14 replies to this topic

[axoid]

I know this isn't a gaming build, but it didn't seem to fit in the other forums.
Work has just starting rolling out a Build Your Own Computer program, were you provide your own computing hardware. It hasn't been kicked off in my department yet, but I started thinking about what I would build when it does.

I do software development with some heavy weight tools (IBM Websphere, Eclipe), so memory and speed is high on my list. So is data redundancy, work doesn't provide backup services and right now loosing a drive means not only losing any work I haven't delivered, but the week and a half to get the development environment back up and running. So I'm going to have mirrored SSDs for OS and work and a spindle drive for the page file and to store backups of the SSDs. I also like working with multiple monitors so a GPU that can drive many monitors is a requirement.

With what's currently on the market, this is what I think I would build.

CPU:
Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge Quad-Core
Motherboard:
ASUS P9X79 PRO LGA 2011 ATX
RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 2133
GPU:
JATON VIDEO-PX309-QUAD Radeon HD 3450 4 DVI outputs
HD:
Seagate Barracuda ST320DM000 320GB 7200 RPM
SSD x2:
OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB
CASE:
LIAN LI K60B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
Power Suppy
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W
Display x3:
Acer V233HAJbd Black 23"

Any thoughts?

[ikon]

My first thought is you don't have a good backup plan. Besides the spindle drive, what other backups are you planning to have? IMHO, data should be stored in at least 3 places, one of them offsite (I personally have data in 4 places). I would add an external drive box to your list, and also 2 portable drives or a HDD Dock and 2 sets of bare drives, for offsite backup. The 2 sets of offsite drives would be rotated as often as necessary to ensure 100% data recoverability — I do mine daily. Another option for offsite would be to use cloud backup, but I don't know what the internet access situation is at your work.

BTW, is your work going to pay for the hardware and software for these builds?

[jmwills]

There is a sale going on now for one of the Lian-Li cases.

[axoid]

My first thought is you don't have a good backup plan. Besides the spindle drive, what other backups are you planning to have? IMHO, data should be stored in at least 3 places, one of them offsite (I personally have data in 4 places). I would add an external drive box to your list, and also 2 portable drives or a HDD Dock and 2 sets of bare drives, for offsite backup. The 2 sets of offsite drives would be rotated as often as necessary to ensure 100% data recoverability — I do mine daily. Another option for offsite would be to use cloud backup, but I don't know what the internet access situation is at your work.

BTW, is your work going to pay for the hardware and software for these builds?

I’m no too concerned to about off site backup. Keep in mind that I work for a fortune 500 company. Any “perishable” data (source code) is stored in a source code repository (Clear Case and VSS) on some server that I have no control over and I hope gets backed up. Plus if anything happens to destroy my PC there are bigger problems than me spending 8 days reinstalling and rebuilding the dev environment. The company would never allow cloud backup, they would loose control of the data, and with us having corporate secretes and information that is controlled by federal law, that is a big deal. My current company laptop has encrypted hard drives, its policy for all laptops.

My goal, other than speeding up my work and reducing my wait time for builds and deployment of my code is to limit my limit my liability if a drive fails. With the company owned machines it is their liability since it is their hardware. They haven’t explained the whole program yet, but I’m guessing that they will provided the software, at least beyond the OS, since they force us to us some tools that have 5 grand+ price tags. I know the hardware is on my dime, though they are saying that they may provide discounts or a small allowance to offset the cost. It will probably work like a few years ago when they got rid of all of the company provided cell phones and expected all of the employees to use their own personal phones.

With that said I do have a 16GB usb drive that I keep some information on and take home each night.

[ikon]

Do you, perchance, also pay rent for your office space?

[axoid]

Do you, perchance, also pay rent for your office space?

Don't give them any ideas. They are already making most of the phone support people to work from home and required the sending some one out to your home to verify that you had a dedicated location to work in.

[ikon]

So you don't work for HP; 1 down, 499 to go

[yodafett]

Don't give them any ideas. They are already making most of the phone support people to work from home and required the sending some one out to your home to verify that you had a dedicated location to work in.

Make sure you "dedicate" your biggest room so that its percentage of sqft of the house is dedected as a ligitimate work enviornment

[pcdoc]

I’m no too concerned to about off site backup. Keep in mind that I work for a fortune 500 company. Any “perishable” data (source code) is stored in a source code repository (Clear Case and VSS) on some server that I have no control over and I hope gets backed up. Plus if anything happens to destroy my PC there are bigger problems than me spending 8 days reinstalling and rebuilding the dev environment. The company would never allow cloud backup, they would loose control of the data, and with us having corporate secretes and information that is controlled by federal law, that is a big deal. My current company laptop has encrypted hard drives, its policy for all laptops.

