What kind of rig for a programmer?

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K

Kelvrick

Lifer
Feb 14, 2001
18,422
5
81


<< dual amd palimino 1.2 gig
1 gig of 266 mhz ram.
geforce 3
21" sony G520 monitor
24x cd burner
4 100 gig ibm drives in raid 1 >>



I wouldn't Raid1 that sucker. Something goes wrong and poof! Suddenly you have a very very angry man. I'd Raid 3 it. With a system like that, screw sdram, go ddr. Also, 2 19inch mons are better then 1 21inch mon. Get a totally flat screen cuzz you'll be starin all day.
 
D

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0


<< We're talking starting at 1600x1200 to start. My best friend codes at 20xx by something (I forgot what). >>



Well then, since your friend codes on 20xx, then of course everyone should as well!



A local software company working on an integration project for Microsoft (they're Visual Studio Integration Partners) has a quad-monitor setup for each developer. Very cool, but a bit overkill for me. I would like to have a dual-monitor setup like Ameesh though...

 
N

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0


<<

<< dual amd palimino 1.2 gig
1 gig of 266 mhz ram.
geforce 3
21" sony G520 monitor
24x cd burner
4 100 gig ibm drives in raid 1 >>



I wouldn't Raid1 that sucker. Something goes wrong and poof! Suddenly you have a very very angry man. I'd Raid 3 it. With a system like that, screw sdram, go ddr. Also, 2 19inch mons are better then 1 21inch mon. Get a totally flat screen cuzz you'll be starin all day. >>



Look up RAID 1.
 
A

AMDPwred

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2001
3,593
0
0


<< know C/C++ well and be smart >>



That's going to be my specialty:D

I think I'll just wait until I graduate and then apply for a job out there. How is the starting pay for an entry level programmer? Is the cost of living high out there?
 

When I worked for the govt. doing programming for a CAD based shell, they gave my a p60.
The only benefit to working on one of thoes was, that I could start to compile, and then take a 1 hour break.
 
M

melvincow

Member
Aug 31, 2001
32
0
0
RAM Speed is often overlooked. 512Mb would be a BARE minimum. A good high speed DDR setup with an Athlon 4 would smoke that Dually P3 setup. For programming you WILL want your CPU to support SSE which the Athlon MP's and Athlon 4's DO support. I would probably avoid Rambus Even though a 2Ghz P4 would be the most powerful CPU I just don't like it :)
 
BoberFett

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
If you're that worried about recovery that you wouldn't use RAID 1, you should not only have the source code local but also on a server, preferably in a source code control.
 
A

Ameesh

Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
23,686
1
0


<<

<< know C/C++ well and be smart >>



That's going to be my specialty:D

I think I'll just wait until I graduate and then apply for a job out there. How is the starting pay for an entry level programmer? Is the cost of living high out there? >>



ygpm.




all the dev boxes here run rambus.
 
StageLeft

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
For all the coders I know, 10x7 is not acceptable. We're talking starting at 1600x1200 to start. My best friend codes at 20xx by something (I forgot what). I don't code, but I'm used to a high-res monitor so much, I can't use my main pc with anything less than 16x12.

Thats great if you're a graphics guy but for coding its totally unecessary. If your friend needs to code at 20xx his code must be exceptionally unreadable to anybody not also at that res (his lines are probably too long). Its nice seeing code above and below but 20xx will kill your eyes unless you have a bloody gargantuan monitor.
 
A

Ameesh

Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
23,686
1
0


<< For all the coders I know, 10x7 is not acceptable. We're talking starting at 1600x1200 to start. My best friend codes at 20xx by something (I forgot what). I don't code, but I'm used to a high-res monitor so much, I can't use my main pc with anything less than 16x12.

