Popular Mechanics' Monster PC - What would you build with $7500?!

[ohnnyj]

That's almost the system I have right now.

 

[GregMal]

$2500 for the computer.
$5000 for one of those nice thin wall LCDs with HDTV..........

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally posted by: GregMal
$2500 for the computer.
$5000 for one of those nice thin wall LCDs with HDTV..........

LCD's don't go in the wall, that's a plasma. That said you could theoretically cut a massive hole in the wall & stuff an LCD in there, but LCD's are basically the next gen of rear projection TV's. I have an LCoS 55", and trust me, they don't go on the wall...although they ARE much thinner than the CRT TV's.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Since I wouldn't have to spend any money on software, I'd have a nice quad opteron with plenty of ram, nice SCSI, and crappy video.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Pr0d1gy

Originally posted by: GregMal
$2500 for the computer.
$5000 for one of those nice thin wall LCDs with HDTV..........

LCD's don't go in the wall, that's a plasma. That said you could theoretically cut a massive hole in the wall & stuff an LCD in there, but LCD's are basically the next gen of rear projection TV's. I have an LCoS 55", and trust me, they don't go on the wall...although they ARE much thinner than the CRT TV's.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1443

I would suggest you acclimate yourself, it's 2005.

Viper GTS

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Pr0d1gy

Originally posted by: GregMal
$2500 for the computer.
$5000 for one of those nice thin wall LCDs with HDTV..........

LCD's don't go in the wall, that's a plasma. That said you could theoretically cut a massive hole in the wall & stuff an LCD in there, but LCD's are basically the next gen of rear projection TV's. I have an LCoS 55", and trust me, they don't go on the wall...although they ARE much thinner than the CRT TV's.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1443

I would suggest you acclimate yourself, it's 2005.

Viper GTS

I'll buy me one of those, then tell all of you that you've been pwned, and spend the remaining $2k on a decent, but affordable and useful computer.

techfuzz

 

[hugekebab]

well for a start i would fget 4 gig of ram (just to say to everyone i had 4 gig of ram)
4x 15k scsi drives in raid 0 (all put into custom made hdd sound dampening cages)
id also get that zalman fanless case with all the heatpipes
dfi lanparty mobo
water cooling kit mainly for the scsi drives.

might even buy a floppy drive, who knows.

 

[hugekebab]

oh yeh and a bag of cable ties.

 

[Macro2]

Intel must not runs ads in Popular Mechanics.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Blain
For $7500... anything I built would have two CPUs & SCSI. :laugh:

I agree with this....

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Tyan Thunder K8WE S2895UA2NRF with Italy Opterons and Win2k3 server would fit the bill. ^^

Actually, you won't need a server OS to run a pair of dual core chips, according to the multicore licensing page on the MS website. Buried deep down at the bottom of the page is this bit:

Windows XP Professional supports up to two processors regardless of the number of cores on the processor.

If this doesn't change between now and when the dual core chips are released, XP Pro should run a pair of dual core Opterons just fine, saving you the hassle of having to hack Server 2003 to make it usable as a desktop OS (turning graphics acceleration back on, adding Direct X, tricking half your driver software into thinking it is running under XP, etc). Even now, a workstation with pair of HT-enabled Xeons has four "processors" in the task manager and that seems to cause no problems with XP Pro. You only seem to need a server OS if you want have more than two physical sockets.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

You could always go the extreme route

DFI UltaD $150
FX55 $900
PS you pick $200
1GB OCZ VX $???
80g SATA $100
GPU you pick $???
Custom built Cascaded Phase Change cooling $5000
Big ugly metal cart to build your rig on (priceless)

 

[sharkeeper]

Those guys should stick with cars and leave the computers to nerds imo.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
Those guys should stick with cars and leave the computers to nerds imo.

agreed, esp with their estimated prices

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: ohnnyj
That's almost the system I have right now.

Shens.

All that and only a single monitor?

For shame.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: hugekebab
oh yeh and a bag of cable ties.

Don't forget the roll of duct tape

techfuzz

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Googer
I would forgo the SATA in favor of PCI-express SCSI RAID and I would have one of those IBM Flat Screen Monitors that Cost 6k each. If some one knows what I am talking about please show me the link since I have forgotten what the model number is, Thanks!

T22 or something like that. They display something like 3800x2400 @ 50 hz. :thumbsup:

 

[3chordcharlie]

They built an A64 system with 4 sticks of ram? Isn't that a no-no?

 

[elecrzy]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
They built an A64 system with 4 sticks of ram? Isn't that a no-no?

actually the new A64s support ddr400 with all slots filled unlike before. so unless you're ocing, it should be fine. also, for those that don't know, 'Italy' is the codename for the new dual-core Opteron for two way systems. this means you can get 4 processors with only two sockets.

 

[ironique]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy

Originally posted by: ohnnyj
That's almost the system I have right now.

Shens.

All that and only a single monitor?

For shame.

Single?Look again!

That's a really sweet rigohnnyj!