My goal, other than speeding up my work and reducing my wait time for builds and deployment of my code is to limit my limit my liability if a drive fails. With the company owned machines it is their liability since it is their hardware. They haven’t explained the whole program yet, but I’m guessing that they will provided the software, at least beyond the OS, since they force us to us some tools that have 5 grand+ price tags. I know the hardware is on my dime, though they are saying that they may provide discounts or a small allowance to offset the cost. It will probably work like a few years ago when they got rid of all of the company provided cell phones and expected all of the employees to use their own personal phones.

With that said I do have a 16GB usb drive that I keep some information on and take home each night.

Overall you have a great system. The only thing I might add is to check if your compiling software supports GPU assisted computing. If it does it might be worth looking at a better GPU.

[jmwills]

The company would never allow cloud backup, they would loose control of the data, and with us having corporate secretes and information that is controlled by federal law, that is a big deal. My current company laptop has encrypted hard drives, its policy for all laptops.



With that said I do have a 16GB usb drive that I keep some information on and take home each night.

But they let you walk out there with a USB Flash Drive? What good is an encrypted laptop if you can do that? Not criticizing...just seems contradictory.

[cskenney]

But they let you walk out there with a USB Flash Drive? What good is an encrypted laptop if you can do that? Not criticizing...just seems contradictory.

Same thing happens at my company (another Fortune 500). Laptops are all encrypted but you can use a USB Flash Drive.

We also can't use any cloud services from within the company but I can take my laptop home and access anything I want.

[mrossco]

I'm putting the finishing touches on a rig for similar purposes, so I had some thoughts I might share...

• Motherboard says P9X79 PRO, but the link is for the Sabertooth. Stick with the Sabertooth or even go Intel DX79SI. You're not overclocking, there aren't any noisy chipset fans, and you get dual NICs instead of an add-on SATA III controller that has been getting sorry reviews anyway. You also shave about $70 off the price tag.
• Go for a bigger data drive. By the time you download software and tools and host the occasional database sandbox, you'll be glad you did.
• Video card is fine. The fan annoys me a bit, but I'm not aware of any compilers that are GPU accelerated unless you are doing CUDA or DirectCompute development.
• Power supply seems a tad weak, but I think that's just my inner child talking. Should be fine.
• If this is for work, and you'll be spending 8+ hours a day in front of this thing, consider picking up some U-series monitors from the Dell Outlet instead of those Acers. You want IPS as it will be easier on your eyesight and they swivel, which comes in handy if you're coding on one screen and viewing requirements/specs/forums on another.

[yodafett]

I'm putting the finishing touches on a rig for similar purposes, so I had some thoughts I might share...

• Motherboard says P9X79 PRO, but the link is for the Sabertooth. Stick with the Sabertooth or even go Intel DX79SI. You're not overclocking, there aren't any noisy chipset fans, and you get dual NICs instead of an add-on SATA III controller that has been getting sorry reviews anyway. You also shave about $70 off the price tag.
• Go for a bigger data drive. By the time you download software and tools and host the occasional database sandbox, you'll be glad you did.
• Video card is fine. The fan annoys me a bit, but I'm not aware of any compilers that are GPU accelerated unless you are doing CUDA or DirectCompute development.
• Power supply seems a tad weak, but I think that's just my inner child talking. Should be fine.
• If this is for work, and you'll be spending 8+ hours a day in front of this thing, consider picking up some U-series monitors from the Dell Outlet instead of those Acers. You want IPS as it will be easier on your eyesight and they swivel, which comes in handy if you're coding on one screen and viewing requirements/specs/forums on another.

Definately go for the Dell u2312, at half the cost of the u2411 getting 2-4 gives you alot bang for the buck

[pcdoc]

Same thing happens at my company (another Fortune 500). Laptops are all encrypted but you can use a USB Flash Drive.

We also can't use any cloud services from within the company but I can take my laptop home and access anything I want.

Difinetly sounds like corporate america. We have the same thing. Logic is a bit lacking but what can you do.

[ikon]

I wholeheartedly agree about the monitors. Go big, go IPS, or go home.