# Let's build the ultimate home computer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266 "2011-06-29T14:59:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/1 "2011-06-29T14:59:36Z")
I just bought a Powerball ticket and I’m feeling lucky, so help me build the ultimate home computer. Case, cooling system, motherboard, type and amount of memory, video card(s), sound card, mouse, keyboard etc. Rule #1. All parts must be real-no science fictional components. Rule #B. All parts must be currently available to the general public. Rule #Red. The parts must be compatible with each other. Bonus points for giving total price of your dream machine. Negative points for linking to someone else’s machine if it can be upgraded in any way. We are looking for a machine that cannot be currently upgraded at all. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/2 "2011-06-29T17:16:17Z")
Don’t forget the monitor(s). ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/3 "2011-06-29T17:36:05Z")
Hello, is this monster cable? Yes I need some high performance keyboard cables, Wow only $200, what a deal! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/4 "2011-06-29T17:41:58Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Hello, is this monster cable? Yes I need some high performance keyboard cables, Wow only $200, what a deal! And negative points for mentioning Monster _anything_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/5 "2011-06-29T17:44:27Z")
Are you limiting this to desktop or portables? My home computer was a VAX around 1990. Pretty awesome for a home computer, but it occupied a couple of full size racks (plus a bookcase to hold the paper documentation). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/6 "2011-06-29T17:46:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Are you limiting this to desktop or portables? My home computer was a VAX around 1990. Pretty awesome for a home computer, but it occupied a couple of full size racks (plus a bookcase to hold the paper documentation). Unless you can come up with a portable computer that can best any home system out there… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/7 "2011-06-29T17:52:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Unless you can come up with a portable computer that can best any home system out there… Actually I meant desktop and portables. But are you allowing Enterprise Servers in the mix? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/8 "2011-06-29T17:59:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Actually I meant desktop and portables. But are you allowing Enterprise Servers in the mix? _Home_ computer, singular, one box. Something that will kick the crap out of any game out there while running in hi-res on three screens. Desktop. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/9 "2011-06-29T18:00:48Z")
The choices for a computer itself are hard because you can always hook up a bunch of components together to build your own supercomputer. However, a computer isn’t any good without some way to show what it is doing in style. You will want multiple monitors. Some configurations support up to six. My nomination is for just one of the six. Hook up one video connection to the biggest TV in the world, a 152 inch plasma by Panasonic for about $500,000 for game playing and movie editing. > **[Panasonic's 152-Inch 3D Plasma the Biggest TV Yet](https://gizmodo.com/panasonics-152-inch-3d-plasma-the-biggest-tv-yet-5442012)** > > Panasonic's 152-inch TV just hit and it's got 4k by 2k resolution, 3D support and several technologies that speed up display and optimize it for displaying 3D by reducing cross talk. Not that you'll be able to afford one. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/10 "2011-06-29T18:11:47Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > The choices for a computer itself are hard because you can always hook up a bunch of components together to build your own supercomputer. However, a computer isn’t any good without some way to show what it is doing in style. You will want multiple monitors. Some configurations support up to six. My nomination is for just one of the six. Hook up one video connection to the biggest TV in the world, a 152 inch plasma by Panasonic for about $500,000 for game playing and movie editing. > > [http://gizmodo.com/5442012/panasonics-152+inch-3d-plasma-the-biggest-tv-yet](http://gizmodo.com/5442012/panasonics-152+inch-3d-plasma-the-biggest-tv-yet) Since I’m wanting a home computer, I’d like a monitor that would allow optimal viewing within my own living room, not the living room of my neighbor three doors down. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/11 "2011-06-29T18:39:35Z")
I started toying with the [Alienware](http://www.alienware.com/) “build-a-system” tool for a bit to see what sorts of stuff’s available these days, and at what kind of inflated prices. I got the price up to about $8,200 before I lost interest. That was for a machine with a Core i7 990x six-core CPU overclocked to 4 GHz, 12 GB of DDR3 memory, two or three GDDR5 video cards, 2 TB of RAID storage, couple of optical drives…really, once you max the internals, the rest is just a matter of how much fluff you want to put on top, which won’t really affect performance much. TV tuner card? X-Fi Titanium audio card and a spiffy set of headphones? Sure, pile 'em on. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/12 "2011-06-29T19:15:37Z")
