2021 06 13

What computer shall I build this time? I'm a retired guy with an appreciation for excellence and (maybe) enough budget to do excellence. My computer experience started in 1962 with the University's Control Data 1604 using a magnetic tape operating system. Indeed, even though that computer cost a million dollars, disk was still a dream. My how times have changed.

I'm going to make (another) very hot, dual-purpose, world-class (if consumer-grade) Windows 10 desktop computer.

New Computer with RGB (LED) Fans
Photo by Don

Last February, 2021, I fired up a really nice new homebuilt desktop computer with an AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU, the gamey little brother of the Ryzen 9 5950X CPU, which is is arguably the hottest silicon on today's market. Both CPUs sport 16 cores and 32 threads with speeds that make them appropriate for BOTH gaming and content creation. At the time, I bought the 3950X instead of the 5950X to avoid scalper's prices and sellers with odious reputations. That computer is working very well, thank you, but perhaps I'll upgrade to the 5950X soon anyway. The ASUS mobo and everything else will support the big brother.

Now I want to build another new computer just because it's fun to build hot computers. I don't really have any use for it yet - perhaps I'll sell it, or use it and sell the first one. Cost is an issue, but performance is a bigger one. Here are some features that are already pretty much decided:

Photo by Don

Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. I'll get one somewhere, maybe two. Prices are coming down and the sellers are looking more reliable. In fact, BREAKING NEWS, last week (June 5, 2021) Amazon was selling these from their own warehouse to prime members, with 3-week delivery, at the AMD list price of $799. Today they aren't, though. Sigh. Guess I should have snagged one when I could have. Yep. 

More BREAKING NEWS - I just ordered one from Amazon Prime with delivery in July. $799.00 Sold by Amazon, shipped by Amazon. And just now I hear that delivery will be in June after all. I like Amazon.

ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero,
 Image borrowed from Amazon

Motherboard: ASUS ROG, X570, exact model to be determined. TUF? STRIX? Crosshair? What kind of a name is "Crosshair" anyway? (oh, it's a rifle sight). Or "Strix" for that matter (a mythical bird of ill omen). I choose ASUS only because I have some experience with ASUS. Most of that experience is good, though not all. Is there a better mobo? Comments invited. Maybe this isn't so very decided after all. Having done some searching, I'd probably choose the same board that I bought before, the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero, though I was advised online not to waste my money on "that brick." 

Looking further, however, I'm now attracted to the newer ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII "Dark Hero" mobo. It's more expensive yet, but has every feature of the plain ordinary brick plus Wi-Fi, and seems somehow simpler and more straightforward. In particular, it doesn't seem to need its own fan to cool the X570 chips. It's just cool all by itself. $433.89. BLT (ShopBit.com).

More coming soon ...