Monster PC's
03 June 2003, 07:17 PM
#2
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Very quick one....
I need to get a very fast (looking at P4 3g HT based) machine but really can't be ar5sed with building one.
I've been a bit out of the hardware game for a while (but i know some of you folks are well into it) so looking for some pointers.
So questions:
1) Whats the best memory type to get - a site i'm looking at talks about RIMM or DDR SDRAM ?
2) Processor - dont want to overclock it so am probably looking at P4 3g HT processor
3) Disks - ATA-133's 7k2 errss.... worth going for SATA based ones ? Ideally would like to RAID1 em and I belive its built into the SATA chipset - is that right ?
4) Graphics - The machines doing a lot of Photoshop type work etc, Word and the usual office stuff. Whats a decent graphics card for it then running a 19" LCD ?
4) Sound - whatever - not fussed
5) NIC - whatever - not fussed
6) DVD/CDRW Writer - I'm guessing the Sony ones are still the daddies ???
Its also going to be running Win XP Pro
Can anyone help ?? Currently been looking around especially at the Scan built systems http://systems.scan.co.uk/systems/Co...SP?SystemID=19 - Do they look any good ??
If anyone can do them at a better price and service then go for it !
Ids
I need to get a very fast (looking at P4 3g HT based) machine but really can't be ar5sed with building one.
I've been a bit out of the hardware game for a while (but i know some of you folks are well into it) so looking for some pointers.
So questions:
1) Whats the best memory type to get - a site i'm looking at talks about RIMM or DDR SDRAM ?
2) Processor - dont want to overclock it so am probably looking at P4 3g HT processor
3) Disks - ATA-133's 7k2 errss.... worth going for SATA based ones ? Ideally would like to RAID1 em and I belive its built into the SATA chipset - is that right ?
4) Graphics - The machines doing a lot of Photoshop type work etc, Word and the usual office stuff. Whats a decent graphics card for it then running a 19" LCD ?
4) Sound - whatever - not fussed
5) NIC - whatever - not fussed
6) DVD/CDRW Writer - I'm guessing the Sony ones are still the daddies ???
Its also going to be running Win XP Pro
Can anyone help ?? Currently been looking around especially at the Scan built systems http://systems.scan.co.uk/systems/Co...SP?SystemID=19 - Do they look any good ??
If anyone can do them at a better price and service then go for it !
Ids
03 June 2003, 07:22 PM
#3
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Here's the spec of the PC i've just got.
Asus P4C800 Deluxe
Intel P4 3.0Ghz fsb800
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Thermalright SLK-900 (Socket 478 & Socket A) (HS-008-TR)
Thermaltake P4 Spark 7 S478-3Ghz
2X Cosair 512mb DDR XMS3500
Choose your own Case
Hiper 520W PSU
2XMaxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160Gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache ATA133
Highpoint 404 RAID controller
Total cost around 1500 quid.
Asus P4C800 Deluxe
Intel P4 3.0Ghz fsb800
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Thermalright SLK-900 (Socket 478 & Socket A) (HS-008-TR)
Thermaltake P4 Spark 7 S478-3Ghz
2X Cosair 512mb DDR XMS3500
Choose your own Case
Hiper 520W PSU
2XMaxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160Gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache ATA133
Highpoint 404 RAID controller
Total cost around 1500 quid.
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03 June 2003, 08:02 PM
#8
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neil am interested to hear how your getting on with the asus board, am just going to get one this weekend for my p4 3.06, also interested in the cooling youve gone for.
(sorry for thread hijack)
(sorry for thread hijack)
03 June 2003, 08:08 PM
#9
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I have the Asus P4PE (G-F-SATA-GD), which has been great so far.
Other spec includes:
2.4ghz Pentium 4 533FSB Socket 478 processor
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 soundcard
Videologic ZXR500 5.1 Speakers
19" Iiyama VM1451 LS902UT Monitor
80GB Western Digital WD800JB
128mb XFX GeForce 4 Ti4200
Samsung 512Mb DDR333 (PC2700)
MSI Cd Rom 52x
External Maxtor HDD 5000LE
Logitech MX700
Lite On CDRW
Total cost was about £1200, from CCL, Dabs and a few local shops.
