"Everything" System...

[my-spot]

My current system is getting a little long in the tooth, so I’m looking to build a “new” one.
I pretty much do everything with my system EXCEPT play games…
Webserver. (Site, FTP, & Email – 3000 to 10000 hits a day)
Software Development. (Visual Studio)
Large image conversion (Raw to Tiff & “Photoshop”)
HTPC & PVR (Beyond TV Server & PVR Mostly HD Content)
Video Conversion. (I.E. HD to DVD)
CAD (3D Modeling)
Google Earth (The most “3D” intensive thing I do – no big deal)
(O.K. Maybe I'll start playing games just to make this thread more interesting )


The biggest reason I now find the current system lacking is the Video transcoding – “Good” conversions take forever ... Also, I’m developing multi-threaded software and really need a multi-core processor to prove it out. And, maybe this is my imagination, but my Athlon 64 doesn’t seem to “multitask” very well. My 5 year old m-xp based laptop seems more responsive under similar loads and the Pentium 4 HT workstation I have at work blows them both away in terms of “responsive feel”.

Beyond the above tasks I need a good blend of speed, cost and excellent reliability (runs 24/7/365). I will only do moderate overclocking if at all.

Proposed New System:
Q6600 (or wait for Q9450?) - $199 (for the Q6600)
ASUS Maximus Formula - $220
4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (G.SKILL ???) - $145
2x 750GB Seagate 7200.10 (RAID 0) – (I do regular backups so no need to mirror) - $250
Vista Ultimate - (Already have an unopened copy)
And I plan to use an ATI FireGL v3100 card until the ATI HD 3690’s become available.

So, am I on the right track??? Should I wait a couple weeks for the Q9450? Does anyone know if/when the ATI HD 3690’s will become available in the US? Is there a better solution that I’m missing?
Will my Thermaltake 480W PSU be enough?

Trying to define the "best" system has pretty much cooked my brain!!!

---Remember, if you can buy it, its obsolete!!!

 

[akhilles]

Phenom would be better than the A64. Is that even X2? AMD will be bringing out tri-core cpu's. The benchmarks look good. If they price it right (say sub $150), the product may be worth it.

Q6600
Formula or P5E
Ballistix 2x2GB

https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006488

Unless you preorder Yorkies, I guess they'll be sold out faster than Wolfies. Then the prices will skyrocket on ebay. Q6600 has a higher x9 multiplier than Yorkies. 9 x 300 = ~3ghz o/c maybe on stock voltage.

The TT 480W is enough, but will it last? Get something better:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

[0gab0ga]

two questions for you..
where did you find the q6600 for 200$ and the maximus formula for 220$?

 

[dokk2]

verily,,go with the q6600,awesome right now for the price..

 

[Darkness Flame]

All looks fine to me except two things. One is the PSU, because you'd be stressing it. A 550 should work fine, even with the added graphics. Two is the graphics itself; the 3690 will be limited by it's bandwidth, and severely too. If you can, just get a 3850; they're only about $150 right now.

 

[akhilles]

Yeah, some stores actually have DISCOUNTS on Q6600. It's tried & true. It's proven to be the best bang quad. It's here. Why some people are leaning toward something like Yorkies that won't be available at every store is beyond me. The lowest Yorkie may be worse than Q6600 due to low multi & lesser cache.

 

[0gab0ga]

again, please tell me where you get a q6600 for 200$ and maximus formula for 220$?

 

[my-spot]

Sorry about the delay... Microcenter has the Q6600 for $199 IF you walk in the store (one near me...) and 'egg had the maximus formula for around $220 but it was an open box

Other things... I found out the Xeon X3350 is the *exact* same processor as the Q9450 (yes it is LGA775) and there are plenty of places that have it in stock. My only concern is if the MB will recognise it...

 

[akhilles]

It should. Like Xeon equivalent of Q6600 working fine on the same board. Make sure the board supports Q9450. It might need a bios update with an older cpu. Ask a store to do it for a fee.

 

[0gab0ga]

i dont understand this... what is the differenece between the xeon x3350 and q9450 or any other xeon/regular matches. why do they give them different names if they are the same?

 

[Shadow703793]

.........

Proposed New System:
Q6600 (or wait for Q9450?) - $199 (for the Q6600)
ASUS Maximus Formula - $220
4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (G.SKILL ???) - $145
2x 750GB Seagate 7200.10 (RAID 0) – (I do regular backups so no need to mirror) - $250
Vista Ultimate - (Already have an unopened copy)
And I plan to use an ATI FireGL v3100 card until the ATI HD 3690’s become available.

