My recent death of my 4 year old A64 3400+ S754 was quite unexpected. Looks like my MSI S754 MB died. This kind of spoiled my new build plans I had laid out and was financially planning for 2009 and 2010. Here what I was planning BEFORE my A64 system died:
At end of 2009, build a 32 nm Quad Core Nehalem mainstream System. Main reason I was planning to wait was getting cool, low TDP, and lower cost Nehalem system.
Then in in 2010 build 10TB+ Media Server. Was planning due low power Dual Core Nehalem or whatever was out there. Most of $$$ for server was going to go storage (HDs, controllers, etc).
Now I am in in a dilemma about what to do. I am personally was consider 3 mains options outlined below, but all of them seems to have it draw backs:
1.) Build Quad Core i7 920 main System. The concern is here the cost and heat/power consumption/TDP. The $300 CPU + $300 MB + expensive DDR3 is quite a lot, which is why I was planning on waiting for mainstream i7. One of my top prioritizes is to also have lower Heat/TDP system. Would like Quad power but heat the i7 are generating right now is too much for me. Also, would prefer lower power consumption.
2.) My 2nd idea was build a Temporally main system using component I can reused for my media server. Basically build e8x00 or e5200 system. Get MB with a lot SATA port and/or PCI-X so I can hook up 20 Hard Drive at least down the road. Then at end of 2009, I will build main quad core 32 nm system. And eventually turn my Temp system into 10TB+ media server.
3.) 3rd Option is to go out and build cheaper mainstream system right now. Maybe e8600 or Q6600. The in 2010 go build Media server with whatever is out there.
Options 2 and 3 will probably cost the same, while I know option 1 would cost me more. Personally, I think option 2 end up giving be a more power main system when I do my final upgrade in late 2009. However, I don't like doing upgrades much. I like to build system the works for start and use it for a long time.
I build my A64 system 4 years ago and since then really haven't done any upgrades or Windows Xp reinstall. I like to build system and use for 4 years or more. Main purpose of my system really isn't high end gaming, I hardly play games at all. Main pressure on my system is multi-tasking. I love to have 20-30 applications running at the same time, hence was thinking quad core. For example, have 10 Firefox open + Mp3 gain on my music collection + file sync for laptop/pda + torrent + music, + etc.
Here my old DEAD system config, which was slowing down but still OK use for another 1 year:
AMD 3400+ S754 (not overclocked)
MSI Neo Platinum S754
ATI 850x pro 256 MB
1 x 1GB Corsair + 1 x 512mb Corsair
Antec Earthwatts 430w
5 HDs:
1x 120 gb ATA Seagate
1 x 250 gb SATA Seagate
1 x 500 gb SATA 7200.9 Seagate
2 x 500 gb SATA 7200.10 Seagate (Nvraid 0, main Win OS)
At end of 2009, build a 32 nm Quad Core Nehalem mainstream System. Main reason I was planning to wait was getting cool, low TDP, and lower cost Nehalem system.
Then in in 2010 build 10TB+ Media Server. Was planning due low power Dual Core Nehalem or whatever was out there. Most of $$$ for server was going to go storage (HDs, controllers, etc).
Now I am in in a dilemma about what to do. I am personally was consider 3 mains options outlined below, but all of them seems to have it draw backs:
1.) Build Quad Core i7 920 main System. The concern is here the cost and heat/power consumption/TDP. The $300 CPU + $300 MB + expensive DDR3 is quite a lot, which is why I was planning on waiting for mainstream i7. One of my top prioritizes is to also have lower Heat/TDP system. Would like Quad power but heat the i7 are generating right now is too much for me. Also, would prefer lower power consumption.
2.) My 2nd idea was build a Temporally main system using component I can reused for my media server. Basically build e8x00 or e5200 system. Get MB with a lot SATA port and/or PCI-X so I can hook up 20 Hard Drive at least down the road. Then at end of 2009, I will build main quad core 32 nm system. And eventually turn my Temp system into 10TB+ media server.
3.) 3rd Option is to go out and build cheaper mainstream system right now. Maybe e8600 or Q6600. The in 2010 go build Media server with whatever is out there.
Options 2 and 3 will probably cost the same, while I know option 1 would cost me more. Personally, I think option 2 end up giving be a more power main system when I do my final upgrade in late 2009. However, I don't like doing upgrades much. I like to build system the works for start and use it for a long time.
I build my A64 system 4 years ago and since then really haven't done any upgrades or Windows Xp reinstall. I like to build system and use for 4 years or more. Main purpose of my system really isn't high end gaming, I hardly play games at all. Main pressure on my system is multi-tasking. I love to have 20-30 applications running at the same time, hence was thinking quad core. For example, have 10 Firefox open + Mp3 gain on my music collection + file sync for laptop/pda + torrent + music, + etc.
Here my old DEAD system config, which was slowing down but still OK use for another 1 year:
AMD 3400+ S754 (not overclocked)
MSI Neo Platinum S754
ATI 850x pro 256 MB
1 x 1GB Corsair + 1 x 512mb Corsair
Antec Earthwatts 430w
5 HDs:
1x 120 gb ATA Seagate
1 x 250 gb SATA Seagate
1 x 500 gb SATA 7200.9 Seagate
2 x 500 gb SATA 7200.10 Seagate (Nvraid 0, main Win OS)
Facebook
Twitter