Helpful advice needed on building a system

I am wondering if this is the appropriate place to ask for help on a system build. If not, could someone direct me to it?

 

First I will quickly summarize my experience. If you are interested in helping me, my next post will actually start the process. I hope that is OK with everyone.

 

This will be my first system build in almost 20 years. Prior to that they tended to be the size of refrigerators. I was formerly an employee of Sequent Computer Systems in the 1980s and early 1990s, culminating in a position as a systems engineer in the custom systems group in that company. It was kind of like being a NASCAR designer - or maybe a Freightliner designer as our systems were high performance commercial equipment. In 1987 I was part of a group of people who built out the first four servers for UUNET which was the first commercial ISP in the world. I also was one of the first (NEVER claim to be the first at anything!) to use tower-sized PCs running UNIX as specialized servers front-ending larger systems and feeding them by ethernet. (In my case they connected X.25 networks and ARCNET networks to our larger servers. These services are obviously replaced by routers now, though ours did much more than just route.) After that I worked as a systems engineer at a telecom company for a while, then retired from high tech.

 

My wife and I have owned a small store in coastal Oregon for the last 19 years now. For most of that time we have had a policy of buying only Dell equipment because they are reasonably priced and reasonably reliable. And because we got burned with some very shoddy locally configured PC clones in the mid-'90s. I have always bought the best Dell line (Optiplex or Precision recently) and by buying just below the highest end processors and carefully selecting options I have been able to get systems which are very functional for 5 or 6 years. Maybe banks and other large corporations (or lawyers and doctors) can afford to replace their computers ever couple of years, but small businesses cannot.

 

So why vary from that plan? In recent years Dell has tightened up on its definitions of these systems quite a bit. You buy a home system or a workstation or an office system and you are only able to customize based on their models of how those types of computers are used. My personal computer probably comes most close to their definition of a workstation and in fact I am getting ready to replace a Precision 390 workstation. But to configure it the way I want seems extraordinarily expensive. I remembered seeing some motherboards at Fry's a few years ago, so I thought I'd do some surfing and WOW! there are a lot of very sophisticated options out there now. And it appears that if I buy intelligently I should be able to upgrade my system from time to time rather than having to replace the whole thing every 5 or 6 years. Who knows, maybe I'll get 10 years out of this one! By that time I'll either be dead or retired. :-)

 

So what do you all say? I'm not a gamer, I would like a fairly fast and highly reliable computer which is fairly cost-effective and which I can grow/upgrade as needed. I have left these criteria vague on purpose so I know I can meet them. :-) Can anyone help? If so, my next posting will give an idea of what I've seen and thought about so far.

 

Thanks.

fire away.well see how we can help but decide the money factor first

I am looking to build a desktop system. It must be capable of running my basic accounting software, using Remote Desktop to access the computers at the store via our permanent LAN to LAN VPN, working with spreadsheets and text docs using Open Office, editing photos with GIMP, playing nice music, showing Netflix videos, and all the usual browsing and email (FireFox and Thunderbird).

 

I wish to be able to have a lot of those things open at a time. Right now I've got Thunderbird, FireFox with probably close to a hundred tabs open - I do a lot of research - Google Earth, multiple PDFs, Locknote, Open Office (three spreadsheets) and UltraEdit Studio all open on my computer. It's doing OK, but can get a little balky. Once I get its replacement it will replace an older cash register computer and will probably be good for another 5 years.

 

Any off the shelf computer can do these things, and most of them all at once. For a couple of years. I wish to build partly because I think I can get a system with lots of headroom to grow and upgrade for many years.

 

Next: what I've looked at so far....

The money factor: hopefully less that $2K, though I could probably fudge that upwards if necessary by buying some components as upgrades after the main system is built. The main system is a capital outlay, subsequent upgrades are operating expenses. :-)

I initially talked to a fella here at Corsair about a power supply and he was amazingly helpful. I would probably be tempted to ply him with all of my questions but that seems partly unfair to him and no matter how helpful he is, he is still going to be most familiar with Corsair products. I have done some research and Corsair is very highly recommended as being quality and honest, so don't worry guys, I'm not going to take advantage of their forum and then buy everything elsewhere. Never-the-less, I cannot promise that everything will be Corsair.

 

He recommended the Obsidian 650D case. It's quite a bit wider (thicker?) than my current one, but I'm flexible on that. I do move twice a year and in one house have to carry it up two flights of stairs, so I hope it isn't any heavier that my P390 because I'm getting pretty old for that!

