Building A Future proof System, Please help

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: grant2

Originally posted by: dguy6789
FYI, this system will most likely have a sticker price of 5 - 6 grand kiddo. Im thinking of going P4 also. Does ASUS make a good P4 mainboard?

Ok, spend $3000 on a computer today and $3000 on a computer in 5 years.

The 2nd computer will still destroy anything you can buy today for $6000.

You're right, and I have only two other things to say:

1) Redviffer, stop trolling. You're just kidding yourself and everyone else to say that Intel is so far ahead of AMD that it would be pointless to even consider AMD. Remember, no AMD vs. Intel threads, please, and IMO (thought I'm not a mod), I think that should include posts, not just entire threads. As far as future proofing goes, in another couple of months (exaggeration) when Intel changes its pin counts in its sockets again for no other reason than ruining upgrade possibilities, we can come back to this issue.

2) Back to the subject at hand, if you're planning on building something in a few months, then come back in a few months. Too many things change month to month to make any recommendations now be worthwhile in a few months. By then, AMD will have 400MHz FSB procs on the market, and Intel will have 800MHz FSB procs more readily available. GFFX 5900's will be alive and kicking on store shelves, and for all we know, ATI could come out with a new video card as well.

So please, take everyone's general advice, look for yourself at reviews over the next couple of months, and come back a week before you're going to buy it. You'll be able to get plenty of suggestions and find the best prices then.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: grant2

Originally posted by: dguy6789
FYI, this system will most likely have a sticker price of 5 - 6 grand kiddo. Im thinking of going P4 also. Does ASUS make a good P4 mainboard?

Ok, spend $3000 on a computer today and $3000 on a computer in 5 years.

The 2nd computer will still destroy anything you can buy today for $6000.

You're right, and I have only two other things to say:

1) Redviffer, stop trolling. You're just kidding yourself and everyone else to say that Intel is so far ahead of AMD that it would be pointless to even consider AMD. Remember, no AMD vs. Intel threads, please, and IMO (thought I'm not a mod), I think that should include posts, not just entire threads. As far as future proofing goes, in another couple of months (exaggeration) when Intel changes its pin counts in its sockets again for no other reason than ruining upgrade possibilities, we can come back to this issue.

Actually Canterwood 200FSB boards have Prescott support. Its been confirmed that the initial Prescotts will come out in Socket478, with the later revisions coming out in the SocketT form.

Although I'd have to agree. $2000 system now, $2000 system 2 years from now, $2000 system 4 years from now. Sure beats the crap out of any $6000 system nowl.

For the modeling end the vid card has a far greater impact then the CPU and for rendering the P4 tends to be the best only if the application supports SSE2. If you aren't running a rendering engines that has support built in, the Athlon still tends to whip the P4.

And what 3d Application (besides MAC ones) dont have SSE2 support? To my knowledge, most all the commonly used ones have some form of SSE2 support.

 

[Spac3d]

I really don't understand why you aren't going with dual CPU ....

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: grant2

Originally posted by: dguy6789
FYI, this system will most likely have a sticker price of 5 - 6 grand kiddo. Im thinking of going P4 also. Does ASUS make a good P4 mainboard?

Ok, spend $3000 on a computer today and $3000 on a computer in 5 years.

The 2nd computer will still destroy anything you can buy today for $6000.

You're right, and I have only two other things to say:

1) Redviffer, stop trolling. You're just kidding yourself and everyone else to say that Intel is so far ahead of AMD that it would be pointless to even consider AMD. Remember, no AMD vs. Intel threads, please, and IMO (thought I'm not a mod), I think that should include posts, not just entire threads. As far as future proofing goes, in another couple of months (exaggeration) when Intel changes its pin counts in its sockets again for no other reason than ruining upgrade possibilities, we can come back to this issue.

Actually Canterwood 200FSB boards have Prescott support. Its been confirmed that the initial Prescotts will come out in Socket478, with the later revisions coming out in the SocketT form.

So, then, I was correct. Once again Intel is moving to a new socket design before too long. Once again, Intel makes a totally pointless socket change in order to force teh consumer to buy a new motherboard. It's understandable for something like the Athlon 64 when you have the memory controller integrated into the processor, but you could still run an Athlon XP on a KT133 board. Can you put a newer Intel chip on a motherboard that old? Nope. Way to go Intel, you screwed the consumer again.

