IanWatson

Hello all,
I've been asked by my girlfriend's parents to suggets a 'money no object' PC - and I've realised I know very little about what's hot...

The brief is to put together a PC that will not need upgrading adding to for as long as is reasonably possible. The PC is being provided by work, so within reason money is not an issue.
I don't need to buy it or build it, just give a spec to the IT department.

I've been reading tomshardware, SO much information - Would a board based on 875P chipset be sensible, with 3.06 GHZ P4 (Hyper-threaded) processor and 1 Gig of Dual Channel DDR 400 RAM?

My own PC is noisy old Athlon 1900 - would the P4 warrant fitting a 'quiet' cooling system or are the standard fans fairly unobtrusive? (PC is not going to be in living room, so doesn't need to be totally silent)

I'm also keen for suggestions for Graphics cards - they aren't big games players, but they still want a good setup..

I'm thinking of speccing a DVD burner - would this need to be in addition to a fast CDR burner or do they do both?

Another request was for simple backups - pushbutton stuff without feeding CD's into the machine - I have no experience of home backup systems - I thought perhaps tape or Zip drive, or maybe a removable HD?

In terms of connectivity, is Firewire the best option (given we have an iPod)?

Any tips will be very useful - and will of course be passed off as my own knowledge when discussing with Deb's parents

cheers all
Ian

super_si

Nice money no object must still have some kinda limit.

best would be Epox canterwood,
2* 1Gb sticks DDR400.
wait for 3.2Ghz 800fsb cpu coming soon
ATi 9800 pro.

rest ill leave to someone else
Lian Li seem to be best cases too.

Si

AndiThompson

Nononono, CoolerMaster are the daddy of all cases..

super_si

bollox Lian looks well nice

super_si

http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.u...37d93109f046cd

dare you

IWatkins

If money is no object and work will pay, just go and buy a PC specced up to the hilt from one of the big hitters. Less stress all round.

For example: Dell Precison 650

Plenty fast, lots of options and they build and deliver it. No stress and you don't an ear bashing if it doesn't work.

Cheers

Ian

ChristianR

iTrader: (1)

http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.u...37d93109f046cd

KRYOS™ AXP32™ (Crush2 3000++eXtreme AIW-R300-PRO-X)
with Ratpadz™ Ultimate GS

4,254.47 ex. VAT
4,999.00 inc.VAT

Microprocessor: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (running at 2.56GHz)
Mainboard: EPoX 8RGA+
System RAM: 1GB Corsair TWINX PC3200 LL
Primary Mass Storage Controller: ICP Vortex GDT8114RZ 64/32-bit 66/33MHz Ultra320 SCSI
Primary Mass Storage: 2x 36.7GB Seagate Cheetah 15.3 Ultra-320 SCSI
Secondary Mass Storage: 120GB Matrox Ultra-ATA/133
Optical: Sony DRU500A (Ext.), Philips DVD/CDRW Combo (Int)
3D Graphics: 128MB [OCS] ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 9700 PRO-X
Monitor: 17" EIZO FlexScan L565 TFT
Audio Adapter: Creative Labs Audigy II Platinum eX
Audio Monitors: Logitech Z-680 5.1 Surround Sound
Monitoring: IOSS PC Geiger RD2 PCI Bus Analyser
Human Input Devices: Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Mouse
Game Controllers: Microsoft 'Force Feedback' Gamepad, Joystick & Steering Wheel
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP-1
Warranty: One Year Parts and Labour (Collect & Return)




When it comes to the hard-core enthusiast, power user or gamer demanding the highest frame-rates, sometimes the latest CPU and graphics card just aren’t enough…

So, in their June 2003 issue, PC Pro asked Advanced Micronics to see how fast they could push today’s technology…

"The Avenger KRYOS AXP32 is similar in specification to the last system we looked at from Advanced Micronics (see issue 100, p112) in that it uses an AMD chip and a Prometeia refrigeration unit to cool the CPU. But, instead of the VIA KT333 chipset, there's now the nForce2 with a dual-channel memory controller and an Athlon XP 3000+ for even greater performance."

