Build me the top of the line system!

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
ok i have no clue on cost but for a semi serious sorta top of the line rig not a 40g one....

Vapochill case, i have no idea what retailer sells it, but it is a sweet case and if i had the money, i would get one.

intel 3.06HT (w/ vapo, you can hit 4ghz but that might be a bit high on the volts)

corsair xms pc 3200 4x512

sb audigy 2 (i might get flamed for this but it is an excellent sc and i have had no problems with it)

sony DRU 500a dvd-rw drive with + and - capabilities

lite-on 52x cd-rw drive

ati 9700pro aiw

GigabSINXP1394

the new SATA hds coming out will suit the mobo nicely

mx700

whatever keyboard you want


a very nice monitor, i dont currently have a suggestion on that

Forget the SATA, the current SATA chips take bandwidth from the PCI bus which is limited to 133MBs. Get SCSI or wait untill Southbridge chipsets come with SATA built in so it can take advantage of the North-to-South bus, which is usually much more than 133MBs.

 

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: nick1985
dual cpu's are worthless except for servers and a few programs

Agreed, waste of money. Put that extra dough into a 3.06GHz P4 or (my pick) 3000+ Barton core Athlon XP.

 

[TonyB]

forget what everyone has recommended so far and get this instead... Oh and i dont know why everyone likes to bash dual CPU systems, if someone gave you a choice to get a free dualie or a single, you'd be STUPID not to get the dualie.. so everyone bow down to this rig.

CPU - (2) Xeon 2.8GHz 533FSB 512k Cache Retail w/Hyper Threading
Motherboard - Supermicro X5DAE dual CPU motherboard E7505 chipset w/ Onboard Gigabit Lan
Memory - (6) Crucial 1024MB DDR266 PC2100 ECC Registered Memory - 6GB
Video Card - ATi Radeon 9700 Pro AIW 128MB
SCSI RAID Controller - LSI MegaRAID Enterprise 1600 RAID (4 Channel) 64Bit 66MHz performance 128MB ECC SDRAM
Hard Drives - (6) Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 18GB U160 Hard Drive in RAID 0 - 108GB Max
Hard Drives II - (4) Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 73GB U160 Hard Drive in RAID 5 - 219GB Max
Floppy Drive - Any
CDRW - Plextor PX-W4824TABP 48/24/48
DVDRW - Pioneer A05 4X DVD-RW
Sound Card - Audigy 2
Speakers - Klipsch 5.1
Case - Supermicro SC850P4 Server Chassis
Power Supply - Supermicro PWS-0039 700W + 350W Redundant PSU
Monitor - Viewsonic 22" VP2290b LCD panel
Monitor II - Any

 

[human2k]

Here's what I would get:


All this from newegg:

Lian-Li PC-6087 Chassis
Antec TruePower 550W
Asus P4G8X DELUXE
1GB Corsair Twin-X PC3200 LL Cas 2-2-2 Ram x 2 (2GB Total)
Pentium 4 3.06GHZ
Swiftech MCX4000-B w/Panaflow 80MM Fan
ATI Radeon 9700 AIW PRO
Vantec Round Cables
Fujitsu 36GB U160/320 SCSI 15K RPM Drives x 4
Adaptec SCSI Controller
WD 200GB SE x 2
Plextor 48X CDRW
Pioneer 4XDVD-RW
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum Ex
Sony SuperBright XGA LCD Projector (This is King for Fragging)
Microsoft Optical Desktop Pro Keyboard & Mouse

Total before s/h and tax = $ 8,410.49


Now on too the good stuff:

Klipsch Reference Speakers (7.1 Setup) w/Denon DRA-685 Reciever

Goodguys is running a special on this setup, $3000 with $400 instant rebate!


System = $8,410.49
Speakers = $2600

TOTAL = $11,010.49 before s/h and tax (this is quite cheap when you factor that money is no limit)

 

[McCarthy]

What's he DO with a computer?

If he's a gamer then some areas need more concern than if he's a musician, and so on.
What's he have for a computer now? Heck, might turn out a Mac will fit him best depending on what he does, but people are recommending their own dream systems. Which I guess is what you asked for, but still.

For example, does he do any video work? Does he want to? If so what kind? If he wants to import video to make DVDs a dedicated mpeg2 card might make more sense than an AIW. But I can't say what to get because I don't know what he wants to do with it.

I totally agree with 'cool and quiet though'.

 

[oldfart]

The price limit is $6000

 

[sharkeeper]

not BS I gurantee that that AMD dual rig would be mostly slower in every game than a 3.06Ghz P4 clocked up a bit.

For gaming, yes. For real work there is no way. Anyone that buys an SMP system just for playing games and surfing has more money than sense anyways. People that say SMP is a waste of money obviously have not a clue what doing real work on a computer is in the first place. :|

Cheers!

 

[tbates757]

Originally posted by: oldfart
My beef with dual CPU rigs is 2X noise, 2X heat. A top of the line rig should also be quiet and cool running.

mine is kind of close to what nourdmrolNMT1 posted

I'd go
P4 3.06
Asus P4G8X Deluxe
Corsair TWINX1024-3200LL: 1 Gbyte, 400 MHz, low latency module pair, kit consists of two matched CMX512-3200LL DIMMs
ATI AIW 9700 Pro
SB Audigy 2
WD 1200JB HD (until SATA drives are available)
Sony 500a DVD+R/W
DVD drive (Lite-On I guess)
Antec PLUS1080AMG case w/ TruePower 430 watt supply
Win XP Pro
Office XP Pro
(whatever other SW he needs)

This does not nearly eat up the $6k. Plenty still for some nice speakers, monitor, KB/mouse, etc.

