Building an Intel Core i7 based computer – The goal

by Miha Markič 10. February 2009 23:33

Somehow I’ve missed two important things to mention in the introduction: what will I use computer for and the budget.

The computer is, of course, meant to be a development workstation that will replace my current aged Core 2 Duo E6600 based one. I’ll base my new computer on three pillars in this order of importance:

  1. Reliability
  2. Silence
  3. Performance and Price/Performance ratio

The first point is all about avoiding unnecessary risks by taking in consideration only quality components if possible and redundancy. Nothing is more important than data. And having certain disk redundancy keeps computer operational even if a single disk fails – a disk failure is not uncommon at all. Backups are important as well, but that’s another story.

Does second point really need an explanation? Do you want the noise level of a vacuum cleaner under the desk? If you work a lot with computer you’ll appreciate as quiet machine as it gets. Low noise is mostly achieved through passive cooling or big fans that rotate slowly – the bigger they are the slower they need to rotate and thus noise is lower.

So, performance and price make only the third pillar in order of importance. Of course those performance and price are important but only after the first two.

Se what’s left is the budget: 1501 euros. Expensive? Cheap? I think this is a good compromise for my three pillars of a development workstation.

In case that I’ve missed some other relevant information so far, let me know.

See other relevant posts:

Introduction
Building an Intel Core i7 based computer – CPU cooler

Tags:

Hardware | Slovenia | Building a computer

Comments (3) -

Samo Fabčič
Samo Fabčič
2/11/2009 10:38:30 PM #

For 1500 EUR buy HP xw4600, with NVidia NVS 290 and 30GB Mtron 7500 SSD hard disk. It fits all your criteria and you have 50 EUR to spare. (did that two weeks ago for my main development workstation). Greetings from LJ.

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Miha Jakovac
Miha Jakovac Slovenia
3/27/2009 6:21:11 PM #

Hi

I have duo core system (vista ultimate, 4gb ram) and raptor 74 gb for system and 2x500 gb in RAID 1. The system is pretty fast, but I saw some reviews about I7 CPUs and I wonder how will your system perform. And since you will also have Velociraptor disks, heheh. I hope you'll post some comparisons.

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Miha Markic
Miha Markic Slovenia
3/27/2009 10:41:39 PM #

If you ask me - my computer flies now.
As per posting some comparisons I am not sure. Comparing such things requires quite a big effort. However, if you have in mind a particular test let me know and I'll see to run it.

Reply

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Miha Markic

About me
Righthand
 
Microsoft MVP
 
Developer Express' DXSquad
INETA Country Leader for Slovenia
INETA Country Leader for Slovenia

Slovene Developer Users Group Lead
Friends of Red-Gate
LLBLGenPro Partner

Miha currently works as a free lance consultant and software developer specialized in .net area.
He graduated in Computer and information science at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has accumulated experience in various programming languages such as Java, Visual Basic 3-6 (MCP), Visual C++, Delphi, C# and VB.Net through years.
He has experience in practically all (technical) stages of project development, including planning, framework development, user interface, business processes, as well as testing and documenting. He has worked on big and small projects in Slovenia and abroad (e.g. participated in completing level 3 IS for the Nucor steel plant, Hertford, USA).
Currently he enjoys programming in .net environment using C#. Since 2000 he has been active in Developer Express' DX Squad and has been ECDL trainer and tester. He also gives lectures on conferences and other events in Slovenia.

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