BTW, I do not want to troll and I don't want to start an Intel over AMD post like I accused Redviffer of doing before, I just can't stand Intel for doing this. When they moved to the newest pin structure, it was totally pointless, and I'm bitter. Let me vent and ignore me if you must.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
...but you could still run an Athlon XP on a KT133 board.

Well, sort of. I had to upgrade from a KT133A board to a nforce2 board when I got my Athlon XP 1700+ Tbred-B; apparently the Tbreds are incompatible with some KT133A boards. I still like AMD though, and use their processors in 2/3rds of my computers (including my main one).

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: grant2

Originally posted by: dguy6789
FYI, this system will most likely have a sticker price of 5 - 6 grand kiddo. Im thinking of going P4 also. Does ASUS make a good P4 mainboard?

Ok, spend $3000 on a computer today and $3000 on a computer in 5 years.

The 2nd computer will still destroy anything you can buy today for $6000.

You're right, and I have only two other things to say:

1) Redviffer, stop trolling. You're just kidding yourself and everyone else to say that Intel is so far ahead of AMD that it would be pointless to even consider AMD. Remember, no AMD vs. Intel threads, please, and IMO (thought I'm not a mod), I think that should include posts, not just entire threads. As far as future proofing goes, in another couple of months (exaggeration) when Intel changes its pin counts in its sockets again for no other reason than ruining upgrade possibilities, we can come back to this issue.

Actually Canterwood 200FSB boards have Prescott support. Its been confirmed that the initial Prescotts will come out in Socket478, with the later revisions coming out in the SocketT form.

So, then, I was correct. Once again Intel is moving to a new socket design before too long. Once again, Intel makes a totally pointless socket change in order to force teh consumer to buy a new motherboard. It's understandable for something like the Athlon 64 when you have the memory controller integrated into the processor, but you could still run an Athlon XP on a KT133 board. Can you put a newer Intel chip on a motherboard that old? Nope. Way to go Intel, you screwed the consumer again.

BTW, I do not want to troll and I don't want to start an Intel over AMD post like I accused Redviffer of doing before, I just can't stand Intel for doing this. When they moved to the newest pin structure, it was totally pointless, and I'm bitter. Let me vent and ignore me if you must.

Actually, I think its been beaten to death. Not all KT133a/KT133 boards can run AXPs. My Iwill KK266 sure as heck cant. Also, not every SocketA board can take *any* AXP. Some can only take 266FSB AXP's whereas the unfortunate ones are relegated to running it in 200 FSB mode; it probably wouldnt recognize a Barton. In fact, if you were one of the early adopters of the nForce2 platform (or KT266/KT266a/ some KT333/SiS735/SiS745), you cant put a 400FSB Barton (or even 333FSB AXP) inside of your computer. Just because the socket didnt change doesnt mean you can put every processor in that board.

The 423 platform was short indeed, but there was a clear disclaimer, as indicated on the Intel roadmaps that 478 will be phased in with a couple months. Socket423 was the equivalent of the Athlon slotA, which was just a temporary solution platform. One of the first socket 478 boards was the Asus P4T-E, almost 2 years back. With bios flashes, it can take a 2.8 Ghz P4, so indeed an old P4-478 board can take a relatively new processor.

Furthermore, there will be 478 Prescotts. SocketT is just a phase in for a smoother transition to Tejas processors. I think what the other guy means is that SocketA is a dead end. With the current batch of Canterwood boards, you can at least opt for a Prescott later on, whereas you're stuck with the same 400FSB Barton if you go the nForce2 route.

 

[Redviffer]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: grant2

Originally posted by: dguy6789
FYI, this system will most likely have a sticker price of 5 - 6 grand kiddo. Im thinking of going P4 also. Does ASUS make a good P4 mainboard?

Ok, spend $3000 on a computer today and $3000 on a computer in 5 years.

The 2nd computer will still destroy anything you can buy today for $6000.

