Axel Cushing is in the process of upgrading his computer. In this ongoing series of articles, he'll give other PC gamers food for thought when upgrading their own rig.

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Building The Perfect Rig

Part I: Case and Motherboard

My rig sucks.

When I got it about four years back, it was a decent mid-range system. It had been part of a LAN cluster at a game store in Phoenix, and I got it for a good price. Aside from a graphics card and a hard drive upgrade, it's been relatively unchanged since I got it. Therein lies the problem.

Four years is at least two iterations of Moore's Law, and probably three if I timed it right. That is a good run for a computer. While, in theory, I could have kept to a regular upgrade schedule and slowly mutated the computer over time, eventually I would have to start from scratch all over again. The last two years alone have produced such radical changes in computer hardware that even the most meticulously plotted upgrade schedule would have been scrapped. There's a lot of choices out there. Making the right ones are important.

So, after begging and pleading with the boss, I am about to cover the process of building a new rig. As I'm getting the components piece by piece, so too will the articles cover individual pieces, usually one or two at a time. I'll be covering the high, the low, and things in-between. Hopefully, by the end, I'll have a new rig and you'll have the knowledge you need to build your own.

First Steps: Consideration

So, your rig sucks. It was good when you bought it (or built it), you've kept a fairly regular upgrade schedule, you've had a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, it's time to start over. What do you do?

The first thing you need to do is sit down and actually think about what you want out of a new rig. What do you plan to do with it? Is it going to be a general purpose machine, something that you use equally for mundane stuff like bill paying and photographic album making as much as gaming? Is it going to be a pure gaming rig? Or maybe a media center where your games, music, videos, and other entertainment stuff resides? This is going to be your guiding philosophy. It will dictate what components you get and how they work together. Buying a bunch of components and slapping them together is going to cause you a lot of headaches and probably a few heartaches as well. Sun Tzu once said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." And with as much cash as you're putting into this project, failure is likely going to be expensive.

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Insofar as my new rig, I've decided that it's going to be heavily slanted towards gaming, with some additional functionality for image manipulation, machinima production, and video post-production. My old computer will be my primary "work" computer, used for writing, general web-browsing, etc.

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Foundations: The Case

The case is the base upon which your new rig will be built and the walls which contain its internal components. In the bad old days, we had one choice of color and style: desktop beige. Now, computer cases come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, sizes, and styles. The case, in some ways, has a greater effect on the components you choose than even the motherboard. The motherboard dictates what the technical limits of your computer will be. The case dictates the physical limits.

Let us consider the factors that one should look at in terms of a case. Size, cost, expandability, portability, these are just some of the basic factors to think about in terms of a case. In some ways, the old days where there was the Model T version of a case made things simple. You had a known quantity for everything. Case design has come a long way since then, and the expanded array of choices has created an expanded array of questions that must be answered. Some of these questions include:

Will this computer be taken to LAN parties?

If so, you might want a smaller case.

Will this computer be staying at home?

If so, you might want a larger case.

Will this computer be acting as a file server?

If so, you may want a case with more hard drive bays.

Will this computer be more of a network client?

If so, you may want a case with fewer hard drive bays.

Will anybody other than myself ever see this computer?

This last question wouldn't have been asked even five years ago. Colorful cases were the sort of thing that Alienware provided. Black cases were something of a novelty, though nothing that couldn't be accomplished with a can of Krylon on your day off. Cases that showed off bare metal were either made of brushed aluminum (and were wildly expensive) or regular stamped steel or aluminum (and were cheap only because they were considered unfinished). Today, having a case that is not only functional but aesthetically pleasing is a consideration. After all, it's going to be your rig for a good three to five years. You don't want to have an intestinal cramp looking at the thing.

For those of you on a budget, a cheap case can be had for $50 US or so. However, buyer beware, you get what you pay for, etc. These cases tend to be fairly simple affairs, but some have distinctive styling or generous expansion options. Some come with power supplies already built in, some do not. We'll discuss power supplies in a future article. For this article, it should be assumed that for purposes of cost and customization, a case should be chosen without a power supply.

For those who have a slightly more generous budget, in the $100 to $200 range, case quality goes up for the most part, with expansion options being roughly the same as the lower cost cases. This is where some of the more novel case designs begin to show up. The cases have more exotic lines and styling, though they are still distinctly box shaped for all the added bezels and what not. Here, as before, some manufacturers add in a power supply, usually upping the price only a small amount.

Above $200, you're getting into somewhat bigger cases, higher quality materials, and sometimes radical styles. Lian Li's PC-777A case, for example, has a distinct sea shell appearance to it. However, you're more likely to find what are termed full tower cases with more drive bays than you can really use. If you're looking to make a file server or network gateway, such a case might be right for you, though you might also finds similar sized cases for less money. Always bargain hunt.

