When we talk about custom PCs, we’re talking about what we want, not what those companies “forces” you to buy (yes, I’m looking at you DeLL/Alienware…). Sure, certain websites allows you to “customize” your branded PC by adding, removing or changing certain parts (RAM models. video cards, CPUs, CPU coolers, just to name a few).
Of course, changing parts may increase or decrease the total value of a PC (most of times, it goes up. Funny, isn’t it?), but you know you’re paying for “quality over brands” (Yeah, not quantity, but quality parts).
These brands, like CyberPower and MAINGEAR (heck, even NCIX and Alienware), allows you to build your own PC from scratch, or following a template of their “branded” PCs. What happens when you go nuts choosing the best of the very best? Some crazy stuff like $5k builds may roam around (I laughed when I saw the total price on a crazy quad 480 system I checked).
Others may offer special edition builds, featuring either “best bang for the buck” pieces, or the cutting edge technology, and even customization (paint color, LEDs, full watercooling systems, etc.).
During NVIDIA’s GeForce LAN Party 6 in San Francisco, alongside with Falcon Northwest (one of the best custom PC stores in the states), they decided to raffle the most expensive DESKTOP PC on the planet: The Mach V NVIDIA edition. There were around 50 raffle tickets on game: Single tickets at $200 per, 2 free tickets for the tournament’s grand champions, and a lucky draw.
Yes, just by saying NVIDIA edition, something pops immediately on our head: Green paint. Yes, true that. But apart from that, the inside of that monster is what makes it expensive as heck.
To name a few pieces:
What about the video cards? Yeah. If they used a $1k CPU in there, you may already know what’s on the video department: The ASUS MARS II.
And not just one. TWO cards. In SLI mode, featuring a QUAD SLI system. Which PSU they used? No idea, but the MARS II box says you need at least a 1kW PSU to run that card.
According to Elric from motherboards.org (who organized an interview with the lucky winner of the raffle), this PC, out of the box, is inside the Top 20 PCs in the world, that means, no OC at all. I wonder what would happen if you push it a lil bit further (both the CPU and the GPUs can be clocked waaaaaay higher than their “mid tier” counterparts)… Maybe Top 5? Top 3 perhaps? Could it be the fastest PC on earth?
Here’s the interview:
Congratulations to the lucky winner, and there you go my friends: A custom ~$10k desktop PC that will last for a looong time… Or until something inside explodes because of the awesome factor haha!
And I know. I keep saying DESKTOP, because it is a desktop PC. Sure, they could have popped an EVGA SR-2 and change the CPU for 2 high end Xeon processors, but in my honest opinion, that’s a server, not a gaming rig (though people do use Xeon chips for gaming rigs…). To each, their own.