This is probably the best suggested setup so far. Seriously, what are you guys talking about, suggesting watercooling and Vapochill's. He isn't doing any extreme overclocking, and he doesn't need a 40,000 dollar computer with 29 SCSI hard drives. Sometimes I wonder if people on this forum got dropped on their head as babies.

 

[FishTankX]

One suggestion i'd make..
Get a SCSI Ultra160 controller then drop money on a 36GB Cheetah 15k.3 for the system drive. That thing will scream.

 

[mooojojojo]

Originally posted by: FishTankX
One suggestion i'd make..
Get a SCSI Ultra160 controller then drop money on a 36GB Cheetah 15k.3 for the system drive. That thing will scream.

literally )

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: tbates757 He isn't doing any extreme overclocking, and he doesn't need a 40,000 dollar computer with 29 SCSI hard drives. Sometimes I wonder if people on this forum got dropped on their head as babies.

You find me someone who doesn't need 4.3 TB of hard drive space, and I'll show you someone who isn't being honest with themselves...



Well, he said money was no object, and gave no guidelines at all. Cut it down to 2 hard drives, and it would be a very nice (yet still overkill) system.

 

[oldfart]

Well, he said money was no object, and gave no guidelines at all

He said $6K tops.

 

[NokiaDude]

If not mentioned already, install a top of the line watercooling/ peltier cooling unit. I heard Vapochil was a really good brand.

 

[Fullhouz]

Better add a dial-up modem, so he can hook up at a blazing 24 kbps, like me. (Stupid fingers)

 

[psy44]

I'll let you in on the deal of the century, for a mere 6,000 dollars you can have my Compaq 2266! Yes you heard it a fully functional 200 mhz cyrix w/64 mb of PC100 memory. If that's not enough you also get a whopping 4 gigabyte harddrive. Since I'm letting you in on this special offer I'll throw in my prize possesion, 14" KDS CRT monitor! This baby is considered old to some and a classic to others, after all it's only 6 years old. Let me know what you think.

PS as an added bonus I'll give you your very own padlock for maximum security against intruders.

 

[oldfart]

psy44
You gotta fix that sig!

 

[ProviaFan]

All the P4 3.06GHz with 1GB of RAM recommendations are good, but many recommend IDE drives in RAID 0. This is unreliable and silly, given the budget. If you have a max budget of $6000, you should really get a couple nice 10kRPM SCSI drives, or the new Seagate 15kRPM drives that are quieter. Heck, you could probably get those even with a $3000 budget. SCSI drives may not show a huge transfer speed advantage over IDE, but in processor utilization and access time (a lower value of which translates into more apparent "smoothness"), SCSI totally annihilates IDE.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: oldfart

Well, he said money was no object, and gave no guidelines at all

He said $6K tops.

Yes he did.


After I posted.

 

[zayened]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Working on it.
--
Motherboard: Tyan Thunder K7X (S2468UGN) AMD-760 Dual Athlon MP DDR E-ATX Server Board w/Video, LAN, SCSI Retail

Video: ATI All-In-Wonder RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB DDR 8X AGP RETAIL

Processors: 2x AMD ATHLON MP 2600 /266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL

Memory: 4x 1GB Corsair ECC Registered PC2100 DDR

HD: 29x Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 ST3146807LW 146.8GB 68pin U320-SCSI 10,000RPM Hard Drive

Sound: CardDeluxe CDX-01 (you'd need different speakers)
--
That's my semi-serious system. It'd be about $40,000. If you don't need AGP, I'd go the Tyan B4520T4SR route.

did you take into consideration the price of the scsi cables?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: zayened


did you take into consideration the price of the scsi cables?

Heh, no. I think with just one hard drive, and adding in a CD, the system is legit. I have no idea how much cables would cost for that or how he'd fit them in the case. IIRC, the SCSI spec calls for 10cm of cable between each device. That's 2 1.4 meter cables...

 

[mechBgon]

If he REALLY wants something exotic and massively powerful in its own special way, keep an eye open for the 3DLabs Wildcat 4 It will probably make the Wildcat III look like a bargain. Hehe...

The 15k.3's get my vote since their relative value will last longer, and they should make the system feel very snappy.

 

[Bovinicus]

Here is a system I configured at NewEgg:
Motherboard: Asus P4G8X ($290) - The SiS655 actually performs faster and costs less, but there were none in stock.
CPU: Intel P4 3.06GHz ($628)
Memory: 2x Corsair XMS C2PT PC2700 512MB ($294) - Go with DDR400 if you get a SiS655 board, and use aggressive timings.
Video: ATi AIW Radeon 9700 Pro ($389)
Sound: M-Audio Delta 1010-LT ($289)
LAN: Onboard
HDD: 2x Maxtor 200GB 8MB ($510) - You will need serial to parallel adapters for both. Make a RAID 0 array.
DVD-RW: Sony DRX500UL DVD+/-RW & CD-RW ($410)
DVD-ROM: Toshiba SD-M1712 16X ($40) - This is so you can make on-the-fly copies of CDs/DVDs.
Case: Thermaltake Xaser II 6000A+ ($158)
PSU: Antec Tru480 ($91) - A good PSU for a power-hungry system.
Heatsink/Fan: Thermalright SK-7 & Thermaltake 80mm 37CFM ($32) - 80mm HSF for reduced noise levels and good cooling.
Case Fans: Included
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 3 ($6)
Total w/ shipping across country: $3166.99

Now that's a spicey meatball! I just assumed you weren't overclocking, but included OC caliber PSU and cooling devices because it will ensure system stability and longevity.