Several hours later

We are approaching usability.

My colleague, Marc, rebuilds his systems even more frequently than I do. He uses group policy driven installs, putting a system back together in about twenty minutes.  This, as much as anything illustrates the difference in our approaches: Marc gets a result quickly, whereas I tend to be a bit slower, possibly changing things and re-doing whatever doesn't seem quite right.  It's not a search for the perfect PC by any means - but some of the applications I use either change far too frequently to spend time setting up MSI installs, or are too complex, or have odd licensing requirements that mean automated installs are far more trouble than they are worth.  When it comes to loading the various add-ons for Firefox and IE, there simply isn't a mechanism for an MSI-based install.

Also, in moving to a new OS, I've found that some of the programs I use are not at all happy.  MS Money, in the very old version that I still rely on from 2001, simply won't run at all under Vista.  Now, how do I automate the creation and install of a virtual PC image and then load Money 2000, followed by the 2001 upgrade?

At the other end of the spectrum, there are the one-click installs - Google Earth is the easiest example I can think of, just take the (latest) install file and run it.

Somewhere in between are the applications that I think gain most from the GPO install route, stuff like Office and similar products.  If I did the job often enough, and relied on these, perhaps I'd see the light and go for GPO.

...assuming I don't get rid of the server, that is.  That's another story.

First (past the) post

First post from the new box!

Every time I build a new system I swear I'm going to cut down on the applications, and every time I seem to need more and more stuff loading.

It's complicated this time by using Vista as the host OS - several of my older applications either won't run easily or in some cases don't run at all under Vista, so I'm having to build a new virtual PC to host these with XP.  Did you know that even after loading SP2, there are some 90+ important updates from Microsoft Update at present?  The virtual machine will be running all night.  Maybe I should have waited for the SP3 that's forthcoming (no, I'm not about to risk a beta download).

Back to the grindstone - only about another 20 or so CDs and DVDs to go through :-(

OK, so I forgot the photos

Or rather, as I seem to recall the last time I built a system from scratch (about ten years back), I got carried away with things and lost track of time and objectives.  It was a case of "well, let's see if this bit fits in easily.  OK, it does, so how do I wire the power up..." and before I knew it I had a fully assembled box.

Not to say it doesn't need looking at again - the cabling is a bit of a mess.  OK, being honest, the cabling is an absolute rat's nest.  The only reason I don't worry about the airflow is that there are so many damned fans in the box that it's going to be like St Andrews on a windy day.  hey, do you think I'll be able to fly the kites indoors?

Anyway, no photos until it's presentable.

Still to get the graphics card - Parcelforce 24 Hour delivery my foot.  I feel a neg coming on for the eBay seller.

I've pulled the old FX5900XT card from the current workstation, which started making a lot of noise after I cleaned the fan up.  It probably was blocked by all the dust before.  So that's another item for sale.  This poor box is getting cannibalised before my very eyes, soon be back to its pristine state as it left the Dell factory.

Here we go

First box arrived today - the Antec 900 case.  Meets my expectations in the main, my only concern being that it seems slightly, well, flimsy.  I'm probably to scared of bending something, and things will undoubtedly toughen up as it gets populated by a PSU, drives and motherboard.

That 200 mm fan is something else though - it will need some weight to stop it taking off.

Pictures of the unboxing and build may follow if we get enough daylight; since we're just a week away from the Winter solstice, this may be a forlorn hope.

Geeks bearing gifts

I could have sworn the announcements said there would be three critical and four important updates from Microsoft this month.  So why am I having to load around twenty different packages for each of my systems?

Every time this happens I think I need to run WSUS.  And every time I rediscover the unfortunate partial install that will neither complete nor roll-back.

We're getting ever closer to that server rebuild.

Bits and PCs

Another addition - Inno3D 8800GT card now on it's way, hopefully - the eBay vendor has an 'interesting' reputation...  In fact, if they deliver as promised (and charged for!), it may precede the rest of the kit.  Well, what do expect when you compare a £14.95 +VAT charge against free?

Since I can't find any reason to prefer one card over another, this being available now, in time for the first build, it may well save me enough time later to make up for any possible and definitely probable price reduction in the New Year.

The dastardly deed is done

Ordered, and may my bank manager forgive me.

One Antec 900 case, from Amazon.

The rest of the gear from ebuyer:

Asus P5K-E, retail Q6600, Corsair HX520, 4 * 1 Gb Corsair 4-4-4-12 PC6400, 2 * 500 Gb Samsung HDDs, Pioneer SATA DVD-RW, and a copy of Vista Ultimate.  Doesn't sound a lot, and I know there are still one or two components missing (visual output?  Who needs that?), but it should be built by the New Year, RAID problems permitting.

