14 DAY TRIAL // If you somehow happened to stumble upon $12,000 and you're not sure what to do with it, try building a server-like PC. $4,000 customized PCs from Alineware or VooDoo PC won't stand a chance against a $12,000 monster configuration. But what exactly should this PC configuration include in order to get the most out of what it has to offer?
An Australian PC enthusiast came up with a dubious system configuration that fits the dozen figure. He chose a Lian Li V2000 case for his ultimate rig, which provides lots of drive space, very good airflow and a multitude of handy features, all this in a huge, solid enclosure. Since the system is powered by Intel's QX 6700 Extreme CPU, the only motherboard that could fit inside a $12,000 rig is none other than the ASUS Striker Extreme model. I wonder if the Australian guy knows that such a motherboard supports 8GB of memory, since he only got four 1GB Corsair XMS Pro DDR2 modules. Maybe it was a little too much for him. Eventually, he could have gotten the Appro XtremeWorkstation with 128GB of RAM, but then again, I don't think this guy is really informed on such products.
Moreover, the fact that he included 10 HDDs inside the monster rig indicates that he was looking to fill that case enclosure to its limits, rather than really needing that much storage space. In this sense, he included one Western Digital Raptor 150G, eight WD 320G drives and one WD 400G, making for 3.1 TB of storage space. You think that this was enough for the Aussie? How about six Pioneer DVD burners? I guess the guy is looking to build his own CD-labeling company. There's only one (!?) 1000W PSU from Enermax and to cool off that tremendous heat the guy thought to include a Swifttech H20 Ultra Watercooling kit. Maybe he should buy another PSU because he also included a SLI configuration made up of two NVIDIA 8800 GTX graphics cards, and I personally don't understand how all these components manage to coexist on one 1000W PSU.
Other components that were added to the $12,000 rig include a 30" Apple LCD capable of 2560x1600 resolutions, the loud Logitech Z-5500 THX speaker system and the spiffy Logitech Dinovo Edge keyboard. All in all, I think the Aussie did not make the right choices, considering that he could have opted for a 30" Dell display which costs $900 less than the Apple display and proves to provide better image quality. The guy just bought the most expensive stuff, not necessarily the best.