In terms of size and style, your three most common choices are going to be mid-tower, full tower, and what are affectionately referred to as "lunchbox" cases. These cases generally conform to what is known as the ATX form factor, though the lunchbox cases use a slightly different standard known as MicroATX. Mid-tower cases are the most common, and despite a few curlicues here and there over the years, they've remained essentially unchanged. Full tower cases remain much the same as well. Both have a comparatively small footprint (the amount of area they take up on your desk or in your computing area), though full towers are naturally going to take up more room than a mid-tower. The portability of mid-towers and full towers has always been a problem. While there have been numerous inventive solutions, the fact remains that lugging your mid-tower rig to a LAN party is always going to be a chore. Enter the lunchbox. A minuscule footprint, incredibly easy portability, the lunchbox is perfect for those who want to be able to have a respectable rig which can be relocated with a minimum of fuss. Plus, since it is using a derivative of the ATX standard, you can use normal desktop computer components instead of hoping and praying to find a manufacturer like you would with a laptop.

Cushing's Choice: After doing a lot of probing around, consideration, and just plain mulling, I decided to go with an NZXT Nemesis Elite case. Since this is going to be primarily a gaming rig, the amount of expandability options in terms of internal hard drives and optical drives like DVD burners is just about right. As it's an ATX mid-tower, any ATX-type motherboard should fit with a minimum of fuss. The drive mounting rails, as opposed to mounting screws, should make future upgrades for hard drive space or optical drive replacements a snap. Additionally, the case has a module on top for USB and FireWire inputs, along with a flip-up LCD temperature gauge, which will undoubtedly be terribly helpful later on. Finally, from an aesthetic standpoint, it just looks very cool to me. I decided to go with basic black for this case, though silver was certainly an option.

Foundations: The Motherboard

The motherboard is going to be your most critical choice in terms of technical components. CPU, RAM, video, sound, hard drives, even the power supply are all going to have to work with your choice of motherboard. I cannot stress enough just how important it is to choose wisely when it comes to your motherboard. Guiding your choice should be your basic concept for the rig. If you're looking to make a killer game machine, getting a board capable of supporting the latest and greatest components is going to be in your best interest. On the other hand, if you're looking to build a more industrial computer, a new file server or "work" computer with minimal gaming usage, having a board from a generation back or so will allow fairly inexpensive construction, though it may have consequences later on.

Back in the day, when building one's rig was still a very technical enterprise, about the biggest thing you had to worry about was the CPU. With Intel having a stranglehold on the PC market at the time (yes, there was a time when AMD was not a player in the mainstream consumer market), it was a foregone conclusion that when you got a new board, there would be an Intel chip with it. Times have changed. AMD and Cyrix took on Intel and AMD eventually survived the experience to carve out market share while Intel let itself get lapped by the upstart. Now, there is more choice as both Intel and AMD have licensed various manufacturers to make boards supporting their respective CPUs. But with choice comes confusion, and with confusion comes bad choices.

Your first choice is going to be whether you go with an Intel or an AMD socketed motherboard. You may be thinking "Shouldn't this be a choice I should make when I get the CPU later?" No. The choice of motherboard is going to dictate the choice of CPU, and vice versa if you decided to blow a wad of cash on the CPU first and not the motherboard. On the one hand, Intel has been around a long time, and they've gotten lean and hungry again in the market place. The CoreDuo processor has been out for a little while now, and there are several new motherboards which support it. If you're looking to make a more modest rig, there are still dozens of single core Intel CPU/motherboard combinations out there for your building needs. On the other hand, AMD isn't exactly sitting on its laurels. They were first to market with a dual core CPU, and so enjoy a natural edge in that particular technology. They've had the lead time to work some of the bugs out. Within the next six months or so, AMD is looking to release the first quad core CPU, and it is likely to stick with the AM2 socket specification which recently came out. Naturally, with the new spec, the more recent AMD motherboards (Socket 939 and 754) either have experienced or will shortly experience a price drop.

Another consideration is what is popularly termed the "northbridge" of the motherboard. This component is one half of the secondary chipset that appears on motherboards. The northbridge is the baseline against which your CPU will operate in terms of clock speed. Thus, having a northbridge with a fast clock speed of its own will help you get the most of out of your CPU.

A third consideration is the onboard chipset as a whole. The chipset is an umbrella term which collectively describe on-board components such as the memory controller, Ethernet adapter, and other items. Some chipsets include built-in video and audio components, which can be disabled to make way for add-on PCI cards, while others contain components which enhance add-on functionality rather than replace it. Do your homework on this. You'll likely save yourself trouble later on.

