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

[Damien McKenna]

Some extra thoughts on Bryan's suggestions.

> 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.

.. And far, far cheaper.

> 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.

For a workstation best to go with a removable card for expansion
abilities later on if needed, though I've not looked at these boards in
much detail to know if the boards without onboard video add in enough to
make it worth it.  If you could get a board with e.g. gig-e built in or
the nForce 4 Ultra chipset instead of video I'd recommend going for it
instead.

> 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).

Pretty darn reasonable IMHO.  Won't fit a DLT drive & DVD drive though
;-)

> > 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.

For workstation usage I personally recommend going with dual-core over a
faster, single core processor.

> BTW, you _could_ go with (8) 256MB Registered ECC
> DDR333/PC2700 Memory modules for about $200-250, and save a
> good $250-300 (more than half).  This will "max out" your
> DIMM slots to give you 2GB.

I'd agree with that, best to save a few hundred bucks if it won't give
any more than a few bare percent speed difference.

-- 
Damien McKenna - Web Developer - Damien.McKenna at thelimucompany.com
The Limu Company - http://www.thelimucompany.com/ - 407-804-1014
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