Other than being much overpriced... anything I have missed?

[amonster]

Oh, well there you go then! Thanks Mark.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: amonster
Well the only reason I have is that I THOUGHT that a blazing Dual Opteron 250 setup would be faster than a FX-53. I am really ignorant about that processor though, so I may be totally wrong.

I know this is a dream rig, but may I ask what are your main uses for it?
Oh, sweet rig btw :beer:

 

[amonster]

I don't have just one main thing I do more than any other to be honest. I do a wide variety of things, usually Im trying to do all of them at once. You know the routine, ripping and burning, surfing and printing, music, movies, gaming, and using Photoshop quite intensively at the same time. Thats why I want the rig to be able to do any and everything I throw at it without blinking, even if I throw it all at once!!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: amonster
I don't have just one main thing I do more than any other to be honest. I do a wide variety of things, usually Im trying to do all of them at once. You know the routine, ripping and burning, surfing and printing, music, movies, gaming, and using Photoshop quite intensively at the same time. Thats why I want the rig to be able to do any and everything I throw at it without blinking, even if I throw it all at once!!

Buy two reasonably priced machines.

 

[amonster]

Well I guess for me it would be simpler to have one MONSTER that could eat everything.

 

[jose]

amonster:

Did you make you selection on what HD's to use ? I'd get the fastest 15k scsi drives w/ the type of system your putting together. Also I think the K8W requires a special power supply.

BTW which case are you going to use ? I didn't see a post by you in case & cooling ? Also your aware that mobo has only usb 1.0 ports ?

Also did you read the review of the K8W at Gamepc ?

Regards,
Jose

 

[amonster]

I have not decided on the hard drives exactly yet... but I am thinking about the Fujitsu MAS3735NC 15K 73.5GB 80 pin drives. Drive recommendations (in this same class) from you experts is always helpful

Holy Moly I'm glad you told me about the USB Jose, I did NOT realize that, and YES I DO want USB 2.0 I have no experience with it yet though... can you guys here tell me the best way to incorporate USB 2.0 into this system? I assume there IS SOME way?

Thanks Jose, any help is appreciated

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: amonster
I have not decided on the hard drives exactly yet... but I am thinking about the Fujitsu MAS3735NC 15K 73.5GB 80 pin drives. Drive recommendations (in this same class) from you experts is always helpful

Holy Moly I'm glad you told me about the USB Jose, I did NOT realize that, and YES I DO want USB 2.0 I have no experience with it yet though... can you guys here tell me the best way to incorporate USB 2.0 into this system? I assume there IS SOME way?

Thanks Jose, any help is appreciated

Remember that 80-pin drives are primarily for hot-swap racks. If you're getting that Supermicro drive cage, you'd be all set. Go with the 68-pin models if your intention is to plug the drives directly into a SCSI cable.

 

[amonster]

Thanks mech... the truth is with my non-existant experience with SCSI, I don't really know any of the details of HOW they are connected up. Is it like SATA, where you just cable each drive to a slot? Or will I get a controller and plug each SCSI drive into a slot on it? Just some basic connection info would help alot, sorry I have never built a SCSI setup, so the subject is a weak one for me at this point..

Thanks!

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: amonster
Thanks mech... the truth is with my non-existant experience with SCSI, I don't really know any of the details of HOW they are connected up. Is it like SATA, where you just cable each drive to a slot? Or will I get a controller and plug each SCSI drive into a slot on it? Just some basic connection info would help alot, sorry I have never built a SCSI setup, so the subject is a weak one for me at this point..

Thanks!

For 68-pin...

Plug SCSI card into slot.

Set your drive's ID jumper to any setting except 7 (reserved for the card). If multiple drives will be on one bus (cable), make sure they don't have duplicate IDs, just like you wouldn't put two Masters on one IDE cable.

Plug unterminated end of SCSI cable into SCSI card.

Plug other end of cable into SCSI drive, the first drive should be on the plug right next to the terminator.

Set system to boot from CD-ROM, then SCSI, so you can boot from your OS CD-ROM and begin Setup.


For 80-pin, the rack itself should provide termination, so the cable isn't going to have a terminator on it, as you can see from looking at the photo of the SCSI cable that's included with the Supermicro rack. An 80-pin-to-68-pin converter is a possibility but it's not as elegant and sometimes results in Issues.

 

[amonster]

Ok, I understand much better Mech, thanks So if I like the Fujitsu I either need to find a 68 pin version (haven't looked yet), or find another drive that is close in performance TO the Fujitsu that is 68 pin. I dont like the idea of using a converter.

Thanks again, very helpful.

 

[mechBgon]

That, or get 80-pin SCA2 drives and put them in a hot-swap SCA2 rack Personally, I use 68-pin.

 

[mechBgon]

By the way, on the Fujitsu lineup, the drives ending with a C are 80-pin, and the models ending with a P are the 68-pin variants.

 

[amonster]

Thanks again!! This is the model I want then: " Fujitsu MAS Series MAS3735NP 73.5GB 68pin U320-SCSI 15,000RPM Hard Drive"

So now that I know that. Would it be best to get a really great controller card for them? (possibly 3-4 drives) or should I use onboard?

Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, that's the drive if you're wanting a 73GB one. 68-pin MAS.

If you're getting a motherboard with PCI-X buses, then my vote goes to maybe one of these: link Two Ultra320 channels, basic RAID0/RAID1 capability if you want to do RAID, and it's PCI-X. Plus it comes with one cable and terminator and the price is pretty attractive!

The Thunder K8W doesn't have onboard SCSI or that would be another viable option.

 

[jose]

You will use up your 32 bit pci w/ the sound card. which is a great choice.
Don't know how you'll add usb 2.0 , but you'll have usb 1.1 & firewire on both the Audigy ZS & the mobo. Maybe someone makes a usb->firewire converter hub.

I think someone does, because my brother's friend bought a Ipod w/ had only firewir & his pc had only usb so he bought some type of converter hub.

Hey which case will you be getting ? If your interested I have a Silverstone Nimiz case to sell .

Regards,
Jose

 

[stickybytes]

say amonster, when you actually purchase the rig and put it together, could you post some pics and benchmarks? you got a killer machine there.

 

[Mik3y]

can u tell us how much u will spend total on this rig? its very close to my dream rig and the cost of my dream rig costs $10702 w/o tax or shipping.

 

[Nebor]

Monitor?

 

[Chaotic42]

Sweet fancy Jesus. You sir, know how to build a dream system. :beer:

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
By the way, on the Fujitsu lineup, the drives ending with a C are 80-pin, and the models ending with a P are the 68-pin variants.

You have the cleanest case ever.

 

[amonster]

I am not sure how much I will be spending just yet, but I DO know the total is reaching around $7000-$7500 so far. The truth is that its getting high enough that I may be FORCED to wait a while longer till my savings can support the purchase! I have been debating the "dream" Rig setup vs. a "regular" fast machine setup... at this point its all still details to be worked out... I have the idea... but its pretty fluid at this point still, which is why I really appreciate all the feedback Im getting from everyone

I will be happy to post benchmarks/pictures etc once everything is up and not on fire I already have a monitor that will work fine, so I won't need to buy a new one.