 

Can anyone comment on this case? Will I hate it for some reason? It is currently sitting in my shopping cart, so if you want to talk me out of it, now's the time...

PC architecture is always changing. In 5-6 years you'll probably see another socket or two, DDR4(?), maybe even new expansion slot types and new internal and external connectors. You may get 5-6 years out of the system with occasional upgrades, but not 10. Ultimately there will come a time when even if it runs ok (assuming a couple of OS reinstalls), you'll want to upgrade the system for new technology.

 

Example: My rig is almost 4 years old. I eventually upgraded it from HDDs to SSDs, and upgraded the video card after 3 years. Runs everything I throw at it with no problem. However, I'm limited with SATA II and USB 2.0 connections on a triple channel system. If I were to upgrade (which I might), I'd need a new motherboard, CPU and memory (my SSD is already SATA III).

 

Sidenote: If it's for a business there are other things to consider, e.g. regular backups (both local and online/offsite for optimal protection).

 

 

I am looking to build a desktop system. It must be capable of running my basic accounting software, using Remote Desktop to access the computers at the store via our permanent LAN to LAN VPN, working with spreadsheets and text docs using Open Office, editing photos with GIMP, playing nice music, showing Netflix videos, and all the usual browsing and email (FireFox and Thunderbird).

 

I wish to be able to have a lot of those things open at a time. Right now I've got Thunderbird, FireFox with probably close to a hundred tabs open - I do a lot of research - Google Earth, multiple PDFs, Locknote, Open Office (three spreadsheets) and UltraEdit Studio all open on my computer. It's doing OK, but can get a little balky. Once I get its replacement it will replace an older cash register computer and will probably be good for another 5 years.

 

Any off the shelf computer can do these things, and most of them all at once. For a couple of years. I wish to build partly because I think I can get a system with lots of headroom to grow and upgrade for many years.

 

Next: what I've looked at so far....

Do you have a server (and if so, domain)? If you're accessing PCs over a VPN, will this new PC be in the office, or at your home?

 

100 tabs open? Reminds me of someone I knew who used to have 150 emails open at any given time. Realistically it's impossible to use that many of anything efficiently, let alone at once.

 

As for the case, wait a couple of days to allow people to read / respond to this thread.

 

Regarding non-Corsair items, ultimately you'll be best off posting a similar thread in a non-biased forum.

thats a very good case but then most of corsair cases are.i just upgraded one of mine with a 500r,not too big but can handle most any component with lots of room

plus their cases have nice cable management

i think the case and m/b are your biggest purchase concern for future mods

ASUS was recommended as a good motherboard manufacturer. I read some very bad reviews of them from people who claimed to get faulty product and could get no resolution of their problems. I realize that there are always a few problems even with the best equipment and that none of these boards are NASA-quality (I did once modify a system to go up in the Shuttle cargo bay...) so I'm just interested in other feedback or options to consider.

 

The ASUS P8Z77-V PREMIUM looks like a nice board. It will supposedly take the most recent i7 processors, so I presume that I may be able to upgrade to even faster ones in the future if I wish. Yes, obviously by then the 1155 socket will be old stuff, but if I can put a faster processor in it than what I buy now, it may still get me another year of use.

 

But it can only address 32 Gb of memory. That might seem a lot today, but so did the 8Gb max in my current P390 when I bought it and I upgraded to 8GB a couple of years ago and wish I could put more in right now. Is this limit set by the Z77 chipset or by ASUS?

 

The ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS has two 2011 sockets. Now those look interesting. Can I put one CPU in now and one sometime in the future? If so, do they both have to be identical?

 

This board and the Xeon chips that seem to go into them look more "workstation/serverish" than the first board. Will I be happy with them with stated usage (previous posting)?

 

It appears that this board is more of a "powerhouse" which would need sound and video cards added, while the first (1155 socket) board is more of an all-in-one board. Does that sound right or am I misunderstanding?

 

I can afford to add sound and video cards if necessary.

 

One more posting after this and then I'll let it ride and see what you all have to say.

