Number Cruncher Build <$1500

[Knavish]

Hi all,
I'm building a number crunching machine for scientific apps. Ideally, I want to start with a quad core and 8GB of ram. Perhaps I'll expand to 16GB in the future. I want a decent video card for a little lite-CAD use, but nothing fancy. This has got to be pretty stable, so no OC'ing here. Here's what I'm thinking:

Mobo: ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $129.99

CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400 - Retail - $269.99

*?*RAM: G.SKILL 4GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Retail - 2x$149.99

Case: Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $69.95

PSU: Antec Neo Power 500 500W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail - $59.99

HD:Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $84.99

Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100255L Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail - $79.99

Monitor: Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail - $197.99

Total: $1192.87

My big question here is: Will I run into any problems with that DDR2-800 memory in this board? Will it really hurt the performance of my CPU vs. DDR2-1200??

Any other comments?
--added the WD Caviar 640 instead of the Seagate 750
--added the 4670 instead of the 9600GT (I didn't know that existed until I today!)
(I'm thinking about the 4850, but I'm still not sure this computer will do much in the way of 3D graphics)
--bumped up the PSU to a 500

Thanks in advance.

 

[Roguestar]

DDR2-800 is much more than you actually need, if you're not overclocking. DDR2-1200 would be a massive waste of money. It'll all only run at DDR2-667 speeds if you're not overclocking anyway. Personally, I'd probably drop down to the Q9300 and save on the price difference.

It all looks pretty good, but I'd change the 750GB Seagate for a 640GB WD Caviar, as it's a better performing drive thanks to having very high density platters.

 

[MarcVenice]

Hows possible is perhaps? You're spending TWICE the amount you normaly pay for 4gb, in 2x2gb configurations.

Also, why are you deadset against oc-ing? There's folding at home rigs that are oc-ed to hell and back, and they are stable? You could a) save some money or b) have a lot faster numbercruncher if you OC a quad to 3.4ghz or so.

Also consider this videocard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...16814102792&Tpk=hd4670 it requires no 6 pin power connector, and uses a fair bit less power then a 9600gt. If you can find it cheaper it would make even more sense.

 

[jae]

I'd personally get a different psu, possibly a little bigger, 500-550W. Drop the Seagate and get an WD640. Add an extra $50 or so bucks and you can snag a HD4850 video card

 

[Knavish]

Thanks for the comments. I'm adding that WD640 drive you guys are suggesting, the bigger PSU, and swapping the video card so far.

This machine is going to be used in the lab. There's a good chance that some specialized data acquisition / frame grabber card will be put in it over the next year, so I'm worried that OC'ing could cause these weird components to be unstable. If it was my machine, I'd OC for sure.

I'll have to think some more about whether or not we'll take this box up to 16GB. It would be nice...