David's Multimedia and Gaming PC

David Pierson is a young film-maker and programmer who lives north of Maryborough in Queensland. He says his multimedia and gaming machine “is very quick in rendering and is a vital asset, assisting me in my video-editing projects and multimedia work.”  David creates computer games and utilities. You can view his work on his website.

Core System

CPU: Intel i7-920 - $420
The Core i7 is excellent for running multimedia apps like Adobe After Effects, which on this quad-core CPU can utilize all of its 8 threads, ensuring blistering rendering times with the high-definition footage that I work with. It also has excellent performance in CPU-intensive games like Crysis.

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P6T - $340
This board has everything I need, with triple-channel DDR3 RAM and a good upgrade path.

MEMORY: G-SKILL 6GB kit - $162
Having 6GB of RAM installed enables the system to run in triple-channel DDR3. This is essential for the work I am doing and also lets me run many apps in the background with 64-bit Windows 7.

GRAPHICS: 1024MB INNO3D GTS 250 - $186
The GTS 250 is a decent card, which can aid the CPU in rendering and is also excellent for gaming for its price. It can run many games with the highest settings at the native resolution of my monitor.

SOUND: Onboard - $0
The ASUS P6T provides onboard HD audio, which provides crisp and clear sound on my 5.1 surround setup.

HDD: 750GB Seagate - $150 (x3)
Getting three 750GB hard drives was essential for all of my HD video editing, and the Seagates came at a good price per GB. I have one for my OS and applications, and the other two are for work and backup. I also have 500GB and 320GB external drives for back-up as well, giving me just over 3TB of space.

OPTICAL: LITEON dual-layer DVD durner - $58
This dual-layer burner is adequate for now and was inexpensive. When the prices come down later on I might consider upgrading to a Blu-ray drive.

PSU: 850-watt Antec Signature - $263
It provides an excellent power output for all my components and is a PSU that I can rely on. It will also last through many future upgrades.

CASE: Antec 900 Two - $168
This case not only looks good but provides excellent cooling of the components with the five installed fans. It also has plenty of room for additional hard drives. The three washable air filters help to keep the dust from entering the case and also give a very good indication of how much dirt I breathe in.

Core system cost - AUD $2,047

EXTRAS

MONITOR: 19in CRT Compaq 9500 - $20 (x 2)
These monitors are good for working with multimedia apps and documents, providing decent crisp pictures. Having two monitors also gives me more desktop space for running CPU and GPU monitoring programs. For gaming I just temporarily disable the secondary display using a program in Windows 7 called DisplaySwitch. I will also consider upgrading to two widescreen monitors of at least 22 inches further down the track.

KEYBOARD/MOUSE: Wave Logitech Keyboard and PS2 Laser Mouse - $50
The Wave keyboard is ergonomic with the waved key design, which is excellent for typing and also good for gaming.

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7 Home Premium x64 -  $199 (upgrade)
Currently I am running the Release Candidate of Windows 7, and it runs great on my system and is a huge improvement over Vista. The 64-bit version ensures that I can utilise the full 6GB of RAM and I am also running 64-bit applications that make full use of the hardware. Before the Release Candidate expires, I am planning to buy the full copy of Windows 7 64 bit.