This one will be quick. I need decent sound, decent video - not gamer quality, but with DVI connectors and HDMI for future growth - an old fashioned phone modem port, a parallel printer port. I need a place to put one of those front-panel camera card reader panels. I need lots of USB ports front and rear. I hate the clutter of having all those pathetic little plastic accessory bubbles and their yards of cabling strewn all over my desk. One ethernet port is acceptible. Wireless would be nice if I could bridge it to my ethernet and have my own private little WAP for talking to my Android phone.

your more than welcome to ask all you want,its just that waiting a couple days will generate more responses

personally im sold on asus boards as i have that in all my builds

you should decide on a budget and stay in that with parts as im sure you know you can really sink a wad in a build.

i think 1155 will be good for a few years while a 2011 does have more options to offer

for 2k tho the 1155 is your best deal,32 gig memory should work for a few years

a ssd is a must along with memory

check out the asus p8z77pro,good onboard sound/video,hdmi,lots of usb ect..

I wouldn't recommend a dual CPU socket for your first build, nor for your needs.

 

Parallel port / 56K? Can't recall a motherboard that comes with a parallel port expansion add on nowadays. You'll need expansion slots. Why do you need them?

 

As for USB, how many devices are you talking about?

How many are USB 2.0 devices?

How many are USB 3.0 devices?

In terms of clutter, a powered USB hub may help in certain situations (not to mention monitors with USB connections on them).

i decided on my 3770 processor by looking at online benchmark results,it did almost as good as some xeon and many others priced much higher

perhaps you can do some research on parts like that

i also got my ssd like that and was pleased with both

PC architecture is always changing.

I agree with you completely. Yet remember that I have been getting 6 years on my Dells just by carefully selecting the basic system which will support my upgrading for the longest time. I'm not in search of ultimate performance for the life of the system, I just want one that will give me the most headroom so I can drag its pathetic life out as long as possible.

 

I am also assuming that if I do one day need to upgrade the motherboard, that I will be able to do that without having to replace the entire system. I cannot upgrade my current Dell system - or so I've been told. It is too non-standard to take an off-the shelf ATX motherboard. I'm kind of looking at this as a box of components that I can keep and grow the longest without replacing. And another reason is that I really don't enjoy replacing systems. It takes way too much time. I can never eliminate that, but if I can reduce it, so much the better.

 

Finally, POS (Point of Sale) systems are very basic and use older tried-and-true technologies. So when my system is too far behind, I can always strip out my software and move it to a cash register position at the store. :-)

 

Sidenote: If it's for a business there are other things to consider, e.g. regular backups (both local and online/offsite for optimal protection).

Again, we are in 100% agreement. Yes, it is both for business and pleasure, though mostly for business. I do backups to a 1Tb USB 3.0 drive right now. That seems pretty straightforward. If there is some consideration I must make about this in planning my system, please tell me about it.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention: I also use POS software on this system along with Peachtree (my accounting software) so I can track purchase orders and such.

 

Do you have a server (and if so, domain)? If you're accessing PCs over a VPN, will this new PC be in the office, or at your home?

No, just peer to peer lans, one at the store and one at home, the two lans connected by the VPN. We mostly use it for RDP and passing files around. This PC will be at my home, though when one is self-employed the line between home and office disappears. Completely in our case as I spend most of my very long working hours in my office at home.

 

100 tabs open? Reminds me of someone I knew who used to have 150 emails open at any given time. Realistically it's impossible to use that many of anything efficiently, let alone at once.

 

I knew I was going to get grief over that! It's not as inefficient as you think. Just consider: right now 10 of those tabs are in use on this very subject: the system configuration. The ASUS site, for example, has a comparison utility, but there is no data for many of their boards, so I have two tabs open to the two boards I've mentioned so I can refer to them easily. I spend some hours every day correlating purchases to credit card websites, tracking bank accounts, monitoring my merchant accounts, and so on. It's easier to leave those 11 tabs open all the time than to always be opening and closing them. Tab grouping allows me to categorize what I've got in the works to a point where I can easily find what I need. Some of those tabs have been open for weeks and I'm sure a few of them need to be closed, but most of them are fine where they are. I used to use bookmarks and hated their inconvenience. Some day someone will come along with a better way to organize my online activities and I'm always open to it, but I haven't seen it yet. So for now, lots of tabs are part of the requirement. :-)

 

As for the case, wait a couple of days to allow people to read / respond to this thread.

Will do. I really placed it in the shopping cart a couple of days ago so I could close the tab. (Seriously! :-) If I need to buy something else in the meantime, I can just shuffle it off to the Save list.

