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OK so the Green Monster build is going well and I came across a decent deal on a custom tower on eBay ($250 New):

http://csxstore.coolermaster-usa.c [...] ducts_id=6

I want to max this tower out for my office, I do quite a bit of document production and some of the files we deal with consist of hundreds of thousands of pages that need coded for software uploads. My current PC has 3 Gigs of Ram and a Pentium 4 HT with 3.0ghz and a 2mb cache. when I try to code a large document production it can take 8-10 hours to process. I am thinking a Quad Core QX6850 Extreme with 4 gigs of DDR2 and I'll probably throw in a sick graphics card in it for fun.

I want to use DDR2 just becasue I already have the ram and I am up for suggestions on the processor. The Motherboard and Hard drive are my biggest concerns, the WD VelociRaptor 150 hard drive looks good but what Motherboard to use is completely up in the air.

Any help would be appreciated.

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-29-2008 at 04:23:42 AM

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rather than the QX6850, get the cheaper, faster, and cooler Q9650. As for the hard drives, just get regular 500 GB or 1TB drives, and you could RAID them. And since you said a sick graphics card, go for a MOBO that is Crossfire ready, and throw in a 4870X2.

Or wait for Nehalem.

Reply to the last resort

What if I RAID 2 VeolciRaptors, or is that just silly?

Reply to toledo_speedo

Pretty silly if you ask me, you already get decent enough performance out of 2 RAID 0 Caviars. I'd get a GA-EP45-DS3L board, a Q9550, 4-8 GB of ram (Depending on how much the application you use needs), and a HD 4870 and be done with it. If you REALLY need more processing power (if the applications that you use support more than 4 cores) and have a flexible budget, then I might refer you instead to the dual Xeon CPU builds.

Message edited by emp on 09-29-2008 at 05:03:12 AM

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
Reply to emp

Question: Do all the components have to be color-themed, like the Green Monster build you did?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to kitsilencer

haha nice look for the office XD

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to V3NOM

OCing??

If so get the Q9550. I mean do u need the extreme editions?!?! Theyre like $700+. Ur better off saving and/or buying a better Gpu. Also keep in mind that Nehalem is around the corner

Mobo: Go P45 for 1 gpu. X38/48 if u want CF, or 780i for SLI (if u need them) How bigs ur monitor??

if u really want to save money get the q6600 and oc it. very oc friendly cpu with the right mobo, memory and a little intelligence.

=]

------------------------------ intel core 2 quad q6600 @3.2ghz msi p6n diamond (X-FI Extreme sound) 6gig of OCZ+CoRSAIR oc 900mhz Nvidia gtx 260 sli @ 730/1465/1250
Lite-On Blue-ray Western Digital 7200rpm 500gb Antec 500 Earthwatt Window vista 64-bit
Reply to invisik

kitsilencer wrote :

Question: Do all the components have to be color-themed, like the Green Monster build you did?

Nope, I just got this case for a good price. The USB ports on the top of the tower sold me on it, plus it is a huge cae.

Reply to toledo_speedo

V3NOM wrote :

haha nice look for the office XD

I don't usually have clients in my office but when I do I would be comfortable with them seeing that PC on our network.

Client "What kinda computer is that"

Me: "I know it looks weird but I needed the extra processing power of a gaming PC to cut your turn around time in half".

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-29-2008 at 03:57:59 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

How do I know if the applications I use support more than 4 cores? Is that the difference between a 32bit and 64bit system? I know I can't use a 64 bit on my network.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-29-2008 at 03:35:10 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

Can I use two Quad Core Processors and 8 Gigs or Ram on a 32 Bit System?

What motherboard would support that kind of set up?

If I can get this thing to code these pages in 1-2 hours instead of 8-10 it would pay for itself in a couple of months; assuming it would cost about $5,000 to build.

Skulltrail Anyone?