Thats great if you're a graphics guy but for coding its totally unecessary. If your friend needs to code at 20xx his code must be exceptionally unreadable to anybody not also at that res (his lines are probably too long). Its nice seeing code above and below but 20xx will kill your eyes unless you have a bloody gargantuan monitor. >>



1600x1200 on 2 21" will give you plenty of screen real estate, 2048x1536 seems alittle excessive to me. unless they use large fonts. but to each his own i guess
 
V

vash

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2001
2,510
0
0


<< Thats great if you're a graphics guy but for coding its totally unecessary. If your friend needs to code at 20xx his code must be exceptionally unreadable to anybody not also at that res (his lines are probably too long). Its nice seeing code above and below but 20xx will kill your eyes unless you have a bloody gargantuan monitor. >>

Well, he sits on a 22" most of the day, so its a pretty big one alrite. I understand why he needs it. His projects are quite large and he'll be working on several at a time, so he needs to see as much as possible. But on a 22", I think 16x12 would be enough for me.

vash
 
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AmigaMan

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
3,644
1
0
I code on a P3 550 with 256 MB of RAM. They had it at 64MB and I complained everyday until they upgraded it. I would say more memory, better and bigger monitor(or 2 or 3) with the video card to drive them, and finally a faster CPU. Most of my time is spent writing code, the compiling doesn't take that long, plus it gives me a chance to stretch when I do. 256 MB of RAM is a minimum because if you have lots of windows open, it takes more and more memory. Plus having multiple browsers open (I'm a web developer) and desktop sharing programs (like WinVNC) and you'll need the memory.

Ben
 
G

gooch

Member
Oct 11, 1999
199
0
0
The programming part doesn't take much. A shell window with vi is all I need. What you need the beefy system for is when you are compiling. Lots of memory, and a speedy processor makes things much easier. If you plan on using an optimizing compiler, then the bigger system is a must. You don't want to be sitting there waiting for your code to compile. A dual or quad CPU system is nice for parallel compilations. Testing and debugging will also benefit from a big and fast machine.

 
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AMDPwred

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2001
3,593
0
0
So from what I'm thinking I'll do something like this:

Win2K Pro (got it)
Microsoft Visual C++ (coming soon)
1ghz T-Bird (got it)
ASUS A7V133 (got it)
1gig PC133 RAM (would get DDR but I already have a good mobo and 512MB PC133 already)
Matrox G450 (or another good one)
(2) 17inch monitors (someday)

I've got a nice 15 inch now and another crappy monitor laying around I can use until I can get two new 17s. I think this should do me well, huh?
 
A

AMDPwred

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2001
3,593
0
0


<< i take it you're learning as you go? >>



Learning programming? I'm working on my degree now in college. I've done a little but not much. I'd like to have a system that is easier to work with (dual monitors) and the right kind of power (Win2K and the gig of RAM).
 
StageLeft

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
I think that the gig of ram is a total and utter waste of money. You already have 512. You're sitting pretty.

Yes ram is nice for compiling, but what will you be creating? If you're compiling the quake 3 engine then yeah you want a decent system with a good bit of ram but in most cases you really don't need that at all.

To get an idea of what I'm talking about check out www.vs-sports.com They have a game there called Kings of the pond that I was a developer with last year. Our systems had 256 ram compiling quite a sizable application under J++ and we felt our ram was adequate.

Even a reasonably sized program with multiple classes and thousands of lines of code won't require more than 512 ram. Unless your program is totally nuts you couldn't create one big enough to "choke" a 512 system even after weeks of coding unless you have a lot of crazy stuff going on. OK you might wait 2 minutes instead of a minute and a half but really I'd sit there and see how you do. Like the guy below unless you're copmiling on a P60 the vast majority of your time will be spent coding and for that 64 megs is fine :)

You have to realize that people on anandtech are power-crazy. That is why you have people here who have a dual P3 system for their server in their bedroom that might only get a thousand hits a day. Total waste of power. Sure its nice to say you have a dual p3 server in your bedroom but its pathetically under-worked.

This is my opinion and I'm open to suggestion :)
 
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