 

Regarding non-Corsair items, ultimately you'll be best off posting a similar thread in a non-biased forum.

I hope to find one. Meanwhile, we'll see how this one goes. Thanks for your help so far.

thats a very good case but then most of corsair cases are.i just upgraded one of mine with a 500r,not too big but can handle most any component with lots of room

plus their cases have nice cable management

i think the case and m/b are your biggest purchase concern for future mods

 

That 500r is a little smaller, which is good, but not too small. I see it has a big fan on the side. Does it pull the air out of the system? If so, does it blow hard enough to blow the papers off of the printer that sits next to the system?

 

Come to think of it, both of the cases mentioned so far tout super good cooling and lots of fans. How loud are they? My wife shares the office and isn't going to be happy if my computer sounds like the front of a Beechcraft Bonanza. And if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

i decided on my 3770 processor by looking at online benchmark results,it did almost as good as some xeon and many others priced much higher

perhaps you can do some research on parts like that

i also got my ssd like that and was pleased with both

 

I have that processor open in another tab right now. Do you remember where the benchmark was? It would be interesting to see.

 

Thanks!

i cant say how loud they are as i replaced them with corsair h80 fans so i could set them for temp changes using the link commander but the way its set up now its totally quiet till a 55c load is used.

brb,ill find the benchmark

here you go

 

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I wouldn't recommend a dual CPU socket for your first build, nor for your needs.

OK. Could I ask why? I'm not arguing, just trying to learn. The learning curve is steep, but I think I can do it.

 

Parallel port / 56K? Can't recall a motherboard that comes with a parallel port expansion add on nowadays. You'll need expansion slots. Why do you need them?

Parallel port for my creaking old buy highly reliable LaserJet 1300 printer. (I bought a newer LaserJet for the store and have been totally disgusted with it.) Modem because even though we try to carry on all of our very extensive business transactions electronically, some of our suppliers are still in the last century and they like to fax us stuff.

 

I have been assuming that I would have to buy cards for these ports.

 

As for USB, how many devices are you talking about?

How many are USB 2.0 devices?

How many are USB 3.0 devices?

In terms of clutter, a powered USB hub may help in certain situations (not to mention monitors with USB connections on them).

 

Right now my only USB 3.0 devices are the backup disk drive and the all-in-one card reader. But I had a heck of a time finding a USB 3.0 card which would work in my old system a couple of years ago (when USB 3.0 was still fairly new) and I assume that in the next decade more and more things will require USB 3.0.

 

Right now in the 2.0 ports on the front panel I've got a USB key for my POS system, a USB headset for telephoning, two USB memory sticks, one with my encrypted password file on it and one that I was using for moving data and never bothered to pull out. On the back I've got a scanner (I need a new one of those, too, and I bet it will be USB 3.0 'cause this one is really slow), the keyboard, a numeric keypad (nice Cherry keys for doing data entry), and one of those infernal USB hubs which I've never bothered to un-knit from the mess and put away.

 

I sure hope I don't need any more ports than that.

brb,ill find the benchmark

here you go

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Thank you!

In regards to backing up data, the 3-2-1 plan is the best (google it for a wealth of info). In short:

3 copies of all data using at least

2 different types of storage media and at least

1 copy offsite (at home, or in the cloud, etc).

 

#2 can also be two copies onsite in case one goes bad or is corrupt, but depending on what goes bad and how urgent it may be (and how fast your internet connection is), your online copy may suffice as one of your go to backups.

 

If you want to go a bit further you can ensure you have backups in different geographic locations (could be data on online backups in different parts of the country, or the world, or just you occasionally ship backups to a friend in a different state and ship them back).

 

Google 3-2-1 for more info. Note: It also refers to a way to design high availability virtualization. (Dell link)

 

Don't forget, depending on what type of data it is (SSNs, credit card info, intellectual property, etc) you should encrypt your primary data and/or backups (and may be legally required to in some cases).

 

If you go with something like that, also look into a NAS. For example, I have at home a Synology DS1511+ NAS. It's my media server, but I can certainly back up to it, and if I wanted, I could have it back up files to the cloud (IIRC there's a CrashPlan app for it, and there may be a couple more cloud backup apps for it). It can also tie into active directory, share a printer or two, record video from security cameras, OpenVPN, and more.

 

Good point about grouping tabs. I'd still bookmark them, just in case :)

 

Regarding your phone, what are you looking to do ultimately? Just get it onto your WiFi, or something more complicated (e.g. access files via the VPN)?

