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$3k Summer Super-computer: comments?

If you're going to get the Turbocool 850, I would just get the 1kw instead. Right now the price difference is only $20 on the egg, and it's worth it for that extra power.
 
Ockie said:
Why not a raptor X hard drive?
Click to expand...

Because $270 extra for that hard drive is better spent elsewhere in the rig where it will make more of a difference.

That almost covers the cost of a second 7900 GT.

I would only put a Raptor X in a rig where budget was absolutely no object.
 
Stellar said:
Because $270 extra for that hard drive is better spent elsewhere in the rig where it will make more of a difference.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The Raptor X is most certainly fast, but not $270 fast.

I say spend $2000 on a hella nice rig and the other $1000 save for gradual upgrades.

Oh yeah, and Conroe will rock.
 
The CPU cooler that I had in mind was about $35, any other suggestions around that price? I know this seems stupid, but I HAVE to stay as CLOSE to 3k as possible INCLUDING about $100 or so in shipping....:(
 
Sovereign said:
The CPU cooler that I had in mind was about $35, any other suggestions around that price? I know this seems stupid, but I HAVE to stay as CLOSE to 3k as possible INCLUDING about $100 or so in shipping....:(
Click to expand...

The Scythe Ninja is definetly the best option in my opinion. It'll give you far better performance than the Zalman 7000 for only about $5-10 more...it'll also be insanely quiet depending what you strap to it.

Here it is for $35, but you'll have to grab a 120mm fan if you don't already have a spare.

EDIT: Here on newegg it's $38 with a scythe fan.
 
OP:

Is there some reason you really need to spend 3K on a computer?

It would be much better to spend 2K and save the rest for upgrades than it would be to try to make a rig last forever.
 
Interesting, replaced the cooler w/ the Ninja. Even after shipping, price went DOWN $3....weird but thanks for the tip. And as for the price, I have to make this last a while. I know it may seem stupid, and it somewhat is, but this has to last as long as possible w/o upgrading.

Dumped the 850w for a 510ASL again, apparently it is enough. New price is $2925.06 w/shipping. Using the Zalman 9500LED cooler now.

New config
So the OFFICIAL consensus: a PCP&C510ASL WILL power the following from what I have learned:
Mobo - MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Combodrive - BenQ Combo Drive Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model CB523C BK - OEM
DVD Burner - NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model ND-3550A - Retail
CPU Cooler - ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail
Floppy - NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM (need that for the RAID.....)
Hard Drives - 2x Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
RAM - G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ - Retail
CPU (CHANGE) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103584AMD Opteron 170 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA170DAA6CD - Retail
Soundcard - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Videocards - 2x eVGA 512-P2-N570-AX Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Being anal, don't want anything going wrong.

Should I throw in a Raptor 150? It's $2652.06 w/shipping now. It's $2932.05 w/shipping AND Raptor 150.
 
Sovereign said:
Raptor: Good or bad?
Click to expand...

Raptors are quick drives, but in my opinion they aren't really worth the cost unless you're doing a lot of disk-intensive tasks (video editing, etc.). The raptor will speed up disk read/write/access times, so things like game levels and other areas will load slightly faster.

IMO a RAID-0 array with some regular 3.0gb/s SATA 7200rpm drives should provide more than enough disk speed, but then again it's up to you to judge whether it's worth it.

Perhaps get a 36gig Raptor to save some money and just use it for your windows install.
 
quadnad said:
Raptors are quick drives, but in my opinion they aren't really worth the cost unless you're doing a lot of disk-intensive tasks (video editing, etc.). The raptor will speed up disk read/write/access times, so things like game levels and other areas will load slightly faster.

IMO a RAID-0 array with some regular 3.0gb/s SATA 7200rpm drives should provide more than enough disk speed, but then again it's up to you to judge whether it's worth it.

Perhaps get a 36gig Raptor to save some money and just use it for your windows install.
Click to expand...

36gigs arent reccommended, and dont provide any if at all performance increase from a normal 7200RPM.

If RAID-0 is as good performance wise as they say it is, get 2-74gb raptors in raid 0, then a 250gb storage drive adding more when needed. if raid0 isnt (havent tried it), then get a Raptor 150, and a 250 or 320gb drive. Youll have to do your own reasearch on the raid0 thing since some people swear by it and some swear it sucks, but to be safe do a raptor 150 and a large storage drive.
 
ive made my system last since 00 or 01.

and it only cost me around 5-600

the only things i could use new are 1.5-2gig of ram, new AGP card(ik outdated but it works fine),and another 40gig of hdd. my core is fine. 2500+ could be overclocked quite a bit if i wanted.
 
Personally, I would go for a Raptor (74GB if you don't mind keeping an eye on what games you have installed, 150GB if you want to install all your games and programs) and a storage drive. I have a 74GB Raptor (wish I had a 150GB) + 160GB WD Caviar.
 
Sovereign said:
Interesting, replaced the cooler w/ the Ninja. Even after shipping, price went DOWN $3....weird but thanks for the tip. And as for the price, I have to make this last a while. I know it may seem stupid, and it somewhat is, but this has to last as long as possible w/o upgrading.

Dumped the 850w for a 510ASL again, apparently it is enough. New price is $2925.06 w/shipping. Using the Zalman 9500LED cooler now.

New config
So the OFFICIAL consensus: a PCP&C510ASL WILL power the following from what I have learned:
Mobo - MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard - 2Retail
Combodrive - BenQ Combo Drive Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model CB523C BK - OEM
DVD Burner - NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model ND-3550A - Retail
CPU Cooler - ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail
Floppy - NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM (need that for the RAID.....)
Hard Drives - 2x Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
RAM - G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ - Retail
CPU (CHANGE) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103584AMD Opteron 170 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA170DAA6CD - Retail
Soundcard - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Videocards - 2x eVGA 512-P2-N570-AX Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Being anal, don't want anything going wrong.

Should I throw in a Raptor 150? It's $2652.06 w/shipping now. It's $2932.05 w/shipping AND Raptor 150.
Click to expand...

Changes I would make to that are..

Raptor II 74GB (for OS)
2x Western Digital WD3200KS (bigger platter size and 16MB buffers, they are both larger and faster than the WD2500JS)
2x BFG 7900 GTX (Lifetime Warranty!)
 
so you mean 2x 74GB Raptors? I was getting the Raptor to have a drive that is NOT part of a RAID array....and again the budget rears its ugly head. Finally, eVGA offers a lifetime warranty that is NOT voided by over/underclocking OR aftermarket coolers....BFG has yet to make this modification to their warranty AFAIK. Not shooting you down, just asking questions.

EDIT: Ditched those WD HDDs cause those are server units, gonna get the WD2500KS instead, only one cause NewEgg keeps randomly deleting things from my cart/wish lists so I thought I had more money than I do because my Thermaltake Armor case and my Opteron CPU got removed......WTF?
 
yay for price drops and eVGA Step Up, cause my rig now costs 3k with shipping on the Egg, gonna step the 7900GTXs up for G80s if they come out within three months.
 
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