Want to build a "Horse Power" Machine... Need Advice

Hey all,

I want to build a real horse power machine and I am hoping to get some input as to what type of hardware and the best place to order parts from. So go ahead and throw it all out there. I need some starting points, and suggestions would be greatly appreciated .

Regards,

FireDancer

 

Hi,

My budget is $2000.00 just for the box I have all the other goodies such as monitor and what not. Just want to build a realy fine box. I will be useing it for my business. My business demands alot of online multitasking, many open windows and some real big software programs. Sorry I didnt elaborate earlier.

Regards,
FireDancer

 

Carefull not to go too cutting edge. You will pay through your nose and then within a few months will be left behind. It's just not worth the expense to have a luke warm feeling of having something faster than most for a short time.

What Steve suggests is probably the sweet spot for price v performance. Possibly go Serial ATA drive. Serial ATA is not much faster in real world usage than ATA 100/133 but seems to be the current technology.

I would recommend a dual channel M/B for RAM and go PC3200 2x512 sticks matched for dual channel. I'm very happy with my Gigabyte 8IPE 1000 Pro2. You don't need to go with the most expensive matched RAM though. Just 2 good quality sticks from the same batch will suffice.

A good quality Graphics card with 128 or (if your REALLY think your going to need it!) 256Mb of RAM. Don't buy the best available, as again you will pay through your nose for a couple of percent improvement.

Ensure you have adequate cooling with a high end PC. It WILL need it and Serial ATA drives need extra dedicated cooling blowing air across them. Preferably from fromt to back. They run very warm.

Remember, WHATEVER you buy will soon become slow and average!

 

Great wisdom in this statement. A couple of few years ago, a comment that made a lot of sense was to build one generation behind "the latest and greatest" because of cost - so true. In fact, I'd say you can cut your costs by 30-50% by following this advice and trust me, you aren't going to sacrifice much in performance. Personally, I'm an Athlon advocate but you are going to get suggestions pro and con re: AMD vs Intel. While not answering your question directly, my recommendations would include getting the best memory money can buy for your respective CPU and chipset choice and buy top quality components - no compromises. That doesn't mean you are wasting money - just the opposite - you'll be much better off in the long run. I'll leave it to anyone else so inclined to make specific component recommendations and pop back into this thread with a comment or two if its warranted. One of the smart purchase CPU's right now is the AMD mobile 2600+ which will run 2.2 - 2.4 MHZ actual on a 400MHZ bus with no mods and does it at a very low temperature because of its lower core voltage requirement. Performance wise, with the right motherboard and memory this will benchmark right up there with just about any P-4 you can put your hands on, regardless of price.

 

Having both (Athlon Thunderbird 1.2 and P4 2.8) I'm a fan of both.

 

Like Rockster2U, I prefer AMD processors. I have always felt they gave as good or better performance for a lower price.

And as always GHz is not everything. The rest of the machine, memory, motherboard, video etc greatly influences overall performance.

I think it was PC Magazine's July issue that said AMD was going to abandon using clock speed to identify it's processors because it no longer considered that an accurate representation of the processor's power.

I second the NewEgg suggesiton. Many of their items have free FedEx Saver shippping. I also use www.zipzoomfly.com (formerly GoogleGear) as they have great prices as well and offer free UPS 2nd day air.

Cheers,

ICE

 

Hi FireDancer.

For reliability you might consider a Xeon 3.06GHz cpu (possibly with 1Gig on-board cache). These are 533MHz front side buss cpus. These cpus are ideal for graphic or cpu intensive applications because of low heat. They also run ideally in a duel motherboard application. Pick a motherboard with at least a 2Gig DDR capability and 8x video capability. One of these high-end rigs will run about $2000 but will be extremely reliable. I would also go with Windows 2000 rather than XP for reliability, be sure to get all the updates. This type of computer will be around a long time and will win races.

 

AMD all the way.

I would also suggest an AMD chipset. While I just changed over from an Intel, I like the price and performance of the Athlon. What I would do with YOUR money is get a quility asus board with a athlon 64 strapped to it. With the release of the latest and greatest video cards you can get a very very good card for around 150us (perhaps an 5900xt like me.) Also make sure you get a good tower to work with, airflow is the key. Hard drive performance isnt the biggest key for me but to each their own. Memory go with a Dual Channel set up with corsiar brand memory. All I can say is have fun buy what you think you need.

 

Hi all,

Sorry for bieng so tardy on my reply as I have been busy with my business
You all have givin me some GOOD food for thought. My smaller system is running a athlon now too I do like it. I have been reading about systems with FSB of 800 MGZ hmm ... not sure that is nessecary but I do need a fast reliable system. I dont work to heavily with graphics but I do use alot of space on my HDDS and am looking for at least 2 120 Gig HDD maybe 2 250's ( I like the maxtors 7200's) As far as chip sets and procsessors I am not sure I have to read more and become more knowlegable in that area as I am not to savy in that area. I will reasearch more on athlon it seem to be a popular model amongst most of you. My current system right now is 1.1 GHZ FSB 100 MHZ Bus width is 64 bit Effective clock is 200 MHz which now adays seems slow.

