Rod Petch - The Ultimate All-rounder

Rod Petch was looking to build a PC that would let do standard computing tasks such as word processing, spreadsheets and graphic design, and then let him relax with an FPS (is that relaxing?) or strategy game.  Rod says" future proofing was also a consideration, and, above all, I wanted a quiet system." Rod has been playing with computers since the late 70's,  coming up from the days of Sinclairs and tape drives through Commodore 64 and Atari and onto PC's in the 80's. He says: "I've been involved with Graphic design on the PC in the late 80's when most designers were in Macs. I used the original version of CorelDraw when it was released, back in the days when they gave you rulers, key rings, a video and even a printed manual! I have now developed my own company website www.petchprinting.com.au which I regularly maintain. I became interested in system building 10 years ago and have since built numerous systems.

CORE SYSTEM

CPU: Intel Core i7 860 - $340
My eyes lit up when I saw that the 800 series was released and I spent many hours reading reviews and trawling forum sites before choosing the i860. To me it has the perfect blend of speed, even without overclocking, and affordable pricing.
 
MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4 - $193
I've been a Gigabyte fan for many years and chose the UD4 for its SLI and Crossfire support to give me some upgradability and its ease of overclocking. They are such easy boards to work on, with  heaps of peripheral ports that we never seem to have enough of!

GRAPHICS: Powercolor RADEON HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 - $389
Future-proofing was my main reason for going with the 5000 series, with DirectX 11 games coming online in 2010. I had originally budgeted to go for the 5870 but dropped back to the 5850 after opting for an SSD drive. I did start to panic when I couldn't source a 5850 in Australia and had to resort to eBay and a model out of Singapore.

RAM: Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 4GB - $145
I did a fair bit of rearch with my choice of RAM and, after learning of the voltage limitations with 1.65V as the maximum for the i5/i7 integrated memory controllers, chose this Corsair package on compatablity and price. I opted for 4GB in two sticks with the option to double up if I feel any of my graphic work in the future would benfit from extra RAM.

HARD DRIVE 1:  OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SSD - $319
I've been waiting, in vain, all year for SSD prices to fall and would have liked to run with a 120 GB drive but couldn't justify the cost. Just using it to run the OS and main programs as well as a few games is just fantastic. Keeping an eye on that free space is with 60 GB is going to be important but if prices fall sufficiently, swapping to a larger SSD will certainly be on the cards.

HARD DRIVE 2: Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200 SATAII - $115
Another favourite brand of mine in recent years and a drive I would normally have chosed in a RAID setup, but, in this case, just ideal for all that data we tend to accumulate. The drive is quiet and fast and teams really with the SSD option as the powerhouse.

OPTICAL DRIVE: Pioneer BDC-202BK Blu-Ray combo - $174
Pioneer has a reputation for quality and I have not been disappointed with this option. Not only does it tie in well with my 'quiet' theme, it's extremely versatile and affordable and gives me the option to watch my Blu-ray collection when the home TV is otherwise occupied!

PSU: Corsair HX-850 ATX modular PSU - $230
Probably a bit of overkill with the system as it stands but I wanted to future-proof the system with the possiblity of adding a second graphics card in SLI or Crossfire at a later date. Coupled with Corsair's reliabilty and rock solid performance I thought I would err on the higher side for my power requirements.

CASE: Antec P193 Super Mid Tower - $263
Wow what a case ... I didn't realise it was quite so big until it arrived. It nearly gave me the option to climb inside and do all the work and the motherboard certainly looked a bit lost. I do love the positioning of the PSU in the base of the tower with a panel keeping some of the heat away from the mobo and processor. This coupled, with two 140m top fans, one rear 120mm fan and a side 200mm fan, makes this a well-cooled case and plenty of noise damping keeps it very quiet. Mind you, when it was empty it was heav,  now I certainly don't want to move it too far.

Core system cost: AUD $2,168

EXTRAS

MONITOR: Dell 2407 WFPHC - $800
Why you chose this monitor    I've stuck with Dell monitors for many years now and I find there service unbeatable. Combine that with a terrific display and that explains why I have 3 Dell monitors in use.

KEYBOARD: Logitech G15 - $90
A great gaming keyboard combined with good tactile keys and terrific looks.

MOUSE: Logitech G9X - $115
Why you chose this mouse    I really like the feel og the G9 range and moved the G9 to work before upgrading to the G9X. I like the response time with these corded mice and find the heavy duty cord very flexible with no desire to run back to a cordless model.

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows Professional 7 64 bit OEM
Why you chose this OS    I had trialled the relase candidate version of Windows 7 and was very impressed with its speed and reliability over Vista. I opted for the 64 bit version to access all memory plus future additions and the Professional version for it's backwards compatability with older software.

OTHER: I also installed a front mounted card reader with extra sata, usb and firewire ports. It just saves stuffing around with cables when you can just slot cards in. I also have a logitech 5.1 THX sound sytem and a logitech Quickcam Ultra Vision to keep up with the grandkids.