Easy enough to build, and has been good so far. Mostly internet, Photoshop, Macromedia, games etc.
Good system.
Other spec includes:
2.4ghz Pentium 4 533FSB Socket 478 processor
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 soundcard
Videologic ZXR500 5.1 Speakers
19" Iiyama VM1451 LS902UT Monitor
80GB Western Digital WD800JB
128mb XFX GeForce 4 Ti4200
Samsung 512Mb DDR333 (PC2700)
MSI Cd Rom 52x
External Maxtor HDD 5000LE
Logitech MX700
Lite On CDRW
Total cost was about £1200, from CCL, Dabs and a few local shops.
Easy enough to build, and has been good so far. Mostly internet, Photoshop, Macromedia, games etc.
Good system.
03 June 2003, 11:05 PM
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I've been upgrading a pc for a friend at work today with a P4P800 board. The bios seems to be misbehaving a little as it doesn't seem to retain the settings made, and sometimes crashes in the bios setup.
If you tell it to ignore the changed settings and continue booting, it boots into XP and seems to run fine.
Wierd. Will investigate more tomorrow.
John.
If you tell it to ignore the changed settings and continue booting, it boots into XP and seems to run fine.
Wierd. Will investigate more tomorrow.
John.
03 June 2003, 11:41 PM
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coolio, cheers footy. Have some paperwork here for you as well 
so far have got -
p4 3.06
hercules prophet 9700 pro
thermaltake weird as hell case - http://www.thermaltake.com/products/Xaser3Menu.htm
£500 spent so far on the above........
hopefully motherboard and memory bing collected this weekend unless i hear that a certain granite bay board could be available soon.......
so far have got -
p4 3.06
hercules prophet 9700 pro
thermaltake weird as hell case - http://www.thermaltake.com/products/Xaser3Menu.htm
£500 spent so far on the above........
hopefully motherboard and memory bing collected this weekend unless i hear that a certain granite bay board could be available soon.......
04 June 2003, 08:38 AM
#14
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PT
No probs with the Asus board
Will overclock to 1000/Mhz FSB 3.6Ghz with an idle temp of 44C and Vcore voltage of around 1.7
That's all a bit scary, so it usually stays standard, but it's nice to know it can do it.
I don't use the onboard RAID array as that's still a little problematic apparently, and the highpoint card offers more connectivity anyway.
No probs with the Asus board
Will overclock to 1000/Mhz FSB 3.6Ghz with an idle temp of 44C and Vcore voltage of around 1.7
That's all a bit scary, so it usually stays standard, but it's nice to know it can do it.
I don't use the onboard RAID array as that's still a little problematic apparently, and the highpoint card offers more connectivity anyway.
04 June 2003, 08:44 AM
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My take on the original questions.
1) DDR all the way now. RDRAM as a mainstream platform looks to be dead now.
2) P4 3Ghz with HT is top of the pile, although the 3.2Ghz is launched this month.
3) If you have the cash, a pair of Western Digital Raptor 10k RPM 36GB SATA. Smaller capacity but lighting quick from the reviews I've read.
4) Radeon 9700 or 9800 Pro
5) Sound - If you go for something like the Asus P4P800, that has onboard 6 channel audio which should suffice
6) Again, the P4P800 has a 3Com Gigabic NIC built in.
1) DDR all the way now. RDRAM as a mainstream platform looks to be dead now.
2) P4 3Ghz with HT is top of the pile, although the 3.2Ghz is launched this month.
3) If you have the cash, a pair of Western Digital Raptor 10k RPM 36GB SATA. Smaller capacity but lighting quick from the reviews I've read.
4) Radeon 9700 or 9800 Pro
5) Sound - If you go for something like the Asus P4P800, that has onboard 6 channel audio which should suffice
6) Again, the P4P800 has a 3Com Gigabic NIC built in.