 

Dual CPU socket is just not something that's needed for most people, and you have more potential failure points. Not to mention overkill :)

 

56K: Could go internal or external. For faxing I'd just get an all in one printer.

 

You may not see USB 3.0 on a scanner (haven't bothered to look myself), as there's just not that much data to pass through. The slow scanning is a bad driver or just a slow scanner.

 

As for extra USB ports and card readers, look into LCD monitors with both built in. Some Dell UltraSharp models have them built in for example.

the 3770k i got is unlocked and its overclocked to 4.3 ghz with 35c idle and low 50's full load but that is using corsairs h80 hydro cooler

as you can see the 3770 is really close in performance as those that cost 1k and up

In regards to backing up data, the 3-2-1 plan is the best (google it for a wealth of info). In short:

 

I sorta do that, but I differentiate between types of data and their importance. Our Point of Sale data is the most important. One of our registers also has the POS server running on it. I wrote a little utility which monitors activity and occasionally makes a quick copy of the entire (large) database and then copies that onto another register. So it is almost mirrored. If anything goes so wrong that we need the backup, a few lost sales aren't going to break the bank. At the end of the day a compressed full backup of the database is made and that gets uploaded to our web server. (Can I put in a plug for SyncBack SE here?) Email and such is backed up from one system to another once a week. Frankly, I would have mixed feelings about losing the email - they never delete anything! They're worse than me and all my tabs. :-)

 

On my personal/office computer I backup my encrypted password file rigorously because that has all of my important numbers in it. I keep it in Locknote which has 128 bit encryption. If the NSA or some serious hacker group got it they could probably crack it, but I'm not really much of a target for either of them. I am failingly lax about the rest of my system. I to a complete data backup twice a year when moving between the winter palace and the dacha (CA and OR) and leave it behind. I do other backups in the interim but they are sporadic. My upload speeds are slow, so I am limited on what I can back up online.

 

Google 3-2-1 for more info.

I will do that. It sounds interesting.

 

Don't forget, depending on what type of data it is (SSNs, credit card info, intellectual property, etc) you should encrypt your primary data and/or backups (and may be legally required to in some cases).

Oh yeah, legally is right. We take credit cards through our POS system. It encrypts everything. The encrypted info is there for something like two weeks in case we need to credit back a sale or something, but it is unavailable to us to use - the credit has to be processed through the POS system. Even our POS software supplier cannot unencrypt the data. They use software modules supplied by the processing company and those get decryption keys from the processing company when the need arises.

 

If you go with something like that, also look into a NAS. For example, I have at home a Synology DS1511+ NAS. It's my media server, but I can certainly back up to it, and if I wanted, I could have it back up files to the cloud (IIRC there's a CrashPlan app for it, and there may be a couple more cloud backup apps for it).

So then it's more of a server than just some networked drives?

 

Regarding your phone, what are you looking to do ultimately? Just get it onto your WiFi, or something more complicated (e.g. access files via the VPN)?

The truth is, I am very unsophiticate when it comes to these phones. In fact, my only cell phone for the last few years was a simple one that just remained in my truck. (And in fact, still does.) We've never had any use for a smart phone and I never paid them the time of day. Then last spring my wife, who used to be a very high level high tech salesperson, got the itch to associate herself with a startup company. Shortly thereafter she announced that we needed to get smart phones so she could show the fancy user interface to her customers. We? Yep, I'm the IT staff, too, so I had to get one so I can figure out how to help her when she calls with frantic questions. :-)

 

We do have wireless routers in the house and in the store, but have blocked access to our LAN for security reasons. We give out the password to friends and visiting sales reps and such. But I would like to be able to get to my computer and yes, to my VPN, from the phone. This is by no means of any importance to the normal use of the computer. I just mentioned that I wouldn't mind if I had a WIFI capability that I could keep tightly secured and private.

 

Dual CPU socket is just not something that's needed for most people, and you have more potential failure points. Not to mention overkill :)

Understood and it makes sense. The reasons I considered them were that some of the Dell Precision configurations offered dual Xeon chips and it just piqued my interest. If I found a board with a single 2011 socket would that give me better processor upgrade potential than the 1155 socket? I won't hold you to your answer, if you chose to answer, but I would certainly be interested in an opinion if one were voiced.

 

56K: Could go internal or external. For faxing I'd just get an all in one printer.

