.
Well, just got my last critical component delivered:
-
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3Picked it up for $145 this week. I gave up waiting for a better price. The
GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 has been $140 w/ free shipping for close to a month and I was going to get that, but on last Sun I decided to go one more week and get either that or the next best deal ... so, for $5 more I get 2 x PCIe x16 slots + 2 x PCIe x4 slots and two 6 Gbit eSATA III external ports on the back panel. The expansion slot layout is about as optimal as can be expected with current market offerings, so I'm comfortable I got about the maximum capability and future-"proof" expansion flexibility possible for an under-$200 mobo.
Slight disappointment: no screws or insulator grommets for attaching the mobo to the case. Gonna have to buy a small pack of those now and add ~$15 or so to my final cost. Fucksticks. Goddamned lame way to fuck your customer ... this item wouldn't cost a $1 wholesale on the manufacturer's end, maybe even $0.20 to include with the board, but it really gouges the end-customer in time wasted and additional, stupidly high mark-up expense.
I won't use the 2nd 16x PCIe slot for a 2nd video card ... with the current card I have. In the future, maybe circa 2013-ish, I might upgrade the CPU to Bulldozer (or equivalent) & get a pair of modern GPUs to ramp this board up near its maximum limits. Probably have to upgrade the PSU then, also, but maybe not. If I need a system with those capabilities. Might make one helluva linux home media server by then, something I can use for as a headless intermediate system for various local network and internet tasks.
First impressions: looks like a hot board with two flaws that I've seen reported. First, users have reported significant problems booting from USB. Others haven't, so I need to investigate and see if that's something I have control over (by being literate on how to use my board) or if it's a Russian roulette game with this product. The problem seems particularly pronounced with booting linux from USB, something I have plans to be doing both for installation and for running an alternate OS for various reasons.
Second is that it limits the RAM speed to 1600 MHz if you are not using an AM3+ CPU. WTF?? Those CPUs aren't even available yet, but they prominently advertise 1866 & 2000 native support. Need to play with that a bit to see what/if workarounds exist. I was kind of counting on pushing my RAM to 1833, even if just doing it temporarily for a burn-in and functional test of capacity. That was a disappointing bit of obscure/hidden info I just found out about this morning.
Anyway, busily reading & downloading manuals, BIOS flashes, utilities, drivers etc. etc. for my little pile of tech booty before I proceed to Assembly.
I've not bought an SSD, and will continue to hold out as previously mentioned. If I can find a second Western Digital 750 GB Caviar Black @6Gbit SATA III for that magic $50 price I got before, I'll probably snag one of those. Again, as mentioned previously, most likely as a complete mirror drive to swap every ~10 days.
So:
----
total:
$747.44 ($647.44 w/ rebates)
I'm totally impressed with myself that I managed free shipping on every single item; it could have easily added ~$50 to the total budget if I hadn't been
smart a complete cheapskate about it.
I originally estimated a budget of $800-$820, including an SSD but without the
*'d extras. Assuming all my rebates come through, and I (eventually) find a decent SSD for ~$80, I can still come in at a total of ~$725-$730.
Also, I had
copious storage capacity already taken care of before attempting this build, so I may just place both those Samsung drives directly into this build for extremely rapid data management and keep the external housing on the shelf until needed, like visiting friends. My network transfer speeds are gigabit hardwired LAN inside my house, so should beat out USB 2 for nearly all situations.
I'm giving up on the sound card for now; that will be a future upgrade "someday" when I can generate an extra ~$150 or so. I'm planning for a fairly premium one that may require a PCIe x4 slot. One of the reasons I was looking at the mobos that I shortlisted was specifically for the onboard sound. Not as premium as I would like it, but still very substantially good for most practical purposes. This board comes with the Realtek ALC889 chipset/codec, which has received excellent reviews. It's probably better than many sound cards I've had in the past, and is actually a little bit better than the Realtek ALC892 for less-than 7.1 systems.
I'm hoping the KVM switch solves my keyboard/mouse/monitor situation. Downside: it only works when the two systems are near each other, and only works for a single monitor. Upside: those two conditions are unlikely to affect me with my two primary systems. A second monitor was never part of my possibilities.
With some luck, I'll have a working build within a few days. Will take time for proper research on all parts first (
registering an Overclock.net account,
finally, and be spending time there) and have to work it in between several other projects. I'll post back with anything interesting, maybe even with pix. Eventually look for a post in the
Lounge > Computer Setup Pictures when things get stable.
