Planning: Dual i7 rig

[ShadeZeRO]

Part Brand Model Price QTY Total

CPU Intel E5520 $378.99 2 $757.98

Motherboard SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAH+-O $499.99 1 $499.99

RAM SUPER TALENT W13RX12GH (12GB) $369.99 2 $739.98

Power Supply PC Power & Cooling PPCS910 (910W) $189.99 1 $189.99

Graphics Card PNY VCQFX3800 (1GB) $834.99 1 $834.99

Hard Drive G.Skill FM-25S2S (256GB) $599.00 2 $1,198.00

Hard Drive Western Digital WD1002FBYS (1TB) $159.99 2 $319.98

Case Cooler Master Stacker 830 $219.00 1 $219.00

DVD+RW Sony Optiarc (24x) $31.99 2 $63.98

CPU Heatsink Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 $74.99 2 $149.98

Additional Fans Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D $19.99 4 $79.96


Any suggestions? Budget is $5,000, and no individual part is to exceed over $999.99

Long story short: It's going to be for video editing and play. Maybe some VM-Ware. Work basically gave me $5,000 to play with, but the card will not allow transactions over $1000.

 

[Dan_D]

Well you've already broken your own $499.99 rule with several parts listed in your post. What will this rig be used for? Why do you think you need a dual Core i7 machine? (Not saying you don't, I'm just asking.) This post should also really have been in the general hardware section and you should have followed the FAQ there and answered all the questions it asks before posting as well. Additionally I'd recommend getting a power supply from the approved list for your chosen motherboard. Anything else on a dual processor board is unwise. I'd also choose an Intel or OCZ SSD instead of the G.Skill. Furthermore the Corsair SSD's are probably worth looking into. I haven't done much research or reading on them so I have little to say about them. The CPU you are showing there is not a Core i7 rig and can not be used in an SMP configuration. In other words LGA775 processors are not capable of being used in pairs. You need socket LGA771 or LGA1366. The latter is for the Core i7 and Xeon processors. I do not believe that Core i7's support SMP either. You'd be looking at either LGA771 or LGA1366 Xeon CPUs for your build. The motherboard you listed is a dual LGA1366 board which means you are looking for Xeon 55xx series CPUs.

The questions are in this sticky: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1349433

 

[ilkhan]

Hes ordering several parts in pairs, thus the >$500 for the parts. But not breaking his rule. Well, the GPU and SSDs are >$500, each. But thats his choice.
Those are expensive 1TB HDDs.

 

[Dan_D]

Hes ordering several parts in pairs, thus the >$500 for the parts. But not breaking his rule. Well, the GPU and SSDs are >$500, each. But thats his choice.
Those are expensive 1TB HDDs.

I was referring to the GPU and SSD's.

 

[sneeker]

Graphics Card PNY VCQFX3800 (1GB) $834.99 1 $834.99
Hard Drive G.Skill FM-25S2S (256GB) $599.00 2 $1,198.00

Thats 2 things over $499 ea

Still looks like a pretty nice setup, makes my e2140 look so old hat.

 

[RADEoN]

I think he laid down the ground work and wants us to work out the bugs.

 

[Jospeh]

You can mod a Geforce card into a Quadro card (At least I think you still can...look around on the issue). They use the same hardware but the Quadro cards are marked up since they are for professional work.

 

[Eppidemic]

that comp is insane

 

[ShadeZeRO]

Well you've already broken your own $499.99 rule with several parts listed in your post.
---> My mistake, see 1st post.

1) What will this rig be used for?
Mostly play, but eventually it'll be running VMware and multiple test servers.

2) Why do you think you need a dual Core i7 machine?
For Virtualization, and video rendering.

3) This post should also really have been in the general hardware section and you should have followed the FAQ there and answered all the questions it asks before posting as well.
I'll get to that in my next post, or when I get home.

4) Additionally I'd recommend getting a power supply from the approved list for your chosen motherboard.
PC Power & Cooling makes some of the BEST PSU's out on the market, but I'll double check the vendors recommendations.

