black)

MB - EVGA X58 Classified 3 SLI

CPU - Intel Core I7920 (overclocked to 3.2GHz) considering an upgrade next month to "sandy bridge"

RAM - Kingston HyperX 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600

PSU - Ultra X4 series 1000watt modular

SSD - OCZ Vertex 120GB SATA 3

HDD's - 4 WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3

GPU's - 3 ASUS Radeon HD 6850's (1GB 256-bit GDDR5) in Crossfire

Watercooling - Swiftech H20-220 (Apogee XT CPU Block, and Koolance RAM-33 Block) radiator is mounted at inside top replacing 2 230mm fans and waterfall reservior in front drive bay

Fans - 230mm side, 230mm front (red), 140mm bottom, 140mm rear

Monitors - 3 Samsung 27" Central Station

Soundcard - Asus Xonar D1

Speakers - Logitech Z5500's 5.1 Dolby Surround with THX

Keyboard - Logitech G19

Mouse - Logitech G9

Optical - Sony Blu-ray Burner 12x and a Gearhead DVD Burner 24x

Fan Controller - NZXT Sentry LX

and for a little color I have 4 - 8" Black light cold cathode with reactive green water tubes.

Well I'm not a happy chappy.... stuff didn't arrive today after all.  The supplier sent my ordered mobo elsewhere and when the store I'm dealing with inquired with the unintended recipient it had been sold... DAMMIT, being a new model it was the only one until more stock arrives from Taiwan in 21days.  I wasn't prepared to wait that long so I'm getting another lower down from the same series. 

Basically it just has 2 less SATA ports (6) but has the 990FX chip and I doubt I'll notice any difference despite being 90 bucks cheaper.  With the mobo saving I upped the second RAM set to 8gb (2x4) as well.

I have been assured this one is IN stock and my order WILL arrive by 2.00pm tomorrow... even if the bloke has to deliver the order himself, he said.

Best laid plans of mice and men ......

Yep!  It could have been worse, though.  I'm still getting a board with the 990FX chip set and not going backwards.  Had I been looking at a 800 series chip set [or worse.. a 700 series chip set] I would have opted to wait the extra 3 weeks to get the 990FXA-UD7 board I ordered.  The 990 series boards are AM3+ and will accommodate AMD's next generation CPU's, whereas the 800 series and lower won't.

What's more, I looked at the new invoice before and the board I'm getting is actually $116 cheaper, so I'm getting a healthy refund going back into my savings account.  Besides, the only real difference is a couple of internal SATA ports, and being the back panel has 2 eSATA ports and I already have an eSATA ready external case, all I need to do is swap out one internal drive to overcome the shortfall.

What I lost on the roundabout I gained on the swings.

Orright, it's Saturday morning and I'm pissed off severely.

Not only is my karma stuck on the number of the beast, it's colder than a witch's tit right now and my package didn't arrive yesterday as promised..

It's not the fault of the seller, however, but rather that of the f*@%ing, lowlife mongrel f*@%ing couriers.  They picked up my package alright, and according to the tracking number, in plenty of time for same day delivery, but the driver decided to take an early mark instead, and now it's sitting in a closed for the weekend depot.  I mean, my place is just a half hour drive from the point of pick up, and this f*@%ing, lowlife mongrel f*@%ing driver goes home early

I wish now that I had arranged to go pick it up in person yesterday.  Had I done so I'd have my new rig up and running by now, but no, I'm still waiting because some f*@%ing, lowlife mongrel f*@%ing driver decides to *&@%^@# off early...... BASTARD!!!!!