04 June 2003, 09:34 AM
#16
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Hey Chris,
Cheers for the reply.... I was waiting for someone to answer
The Asus board looks the daddies I must admit. I'm still a bit unsure of the Dual Chanell DDR. I understand that this effectivly gives the CPU memeory at its FSB speed, so if I drop 4 512mb DDR's in then the machine will still only see 1gb ???
Ids
Cheers for the reply.... I was waiting for someone to answer
The Asus board looks the daddies I must admit. I'm still a bit unsure of the Dual Chanell DDR. I understand that this effectivly gives the CPU memeory at its FSB speed, so if I drop 4 512mb DDR's in then the machine will still only see 1gb ???
Ids
04 June 2003, 09:41 AM
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NONONONONONONO
NO
It will see all 2 GB of RAM.
Dual channel is of far more benefit to Intel CPU's than AMD ones as Athlons demand far less RAM bandwidth for optimal performance.
Cheers,
Nick.
NO
It will see all 2 GB of RAM.
Dual channel is of far more benefit to Intel CPU's than AMD ones as Athlons demand far less RAM bandwidth for optimal performance.
Cheers,
Nick.
04 June 2003, 09:44 AM
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Nick
As ever.... the knowledge on here is awsome
Got any thoughts about the differences between SATA or ATA133 ?? I need the disks to be quiet, fast (so 7200), about 80-100gb and must be Raid 1.
Ids
As ever.... the knowledge on here is awsome
Got any thoughts about the differences between SATA or ATA133 ?? I need the disks to be quiet, fast (so 7200), about 80-100gb and must be Raid 1.
Ids
04 June 2003, 09:53 AM
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In real life there is waaaaaaay more to it than that. spin up times, suatained read/write transfer rates, overall performance as the disc fills up etc.
If you are going SATA, then as I think has already been mentioned, the WD Raptor drives are the only drives that I would vaguely consider. The others for the most parrt have been pretty disappointing tbh
If you are going SATA, then as I think has already been mentioned, the WD Raptor drives are the only drives that I would vaguely consider. The others for the most parrt have been pretty disappointing tbh
04 June 2003, 10:12 AM
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Performance of SATA vs ATA133 also depends on where the controller sits.
The newer boards like the 875 based P4C800 have SATA support built into the ICH5 southbridge chip. Other chipsets feed SATA in via the PCI bus which, in theory, limits the amount of bandwidth available to the controller (266MB/s vs 133MB/s for PCI). Read more on AnandTech.
Have a look at the Storage Review test of the Raptor. It shows a clean pair of heals to IDE and SCSI drives in the desktop tests.
HardOCP did some brief tests comparing SATA and ATA133 RAID setups on the P4C800. The ATA133 drives were quicker than the SATA, but they were using a Seagate SATA drive. I suspect if they used a decent SATA drive like the WD Raptor the results would be much better for the SATA.
The newer boards like the 875 based P4C800 have SATA support built into the ICH5 southbridge chip. Other chipsets feed SATA in via the PCI bus which, in theory, limits the amount of bandwidth available to the controller (266MB/s vs 133MB/s for PCI). Read more on AnandTech.
Have a look at the Storage Review test of the Raptor. It shows a clean pair of heals to IDE and SCSI drives in the desktop tests.
HardOCP did some brief tests comparing SATA and ATA133 RAID setups on the P4C800. The ATA133 drives were quicker than the SATA, but they were using a Seagate SATA drive. I suspect if they used a decent SATA drive like the WD Raptor the results would be much better for the SATA.
04 June 2003, 11:10 AM
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Haven't bothered moving m8, too tired from this damn job to have the energy to go looking. Anyway, going homwe for a month at the end of the year and if there are opporunities out there for me, I may not be coming back!
Bonus being that I will ship the beast out there as fuel is cheap as chips, the twisties are like nothing you have ever seen and one of my uncles own the Subaru dealership for the island!!
How cool is that?
Bonus being that I will ship the beast out there as fuel is cheap as chips, the twisties are like nothing you have ever seen and one of my uncles own the Subaru dealership for the island!!
How cool is that?