You're right, and I have only two other things to say:

1) Redviffer, stop trolling. You're just kidding yourself and everyone else to say that Intel is so far ahead of AMD that it would be pointless to even consider AMD. Remember, no AMD vs. Intel threads, please, and IMO (thought I'm not a mod), I think that should include posts, not just entire threads. As far as future proofing goes, in another couple of months (exaggeration) when Intel changes its pin counts in its sockets again for no other reason than ruining upgrade possibilities, we can come back to this issue.

2) Back to the subject at hand, if you're planning on building something in a few months, then come back in a few months. Too many things change month to month to make any recommendations now be worthwhile in a few months. By then, AMD will have 400MHz FSB procs on the market, and Intel will have 800MHz FSB procs more readily available. GFFX 5900's will be alive and kicking on store shelves, and for all we know, ATI could come out with a new video card as well.

So please, take everyone's general advice, look for yourself at reviews over the next couple of months, and come back a week before you're going to buy it. You'll be able to get plenty of suggestions and find the best prices then.

I guess I should have stayed with an all AMD system recommendation as it seems that was his original chosen base system, and my suggestion to go to Intel might be considered "trolling" by some. My apologies to the ORIGINAL poster for suggesting that his original choice was not what I would consider if I were building a "future proof" computer. It's still a nice computer and will serve you well for several years.

However, the main point that I was trying to make and probably should have pointed out more isn't that Intel is sooooo far beyond AMD that it would be pointless going with an AMD system, but it would be for his original chosen components. I would have said the SAME THING if he had said he wanted to go with an i845 or i850 chipset (you don't build a "future proof" computer with old technology). The most important feature for "future proof" IS the motherboard. Yes, Intel changes sockets but in the i865 and i875 chipset you have one of the largest range of processors out (200MHz FSB-1.5GHz P4's up to 800MHz-3.0GHz P4's) , and the i875 is slated as being the "next BX" chipset for Intel. I have several AMD computers, and while its true that the socket is still 462, you CAN'T upgrade to the newer processor from an original board due to voltage differences/variable FSB, etc. so the illusion of not having a cpu socket change does NOT mean that you STILL won't have to change motherboards to take advantage of the new processors, so don't tout that feature as an AMD exclusive.

(edit: Thanks jliechty and dexvx for pointing this out also).

This comes from my personal experiences AND reading reviews from pretty much EVERY large website out there. I think it's you who are kidding yourself: AMD doesn't have anything to really offer at this point in time, and won't until they release the Athlon64 or Opteron in quantity (now THAT is an exciting processor) in a DIFFERENT socket I might add.

Lastly, a quick web search for the definition of troll, or trolling:

troll v.,n.
1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT.

2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll."

3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS students. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.


I would suggest that you re-read the rules, with the above definition, and decide again if I was trolling or not. I gather from your posts in this thread that you are sore at Intel for socket changes, perhaps you are one of the first few that jumped on a socket 423 system and now feel you got burned. In any case, you should be happy with what you build or buy, no matter what others say. The simple truth is you can NEVER truly future proof, but if I had suggested that he not even try, or that his question was stupid, then I would agree with you on the trolling bit.

(BTW, I have 2 socket 423 systems, both are running RDRAM w/ P4 1.5 GHz cpu's, both have GF3's and there isn't a GAME out there they won't play, I think I'm still getting my money's worth out of them, plus they crunch SETI pretty damn well.)

 

[blinkme210]

Nice nice. Send it my way to test it

 

[dexvx]

Actually, I think the 850 was the "next BX", people just didnt realize it.

Especially with a mobo like the TH7-II, even that thing can take a 200FSB proc, up to PC1200 RDRam. Just now HT support.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: IlmaterRemember, no AMD vs. Intel threads, please, and IMO (thought I'm not a mod), I think that should include posts, not just entire threads. As far as future proofing goes, in another couple of months (exaggeration) when Intel changes its pin counts in its sockets again for no other reason than ruining upgrade possibilities, we can come back to this issue.

LOL... is it just me, or is a double standard being applied here?

 

[0roo0roo]

geforce fx 5900!

