I've been developing dynamic web sites using ruby on rails on a 5 year old mac mini which has been great except that it takes too much time -- 15 minutes or so -- to run my simple test suites. I believe that I could reduce that time with an upgraded computer running ubuntu. Still, I don't know where the bottlenecks are causing those tests to run slowly. Should I focus on the cpu, ram, hard drive, MOBO and do I even need a video card if my cpu/mobo has some graphics capability?
I've read Build an Awesome PC for 2014 and studied the great component overview at Logical Increments. I put together a preliminary build at PC Partpicker. I was about to post my planed build on Reddit's Build A PC site when I got cold feet. Most of the info I've read is directed towards optimal gaming and I'm not sure how applicable that is for my needs.
I'd be super grateful if anyone had any insights to share regarding what my needs are for optimal ruby on rails web development.
Thanks in advance! Ben
Relevant Current system specs
Graphics/Displays:
NVIDIA GeForce 9400: Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 Type: GPU Bus: PCI VRAM (Total): 256 MB Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de) Device ID: 0x0861 Revision ID: 0x00b1 ROM Revision: 3362 Displays: L2270NW: Resolution: 1440 x 900 @ 75 Hz Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888) Display Serial Number: 0 Main Display: Yes Mirror: Off Online: Yes Rotation: Supported L1916HW: Resolution: 1280 x 800 @ 60 Hz Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888) Display Serial Number: 0 Mirror: Off Online: Yes Rotation: Supported Adapter Type: Apple Mini DisplayPort To VGA Adapter Adapter Firmware Version: 1.03 Hardware:
Hardware Overview: Model Name: Mac mini Model Identifier: Macmini3,1 Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Speed: 2 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 2 L2 Cache: 3 MB Memory: 8 GB Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz Boot ROM Version: MM31.0081.B06 SMC Version (system): 1.35f0 Serial Number (system): YM90634W19X Hardware UUID: B368DCBF-F005-5126-BF7C-BC2ED886642E Memory:
Memory Slots: ECC: Disabled BANK 0/DIMM0: Size: 4 GB Type: DDR3 Speed: 1067 MHz Status: OK Manufacturer: 0x857F Part Number: 0x483634353155363446373036364700000000 Serial Number: 0x00000000 BANK 1/DIMM0: Size: 4 GB Type: DDR3 Speed: 1067 MHz Status: OK Manufacturer: 0x857F Part Number: 0x483634353155363446373036364700000000 Serial Number: 0x00000000 Serial-ATA:
NVidia MCP79 AHCI: Vendor: NVidia Product: MCP79 AHCI Link Speed: 3 Gigabit Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD: Capacity: 120.03 GB (120,034,123,776 bytes) Model: OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD Revision: 501ABBF0 Serial Number: EX3G12012E08H9170 Native Command Queuing: Yes Queue Depth: 32 Removable Media: No Detachable Drive: No BSD Name: disk0 Medium Type: Solid State TRIM Support: No Bay Name: Lower Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table) S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified Volumes: disk0s1: Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes) BSD Name: disk0s1 Content: EFI Macintosh HD: Capacity: 107.1 GB (107,101,011,968 bytes) Available: 8.86 GB (8,863,625,216 bytes) Writable: Yes File System: Journaled HFS+ BSD Name: disk0s2 Mount Point: / Content: Apple_HFS Recovery HD: Capacity: 650 MB (650,006,528 bytes) BSD Name: disk0s3 Content: Apple_Boot Untitled 2: Capacity: 11.94 GB (11,939,131,392 bytes) Available: 235.2 MB (235,216,896 bytes) Writable: Yes File System: Journaled HFS+ BSD Name: disk0s4 Mount Point: /Volumes/Untitled 2 Content: Apple_HFS NVidia MCP79 AHCI: Vendor: NVidia Product: MCP79 AHCI Link Speed: 3 Gigabit Negotiated Link Speed: 1.5 Gigabit Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTS08: Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTS08 Revision: Q81B Native Command Queuing: No Detachable Drive: No Power Off: No Async Notification: Yes Bay Name: Upper Software:
System Software Overview: System Version: Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63b) Kernel Version: Darwin 11.4.2 Boot Volume: Macintosh HD Boot Mode: Normal Computer Name: XXX’s Mac mini User Name: xxx (xxx) Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled 64-bit Kernel and Extensions: Yes Time since boot: 15:31 
-bash: dmidecode: command not found