For a while now I've wondered how to build the most stable gaming/workstation possible. I'm sick of crashes, stutters, and general un-reliability. However, it's a balancing act between price, performance, and reliability. (for example ECC memory is stable, but more expensive and slower)
Ideas I've had:
- ECC memory
- CSM sku motherboard
- Hugely overkill power supply, or even dual redundant PSUs
- RAID M.2 boot drives
- All air cooled
What do you all think? If you were to spec out a (realistic) ultra-reliable PC what parts would you use and why?
P.S. I'm looking less for specific recommendations as I am for general ideas, which is why I didn't specify the use case or budget. I'm more interested in the concept and if it's feasible.
I'd say as a general idea, look into recent military spec hardware. I'm not sure how they do it these days, but back in the day their hardware would be more or less similar to some off the shelf hardware, but made a bit easier to service, frame built a bit more rugged, and underclocked around 20%...
Edit: Easier said than done to combine gaming specs and long term reliability, choose your battles...
Huh, hadn't thought of that but it's not a bad idea. I'll look into it!
Warning! Mil spec hardware by definition is literally the lowest bidder on a government job. Just because something says milspec doesn't mean it's the best. Usually it means it's pretty mid tier. I have had some good experiences with milspec gear, some OK experience, and more terrible experiences than the other two categories combined.