The Ultimate Dream Computer

Discussion in 'Building a new PC' started by Praetor, May 29, 2004.

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  1. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Ok computers are a rapidly changing field and this can lead to some nice discussions. Essentially, spec out the best money can buy! (gosh this is making me drool as it is). To avoid too much conflict both AMD and Intel chips/mobos can be accepted as the #1 chip (i.e., list both if you'd like to be a diplomat hehe). Same goes for ATI vs nVidia. This is meant to be a friendly drooling party rather than a corporate pissing contest :p

    PROC
    AMD FX53-2.4Ghz (1600MHz)
    INTEL P4EE-3.4Ghz (800MHz)

    MOBO
    ASUS SK8V
    Chosen over nVidia's nForce3Pro because the NF3 only supports 650MHz (1300DDR) bus and has a different emphais (its a business oriented mobo)
    http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket940/sk8v/overview.htm

    ABIT KV8 Pro
    Another serious contender on the AMD side of things, Abit brings reliability and more recently, more OC headroom compared to ASUS.
    http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=176

    ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe
    The premier board for testing out Dual Channel memory, you cant go wrong with this baby. Not to mention the fact its the highest performing Canterwood board available.
    http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4c800-e_d/overview.htm

    ABIT IC7-MAX3
    The IC7 series stirred a lot of comotion amoungst ASUS circles when it came out as it offers a CRAPLOAD of functionality and reliability not to mention some seriously kewl features. If it wasnt for my undying love of ASUS, I would have switched to this already :p (assuming I went Intel of course :p)
    http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=130

    RAM
    Corsair RegisteredXMS TwinX2048-3200 (3-3-3-8)
    Registered memory for the FX peeps, nothing special except it does have some nice timings for PC3200. The stock heatspreader isnt that fancy but thats the price one pays for regsitered ram :p
    http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx2048RE-3200.pdf

    Corsair XMS Pro TwinX1024-4000 (3-4-4-8)
    These babies are for Intel folks only and very very nice both in performance, looks and stock cooling
    http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx1024-4000pro.pdf

    OCZ PC3700 Platinum OCZ466-1024 (3-2-2-8)
    What's there to say, these sticks are absolutely fabulous -- and they look fantastic.
    http://www.ocztechnology.com/produc...3700_Platinum_Enhanced_Bandwidth_Dual_Channel

    OCZ PC3500 Gold OCZ433-1024 2-3-2-6
    One word describes the timings: stunning -- especially so for registered memory (meaning its for FX peeps)
    http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/OCZ_PC-3500_ECC_Registered_Dual_Channel_DDR

    VIDEO CARD
    eVGA GeForce6800 Ultra Extreme Edition
    Three words: close your mouth....
    http://www.evga.com/articles/public.asp?AID=188

    ASUS AX800 XT/TVD
    Three more words: .... and stop drooling
    http://usa.asus.com/products/vga/ax800xt/overview.htm

    SOUND
    Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
    Sometimes these naming conventions just get out of hand.... lol and excellent set all around still
    http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?prodid=4925

    PSU
    Coolermaster RS450 (450W)
    Premodded, effective cooling, open design to limit dust getting clogged and reliable rails, this PSU is an excellent deal all around.
    http://www.coolermaster.com/index.p...er&PHPSESSID=44b08d797d2500981a71d14c35f4b74e

    Thermaltake Polo12 (410W)
    Similar design as the Coolermaster (premodded and makes use of a 120mm fan), this baby comes with a front and/or rear mounted fan controller as well as some very nice case fans, an excellent PSU in any respect.
    http://www.xoxide.com/polo12.html

    HSF
    Thermaltake Silentboost K8
    This is the K8 version of Thermaltakes very effective Silentboost HSFs.
    http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/venus/rs/a1838.htm

    Thermaltake Venus12
    This is the badass supercharged fan for the K8 procs.
    http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/venus/rs/a1744.htm

    Thermaltake DIY Tower112
    The ultimate in quiet (or loud depending on the fan config), this is a highly adaptable HFS for both Intel and AMD applications
    http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/comboCool/cl-p0024tower112/cl-p0024tower112.htm

    CoolerMaster Jet4
    For P4 chips, this blower gets around the deadzone introduced by traditional fans and has air flowing over the entire surface of the heatsink.
    http://www.xoxide.com/comajet4p447.html

    Thermaltake Polo735
    Although this is a 3-in-1 cooler, it is most commonly found on Intel chips since AMD chips typically use the Venus/Volcano line of coolers. This is one loud mofo
    http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/comboCool/a2144Polo735/polo735.htm


    Thoughts? Ideas? Challenges?
     
    Praetor, May 29, 2004
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  2. PCProd

    PCProd Member

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    Even though I am extremely dis-heartened with PC's at the moment considering my current woe's here's my 'dream' machine:

    Mobo:
    Asus PC-DL Deluxe. Dual Intel Xeon Processor board.

    CPU's:
    2 x Intel Xeon 3.06Ghz, 533 f.s.b

    Memory:
    2 x 2GB Kit 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM 3-3-3

    Hardrive's:
    1 x Western Digital 36.7Gb 'Raptor' Serial ATA150 10,000rpm 8mb Cache - for the system drive.
    2 x Western Digital WD740GD 74gb Serial ATA 150 10,000rpm 8mb Cache.
    1 x Lacie External Firewire Hardrive. 250Gb.

    Video Adapter:
    Leadtek Winfast A380 Ultra FX5950 256mb with TV DVI VGA Dual Monitor Full PVR with Video in and Direct Burn Hardware monitor for Overclocking...