 

[DWW]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Alright, I got a couple thousand bucks to make a system, I want it to last as long as It can.
So far, this is what im thinking of putting together, your opinions and suggestions are welcome.
I wont be building it for a couple of months. This will be a sytem for extreme everything, gaming, media encoding, CD/DVD burning, acting as a server, doing 3D workstaton stuff, all this stuff, So here it is.

Mainboard: ASUS A7N8X
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 333FSB
RAM: I will have 3 1GB PC2700 sticks of ram, adding up to 3GB of ram.
Video: Either a AIW Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB, or a Geforce FX 5900 Ultra,
harddrive: 2 250GB harddrives, dont know which company yet.
CD drives: fastest dvd burner available at the time, 52X24X52 cd burner
floppy: regular 1.44MB
Zip: regular zip drive
Case: probably a thermaltake xaser II A6000A + with 550W power supply

I think thats all of it, please state your opinions on how it will do all these tasks, and how long you think it will last, and some hardware changes i should make, dont wanna spend 5 grand and have it go out of date in 6 months.

My opinion is to build two machines. Yes two. Hear me out. You want to do MANY tasks with one machine, sure it could do them well, but do you really want to try encoding while workstationing while being a server? If your comp crashes OOPS your FTP goes down hehe. This is my recommendation:

Antec PLUS1080AMG case w/ 430 Tru PoweR
Abit N7-S (cant remember if it has raid striping but lets pretend it does)
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton (333 FSB and good overclocking and good price)
512MB PC3200 Crucial brand.
2x250 GB Western Digital w/ 8meg cache in Raid 0 mode (striping)
Use the onboard ethernet to connect to the internet (cable, dsl whatever you use)
Buy a cheapo gigabit card if you can find one and put it on your "internal" network.
Connect the gigabit to your second pc here, the workstation:

Antec PLUS1080AMG case w/430 Tru Power
Abit IC7-G or Asus P4C800
P4 2.4 GHz w/ 800 bus and HT
4x 512 pc3200 crucial brand (much cheaper than 2x1 gig sticks MUCH MUCH cheaper)
2x 36GB Raptor S-ATA drives in Raid 0 (supah fast)
Ati Radeon 9700 Pro All in Wonder
onboard gigabit ethernet to connect to your server and use NAT for internet sharing.

That way your server is badazz and capable of doing all your encoding/whatever while keeping your workstation free. Why pick 2.4 GHz cpu? because its the sweet spot for price/performance right now... you'll save $200 over the 3.0 GHz and then give a year when you need that CPU power, spend that $200 and buy a 4.0 GHz lol. Gigabit ethernet and raid striping on the server so you can access files REALLY fast locally on your LAN. Of course the server could be cheapened out with case/board and even use athlon xp 2000+ (VERY cheap now) and save like $100 or so. I think this route is better than blowing it all on one super machine and your more or less getting damn near same performance with the fat 800 MHz bus and using the RAMs fully potential.

 

[Chobits]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Actually, I think its been beaten to death. Not all KT133a/KT133 boards can run AXPs. My Iwill KK266 sure as heck cant. Also, not every SocketA board can take *any* AXP. Some can only take 266FSB AXP's whereas the unfortunate ones are relegated to running it in 200 FSB mode; it probably wouldnt recognize a Barton. In fact, if you were one of the early adopters of the nForce2 platform (or KT266/KT266a/ some KT333/SiS735/SiS745), you cant put a 400FSB Barton (or even 333FSB AXP) inside of your computer. Just because the socket didnt change doesnt mean you can put every processor in that board.

The 423 platform was short indeed, but there was a clear disclaimer, as indicated on the Intel roadmaps that 478 will be phased in with a couple months. Socket423 was the equivalent of the Athlon slotA, which was just a temporary solution platform. One of the first socket 478 boards was the Asus P4T-E, almost 2 years back. With bios flashes, it can take a 2.8 Ghz P4, so indeed an old P4-478 board can take a relatively new processor.

Furthermore, there will be 478 Prescotts. SocketT is just a phase in for a smoother transition to Tejas processors. I think what the other guy means is that SocketA is a dead end. With the current batch of Canterwood boards, you can at least opt for a Prescott later on, whereas you're stuck with the same 400FSB Barton if you go the nForce2 route.

