Say I wanted the best performing PC

[MikeSD]

Hypothetical...

Say I wanted the best performing PC. Not just the best gaming computer but one that scored the highest on every benchmark parameter, on every benchmark program. Say I want fast gaming, fastest booting, fastest opening of files, fastest on image processing, fastest on video production, fastest peripherals, etc.

Is that even possible?

I mean, for instance there might be a graphics card that scores very high on 3D rendering but is less of a performer when it comes to 2D or some other test.

Say I wanted it to be Windows based and based on standard PC components (i.e. not some mainframe computer). Yeah, yeah, I know "Windows based" and "best performance" are oxymorons. But say that is the goal. And, I want this with standard PC slotted components. And say that cost really isn't the issue.

What might this PC consist of (components)?

And just for the hypothetical, say cost isn't important.

What might this PC cost?

Now say that I don't want to go out and hunt down all the parts myself. Say I want to have someone else put it together for me.

Where would I go, to have one built?

 

[Der-PC-Mann]

I would suggest just nabbing the highest quality Alienware computer, as they tend to have it all, and it saves building it.

You'll want the best Intel CPU money can buy, the 680 nVidia card in quad-SLI (should annihilate anything you throw at it, whether it's games, or other 3D applications) and go for 16GB of the highest caliber RAM. You would have to have water cooling, so that you could OC the hell out of everything and achieve the best cooling/noise levels. You would definitely need a few of the SSD range, and will probably need to RAID a few (I believe 24 is possible) them all together. You'll of course need the best motherboard money can buy, whatever the hell that might be, but as long as it supports quad-SLI, the latest processors, 5v+ on the Vcore, and a crazy host of other features. You'll definitely want the most advanced sound card you can get to ensure that ALL sound processing is done by a dedicated unit as apposed to the motherboard/CPU dealing with it. You'd need a large case, probably with a separate unit for the RAID SS drives, to ensure the best airflow, as you'd likely want to mix standard air and water cooling.

There are a few alternatives, but they aren't at all realistic, such as submerging none-moving parts of the rig into oil (search up this on YT) or you could use liquid nitrogen (again, YT) for the CPU, but again, this is highly unrealistic, and probably dangerous as hell; something that should only be done as a science experiment, in the correct environment, I expect.

I remember a few years ago, reading up on something and discovering that you could apparently directly connect two motherboards up together and share components/performance, allowing for an out-of-this-world setup, but whether that was nonsense or simply a set of strictly observational theories, I have no clue.

I haven't the foggies what it would cost, but I can guess (for the Alienware) easily £5K+ for the absolute supreme, although RRP and online prices will drastically differ. I've only recently got into the high-end gear, so I'm still picking up on what's the latest and greatest, but I can still theorise.

Is this for school, college, or uni'? xD

 

[MikeSD]

Nah! It's not for school. I've just gone though an exercise of upgrading my PC at home and wondered what one might do, if they wanted to start from scratch and buy the best possible.

I'm getting ready to retire and have some extra fundage available for my last computer (yeah right, I only have 5 right now) and was thinking about buying the fastest I could get.

I'm doing it, just don't know what it will be yet. I have looked at the alienware laptops. But I'm thinking about getting a desktop. I was expecting it to run me between $5K and $8K, based on some looking around. But the thing I want to avoid is buying anything and then wanting to replace any of the components. I want it all right the first time, with the best I can reasonably afford. In other words, I don't want anyone I know to be able to buy a faster computer. Basically I want the "joneses" to keep up with me.

I do have another question though. Does a "gaming" computer automagically mean that every other performance parameter will be faster than ordinary PCs? I know gaming are great for their graphics but does that automatically make them better across the board, in terms of performance?

PS: I won't be going to the trouble of submerging it into liquid nitrogen. It will be just a single box, with the best I can stick in it.

 

[Der-PC-Mann]

Last computer...

Well, I just looked at Alienware computers, and found this:

Alienware Desktops & Gaming PCs | Dell UK

...£1.2K and my rig (I built it from scratch) floors it, so I guess they're not that fantastic, bar the water-cooling (meh.. it's risky and sometimes unnecessary, although it does look "cool"!) and perhaps 4GB RAM, not that it's even necessary.

I think, since this will be your last rig, that you should have a blast and build one yourself. Have someone help you out, if you can, to ensure you don't accidentally make a boo boo.

EDIT:

Hold up, I just realised that there's more if you scroll down.. lol..

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dell...&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=alienware-aurora-r4

That one is pretty good, however certainly not the "best", but, it would most certainly nail shizz.

 

[MikeSD]

I think, since this will be your last rig, that you should have a blast and build one yourself. Have someone help you out, if you can, to ensure you don't accidentally make a boo boo.

I'm an electrical engineer and have put these together before. I think I could do it ok. But it's been a while since I researched the leading edge stuff. I just value my time and would just prefer to have one built and tested, before I get it. I'm looking on the alienware site as I type.

The thing that got me started thinking about this again is that I just started a new job and I have a nice gaming computer at work. It has an i7 quad core, with 16G RAM and a EVGA GeForce 560Ti. Never had a computer before that had 5 fans in it. I've never seen so many blue LED lights on a computer before. This got me thinking about upgrading my PC at home. I increased the performance of it 5 fold, without even touching the processor, just by adding RAM and changing the graphics card and sticking in a couple of SSD drives.

PS: The "last computer" was just a funny.

 

[Der-PC-Mann]

Oooooh. xD Thank Gawd! You can never have a "last computer" Haha.

Nice, sounds like you've got the knawleg to build one, so I believe you'll be OK!

I've only recently got into the high-end gear, and I've done perfectly, although I've been doing this for 10 years, but still... I've had to get accustomed to a lot of near gear.

If you have a friendly computer shop nearby that build them for you, you could ask them some questions and get them to show you some stuff; if they're nice, they'll help out a fellow electronic person thingy.

I strongly recommend a PC over a laptop, because PCs generally are more capable and a lot easier to fix!

EDIT:

BTW, I keep recommending to people the MSI Twin Frozr II 560Ti OC GPU, as it's pretty damn awesome.