Life with a Super Computer – UPDATE!
Well…the times are changing. And quickly. I have a TON of updates. For the record, I just got my wisdom teeth pulled (all four!) so I am isolated to my lovely Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme and my Macbook Pro. I really can’t complain! The procedure went well, the first 3 teeth were a breeze, the last one broke into 4 pieces. I wish I had been knocked out for it, but I guess that’s something you “have to ask for”. Woops!
Through all of this, I realized that I have a ton of people who care about me. And it feels good. Sometimes in life you may think that you have no one, but you should never think or feel that way. There will always be someone (it’s usually a HANDFUL of someones) who care about you. Just keep your eyes open, don’t let your life fly by without taking a piece of it and saving it in your scrapbook. You will be a much happier person coming out, believe me.
My Dad is doing very well. If you don’t know, he was called in a couple weeks ago for a kidney that he has been waiting almost 7 years for! Getting that call changed…well…everything. Years of life. Years of Happiness. Of Love. Of Romance. Of Family. I am glad to say that my Dad is strong and above most, a warrior. In fact, he came out of the hospital AFTER the transplant within a WEEK. That is almost unheard of. A WEEK! You go Dad!
Now I know it has been a while since I have posted. Life has been crazy (can’t you tell?) But I do have a LOT in the works. Affiliate Marketing is booming these days and Video Production is at an all time high. And I am amidst all of it!
The Super Computer
or 
I am in the works of building a super computer that will run Mac OS X easily (yes most call this a Hackintosh). I have been looking to upgrade my system to a new 8 or 12 core Mac Pro but at $4 to $8 grand (base to halfway loaded) I can’t fathom wasting that much money on a system. Granted, I LOVE Apple. I am an APPLE addict. Ask anyone around me…I live and BREATHE Apple. But in the end, I can build a system that can keep up with (in most cases BLOW the PANTS off of) a new Mac Pro for a fraction of the price.
Think about it, if you have the budget for a $5,000 Mac Pro, why wouldn’t you build a comparable machine for $2,000 (yes this machine will surpass the “Pro”) and put the rest of the money towards your render farm? (A render farm – or cluster – is a second computer or multiple computers used in conjunction with your main computer to render content together) What would you do? You can build a pretty sweet basic machine for this purpose for AT MOST $1,000.
Let’s do the math, in the end – you’ll have a gorgeous Hack Pro that’s quick, highly customizable, and EXACTLY what you want…and with a budget of $5,000 you’ll also have 3 other lesser “hack pros” that you can use in your Render Farm.
Hack Pro
I will be building this super computer over the next month or so and documenting the process. I will be putting together a nice post AND video of the whole process, from start to finish, of how to accomplish this. If anyone has a Mac Pro that has been benchmarked that is similar to what I’m going to be building, let me know the numbers and we’ll measure ‘em up!
Now I don’t want any haters…I love Apple, I can’t say that enough. I was in LOVE with the new Mac Pros (it was a horrible horrible love affair, it got more attention than my own girlfriend, Asha). In fact, if I had a few thousand to BLOW on computers (or a nice business loan) I would purchase 3 Mac Pro’s and be done with it. Myself, like many others, are looking to SAVE money on equipment that can perform as well as more expensive equipment. I mean, that’s why we advertise on the internet right? It’s cheaper and captures a much wider range of prospects then conventional and traditional wisdom.
So come and take this adventure with me. This is just a quick write up of the hardware I will be using. I may change this when it comes to purchase time though.
The PARTS:
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 motherboard
- Intel i7-970 Gulftown 3.2 GHz six core processor
- Sapphire Radeon HD 5870
- NZXT Phantom case
- XION Power Real 1100W supply
- Corsair XMS3 12gb Ram (DDR3)
- OCZ Vertex 2 120GB Solid State Drive
- WD Caviar Green 2TB secondary drive
I have a few more “smaller” things I will be purchasing for this project, but all in all…on Newegg this setup goes for $2,768. And that INCLUDES two 24″ monitors, SSD boot drive, tons of accessories, and the six core processor. If you wanted something that would still be extremely fast you can ditch the 2 monitors (hell, you probably already HAVE 2 monitors!), switch the SSD for a regular drive, and go for the MUCH cheaper i7 Quad core. You are looking at a computer that costs around $1,200. Crazy right?!
Stay tuned, I will be posting up many how-to’s on this whole project as well as a bunch of stuff dealing with internet marketing, video production, videography, and LIFE!
To Life and Living,
Matthew