    Monitor's:
    2 x Sony SDM-P232W 23ins TFT 0.28mm 1600x1200 @ 85hz Tco99 Audio With Digital (dvi-i)

    DVD Drives:
    2 x Sony 8x DVD DUAL R/RW IDE BURNER - if it's a dream machine why have 1 when you can have 2:)

    PSU:
    Tagan Quiet Dual Fan EPS and ATX PSU, 480W

    See: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/psu.php#tagan

    Case:
    AcoustiCase C6607B Black Super Midi Tower

    See: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/cases.php#acc6607

    CPU Cooler:
    CNPS7000A Super Flower Cooler (all copper) - Super Flower Cooler AMD and P4 CNPS7000A-CU

    see: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/p4cooling.php

    A couple of Super quiet case fan's - AcoustiFan™ - Ultra-Quiet, Temperature Sensitive, Clear Computer Case Fans

    See: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/casefans.php

    I think that'd do it! Obviously to be able to build this machine money would have to be a very insignificant object............ but we can all dream:)


    As for the AMD side of things I'm sorry to say I have no comment. Reason being is that I have done no re-search into that side of things as most music production software has been designed for and tested with the intel chips only!
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2004
    PCProd, May 30, 2004
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  3. aXidburn

    aXidburn Guest

    i would go with the amd athlon fx....can u put a dual athlon fx...do they make a mobo 4 it?
     
    aXidburn, May 30, 2004
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  4. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    No they dont, the nearest thing are the Opteron 242s :) (that i know of)
     
    Praetor, May 30, 2004
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  5. aXidburn

    aXidburn Guest

    yo i could go for one of those 21 inch flat screen, flat panel moniters...that are like $2,000
     
    aXidburn, May 30, 2004
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  6. erichm

    erichm Guest

    The amd FX 51\53 can be used in dual cpu motherboards. They are just read as opterons.

    For the ram I would get the new corsair twinx1024-3200xlpro. Runs at pc 3200 at 2,2,2,5.

    For a power supply I would get a pc power and cooling turbo cool 510 deluxe.

    For a case I would get the nventive mach 2 gt.
    http://www.chip-con.com/index.php?pageid=102
    check that out.
     
    erichm, May 30, 2004
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  7. aXidburn

    aXidburn Guest

    aXidburn, May 30, 2004
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  8. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    The Athlon 64 FX also has only one non-coherent Hypertransport whereas the Opteron 1xx series has three. It depends if the motherboard expects more than one, so as a general rule, an Opteron 1xx can fit into an Athlon 64 FX motherboard but not always the other way around. Specifically there is a case with the Tyan S2885 (http://www.tyan.com/l%5Fjapanese/products/html/thunderk8w.html ) where only one proc is used, it must be the Opteron 1xx and a FX will work.

    Also note that Opertons, being found in a server environment, require Registered ECC ram while FX chips only required Registered ram
     
    Praetor, May 30, 2004
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  9. Wuggish

    Wuggish Member

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    i would use the ati radeon x800 xt as it out performes the 6800 ultra
     
    Wuggish, May 31, 2004
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  10. PCProd

    PCProd Member

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    I'm staying with Intel:) A creature of habit I guess.

    I have some ammendments to my machine as well as I forgot to mention the soundcard!

    Soundcard:
    E-Mu 1820

    see: http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?maincategory=754&category=754&product=2210

    and I would also have a firewire TC Powercore - sound effects processing unit.

    see: http://www.tcelectronic.com/PowerCoreFireWire

    and I would also have the Universal Audio UAD-1 - another PCI effects processing unit.

    See: http://www.uaudio.com/products/digital/studiopak/specs.html

    The benefit of using these babies is that they have their own processors so that they don't tax your CPU!! Not that it would be a problem running a Dual-Xeon system:)



     
    PCProd, May 31, 2004
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  11. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    In all fairnesss nobody can really say that the X800 outperforms the 6800 or the 6800 outperforms the X800 simply because both cards have their merits and both cards, in certian categories, destroy the other one. I guess it would come down to personal preference
     
    Praetor, May 31, 2004
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  12. Wuggish

    Wuggish Member

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    ok, they have the same performance, but the X800 is $150 cheaper than the 6800
     
    Wuggish, May 31, 2004
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  13. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Yes but the premise for this thread was that cost wasnt an issue :p
     
    Praetor, May 31, 2004
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  14. Wuggish

    Wuggish Member

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    lol sorri, il put my basic dream machine in

    athlon 64 fx53-2.4ghz
    Corsair 1GB (x2)
    ATI radeon x800 xt
    Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - (with some kick ass speakers and super woofer)
    30" Monitor LCD3000/30" TFT
    Thermaltake Xaser III V2000A
    Windows xp media center edition

    oh yea and a really comfy chair

     
    Wuggish, May 31, 2004
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  15. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Why that case? :)
     
    Praetor, May 31, 2004
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  16. Wuggish

    Wuggish Member

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    purely bcuz i think it luks cool and the colour (silver and red) fits with my room + i dont have a clu bout cases spec so i jus went 4 the luk..lol
     
    Wuggish, May 31, 2004
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  17. aXidburn

    aXidburn Guest

    anybody hear anything about the windows xp 64 bit edition, or when it is coming out?
     
    aXidburn, May 31, 2004
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  18. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    aXidburn: lets try to stay a tad on topic :) .... "isnt it already out"? :)
     
    Praetor, May 31, 2004
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  19. aXidburn

    aXidburn Guest

    its out in stores?!...hey its sorta on topic...cuz it would be on my dream/real computer..lol
     
    aXidburn, May 31, 2004
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  20. Sophocles

    Sophocles Senior member

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    Sophocles, May 31, 2004
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