OK, I only do this once every four years or so.  Thank heavens.

In search of...

...perfection?  Hardly - that costs a lot more than I can afford.  However, I have managed to trim down the list and identify enough critical components to get a bit further.

 

One of the worries that stopped me settling on a case was the thought of the power supply being at the bottom of the space - good for balance reasons, and may even help cooling, but will the main power leads be long enough?  That's partly why I  selected the Kublai instead of the earlier favourite, the Antec 900.  However, I've now decided to put all the worries to rest - and go for the Antec.  It helps that no-one who has built one so far seems to be complaining vociferously, and I can't imagine the cases being so popular if they are that difficult to work with.

So that's one down.

CPU remains the same, a Q6600. I can't see any reason to change that.

RAM has shifted slightly - I was dead-set on Crucial Ballistix, as it seems to give the right combination of security and flexibility, but I've been persuaded (at least in part by availability and price: few people actually sell the Crucial sticks, and Crucial themselves are ludicrously overpriced in the market) that Corsair have a very suitable alternative - 2 gigabytes only though, because another decision is to restrict the box to 32-bit Vista - still Ultimate edition: Bitlocker is screaming for investigation.  (OK, I lied, I may well get a pair of 512 Mb sticks to bring it up to 3 Gb eventually.  On second thoughts, having found that the 2 * 1 Gb pair is only £6 more than two 512's would be, I'll fit 4 Gb total, be prepared for the next stage.)

I've been very indecisive about the motherboard, but in the end have decided the Asus P5K-E/wifi is just too suitable to be ignored.  It helps that I've also decided not to go the RAID route, which was the main concern.  However, I may still get two disks, just to try it - if it doesn't work, just think of all that lovely storage.

The PSU was the next issue - just how much power would this system need?  Eventually, I've decided that a 520 W unit would suffice, since there's no way I'll be wanting Crossfire or SLI (how much is a graphics card?).  At least until the next round - my perfect PC would have dual (or quad!) graphics, RAID 10 across at least six disks, a high-end quad core CPU and a motherboard that supports DDR3 RAM - and a price that puts it way out of reach for probably the next five years.

Why won't this work?

Just going back to Live Writer for a while, to try and find out what's wrong with it (first thing I notice is that the window controls are junked - minimize and restore, and they're back, but that's not a good start).

OK, look at the web - and there's a new, non-beta version.  Load that - nope, still won't work.

Finally tracked it down - at some point, my login credentials for the hosting site got screwed.  Fixed and functional now - so this should upload.

In the meantime, I've discovered there are a load of plugins for Live Writer.  That will be the download bandwidth gone again.

Progress - of a sort

Some decisions made. The current proposal is to build something like the following:

Case - Silverstone Kublai KL02
Motherboard - Asus P5K-E/wifi
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
PSU - Corsair HX 520

Then we get to the nitty gritty - both memory and hard drive are up for grabs. For RAM, I may go for 2, 3 or 4 Gb, PC6400 or 8500. The HDD(s) could be a single 500 Gb, dual 500's in a RAID 1, or quad 320's in RAID 10. As for manufacturer, again both have alternatives - Crucial Ballistix vs Corsair, and Samsung vs Seagate. Good and bad reports on any combination you can think of.

I may forget the whole deal and just buy a new IDE drive for the ailing Dimension 4500.

The strange case of the case

Before I do anything about the innards, it's probably best to decide what I'm putting the system in. And have I run into problems here...

There's no such thing as a reasonably restrained, problem-free, nicely built PC case. I'm sure on that. Having trawled through reviews, adverts, supplier sites and forums, each and every case I've looked at has been shot down for some reason or other, be it noise, size, ease of build, value or simply because they look appalling. In the latter category I'd definitely include anything with a fan bigger than the case (Aerocool, are you listening?).

For a while, the Antec Nine Hundred looked good, until I realise that my proposed PSU probably wouldn't have the reach to get a hidden cable up to the top power connector on the motherboard - and would also have to have been mounted upside down for the fan to have any effect, unpretty in the extreme.

Other Antec cases suffer from the same concerns, or are simply outdated, poor cooling etc.

There are some acceptable Thermaltake and Coolermaster caskets out there, and I think my final selection will come from there. My main aesthetic concerns include looking at placement of the front (or occasionally side) USB connectors, dust filters and the front panel, and even case finish (this piano-black does not appeal). Whilst at one point I would have thrown the idea of a windowed case straight out of the, er, window, it now has a certain appeal - but if I do there there are more visual issues to be concerned about.

Decisions, decisions.