New machine

[SonOfNimrod]

jujubee: right. thanks for sharing your thoughts.

yeah, i'm really dying to tryout some rendering ideas i have, but even on my current dual opteron it's taking forever to setup and execute the render. a new machine of this config, although pricey, would not only allow the work to get done faster, but also let me tryout different FX.

some of the stuff on this forum is just outstanding......

[SonOfNimrod]

oh....i might wait until amd makes an announcement then...

[arobbert]

You can negotiate with both Dell and Boxx if you ask. Both will give a better deal than what you see on line. And don't forget the warranty. If you build your own you have to handle it with the part manufacturer yourself. If you get a Boxx the warranty is three years which is longer than what the individual part manufactures give you.

[jujubee]

I have to make a correction above. The case I listed will NOT fit an Extended ATX (EATX) motherboard. I have found one that also comes with 1100 Watt power supply units:

$399 - Antec P190

There's currently one issue with this case and that has to do with fitting a Geforce 8800 GTX in there with the case side fan. I was instructed by an Antec rep to either bend the cable (LOL) or remove the side fan.

[SonOfNimrod]

arobert: the shop that will build it for me covers it with a warranty.

jujubee: great! thanks for heads up.

[jujubee]

I just built one of these machines. It rocks!!!
Here is the wishlist from NewEgg:
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/...Number=5859112

I've purchased a Tyan Tempest S2696 separately as they don't carry them:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-S2696A2&c=pw


Just two things to note.

1) Games are not going to play much faster as most only utilize one processor.

2) Windows is still a glitchy-ass OS.

[glorybound]

New machine

I am looking for a new machine as well. How do these specs look?

Price $5490
System ID sys-intel-cruncher
Motherboard mb-in-s5000xvn-sata
Warranty 3-year warranty all system components
Services

* Full assembly
* Burn-in Tested
* BIOS flashed to most recent stable version
* Cables routed and tied
* Excellent heavy-duty packaging
* All original boxes, CDs, manuals included
* If Operating System selected, includes load of AMPS software (for activation other than demo mode, requires purchase of key from AMPS Technologies)

Motherboard Intel S5000XVN-SATA Motherboard
Case Chenbro SR105, with 650 watt Seasonic S12 power supply, fixed drive bays

* 20.9"d x 7.8"w x 16.7"h
* Front USB 2.0(2), Firewire
* Front 92mm Fan, 80mm fan
* Rear 120mm Fan
* 3 5.25" Drive Bays
* 4 3.5" Drive Bays
* (Accepts 4-3.5" hot-swap model in replacement of fixed drive bays, order below)

Case Options None
CPU Need help? FAQ Link New Lower Price! 2 Intel Xeon Quad-Core model 5345, 2.33Ghz, 1333FSB x2
CPU Fan Retail Heatsink and Fan included and installed x2
Memory Need help? FAQ Link 8gb: 4 Fully Buffered (FB)DIMM module, DDR2-667, 2gb ea x4
First SATA Hard Drive(s) 1 Seagate 320 Gb SATA-II 16mb Cache
1st CD/DVD Drive Lite-On CD-RW, DVD-RW, Dual Layer, Black
Video ATI FireGL V7300 512mb Dual DVI
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (Installed, includes CD & Key)

[Neilg]

Change the firegl to pretty much anything else (8800 gtx) and upgrade to the 5355 xeons with the cash saved.

[SonOfNimrod]

jujubee: any chance to see a benchmark time?

i might hold out a little longer t osee amd's barcelona,

[jujubee]

@glorybound - I saved about $1000-$1500 off your price. It took me about a day to assemble it (mostly due to me forgetting to load the RAID drivers upon Windows install onto a floppy. I just wasn't thinking.) I've 8 gigs and 4 drives. All quality equipment.

I've recycled a geforce 8800 GTX from my main comp so that saved some cash.

@SonOfNimrod - yeah give me a sec. I was with you on the new Barcelonas. From what I've read on the Internet, Sept. 10th seems like a special date. Then again, I've seen these 'release dates' come and go before.

I finally cracked - I'm tired of having waited 9 months on these chips to be released. Their latest fiasco of their Marketing team having released comparisons to an older Intel model raised eyebrows. On top of all that, their secrecy all along, and their Director of sales and marketing having resigned less than two weeks ago really cinched the deal for me.

[jujubee]

Here's a link to the benchmark:

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...=178313#178313

[glorybound]

MACHINE

I have always built my machines. I was the IT manager for a id-sized architectural firm for work and built my machines for 10 years. I am not the IT guy at my current job and the IT guy buys the machines... usually from DELL. He is the kind of IT guy that carries the phone book when something goes wrong :P Great guy and very cautious when I am more of a fly-by-the seat-of-your-pants IT guy.

[jujubee]

Freedom to screw up is the nice thing about working on my own. But for an extra $1500 through Boxx, Dell, or Apple - you get an 'insurance' policy which benefits you if you don't know how to troubleshoot your own systems or simply do not have the time to do so when things do go wrong.

Alot of these companies will ship you out a system immediately for the interim that something is broken. I on the other hand am willing to sacrifice a day or two and out of my own-pocket expenses to figure out what went wrong. And generally speaking, I am much faster than most IT departments. No red-tape or sheer laziness here.

As for that system Glory - have your IT admin figure that one out. The system I assembled was based upon my own research and cost/performance ratio. It took a while as I'm new to the newer Intel-based systems. I'm not looking to research other companies specs at this point due to a lack of time and expenses.

[glorybound]

Machine

I don't think our IT guy know much about high performance machines so I want to get him my specs so he can match it up with a DELL.

[rmejia]

How about building one of these:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/microwulf...get-296015.php