I'm really getting tired of waiting for computers to do things; boot, shutdown, open Visual Studio, build. I feel like I spend more time waiting for the computer to do something then actually getting work done and this is very frustrating. I like my laptop and unfortunately it's not dual core, but I've decided that for the amount of mobility that I need it can still handle the job. What I do what to do is build a new desktop development box that I can use when working in the office since this is where I do most of my work, outside of the day job anyways. I've gotten a bit out of touch with the hardware world lately so I was hoping to solicit some feedback in a few areas. Here is a list of the general specs I've laid out.
Quad Core Processor – I realize that this is still a bit vague since some argue that a dual core with a faster speed is better that a slower quad core, but I hope to get the fastest quad core processor for a reasonable price when I make the purchase.
Motherboard – This is where I've gotten a bit rusty. Does anyone have any suggestions on brands and specs that I want to look for?
Vista Ultimate 64 bit – Yeah, Yeah don't do it, Vista sucks. I'm going to do it anyways.
4GB of RAM – Anything important here besides speed and response time?
16-30GB Solid State Hard Drive – This one I think is the sweet spot. The last moving part on the computer is the hard drive and common sense says that means it's the real bottleneck. I hope to get a small solid state hd that will hold the OS, VS2008, and maybe Office depending on price vs size. My one issue here is I haven't seen any 3.5 inch solid state drives.
Large Secondary Hard Drive – A regular SATA hard drive to handle everything else that isn't used all the time. I'm thinking a WD Raptor for this.
Video Card(s) – Yet again I'm going to need to do some research here or get some feedback. What specs do I need to look for here?
2 X 22 inch Widescreen Monitors – I haven't decided on anything specifics here, I just know I want 2 that are exactly the same so they are at the same level.
Case – A really, really quiet case. This is going to involve research too.
Any feedback that anyone has would be great.