Not necessarily. I have one of the first A7n8xs and I have my 1700+ at 166mhz right now @ ~2200+

Just felt like clarifying that

 

[dguy6789]

Remember, this will be media encoding, workstationing, and web serving, and gaming all at once, i want a system that can do that, i am leaning towards an 8 Processor Opteron solution, but only if i can get an opteron mainboard with an agp slot, and money is of no interest, So this, if possible will be my specs:

nvidia nforce 3 pro(if it has agp)
opteron 846( 2.0Ghz 8 way opteron) 8 of them, or faster depending on when i build,
4 - 8 gigs of PC3200 memory(depending on what the mainboard can hold)
2 - 4 250GB IDE harddrives, on a raid 0 + 1 if I decide i would need a terabyte of space
Geforce FX 5900 ultra or NV40 or R400 whichever is faster, and if it is out by then) or the fastest gpu available then
A thermaltake Xaser 3, or there newest case, with the biggest powersupply available, or multiple if thats possible
Fastest DVD burner
Fastest CD burner
floopy drive (needed sometimes to install stuff)
zip drive (incase it is needed for some reason, like a friend may have one)
And Watercooling, if i can find a system powerful enough to cool 8 cpus, a gpu, a chipset, and 4 harddrives, or i will use multiple water cooling systems
and, if i can a SCSI 70GB 15.3K RPM boot harddrive
and the ddr will be dual channel if the nforce 3 does that.

I dont know the sticker price of this baby, but Im sure it will fly. So what do you all think, of this as being the best of the best that will last long? It covers vital parts: lots of space for games, music, files and stuff, lots of ram so it wont swap even in really new games while im encoding and stuff, 8 opterons of the fastest nature, for the ultamate in multitasking, workstationing, and whatever else i may do.

So this is the monster Sytem that will be future poof( for as long as possible), Faster then the speed of light, look cooler then a new pen, and be quieter then something, cant think of anything to think of. Thanks to all of you that helped me.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: DWW
2x250 GB Western Digital w/ 8meg cache in Raid 0 mode (striping)

Very good recommendation, mostly snipped, except for this. Why would you want to RAID 0 your server drives, that will be storing your data (I presume)? That's just asking for trouble, especially if this thing is going to be kept around for a while w/o upgrades or replacements. JBOD is also asking for a single disk crash to take everything down, so try independent disks, mirrored, or RAID 5'ed.

 

[Intelman07]

I'd go with a P4 3.0Ghz 800Mhz front side bus a Geforce FX 5900 Ultra.....and keep everything else. (i don't know a good mobo for a 800Mhz chip though)

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
I dont know the sticker price of this baby, but Im sure it will fly. So what do you all think, of this as being the best of the best that will last long? It covers vital parts: lots of space for games, music, files and stuff, lots of ram so it wont swap even in really new games while im encoding and stuff, 8 opterons of the fastest nature, for the ultamate in multitasking, workstationing, and whatever else i may do.

So this is the monster Sytem that will be future proof, at least for as long as possible, Thanks to all that have helped me on this journey of Ultamate computing power, When i build it, ill post pcmark and 3dmark scores with a big grin

Your chances of finding an 8 way Opteron board, let alone a 4 way one, with workstation features (AGP slot, etc.) for less than $10,000 without processors is pretty much impossible. The Nforce3, AFAIK, would be a single CPU board, but then I haven't done much reading on it so that could be wrong. Dual Opteron is more reasonable, if you're looking for something workstationable. Heck, even the current 8 way Xeon boards don't have AGP slots or anything; they're only used in servers, and the general public can't just go buy one at newegg (rather, you practically have to get one from IBM in an almost-mainframe-level system).

 

[mechBgon]

8-way... LOL! You'd need Windows 200x Advanced Server to use them all, and that's around $2000 just for the operating system. Even a 4-way system is going to require Windows 200x Server, not cheap at ~$700+.

 

[dguy6789]

listen, Im willing to spend $25,000 for this system, but no more then that.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
listen, Im willing to spend $25,000 for this system, but no more then that.

That's not going to change the fact that you're not going to find a workstation-class 8 way Opteron board with AGP and the other nice things you'd like to see in a desktop system. Boards that big are only made for servers. Period. End of statement.