So far we have a joke mention of Monster cable, someone bringing up servers, another person mentioning a monitor that is too big for anyone’s living room, and a shout-out for Alienware’s configuration utility. Anyone happen to have advice/opinions about the actual topic of this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/13 "2011-06-29T20:27:53Z")
Well, help me out here. Your criterion says, “cannot be upgraded at all”. Does that mean that every slot and bay has to be filled? Every possible peripheral has to be added, gamepads, desktop rocket launchers, USB coffee mug warmers, everything? For that matter, do we have to add USB peripherals to the limit of the architecture, adding hubs until it fails and then backing off by one device? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/14 "2011-06-29T20:37:01Z")
Whatever specs you end up with, you should be able to add at least $5k to the price by hiring Datamancer to steampunkify your system. 🙂 [http://www.datamancer.net/](http://www.datamancer.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/15 "2011-06-29T20:39:03Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Well, help me out here. Your criterion says, “cannot be upgraded at all”. Does that mean that every slot and bay has to be filled? Every possible peripheral has to be added, gamepads, desktop rocket launchers, USB coffee mug warmers, everything? For that matter, do we have to add USB peripherals to the limit of the architecture, adding hubs until it fails and then backing off by one device? Let me help you out here: _Quit overthinking this._ If you had a a few tens of thousands of dollars to blow on your dream system, and you wanted the best of the best, what would you get, component-wise? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/16 "2011-06-29T20:54:58Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Whatever specs you end up with, you should be able to add at least $5k to the price by hiring Datamancer to steampunkify your system. 🙂 [http://www.datamancer.net/](http://www.datamancer.net/) I am definitely putting “The Marquis” at the top of my keyboard list-a true classic. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/17 "2011-06-29T22:36:09Z")
As a starting point, here’s the God Box, March 2011 version, from Ars Tech: > **[Ars System Guide: March 2011 Edition](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/03/ars-system-guide-march-2011-edition/#page-4)** > > The latest installment of the Ars Technica System Guide brings Intel's new … > [@](#): > > [ul] > [li] Intel Xeon X5690 3.46ghz = $1698.99 \* 2 = $3397.98[/li] > [li] Thermalright HR-02 = $69.99 \* 2 = $139.98[/li] [li] Scythe Kaze-Jyuni SY1225SL12HPVS 120mm PWM fan = $10.99 \* 2 = $21.98[/li] [li] Supermicro X8DTH-iF = $477.20[/li] [li] Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered Memory (KVR1333D3D4R9S/4GEF) = $81.24 \* 12 = $974.88[/li] [li] eVGA Geforce GTX 580 Black Ops = $519.99 \* 2 = $1039.98[/li] [li] ASUS Xonar D2X = $169.02[/li] [li] Syba USB3.0 card = $23.99[/li] [li] LSI Logic 9261-8i SAS RAID = $479.99[/li] [li] Adaptec 2247000-R miniSAS fanout to SATA cable = $19.99 \* 2 = $39.98[/li] [li] Corsair Force F240 240GB SSD = $469.99 \* 2 = $939.98[/li] [li] Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 SATA = $349.99 \* 4 = $1399.96[/li] [li] Pioneer BDR-205BKS Blu-ray writer = $139.95[/li] [li] Lite-On iHAS524 DVD-RW = $23.36[/li] [li] Corsair Obsidian 800D case = $269.99[/li] [li] Corsair AX1200 1200W PSU = $279.99[/li] [li] APC Smart-UPS 1500VA UPS = $439.99[/li] [li] Scythe GentleTyphoon D1225C12B3AP-13 120mm case fan = $14.99 \* 4 = $59.96[/li] [li] HP ZR30w 30" LCD = $1159.53 \* 2 = $2319.06[/li] [li] Logitech MX5500 Revolution keyboard and mouse = $143.37[/li][li] Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers = $339.99[/li] [/ul] > **Total = $13,120.58** That’s the price from three months ago, it’d be slightly cheaper for some of those parts now. They recommended the eVGA Geforce 580gtx - the 590gtx is out now, for either $750 or $900, depending on if the sale one is in stock (it’s not). So price for two of them would be $1500, not $1000 as figured in the above total. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/18 "2011-06-30T04:56:21Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > As a starting point, here’s the God Box, March 2011 version, from Ars Tech: > [Ars System Guide: March 2011 Edition - Ars Technica](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/guides/2011/03/ars-system-guide-march-2011-edition.ars/4) > That’s the price from three months ago, it’d be slightly cheaper for some of those parts now. > > They recommended the eVGA Geforce 580gtx - the 590gtx is out now, for either $750 or $900, depending on if the sale one is in stock (it’s not). So price for two of them would be $1500, not $1000 as figured in the above total. I read the article, and i think that there were too many cases where they said they _could_ have done more, but didn’t want to take it to extremes. For example, that motherboard can handle 96 gigs of memory, but they only put in 12. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/19 "2011-06-30T05:08:55Z")
I would probably just buy a Power 795 with 256 cores ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266/20 "2011-06-30T05:14:39Z")
That box will set you back $4.4million [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-build-the-ultimate-home-computer/587266.md?page=2)