$10 K added up fast didn't it.
And you are correct building your dream PC will crush your soul. It seems like a good idea at the the time...but then when you finish it it's like WTF did I do that for? I could have just built 10 decent PCs...
This could take a few minutes. And a stroll back in time to an age before i7, before SSD...but still a dream machine.
Start with a case that is unobtainable and obtain it. For me that was the Soldam Alcadia XR-1 NRS BlackKnight. You've got expensive (See CoolerMaster Cosmos) You've got ridiculous (See custom airbrushed Cosmos) then you've got unobtainable. As in Where? I don't care how much WHERE? Oh? Singapore? It'll take 6 months and you need the money up front?...and we just met?...on the internet? Sure. I'll wire it to your Singapore bank account immediately.
Then get CPUs that are unobtainable. As in not for sale. In my case that would be a pair of Xeon X5470 ES 3.33 Quadcores that clock to 4ghz within voltage spec.
Then get a board that hasn't been released yet by pre-ordering $800 for Express shipment when it does come out. That was the Rev1 D5400XS straight from Intel. Skulltrail. I wasn't the first kid on the block but I was damn close
It takes FB-DIMMs...so find the fastest ones around and fill all the slots.
HDDs aren't really fast enough but (this was right before SSD) an Areca 1210 will get them going as fast as anything out there. So slap 4 150GB Raptors in there but upgrade to Perp Drive 750GBs immediately and run RAID0 on a pair of Raptors until the V-Rap Comes out and upgrade to he V-rap and then when SSDs hit wait till a decent one is released and upgrade to that.
GFX...again gotta get whatever is just released and has the most power...ATI, Nvidia doesn't matter the Skulltrail goes SLI or CF andhas 4 PCIe 16X at 16 lanes. At the time it was the HD3870X2s...Quadfire lol.
And of course Plextor opticals...must have.
Oh and an X-fi with the break out Console and remote...a pair of AKG 701 and some Logitech 2.1 good enough for the shop. No time to game.
And a 1200 watt PSU...whatever is quiet and efficient. The Silverstone DA-1200 for me.
Then LC it.
But go big. Get jiggy with it. Three PA120.3, 2 Iwaki RD-30, 9 S-Flex, Meanwell 24VDC and Meanwell 12VDC all in a custom aluminum and polycarbonate enclosure lined with Sonex. On the Case side Dual d-Tek Fusion on the CPUs, a pair of EK Nickleplated Full Coverage on the HD3870X2, an MCH EK modded to fit the MCH chip on the Skulltraill and a one-off prototype by BlastFlow for the rest of the Southbridge.
But then it's done...and there's nothing left to do
Well there's always peripherals. Deck Legend Keyboard, Razer Copperhead, 24" Asus VW246H...but that's a dead end lol
It's still my baby...but I can't really tinker with it. All I get to do is blow out the dust and keep the case polished....
I don't even want to know what that cost...