5)I'd also choose an Intel or OCZ SSD instead of the G.Skill. Furthermore the Corsair SSD's are probably worth looking into.
I put the G.skill on there, just for a price up. I was actually looking at the samsung SSDs as I've heard nothing but good things about them.

6)The CPU you are showing there is not a Core i7 rig and can not be used in an SMP configuration. In other words LGA775 processors are not capable of being used in pairs. You need socket LGA771 or LGA1366.

The CPU I showed is a Xeon i7 55xx series [LGA1366] which is capable of running in a dual CPU Configuration.

7)The questions are in this sticky: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1349433

Those are expensive 1TB HDDs.

They're the Western Digital RE3 drives (Raid Edition). They're FANTASTIC. I have them at home, and cannot say anything bad about them.


here u go ^_^
More to come

 

[Dan_D]

Part Brand Model Price QTY Total

CPU Intel E5520 $378.99 2 $757.98

here u go ^_^
More to come

I was confused because of the "E5520". Had you said Xeon 5520 I'd have understood.

 

[DeFex]

You can mod a Geforce card into a Quadro card (At least I think you still can...look around on the issue). They use the same hardware but the Quadro cards are marked up since they are for professional work.

windows sees a quadro but the quadro drivers for 3ds max and etc do not work
it stopped working properly on 7xxx cards

 

[Jospeh]

windows sees a quadro but the quadro drivers for 3ds max and etc do not work
it stopped working properly on 7xxx cards

Can you flash the BIOS or something? Or nothing like that out?

 

[obobski]

if this is for video editing and virtualization, why the hella expensive Quadro? GeForce or Radeon/FireGL will do just as well for video encoding, if not better (as you can get the best GPU available for under $1k), image quality won't change, and for virtualization, I've had no issues with VM Ware on Radeon or GeForce boards (so there should be no problem either way)

Quadro CX might be a better choice, but $1799 busts your $1000/piece limit, otherwise I'd just go with a beefy FireGL or a Radeon/GeForce board (FireGL if you just want to have the professional level drivers and whatnot, it'll still have killer performance, cost a bit less, and give your AMD's h264 encoder and whatnot, which still improves performance)

 

[stiltner]

You guys are missing the boat on this thread 100%.

Is this employer hiring, and if so, point me to the HR director. I want a $5,000 toy too

 

[ShadeZeRO]

if this is for video editing and virtualization, why the hella expensive Quadro? GeForce or Radeon/FireGL will do just as well for video encoding, if not better (as you can get the best GPU available for under $1k), image quality won't change, and for virtualization, I've had no issues with VM Ware on Radeon or GeForce boards (so there should be no problem either way)

Quadro CX might be a better choice, but $1799 busts your $1000/piece limit, otherwise I'd just go with a beefy FireGL or a Radeon/GeForce board (FireGL if you just want to have the professional level drivers and whatnot, it'll still have killer performance, cost a bit less, and give your AMD's h264 encoder and whatnot, which still improves performance)

I refuse to buy anything AMD/ATI. I used to be a big supporter of them, but lately I've just been disappointed in the offerings from AMD. Especially with all the driver issues I've had with them.

Plus, everything else we have here at work is nVidia.

This machine is essentially nothing more then a test bench. Eventually, the software that's on this machine will be migrated to a new Dell Server we have.

 

[novadude]

Something to note is that some retailers will work with you to break your order up into <$1000 chunks (or whatever your limit is), so you might be able to save on shipping or get something over $1k

No real use for the RE drives without a RAID card, just get the Black edition drives and put the money someplace else in the system. Also, you can shop around a little and get some better prices.

Are you sure those heatsinks will fit by the way?