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-29-2008 at 07:43:33 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

Almost no programs even utilize four cores, so 8 is out of the question. TH did an article and only about 2 programs used all 8 cores....so its ur call but it seems dumb

Get a nice Quad for longevity. The difference between 32bit and 64 is that 64 can utilize more than 4 gigs of memory, but 32 can use only 4 (that includes GPU memory, caches etc. so from 4 gigs of ram, Windows will use about 3.3GB)

What system do u use now that does the coding?....i mean dont spend a lot on the gpu, this is all processing power and if the program is only dual core optimized then get a nice Dual and overclock it.

Makes sense, I will check with my sales rep for the software to see what he recommends. The biggest problem I am running into is using my PC for other applications when this program is running. If I am even coding only a couple hundred pages my system can be locked up for 10-15 minutes. I would like to be able to multi task b/c I make twice the money in half the time. Sounds like a high end Quad Core might be my best bet.

Reply to toledo_speedo

Sounds like a Q6600 or Q9550 to me.....

Would there be an advantage to using a Skultrail with 2 Dual cores so I can upgrade to quads in the future?

Reply to toledo_speedo

no it doesnt take duals (Socket 771 not 775)

Prime would be waiting for Nehalem
Processes much faster than C2D/Q

That comes out on Wednesday right? 4th quarter 2008.

Reply to toledo_speedo

Just about yes

But keep in mind that a) they might be a bit buggy as its a new architecture b) IT WILL BE EXPENSIVE

Those X58 mobos have many features and will not be cheap at all but the processors w/ theyre multi-threading are better than C2Q but again idk how many threads ur program uses

So am I understanding right that if I have a Skulltrail mobo with Dual quads that my coding software can run on one processor while I am running programs on the other? Would that be the same as having one Quad and two programs going that only utilize one or two threads?

Reply to toledo_speedo

The Problem w/ Skulltrail mainly is price...on newegg they have one proc. The QX9775 = $1500 a piece thats $3000 plus a $630 mobo. For that u just get Nehalem which will be less and perform better

As far as setting certain processes to the different processors, idk i havent read about Skulltrail cause i was never gonna own it :kaola:

You can get server hardware which will be a lot less expensive than a skulltrail build.

ASUS Z7S WS Dual LGA 771 Intel 5400 SSI CEB Server Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131272

(2 of these) Intel Xeon E5420 Harpertown 2.5GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 771 80W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819117147

(Add as many as you'll need, I'd say at least 8GB)

Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Server Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148189

PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703009

ASUS EAH4870/HTDI/512M/A Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121276

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ar%20Green

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151173

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
Reply to emp

You have my attention, how would that work running multiple apps?

Reply to toledo_speedo

His is very good go with it.

But hes missing a PSU....get a Corsair HX 1000 very good, solid psu

Should work like a dream, you'd have 8 available cores with at least 8GB of RAM. It should be quite a beast, if this can't handle what you're doing, nothing in the foreseeable future will.

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
Reply to emp

You still should call your software vendor and find out if the application is multi-threaded. If not that server hardware won't be much faster than a dual core CPU on a desktop board.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Proximon

Proximon wrote :

You still should call your software vendor and find out if the application is multi-threaded. If not that server hardware won't be much faster than a dual core CPU on a desktop board.

Just checked on the software and it DOES NOT support multi-threaded applications, however when I am coding it will have 3-4 instances of the program running at the same time depending on how many fields I am using.

So along with my accounting software and other programs I can easily have 6-8 applications running at the same time. If I have a dual quad core set up will it automatically route traffic to an unused CPU or do I have to set something up to make that happen?

Also I got the Blue Flamer tower (Pun Intended) today and it is freaking awesome!

Reply to toledo_speedo

On the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del for XP users, Ctrl+Shift+Esc for us Vista users), on the processes tab you can manually set core affinity for each process manually if you want (i.e. have instance #1 running on Core 1, Instance #2 running on Core 2 only.. etc).

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
Reply to emp

Sounds like a plan, does anyone have any other suggestions in line with emp's server build or should I just start ordering parts?