"The EPoX 8RGA+ motherboard is already well known for its overclocking capabilities and is a wise choice. Advanced Micronics installs a fan on the standard passive north bridge cooler to ensure stability with the overclocked FSB of 191MHz - the stock speed is 166MHz.With the Prometeia cooling the CPU to -35ºC, the Athlon XP 3000+ runs stably at 2.58GHz - an excellent overclock of 400MHz. Another significant modification is the addition of heatsinks on the voltage regulators."

"A further wise component choice is the Radeon 9700 Pro All-in-Wonder. This gives fantastic 3D performance as well as functions including a TV tuner and hardware video capture. Zalman' s ZM80A-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler and CoolerMaster memory heatsinks are fitted to allow overclocking to 716MHz for the RAM and a core clock of 378MHz. The whole contraption is actively cooled by a 92mm fan on a Zalman fan bracket."

"Benchmark results are all that matters on these systems and we were seriously impressed with 17,761 3DMarks*. In our 2D tests, we saw a blistering 2.48 - by far the fastest result we've ever seen."

"Any extreme PC worth its salt has a RAID array for fast application and data loads, and the Avenger also takes this to the max by using two 36.7GB Seagate Cheetah X15 Ultra/160 hard disks. Naturally, they're striped and connected to the latest Ultra/320 SCSI RAID card - an ICP Vortex. These are supplemented by a 120GB Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 disk for data storage and backup. The X15s are mounted in mean-looking removable aluminium racks in two of the four 5.25in bays. The other two are taken up by a Geiger PCI Bus Analyser and a Philips DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo drive."

"An external box with both FireWire and USB 2 interfaces houses a Sony DRU500A DVD re-writer, supporting all DVD standards bar DVD-RAM, and it's a competent CD re-writer as well."

"Audio is catered for by an Audigy 2 Platinum eX and a set of Logitech Z-680 5.1 THX speakers. This is a formidable combination for games, music and DVDs, and the speakers are so loud and of such high quality that your hi-fi could be put to shame."

"The Lian Li PC65 chassis houses all the components and is modified to accept the cooling unit at the base. It' s a beast of a PC, towering high above all other PCs in the Labs at 685mm tall."

"Build quality inside is the finest you'll ever see."

"Cable wraps, rounded ribbon cables and sensible routing plus lots of blue lighting justify the Perspex side window, which shows off the expensive hardware to your friends. Extra cooling is provided by four 80mm Akasa Arctic Blue fans, while there are another two in the 460W Enhance PSU. Thumbscrews are used throughout - even on the motherboard - meaning maintenance is straightforward. Advanced Micronics can also supply an Intel kit should you ever want to change to a Pentium 4 in the future, meaning the refrigeration unit is an investment."

"As you'd expect, the monitor, keyboard and mouse are all top quality. Logitech supplies the cordless keyboard and mouse."

"Rounding the system off is a force-feedback steering wheel, joystick and gamepad from Microsoft - catering for every gaming eventuality - and a copy of Windows XP Professional. Since 10/100 Ethernet is integrated onto the motherboard, the only notable missing component is a modem, but, again, hard-core gamers will opt for broadband."

Pc Pro's Conclusion? "The Advanced Micronics Avenger is as extreme as PCs come"

* At the time of publication Pc PRO Labs test FutureMark’s 3DMark 2001SE with ‘32-bit Textures’ and ‘Trilinear Filtering’ enabled (as opposed to the default settings of ‘Compressed Textures’ and ‘Bilinear Filtering’). At default 3DMark 2001SE settings the Advanced Micronics AVENGER Series : KRYOS™ AXP32™ (Crush2 3K+) will deliver well in excess of 18,000 3DMarks!

super_si

Did you follow my link lol

gregh

>> PC that will not need upgrading adding to for as long as is >>reasonably possible

Not too sure if that is possible.


http://www.quietpc.com


[Edited by gregh - 5/7/2003 5:31:53 PM]