I do not believe I saw any recommendations for mother boards anyone that could make a suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks for your replys very much.

*EDIT*My appologies the asus board was brought up with I believe a 64 strapped to it

FIREDANCER

 

Hi

I wanted to post a list I have started of hardware and see if any changes need to be made. Mind you this is just a start and all are subject to change as no purchases have been made. Let me know what you think

FireDancer

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.16GHz 333FSB 512KB Processor
(2) Western Digital Caviar WD2500PB 250GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & CRT Powered by ATI
(2) Corsair CM64SD512-3200 512MB DDR400 PC3200 Double Data Rate Memory
CoolerMaster TAC-T01-E1 Wave Master Aluminum Case
Kingwin KWI-450WS 450W Power Supply for P4 & AMD
Liteon SOHC-5232K DVD-ROM 16x + CD-RW 52x32x52 Combo Drive

 

I wouldn't go for a combo drive. Separate CD writer and DVD reader is a better bet. More reliable, and easier for disk copying. Of course if you are really going for the best - why not a DVD writer.

On another point, if you really want to go for performance, RAID is an option. Hard drive access is definitely a bottle neck. RAID 0 will give you faster read and write, but what you gain in performance you lose in reliability. As Steve alluded, RAID 0 is not a solution for normal applications. However, what about RAID 1 (mirroring)? That will give you slower write, but faster read together with enhanced data protection. You could even go further and consider RAID 5 (need at least three hard disks - more disks the better).

However, if I take my geek hat off: personally, I'd wait a year and get a better PC for $500.00 than you can buy now for $2000.00.

 

Athlon

Firedancer the 3000+ is a good chip but why not the athlon 64 3000+ or the 3200+. The number may look the same but with 1600mhz bus speed these chips are fast. I have just a normal athlon 3200+ and the 64 model blows mine out of the water and for just a couple couple of dollars more. I would suggest looking at newegg.com or tigerdirect.com and just match the performance with the price tags. I would suggest the Asus K8V deluxe with a 64 3000+. All that I can say is this is going to be my next combo!

 

OK - here's another two cents to throw in the mix.

Couple of comments to add - I haven't done any 64's yet but I'd concur with nyequist that is a smarter way to go than a 3000+. Also, I just fired up my newest personal box this morning (running a 2600+ XP Mobile @ 12 x 200 at standard core voltage right out of the box - thats better than a 3200+ and I haven't even started tweaking this yet - $99 at newegg). It definately runs better than any 3000+ I've done and it runs very cool - 39C with my CPU fan throttled to 50% - 2000rpm. Now for drives - get a 16x48 Lite-On DVD and the Lite-On 811 or 812 DVD/RW - forget about a straight CDRW, you'll thank me longer term. And, memory - if you must have Corsair - buy the Ultra Low Latency Dual channel pairs (6-2-3-2), however, I'll tell you to go with OCZ high performance Dual Channel because its more forgiving and runs just a twitch better. Do not cheap down with Corsair value memory or you'll regret it. I don't like their pro stuff with the LEDs either - even though its every bit as expensive as the ultra low latency with platinum heat-sinks and rated to run at the same timings. (yeah I'm talking PC3200 on all of em).

If you want more specifics, holler .......... Glad to see you're leaning towards AMD though. I look forward to following your HorsePower build.

 

Look at my signature.
Been running like a sewing machine for almost a year.
I bought the 3.2 when they were high but they arent anymore.

 

actual hardware is at the end of the road, save your money to buy a 64bit dual core cpu with dual video card, ddr2 and magnetic ram in dec 2006.

for now you could buy any sub-top video card.

 

I usually run Intel CPU's, but I have built a few AMD machines as well. if you are interested in performance, it seems that the AMD Athlon 64's are offering more bang for the buck right now. Since they just released the Socket 939, you might be able to get a deal on the Socket 940 or the Socket 754 motherboards and CPU's. If you run alot of apps. i would consider going to a dual Opteron system, i believe MSI makes a very good motherboard. Dual procs will not double your speed, but they will make the apps run smoother. There is a program on Tom's hardware to assign affinity(which CPU does what) automaticly on bootup. I think this would be handy for you if you run alot of open windows at once. One drawback is the need for regestered memory with the Opteron's. They are very proud of that stuff, and the price reflects that. There is an article in MaximumPC where they tested a dualie and made a good comparison. There is also a dual CPu website that has alot of good information as well. www.2cpu.com
As far as buying, newegg is about the best that I have found, they may not be the cheapest, but i don't mind paying a bit more for service and piece of mind.

I would look at Antec for a good case, i have several and build all my business pc's in them now.

hope this helps,
Craig

 

Side bar comment - Ruger44 - nice boxes.

 

Thanks Rockster! They get the job done for me. I have my file server over half full already and with my new project, a home theatre PC, it should start filling up fast. I am looking at a Athlon 64 PC for my next pc, the place where I buy most of my parts just got in a Socket 939 CPU and an ASUS Socket 939 board. Isn't it just great to be a PC builder right now, the choices are amazing!

Craig