i wanna get a new workstation

[TAKA]

hey guys

i wanna get a new workstation.

i was thinkin of a dual cpu, but the MB seems to be so much expensive!! (intel or AMD)

so my specs are

 

Single or Dual CPU (AMD or intel)..plz advise me

1 or 2 GB RAM

Quadro 4 VGA

120 GB HDD and 40 GB HDD

LCD monitor (18') or CRT (22')

 

can u give me the best choices u guys think of...

 

is it better to get brand systems (HP, compaq, alienware) or assemble it myself?

 

rgds

 

TAKA

[HeDaCoM]

my advice..

DUAL AMD

2GB RAM DDR 2

graphcis card. not sure yet... maybe wait for next generation comming soon.

CRT 22 (better 2 monitors hehe. DUAL CPP ? then dual monitors lol)

assembled by yourself fo course.

with good fans.. silent ones.

[bigcahunak]

Definitely dual!!!

If you'r on this forum I bet you use multi-threaded programs, so for sure you'll feel the difference with a dual.

Having said that, you have 3 options:

• Dual P3 (too old to get as a new setup, and not cheap too)
• Dual P4 Xeon (its probably very good, but expensive for sure)
• Dual AMDs (very good, and relatively cheap) My choice

RAM - The more the better (I think 1 gig is good enough)

Vid card - wait till Greg will reply this thread

HDD - I would go with a raid setup and a removable hdd rack (lets say 2x20 or 30 or 40 for the raid plus what ever you want for storage on the removable)

Monitors - I like a dual monitor setup.

Bottom line: build it yourself and you'll have a better, faster, cheaper machine.

If you take my advice for dual AMD with raid, I think Gigabyte have a dual AMD board with onboard raid.

 

Good luck, and have fun

Last advice: www.newegg.com for all your hardware shoppings.

[bigcahunak]

Just noticed you are from Lebanon... forget about newegg.com (they don't ship outside the US and don't take international credit cards)

 

Try ebay though.

[vizwhiz]

hi There, Taka,

 

here is a Link to a List of Links to hardware tech sites:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/hardlinks.html

 

System Reviews, Comparisons & Benchmarks:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/3511hardsyst.html

 

AnandTech has some buyer's guide reviews.

i hope that some of This helps. Thanks vizwhiz

[TAKA]

thx bigcahunak

 

was lookin' at some motheboards...

do i have any choices with Athlon MP other than the TYAN?

 

As for P4, what do u guys think of SuperMicro Motheboards (for dual)??

 

thx

[TAKA]

thx wizwhiz

i'll check that

[bigcahunak]

Lots of options for dual ADM board:

Asus, MSI, Gigabte, Tyan, Epox, Iwill, chaintec... probably more but i can't recall.

for all your dual info:

www.2cpu.com

Good luck.

[TAKA]

Here is the config i'm getting

 

Case :Antec PLUS1080AMG (metallic grey)

Motherboard: Tyan Tiger MP (S2460) Dual Athlon

Dual AMD Athlon XP/MP 2200+

Fans : Arctic cooling 2500 + Arctic silver 3 + spacer + 8 cm Enermax + fan alarm)

 

RAM: PC Mushkin 4 x 512 Mo DDR 2100 SDRAM ECC Registered

 

HDDs: 2x IBM HDD 80Go 7200 tours 120GXP

1x IBM HDD 120Go 7200 tours 120GXP

 

CRT: Sony 24" - FW900

 

DVD-R: Pioneer DVR-104 DVD-R/RW 2X1X8X4 IDE

 

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX

 

KB/mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical

 

VGA: nVidia Quadro 4 900 XGL

 

All for approx 5,800 $

[bigcahunak]

TAKA,

The Tyan S2460 is based on AMDs older chip, but if you don't use any 66mhz pci cards then its actually better than the newer boards since there are no USB problems with the onboard USB headers.

I remember that the S2460 worked ok with 2xXP1600+ but I think that in later bios releases they disabled the option of running XP chips in dual configuration in appose to MPs.

Looks like a great system you are getting.

Good luck.

 

[ September 15, 2002, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: bigcahunak ]

[TAKA]

thx bigcahunak

i am aware of the usb problem....and the tiger MP is the Thunder K7's little sis (K7 costs around 650 $). Plus the AMDs i am getting are MPs and not XPs....XPs at the same speed cost much less.

 

Anywya, that's about it....

[Greg Hess]

1. XP's don't work in duals. They did about 8 months ago before AMD decided to crack down on it, severing the MP bridge on XP processors, as well as forcing chipset makers to update their bios's to have an XP detection phase. (Aka it detects an XP and forces single mode). This of course can still be bypassed, but the price of MP's is not significantly more then XP's enough to warrant all the trouble and possible instability issues.

 

2. Don't go dual xeon. The price/performance ratio is horrid. The only xeons that compare to the dual amd's are the 2.6 and 2.8 Chips, which since they just came out are pretty damn expensive. (One chip costs the same price as two amd 2200+ MP's).

 

3. A single P4 is a good workstation solution, just make sure its 2.53B or higher. Otherwise you'll lose the price/performance war.

 

4. Dual AMD's are still the cheapest performance solution available. Though a Dual 2.8 Xeon will be faster (especially the ones coming out in november), the Dual Xeon will also cost 2-3x more.

[mbr]

Okay, this is probably out of place on this discussion, but what does everybody think of Alienware computers? I know they could be considered 'cheesy' with all the colors and logos, but the offer some great selections.

I spec'd out a model:

 

Dragon Full-Tower Case (431-Watt PS) (Space Black)

Enermax EG465P-VE 431 Watt Power Supply

Dual AMD Athlon™ MP processor 2000+

1GB DDR SDRAM PC-2100 w/ECC

120GB Western Digital UltraATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache

120GB Western Digital UltraATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache

Pioneer DVR-A04 - IDE - DVD-RW

NVIDIA® Quadro4 700 XGL w/64MB 4X AGP Dual Monitor

KoolMaxx Video Cooling System

Sound Blaster® Audigy 5.1 Platinum eX

Microsoft Internet Keyboard (Space Black)

Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer USB 3.0 (Standard Color)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black

Bonus 12-Month Subscription to Computer Games Magazine!

Alien Autopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System

Aliencare Toll-Free 1-Year 24/7 ONSITE Warranty

 

all for $3143 with a 1 year on site warranty. Add $1800 on to that for the Sony and we've got about $5k. Of course the processors are slower, but it's cheaper, has a warranty, is supported for compatibility and tech support.

So am I missing something? I've done this price/performance vs building your own a few years ago and came to the same conclusion. Now I have dell workstations and looove the instant tech support, but I am always interested in finding the best deals.

[Greg Hess]

Before buying from alienware, give www.boxxtech.com a look. Both alienware and boxxtech build excellent machines, but boxxtech has the edge when it comes to support. (Boxxtech deals with cg professionals all the time, and in some cases can answer application specific questions).

[mbr]

Greg, thanks for the suggestion. I just took a look at boxxtech - they look like good machines. Unfortunately, when spec'd similarly to the Alienware, they came in about $800 more, or close to the price of a dual Xeon. Granted, they have a better selection of graphic cards, but that's a big difference in price.

Just in case others are looking at similar machines.