Ok, now with that out, a dual processor board is definitely in your future. Either dual AMD Athlon MPs or dual Xeons (in the latter case I believe you want a board based on the Intel E7505 chipset, such as the Supermicro X5DAE). You'll want at least 4GB of RAM, and SCSI RAID 5 or 50 is a must. Get a four channel U320 SCSI RAID controller with 6, 8, or hell, even 10 drives. And don't forget a removable chassis for the drives, so you can hot swap them if one breaks (needless to say, RAID 5 or 50 will protect you if one of your drives fails, unlike the inferior non-RAID 0; it is also more efficient than RAID 1, because with level 5 you get number_of_drives-1*size in capacity, while with level 1(+0) you get number_of_drives*size/2).

 

[mechBgon]

Actually, if you want the ULTIMATE... :Q get a four-way VIA C3 Nehimiah system! :Q I don't even know where to get the board. You'd have to do some serious searching for it. They run sooooo cool too. Many of the C3's don't even need fan cooling, just a heatsink. Their processing power is definitely in a class by itself.

 

[p0b0ye]

Originally posted by: jliechty

Originally posted by: p0b0ye
Looks good, but I think yer going overboard with the hdd. Get a couple of raptors in raid0 for your main drive, and then a 200 gigger for some storage.

Be sure to get a DVD-RW or tape drive for backup... RAID 0 has no redundancy (thus it isn't technically RAID), and IMHO it has no place in an expensive, top-of-the-line, system. If you only have $2000, a hardware RAID 5 controller might be a bit too much, but if you're spending more than that you definitely should get one.

You trying to say that any mirrored drive arrays are faster than raid 0? Raid 0 is meant for performance. Ive never had a raid 0 array that has failed, only the drives have. If the drives failed, the raid issue is moot anyways. Raid 5 is for wussies.

 

[dguy6789]

ok, so an 8 cpu board wont have agp and stuff? So I will either go with the fastest multi-processor solution with agp, or, I will get one heck of single cpu system, will they have 4Ghz+ Athlon 64s anytime soon?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: p0b0ye

You trying to say that any mirrored drive arrays are faster than raid 0? Raid 0 is meant for performance. Ive never had a raid 0 array that has failed, only the drives have. If the drives failed, the raid issue is moot anyways. Raid 5 is for wussies.

Wussies like giant companies who can't afford any downtime or loss of data.

Like I said, good luck finding an 8-way Opteron. You'd have to pay someone to design one with AGP, because at that level, computers have the cheapest 2D card that will run a command line.

$25,000 is enterprise level computing. If you really need a computer that expensive, you need to be checking out Sun, HP, or Dell. Don't build it on your own if it needs 5 9's uptime.

Back into the relm of realism, you'll have to wait for a dual Opteron solution with an AGP slot. To my knowledge, there aren't any currently available.

May I ask, why you would spend so much on one system?

 

[vash]

Here is just a thought on all "future" proof systems, unless you intend on buying a server, your "future" proofing won't last much longer than 24 months.

When someone comes to me and asks me what kind of computer they intend to buy, I ask them the following questions:
1. What will you be doing on it?
2. How long do you intend to keep this machine?

For #1, the general answer is "Mainly web surfing and some gaming". For this answer, they do not need top of the line parts, or parts that are even much upgradeable -- because this person is going to use the same machine until it probably dies.

For #2, the answers vary. Buying upgradeable computer hardware is a nice thing only if you intend to stick with that architecture. You intend on buying a 333FSB Nforce2 board, but do you intend on buying into the 400mhz FSB versions? The ATI card looks like nice, but its definitely not the king of speed anymore. With buying into "upgradeable" systems, the intention is to buy the fastest your money now and place the fastest it can handle in about 12 months. Any Nforce2 boards out there now may not handle the Athlons out there in 12 months (Athlon64).

Most of my friends (and I), stick with what we have for about 18-24 months. By the time we intend to upgrade our boxes, we need almost newer everything because the faster CPU needs a newer mobo and newer RAM. About the only thing we do take from our machines are our SCSI drives and video cards (we usually swap that too)

vash