[Pc_Support] Re: Hardware recommendations -- What would you buy?

[Bryan J. Smith]

Ozzination wrote:  
> OK - there has beena lot of useful info here so far -
> thanks Guys.
> Let's try approaching this from a different angle.
> If you could buy the system of your choice, and had a
> budget of around $2k (I was told to aim for around
> $2k, although the Dell they were talking about was
> $2,347 so I probably have a bit of freedom there -
> let's ass-u-me that $2k is the 'soft' limit and
> $2,347 is the 'hard' limit).
> What would YOU buy, and why?

First off, the Dell comes with a Quadro NVS 280 video card
which is really a business version of the NV34 (GeForce
5100/5200/5500).  I think even the new chipset-integrated
NV-C51 (GeForce 6100/6150) would be far, far better.

Secondly, I haven't personally used the GeForce 61x0 chipsets
yet, so I don't know if the newer Xorg drives it like any
other NV4x (6000 series) card, but I think the nVidia driver
might.  But the good news is that it's still an nForce,
ultra-compatible with kernel 2.4.23+ or 2.6.5+ (or the Red
Hat backports for RHEL3/2.4.21), and it has a PCIe slot.

So I'm really into those 11" x 9" x 14" MicroATX systems:  
http://thebs413.blogspot.com/2005/08/small-enough-form-factor-pc.html
 

I mean, you still have 2x5.25" + 1x3.5" external and 2x3.5"
internal, excellent cooling, the base 300W ATX 2.0 of the
Chemning 118 was strong enough to drive a GeForce 7800GTX,
and you still get 4 usable slots (just 3 less than a full
ATX).

> I'm more interested in pre-built systems here (mainly
> due to time constraints) but would consider building
> myself if the difference was sufficient to make it
> worthwhile.

I think I can show you it might be worth it indeed.  ;->

> My gut feeling is that I would be better off with a
> single, high-GHz CPU rather than a dual-processor box.

On kernel 2.4, the way the kernel schedules, dual-processor
or dual-core is better for lower latency (desktop or
real-time).  On kernel 2.6, the pre-emptive patch is
standard, but DP or DC is still preferred for such usage.

The ultimate is, of course, a 2x Socket-940 Opteron 2xx.  But
pricing is high.  You _could_ build one for $2,000 easily,
but I could give you something almost as good for $1,000 in
SFF too.  ;->

> All I need is the system unit - I already have a screen,
> keyboard, mouse, etc.

Okay, here's my suggestions ...

Dual-core Athlon 64 w/integrated video

- Chenming MATX118 Alumium MicroATX 2.0 300W   $  75
- BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Mainboard             $  75
- Athlon 64x2 3800+ 2.0GHz/2x512K Rev. E       $ 350
- (2) 1GB DDR400/PC3200 Memory                 $ 200
- (2) WD1600SD 160GB "Caviar RE 24x7" SATA     $ 200
- LG GSA-4167B (Black) DVD-RAM/R/RW/+RW/+R DL  $  45
- Mitsumi FA404A/404M (Black) 1.44MB/9-in-1    $  25
                                             --------
                                               $ 970
Options (Additional):  
- SysKonnect SK-9E21D PCIe-x1 GbE NIC          $  40
- GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR PCIe-x16            $ 140
Options (Replacement):  
- (2) ST3250623NS 250GB "NL35 24x7" SATA       $+100
- (2) WD3200SD 320GB "Caviar RE 24x7" SATA     $+150

If you need GbE (10/100/1000), add in the $40 SK-9E21D which
is on its own PCIe x1 channel (10/100 is on-board).  If you
want a faster video card, or the integrated GeForce 6100
doesn't work, go for the GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR PCIe-x16
which works with newer Xorg releases as well as the nVidia
drivers.

As far as drives, I quoted the 5-year warranted, 24x7 rated
160GB "Caviar RE" drives, with an option for the 320GB
versions.  I also listed the 5-year warranted, 24x7 rated
250GB Seagate "NearLine 35 (NL35)" if you prefer Seagate.


Dual-processor Opteron
- Lian Li PCV-1200 Aluminum Flip-EATX Tower      $ 200
- (various) 500-600W EPS12V Power Supply         $ 100
- Tyan S2895A2NRF "Thunder K8WE" 2200+2050+8131  $ 450
- (2) Opteron 246HE 55W 2.0GHz/2x1M Rev E        $ 500
- (4) 512MB Registered ECC DDR400/PC3200 Memory  $ 500
- (2) WD1600SD 160GB "Caviar RE 24x7" SATA       $ 200
- LG GSA-4167B (Black) DVD-RAM/R/RW/+RW/+R DL    $  45
- Mitsumi FA404A/404M (Black) 1.44MB/9-in-1      $  25
- GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR PCIe-x16              $ 140
                                                -------
                                                $2,360
Options (Additional):
- 3Ware Escalade 8006-2 PCI64/66 RAID-0/1 card   $ 150
Options (Replacement):  
- (1) Tyan S2895UA2NRF w/2x U320 SCSI            $+ 75
- (2) Opteron 265 dual-core 1.8GHz/2x1M Rev E    $+800
- (4) 1GB Registered ECC DDR400/PC3200 Memory    $+250
- (2) ST3250623NS 250GB "NL35 24x7" SATA         $+100
- (2) WD3200SD 320GB "Caviar RE 24x7" SATA       $+150

The "big cost" with 2x Socket-940 Opteron 200 is the
requirement of "Registered" DDR SDRAM (which might as well be
ECC for little, additional cost) -- and it's not much more
for 1GB DIMMs instead of 512MB DIMMs.  But for maximum
performance, you need four (4) DIMMs -- 2 per CPU -- for the
full 256-bit wide memory bus (128-bit per CPU).

The Opteron 246HE (2.0GHz/1MB) "55W low-power" are now under
$250/each.  The Opteron 265 (2x1.8GHz/1MB) dual-core are
$650/each and probably not worth it, unless you *REALLY* need
CPU power (no change in memory-I/O).  ;->

You need an EPS12V power supply, but many "high-end" ($100+)
ATX2.0 power supplies are now "universal" and include EPS12V
converters (make sure it explicitly says EPS12V capable), and
the 8-pin (2x4) "Server" and 6-pin (2x3) "Workstation" (aka
PCIe) connectors are pretty standard on EPS12V capable Power
Supplies.  Some even have three (3) and even a rare few have
four (4) +12V rails, although you're at $150+.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                | Sent from Yahoo Mail
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org     |  (please excuse any
http://thebs413.blogspot.com/ |   missing headers)