Background: Andrew Is Dying
On Friday, the harddrive array in Andrew failed while I was running BackTrack 4. I then logged out of X which showed me numerous error messages when I returned to the terminal. Not good. I then ‘gracefully’ shutdown the system via the poweroff command and ended up seeing numerous errors for that as well even after I got the harddrive array running again. Alas, it was too late and the damage had been done. Upon booting back into BackTrack, I was greeted with many errors and dropped into a recovery terminal with only busybox to help me. The Windows side of the equation wasn’t any better as the entire array would stay up only long enough to get past GRUB. After that, it would flicker on and off while trying to load Windows. To add insult to injury, if I unplug the power from the 80GB harddrive, the BIOS doesn’t detect the 60GB drive which I have the OSes installed on. As such, I decided to build a new computer; one that would grow with me over the years as I need more storage capacity or new components…
Solution: The Next Computer
This idea came as I was looking into two USB DACs for use with my MacBook: the FiiO E7 (it isn’t just a DAC but that is for another post) and the NuForce uDAC. Provided that I can add an external sound card to my computer why not use the same concept for other components? I then started researching which components I would need for the project using the following criteria: power consumption, size & weight, features, style and finally price. Power consumption and size & weight is at the forefront of my decision making process since I want to cut down on the energy I consume and I do plan to travel and move in the near future. Features, style and price all speak for themselves really as I know the system I build will easily fit in those criteria. With all of this in mind, I designed The Next System around these components:
Links in the center column lead to either the component’s page on a store’s website, their own page on the manufacturer’s website or another page where information on the product can be found. Links in the right column lead to either a store’s webpage for that component or a currency conversion page.
| Component | Make/Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mainboard: | Pegatron IPX7A-ION | Varies |
| Processor: | Intel Atom 330 | 0.00 |
| Graphics: | Nvidia ION (9400M) | 0.00 |
| Memory: | Corsair 4GB DDR2 SODIMM (2 x 2GB) | 96.75 |
| Case: | Custom made | Your choice |
| Sound Card: | FiiO E7 | ~80.00 |
| Harddrives: | Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640GB x 4 | 556.00 |
| Harddrive Enclosures: | Acomdata Tango x 4 | 84.56 |
| Power Supply: | picoPSU-120 Power Supply Kit | Varies |
| eSATA Adapters: | Tripp Lite SATA to eSATA Cable x 4 StarTech eSATA Adapter F/F x 4 |
32.12 16.08 |
| eSATA Cables: | StarTech Shielded eSATA Cable 3FT | 52.28 |
| Sub-Total: | ~1,100.00 |
As you can see, a fully loaded system would set you back over $1,100.00 CDN. This is before you factor in monitors, a keyboard and a mouse as well as anything else that would be required when using the system. The genius of the system can be fully realized when you see that most the cost is for the soundcard, harddrives and RAM. These components can be swapped for those of a lower capacity.
I truly hope that this helps anyone who wishes to build a low-power yet high-performance system. Enjoy.
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