 

[Dan_D]

if this is for video editing and virtualization, why the hella expensive Quadro? GeForce or Radeon/FireGL will do just as well for video encoding, if not better (as you can get the best GPU available for under $1k), image quality won't change, and for virtualization, I've had no issues with VM Ware on Radeon or GeForce boards (so there should be no problem either way)

Quadro CX might be a better choice, but $1799 busts your $1000/piece limit, otherwise I'd just go with a beefy FireGL or a Radeon/GeForce board (FireGL if you just want to have the professional level drivers and whatnot, it'll still have killer performance, cost a bit less, and give your AMD's h264 encoder and whatnot, which still improves performance)

Quadro or FireGL cards generally only make sense for 3D modeling and animation. They are probably not going to do any better at video encoding than a regular Geforce or Radeon would. Additionally one final point, the FireGL sucks. Oh sure the hardware is fine but the drivers are aweful. Image quality does suffer and I've rarely seen them render/draw the viewport for 3DS Max or Maya correctly. I did some testing on them for the company I was working for and found them to be terrible. From what I understand they are only slightly better than they were in those days in regard to driver quality.

Perhaps someone with more Quadro/FireGL experience can chime in but the last time I touched a FireGL card it was an aweful experience.

 

[novadude]

Quadro or FireGL cards generally only make sense for 3D modeling and animation. They are probably not going to do any better at video encoding than a regular Geforce or Radeon would. Additionally one final point, the FireGL sucks. Oh sure the hardware is fine but the drivers are aweful. Image quality does suffer and I've rarely seen them render/draw the viewport for 3DS Max or Maya correctly. I did some testing on them for the company I was working for and found them to be terrible. From what I understand they are only slightly better than they were in those days in regard to driver quality.

Perhaps someone with more Quadro/FireGL experience can chime in but the last time I touched a FireGL card it was an aweful experience.

Some video editing packages use the quadros for acceleration so if they will be using some of those the card could be used, otherwise any reasonable card would work well.

 

[ShadeZeRO]

Quadro or FireGL cards generally only make sense for 3D modeling and animation. They are probably not going to do any better at video encoding than a regular Geforce or Radeon would. Additionally one final point, the FireGL sucks. Oh sure the hardware is fine but the drivers are aweful. Image quality does suffer and I've rarely seen them render/draw the viewport for 3DS Max or Maya correctly. I did some testing on them for the company I was working for and found them to be terrible. From what I understand they are only slightly better than they were in those days in regard to driver quality.

Perhaps someone with more Quadro/FireGL experience can chime in but the last time I touched a FireGL card it was an aweful experience.

My idea was, since it's a Server/Workstation class build, I should go with a Workstation class video card.

but I agree with you that the ATI line-up is terrible.

 

[Dan_D]

My idea was, since it's a Server/Workstation class build, I should go with a Workstation class video card.

but I agree with you that the ATI line-up is terrible.

If you don't need it you'd be better served with a Geforce GTX 285/295 or an ATI Radeon 4870 X2 for this build.

 

[schizrade]

Forget the Quadro. Get a 200 series and call it a day.

 

[obobski]

Some video editing packages use the quadros for acceleration so if they will be using some of those the card could be used, otherwise any reasonable card would work well.

they use the Quadro CX ideally (in terms of whats marketed/sold for that purpose), which is far beyond his budget, they're also available for Radeon and FireGL, and GeForce (don't care, bitch all you want, doesn't change facts (and if they're good enough for Rockwell-Collins/E&S, SGI, and Sun, they're good enough period.)), performance is generally equal across all five lines (in that its faster than hell regardless)

My idea was, since it's a Server/Workstation class build, I should go with a Workstation class video card.

but I agree with you that the ATI line-up is terrible.