Also I am going to need to stick with a 32 bit OS for right now, thinking of Windows Vista Pro. With a 32 bit system does that throw out the need for the 8 Gigs of Ram or can each CPU use 4 gigs?

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-30-2008 at 05:17:32 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

toledo_speedo wrote :

How do I know if the applications I use support more than 4 cores? Is that the difference between a 32bit and 64bit system? I know I can't use a 64 bit on my network.

I'm not sure you understand the whole 64-bit thing. You keep talking about 4 - 8GB of RAM. The main difference between 32-bit and 64-bit is 64-bit can actually use over 4GB of RAM. I don't know why you wouldn't be able to use 64-bit on your network, but if that's true, you will be limited to 4GB of RAM. Even if you go with 4GB of RAM on a 32-bit system, it will only be able to use about 3 - 3.5GB as was stated earlier. I would read up on 64-bit before you do something crazy like install 8GB on a 32-bit system.

Reply to shortstuff_mt

Well my main concern with upgrading to a 64 bit system is compatability with my drivers for printers and scanners along with shared files and folders on my network:

"x86-based 64-bit systems sometimes lack equivalents to software that is written for 32-bit architectures. The most severe problem in Microsoft Windows is incompatible device drivers. Although most software can run in a 32-bit compatibility mode (also known as an emulation mode, e.g. Microsoft WoW64 Technology for IA64) or run in 32-bit mode natively (on AMD64), it is usually impossible to run a driver (or similar software) in that mode since such a program usually runs in between the OS and the hardware, where direct emulation cannot be employed. Currently the 64-bit versions for many existing device drivers are not available, so using 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating system can become frustrating as a result. However most devices made after February 2007 have 64-bit drivers available as well as many devices made in the later 2006 period."

Am I reading too much into this? Most of our equipment is newer and should work with a 64 bit OS. Is it possible to RAID my old hardrive with a new one and run two operating systems to avoid and bugs in the begining?

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-30-2008 at 05:45:02 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

If your equipment is not from the jurassic period, then it should have decent 64 bit support, especially if it's branded for Vista, which requires WHQL certification and a requirement for such certification is 32-bit and 64-bit support for Vista. Even if it doesn't have such branding, it can still work perfectly fine, I would only worry about two things, really old equipment and really cheap equipment (they might be writing their software on 16-bit).

I've been switching for the past 2 years between XP 64 and Vista 64 without issues, but I settled down on Vista 64 now that the graphics card drivers are good enough not to show any performance disparities when playing games compared to XP. (Took long enough though) I would say the time is now to get Vista 64, even though this time should have come 3+ years ago with XP 64.

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
Reply to emp

Will I be able to boot from my old drive (XP 32) and a new Vista 64 pro without a problem?

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-30-2008 at 08:13:08 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

When you install a full version Vista 64 Premium, it will detect the XP installation and set up a boot list at start up. You will have the option of booting to XP, or it will default to Vista after x seconds.

Of course, you cannot just "boot from your old drive." You will need to do a fresh installation of XP Pro.

Also, you will need to have XP pro... regular XP does not support dual processors.

Reply to Proximon

I have XP Pro so I should be ok there; so I should just RAID my old drive with a new one Running Vista Premium or can I get away with Vista Pro?

Message edited by toledo_speedo on 09-30-2008 at 10:08:23 PM

Reply to toledo_speedo

Vista Premium is the standard choice... You might want to look at the 64 bit versions of Vista Business and Ultimate as well.

Ultimate would support up to 128Gb of memory, while premium only supports up to 16.

I think Business only supports 16 as well, but you should go over to microsoft.com and compare the versions and features for yourself.

There is no Vista Pro... there is a Vista Basic that should be avoided at all costs.

Reply to Proximon

Windows Vista Ultimate 64, I am assuming the retail version for around $600? A new hard drive for Vista, Raid it to my old hard drive with XP Pro and the components in emp's reply and I should be ready to go.

Anyone see any issues that might come up?

Reply to toledo_speedo

Get the OEM version for about $140. You will save A LOT of money.

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
Reply to emp

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