The last thing to consider is whether you intend to overclock the board and (later) the CPU. Overclocking is still a matter of debate among computer enthusiasts. The arguments for and against are both compelling, and it is best to consider overclocking as a balancing act. By overclocking your CPU and northbridge, you are increasing speed and performance, but you are also creating a more unstable computing environment, adding wear and tear on the components, and likely decreasing their lifespan. Without overclocking, your performance is going to be about what you'd expect from a stock motherboard and CPU, but your stability is likely to be greater. Alternatively, it is possible on some boards to underclock it, deliberately lowering the clock speed of the CPU and northbridge. While this option puts less demand on the components and likely extends their lifespan, it is also possible that you'll reach a point of diminishing returns, potentially retarding the system speed to the point where instabilities increase because the CPU isn't operating fast enough to keep up with the applications or operating system.

For the builder on a budget, it is possible to get previous generation boards from both Intel and AMD for about $50-$75, though you should definitely beware of "open box specials," motherboards which have been purchased previously, used, then returned for one reason or another. In theory, these boards have been tested and found functional, and thus can provide a slightly cheaper path to a good board. In practice, as in all things, caveat emptor. Also at this level, you're likely to find several kinds of MicroATX motherboards, so if you're looking to build a LAN party lunchbox rig, this is likely where you're going to find a solid (if mid-range) board.

For those with somewhat larger budgets, in the $75-$125 range, you're likely to find the bulk of new boards for current and last generation CPUs for both Intel and AMD. These are going to be good boards, well supported and documented, and likely to have the latest BIOS already installed. You may not find boards with tremendous amounts of expandability, but for those who aren't looking to make a screaming monster rig, there should be plenty of options available to you.

Those of you with generous budgets, $125-$200, will find motherboards which definitely geared more towards the enthusiast crowd, the guys who like to tweak every last little setting, getting their motherboard tuned just right. You'll find more powerful components, greater control over the northbridge, as well as built-in cooling options, wireless capability to compliment Ethernet adapters, and other added capabilities. However, you may also find a more limited range of expansion options. From a practical standpoint, you can only fit so many add-on cards to a motherboard, and you may find yourself having to choose between greater expandability (for a more generic machine) or greater performance (for a more specialized machine). Again, your basic concept will help you out here. The same rule applies for those who have utterly ludicrous amounts of cash to spend, or those who are willing to save up to buy a higher-end board. Note that you're not going to see many motherboards above $300 in most places. If you do, definitely shop around. Somebody's bound to have the same board for a significantly lower cost.

Cushing's Choice: As I was looking to make a semi-dedicated gaming machine, my focus was on the higher end of the motherboard spectrum. Ultimately, I went with the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard with the AMD AM2 CPU socket. ASUS has built a reputation for good boards over the years and this particular board shows why. The board came with numerous SATA hard drive cables, has built in gigabit Ethernet and an optional wireless antenna, an onboard cooling system, and is capable of supporting a dual SLI video card setup. Heck, they even threw in an SLI bridge for the video cards. Combined with the option of DDR2 800 RAM and an AMD dual core CPU, this board is definitely made for the gamer who demands blistering performance and total control over his computing environment.

Final Thoughts

My current rig still sucks, but the new one isn't going to.

When buying parts piecemeal, it's important to know your vendors and their stock on hand, as well as their policies on special ordering equipment. Small shops are more likely to make special orders, though you may have to hunt around to find them, and you may have to haggle with them if they're charging you more than what you're willing and able to spend. Bigger stores aren't likely to have all of the components you need out in plain sight, or they may not carry some components at all.

Online retailers such as Newegg and Tiger Direct will often have reviews of their products, but these are to be taken with a grain of salt. Ask around. The only stupid question is the one you don't ask. As a corollary to this, I would advise against trying to make inquiries with the big chain shops like Best Buy or Data Doctors. The big box stores have a sales staff which is ignorant, at best, while some of the smaller shops which advertise "computer services" have a condescending attitude and no actual stock which you can look at and ask questions about. When a chain shop says "we can build you a computer to your specifications," they may not be giving you as many options as you think.

Be patient. Buying pieces one at a time and building when you've got all the parts gathered is enough to test the patience of a saint, but it'll be worth it.

Don't be afraid to make a visual inspection of components you buy over the Internet. Make sure there aren't bits and pieces laying in the anti-static bag which properly should be on the component itself, but don't keep pulling the thing out and pawing at it.

Save the receipts. All of them. Put them in a bag or folder, seal it, and keep it handy. This isn't going to be like buying a computer from Dell or Alienware. You will have warranties for each individual component, and you will need to fish them out should something go wrong. If you're building your rig, you ARE your own tech support.

Until next time...

Axel Cushing

October 22, 2006