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.
A quality power supply plus a good UPS will take care of any power-related instability. Other than that, buy reputable brands from reputable sellers, and you should be fine.
IMHO, "ultra-reliability" is kind of a trap. You can spend a lot more money on enterprise-class hardware to get another 0.01% uptime.
Your situation may be different than most consumers, so I hesitate to speak in absolutes, but for the vast majority of people, software configuration issues are going to be the cause of instability by orders of magnitude over hardware.
Any tips for a "good power supply"? I suspect a lot of the crashing I've had on my system lately is because my PSU is flaking out, but It's a high-ish end Corsair one which I though would be solid. It's an SFX unit since my build is SFF, but maybe that's the problem? (Next build definitely won't be SFF, too expensive and niche)
I used the PSU tier list while shopping for one.
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list might help you.
It's been a few years since I built my computer, so no specific recommendations. Today, I'd start at PCPartPicker.com and work through the wizard to build. It won't (or shouldn't) let you pick anything too small, so no worries about the wattage (but go a little more than you think you need). Once you have it narrowed down to a few options, read lots and lots of reviews.
That site has review scores. Amazon, Best Buy, Microcenter, New Egg, and others all have reviews from real buyers. Tom's Hardware, IGN, AnandTech, and probably dozens more have professional reviews. Every brand is going to have an occasional stinker, so model numbers matter.