New DIY PC + Win 7= Nirvana (Part 1)

Mike Fleishman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:50:40 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever had such an enjoyable process configuring a newly built PC then the experience I just had with my new DIY project/sweet awesome toy.

I decided recently that the time was right to take the plunge into Windows 7, a decision brought upon me by the release of the P55 chipset (with new i5/i7’s from Intel) and the release of ATI’s new 5800 series graphics cards (more about that in my earlier post). The mainstream has never looked so good, with the Intel i5 selling for $199 complete with four cores and low power usage. Benchmarks have the i5 besting the quad Core 2 Duo’s and even the Core 2 Extreme in some benchmarks.

The system I built:

Total: $ 1475.95 (Newegg and ewiz were used for purcahsing. Newegg as always has scary fast shipping)

The machine is beautiful…I’m a proud papa. The Antec 300 case gave me enough room for all my components, with the total of 5 case fans keeping my rig cool to the touch. The 5850 has enough room to breath with that beefy PSU. Win 7 reconigized all my components out the box. I even installed Win off a USB drive for a faster install time!

One item of note: On my two HDDs I set up 4 total partitions. One 250GB partition on the 500GB drive for Win7, the other 250GB for data. Of the 1TB drive the first 250 has been set aside for full system image backups, with the rest for data. This system image partition drive saved me when awful logitech software for my old webcam riddled my system with all sorts of issues, making 32 bit apps run like my 70 year old grandmother. System restore was no help, but my system image saved the day. Thanks windows 7, screw you logitech for your terrible x64 support. My webcam works, but your software experience was enough to make me think twice before buying your products again.

Later I will post benchmarks and more reviews and analysis of my new rig.

ThruIT » ati 5850

New DIY PC + Win 7= Nirvana (Part 1)