So, am I on the right track??? Should I wait a couple weeks for the Q9450? Does anyone know if/when the ATI HD 3690’s will become available in the US? Is there a better solution that I’m missing?
Will my Thermaltake 480W PSU be enough?

System looks good. What I would add/change are:

1. Get a Corsair 550VX/520HX or PP&C 610.
2. Drop the 3690 and get a 9600 or 3850 or 8800GT 512. Do you plan to CrossFire? (see: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33913577
3. If planing to OC, get a better cooler, in fact get a better cooler anyway.

 

[Shadow703793]

i dont understand this... what is the differenece between the xeon x3350 and q9450 or any other xeon/regular matches. why do they give them different names if they are the same?

Quality. Aperently the "Xeon" CPUs are of higher quality bin (severs= quality chips to run 24/7).

 

[akhilles]

^ What he said. Overclockers are blurring the line between desktop & server cpus. They look the same to us on paper.

 

[Guest]

Why do you need a $200+ motherboard?

That board is a gamer enthusiast board. You can save a lot of money just going with a Gigabyte P35 board instead. Other than that you're looking good.

And yes, the Xeon version to the Q9450 is out already if you'd like to try that. May be worth the extra $100ish bucks.

 

[my-spot]

O.K. Here is what I ended up ordering...

CPU Intel X3350 (355.95 Royal Business Equipment)
MoBo GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 (206.99 newegg)
HDs SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 750GB (2x) (259.98 ZZF)
RAM G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (144.99 newegg)
Video GIGABYTE GV-RX387512H Radeon HD 3870 512MB (179.99 newegg)
Cooler XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 (36.99 newegg)

My biggest concern is if the MoBo/BIOS will support the X3350. The Q9450 is on the board's supported processor list so it *should* work, although I can find NO ONE to verify it. (Where's a nervous smile when you need it? ). I see many have ordered the X3350 in the past couple of days but no one has posted any success or failures.
The next issue will be my PSU. I will take a look at the system's draw after it is assembled and look for a better one after that...

 

[huron]

Ok...maybe it's just me, but are you planning on overclocking a lot?

I believe the 9450 and the X3350 have an 8 multiplier. That means even if you overclock the speed up to 400 MHz - that would get you 3.2 GHZ (and would be 1 to 1 with DDR2 800 (2 cycles of 400)). That's a moderate overclock, and would only require you to use DDR2 800, not 1066.

If you're not planning on doing some serious overclocking, then the ram at 800 should be OK.

Just a suggestion. Have fun with the new build.

 

[akhilles]

Don't worry about Xeon compatibility. The mobo manufacturers are not rushing out their bios updates. The list says Xeon e3110 is supported, so it's only logical to think they'll support the newer Xeons.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2754

Right now the DS4 may read the X3350 as something else. It doesn't matter. Just go to bios & set up cpu parameters. Search for the specs at intel.com.

Yup, any 800mhz ram is fine for no to moderate overclocking. The 1066mhz is the headroom for higher overclocking. Say extreme.

1066 / 2 = 533 x 8 = 4264 or 4.3ghz

Probably hovering around 500mhz unless your parameters like cooling meets or exceeds the requirement of extreme overclocking.

 

[my-spot]

Well the moatherboard is halfway here and I expect the other stuff to be here earily next week. The DS4 shows support for the q9450 as of the F3 (latest BIOS?) & e3110 as of the F2 version of the bios. I hope it shows up with the latest BIOS but I'm not expecting it to. I still cannot find a single post from someone who has received and tested an X3350 in any MB... In any case, If the x3350 is too new for the BIOS what are the chances it will not post/boot at all?

 

[akhilles]

If the mobo doesn't support a cpu, the screen will be blank and either:

1) everything else will spin up & light up

or

2) the mobo will shut down in a few seconds

or

3) the mobo never powers on at all

If it has the old bios, bring it to a store for a bios update.

 

[my-spot]

Well... I bolted everything together stuck an ancient PCI (c. 1995!)graphics card in a slot and turned on the power... The GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 posted and recognised the X3350 no problem! FWIW - It shipped with the F2 Bios.

All went well but I wasted a couple hours due to my own mistake... Lesson - Don't plug an unpowered hard drive into your IDE cable!

Anyway - I put the "real" 3870 based card in, loaded a clean install of Vista Ultimate, updated drives, some software, and all is good so far... Now for the daunting task of getting all my stuff from the old computer to the new one...

 

[akhilles]

Congrats!