20121107 - building Goliath - SSD, CPU, RAM, SD card - boxes - IMG_4944

The RAM is at NewEgg: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

 

After much hemming and hawing as to whether she should go top of the line, or 1 step down, Carolyn finally decided to splurge on herself and go top-of-the-line. Fastest CPU in existence for a practical price. She got it from NewEgg at: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

 

Since this is a new computer, Carolyn decided to try out the new SSD technology. She got a 128gig SSD drive from NewEgg: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

 

Carolyn had also bought a camera from a yardsale and needed an SD card for it. She had one sittingin her cart ever since the summer so it finally got bought. The yardsale camera turned out to suck, but our friend Chris Z gave us his old camera, so this SD card came in handy for that.

 

building computer.

GSkill RipJaws X DDR3 RAM, Intel Core i7 3770 Ivy Bridge CPU, SD card, box, harddrive SSD Crucial hardware.

Goliath.

 

upstairs, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.

 

November 7, 2012.

 

 

... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com

... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com

 

 

BACKSTORY: Carolyn decidednow that Clint had a job, the time had come to replace her computer of 9 years, Magic. So, she started spec'ing out computer parts for a new computer that would become Goliath.

 

Carolyn built Magic in 2003 when Clint got her a motherboard for Christmas. She kept her old computer, Mist, which as far as we know, is still alive to this day (and was originally a 286, then a 486, then a Pentium 3). Anyway, Magic had tried to die a couple of years ago, but since Clint didn't have a job at the time, we decided it was best to repair rather than buying a whole new computer back then. So Carolyn found an exact replica of Magic's motherboard on Ebay and replaced the motherboard and the power supply. Magic has been limping along ever since.

 

But now it is time for Goliath. Goliath came into being at the beginning of November and was up and running by November 13th.

 

SPECS:

 

CASE: Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case ($160) (**10** frickin' drive bays!).

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 (i7-3770) Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) Quad-Core (LGA1155 socket, 4 cores, 8MB cache, 77W power consumption) ($300). CPUBenchmark score: 9480. For comparison, Clint's computer Hades that everyone watches movies on only rates 4163 (and 1727 before upgrade).

 

POWER SUPPLY: Corsair Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX (850W) ($140) (5yr warranty)

 

MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ($180). 8 SATA ports! Onboard optical digital audio out so her computer is backup for playing music. Onboard video better than my pre-upgrade videocard (Radeon x1950) that Clint tried to give her, so her computer is backup for playing video. (However, the onboard video can only mine at 100MH/s, so it is useless for cryptocurrency mining.) Onboard network.

 

RAM: 16GB: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series (2x8GB, 240-Pin) ($86) (CAS 9-9-9-9)

 

HARDDRIVE: SSD: 128G: Crucial M4 ($103) (3yr warranty). Plus all the drives that used to be in MAGIC, before MAGIC crashed.

 

TOTAL COST: $969.

 

Ultimately it ended up with a coupld of SATA controller cards, as well as a bluray-burner. We've now burned over 200 blurays.

 

In other news, Clint decided to get a CPU for Magic for Carolyn's birthday, and she ended up killing Magic trying to install it. It was amistake to try to mess with the delicate balance that was Magic. Magic died 2 days before its 10-year anniversary. Poor Magic! But it was a good thing Carolyn had already gotten a new computer before Magic decided to kick the bucket.

 

A run-down of all parts in my new computer, with links to buy them, can be found here: carolyncasl.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/the-new-computer/

Done