yeah, but a server doesn't need a videocard beyond whatever cheapo integrated solution, XGI cards are even suitable for this, and your system isn't really a graphics workstation anyway, so why pay through the teeth for it? its for video editing and VMWare, neither of which requires "professional" grade graphics, Quadro CX would be an option if you were doing some legitimate post-production, but theres better, less expensive, options for that as well (like Matrox's commerical hardware, or various solutions from Apple)

honestly for what you're doing, a GeForce 8600GT is more than suitable, but if you HAVE TO HAVE some GPU offload, there is software available to do this on GeForce, Radeon, FireGL, and Quadro (and having the biggest and best will make little difference, because this kind of work is minimal to a modern GPU)

so, again, its a waste of money and resources to buy the FX 3800, and the thing will never be utilized

of course I expect you to entirely ignore me for two reasons:
A) you want to spend $1000 on a graphics card because you think its some gawd of performance and required for your "workstation"

B) because I said AMD FireGL and apparently thats a capital crime (you realize that just becuase other hardware is nVidia doesn't mean it will be incompatable, due to like, how modern software works (....))

 

[ShadeZeRO]

they use the Quadro CX ideally (in terms of whats marketed/sold for that purpose), which is far beyond his budget, they're also available for Radeon and FireGL, and GeForce (don't care, bitch all you want, doesn't change facts (and if they're good enough for Rockwell-Collins/E&S, SGI, and Sun, they're good enough period.)), performance is generally equal across all five lines (in that its faster than hell regardless)




yeah, but a server doesn't need a videocard beyond whatever cheapo integrated solution, XGI cards are even suitable for this, and your system isn't really a graphics workstation anyway, so why pay through the teeth for it? its for video editing and VMWare, neither of which requires "professional" grade graphics, Quadro CX would be an option if you were doing some legitimate post-production, but theres better, less expensive, options for that as well (like Matrox's commerical hardware, or various solutions from Apple)

honestly for what you're doing, a GeForce 8600GT is more than suitable, but if you HAVE TO HAVE some GPU offload, there is software available to do this on GeForce, Radeon, FireGL, and Quadro (and having the biggest and best will make little difference, because this kind of work is minimal to a modern GPU)

so, again, its a waste of money and resources to buy the FX 3800, and the thing will never be utilized

of course I expect you to entirely ignore me for two reasons:
A) you want to spend $1000 on a graphics card because you think its some gawd of performance and required for your "workstation"

B) because I said AMD FireGL and apparently thats a capital crime (you realize that just becuase other hardware is nVidia doesn't mean it will be incompatable, due to like, how modern software works (....))

Did I mention, I'll game occasionally when I shut my door

response to
A) I'll consider a GTX295, or a 300 series (if its out by then).
B) Spot on =) (just pulling your leg)

 

[AMDXP]

*worthless post ahead*

5,000

I wish I had 5k to blow. Perhaps someday, but I doubt it.

 

[PigLover]

Two things.

First - are you sure the X8DAH+-o will fit in the Stacker 830? That board is enhanced EATX is is about 1 inch bigger than EATX spec. There are very few cases it fits into and all of them require you to drill/tap extra holes. I know - i have one and didn't discover this until I was about to do the assembly. Only SuperMicro makes cases specifically to fit but most enthusiast builds wouldn't go with an SM case. It will fit in the big Chieftec (after drilling new MB mount holes). You should probably double check the Stacker before ordering.

Second, why go with the Xeon/Dually setup and then pick the low-end CPU? The E5520 doesn't have turbo mode and has a crippled speed QPI (limited to 1066 memory speeds). With current generation MB/Bios you can't OC it at all to overcome these limits. Not a good choice at all for video editing/rendering. You'd be MUCH better off with an OC i7 920 than with the dual E5520s. Your spending way too much money here do it this way. You'd need to spring for at least X5550s to get the CPU where you want it for this machine, but that violates your budget constraints, while the I7-920 plus a good motherboard will cost less than just your proposed MB.

BTW, all appearances are that you are spending on the video card to use CUDA for the rendering. All the more reason to fall back to the i7 and ditch the dually. If you are doing the rendering with CUDA having 16 threads on the CPU does nothing for you at all. And for the 'play' part - there are no games at all (yet) that will benefit from the dually over a quad-core i7.