So my migration off of my ancient Ubuntu 12.04 system (I put the replacement build together this past winter) took so long that 16.04 was released in the interim. Rather than start over with 16.04 (given that I typically tweak things quite heavily, and I dislike being an early adopter), I decided to forge ahead with 14.04 anyway. For a variety of reasons, after the hardware came together the project got back-burnered multiple times and the system has just been sitting here, partially built and configured.
I finally got back to this last weekend, and I'm nearly done. I've synced all of my files over from the old system, and as of today I'm switched over to the new box as my daily driver.
The only remaining task is getting the crazy-ass audio stack I use configured. I prefer to run JACK as my audio stack, but many applications (e.g. web browsers, music players) require PulseAudio/ALSA support. So in order for everything to co-exist peacefully, JACK needs to be slipped in underneath PulseAudio, with PulseAudio configured as a JACK signal source. For now, I am just running vanilla PulseAudio.
The specifics, if anyone cares:
Case: NZXT Source 210
PSU: Corsair CX 500
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 (running stock clock, but with a Coolermaster 120mm tower HSF instead of the stock one)
RAM: 32GB ECC DDR3 1600 (also running stock)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 720 (passively cooled)
Audio: Asus Xonar DSX
System volume: 2x Crucial BX100 250GB, RAID-1
Storage volume 1: 2x Seagate 7200.14 3TB, RAID-1 (/home)
Storage volume 2: 2x Samsung 840 EVO 250GB, RAID-1 (had the EVOs sitting around, figured they'd be great for hosting VMs)
Optical: LG M-Disc Blu-Ray drive
Miscellaneous: NEC-based PCIe USB 3.0 controller (to avoid using the crap onboard Asmedia); hot-swap dual 2.5" SATA bay; hot-swap 3.5" SATA bay; Marvell-based PCIe SATA controller (since I ran out of SATA ports to connect all of the above); Sabrent USB 3.0 4-port hub with individual power switches for each port; rear panel bracket to bring out the legacy COM port
OS is Kubuntu 14.04, configured for EFI boot from a software RAID-1 volume.
CPU and case fans are throttled way down using the BIOS controls unless the CPU gets above 48C; the system is decently quiet unless under heavy load. I've also got a custom monitoring script set up to perform a clean system shutdown if the CPU temp ever reaches 65C (which would be indicative of a failed CPU fan).
It is by no means bleeding edge (some would even argue trailing edge, I suppose...), but for me it hits the "power user" sweet spot on a budget, using many bits and pieces I already had on hand.
I did not realize how much the Radeon HD 6450 in the old system was holding things back. Even for basic desktop use like web browsing, the GT 720 just feels a lot smoother.