No way. I got an HP all-in-one for the store and it is junk. I'd rather spend the $15 for a board and have it in my computer where I need the incoming fax, anyway.

 

You may not see USB 3.0 on a scanner (haven't bothered to look myself), as there's just not that much data to pass through. The slow scanning is a bad driver or just a slow scanner.

At high scanning resolutions the scanner moves a bit, then waits for the data to download, then moves a bit more and waits again, etc. It's an old scanner, but just won't die and it makes pretty good scans. But I've been thinking of getting one with about 3x the resolution so I can scan a box of old photos. I figured 3x resolution probably means about 9x the data even at the same color bit depth, so if the USB 2.0 is holding it up even a bit right now, it will probably be holding it up even more with the new scanner. But I don't think it's a really big deal in this discussion.

your more than welcome to ask all you want,its just that waiting a couple days will generate more responses

I am about to hit the sack right now, so we'll see what comes up tomorrow. Thanks for your helpful suggestions.

 

personally im sold on asus boards as i have that in all my builds

you should decide on a budget and stay in that with parts as im sure you know you can really sink a wad in a build.

I'll probably go all over the map and finally come up with a good solution. Who knows, it could end up being a Dell, but I honestly would rather do it myself if I can do it for the same or less money. The older I get the more stubbornly independent I get and the less interested in just taking what I'm served up.

 

a ssd is a must along with memory

I have two almost brand new WD Velociraptor drives which I am hoping I will be able to move into the new computer, putting the older, smaller Velociraptor that came with the old system back in place so I can recycle it as a POS cash register system. I think I'll hold off on the SSD until I can get a much bigger one for a lower price. They are still pretty high on the price curve right now.

So then it's more of a server than just some networked drives?

Yes. It's a customized flavor of linux. Full web GUI. There's a demo on their website.

 

 

We do have wireless routers in the house and in the store, but have blocked access to our LAN for security reasons. We give out the password to friends and visiting sales reps and such.

Some home routers (and most if not all business routers) allow you to have separate networks. You could have one network for the business traffic and another for friends. On the home routers it's as easy as enabling the guest WiFi and setting up the SSID and password.

 

 

But I've been thinking of getting one with about 3x the resolution so I can scan a box of old photos. I figured 3x resolution probably means about 9x the data even at the same color bit depth, so if the USB 2.0 is holding it up even a bit right now, it will probably be holding it up even more with the new scanner. But I don't think it's a really big deal in this discussion.

I'm actually going to ship off a box of photos to a scanning / restoration company in a couple of weeks. Reasonable cost, and they're in the USA (not all are). Don't feel comfortable sending them across the country, let alone half way around the globe.

 

 

Who knows, it could end up being a Dell, but I honestly would rather do it myself if I can do it for the same or less money. The older I get the more stubbornly independent I get and the less interested in just taking what I'm served up.

Dell will do it for cheaper, but like you mentioned, you can't upgrade certain parts easily, if at all. Some stuff's just still proprietary.

In my current system I have the original WD Velociraptor drive (160Gb) and two newer and larger ones. I think they are quite fast enough for a faster system. One of the new ones is now my C: drive and the largest of them is my D: drive where I keep all of my user data. I already have my entire environment on them. So is it practical to simply move them into the new system? It seems like it would save me a ton of work and a lot of money. Will Windows 7 adapt itself to the new hardware or will it be a grueling mess to get it all working again?

This is just followup to an old thread in case anyone cares how it came out. I ended up with an ASUS Z87 Deluxe/Dual motherboard, Intel i7 4770K CPU, 16Gb Corsair Vengeance RAM, Intel SSD, Corsair 800D case and RM-850 power supply. I did get a generic parallel printer card which died. Then I discovered that my printer has a USB port so I'm using that. No modem. My wife gets most of the faxes anymore, anyway.

 

I was able to clone my old C drive onto the SSD, then just update a few drivers and add all of the ASUS drivers and my existing environment came right along with me. I did buy a Windows7 license for this system so I could continue to use the old one as a back office system in the store. I moved my Velociraptor data drives into the new system. The Velociraptor drives really do seem slow next to the SSD! But they hold a lot more data for the money so they are keepers.

 

The RM-850 power supply has faulted and Corsair sent me a replacement which I am about to install.

 

It is a very fast, nice system which should last me for a long time. And I still appreciate all of the help and advice I got here.