hold on to your lug nuts, it's time for an overhaul

[k0NG0]

I've settled on the E8500 believe it or not. At a 30W lower TDP and not that much behind in terms of performance compared to the Q9300, I think it's a good trade-off (the compile benchmarks I've found don't show much of a difference, 10-15% or so, I can live with 10 minutes). It's also almost $100 cheaper after the recent price cut. I figure I can upgrade should I feel the need to, or jump on the Nehalem train next year with a quad with HT instead.

Should be sweetpickles. I'm probably ordering my stuff this week, I have a 2-week vacation coming up and tinkering with the new hardware seems like a great waste of time.

[Gorganzola]

Sounds like a sweet setup for certain. It should be so quiet that you won't even know it is on.

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by k0NG0

I've settled on the E8500 believe it or not. At a 30W lower TDP and not that much behind in terms of performance compared to the Q9300, I think it's a good trade-off

key points indeed...that's why I went with the E8400 myself a few months back...quad support is not prevalent enough in any software I use to make any real performace difference (games, games, games) so I decided that a high end dual core is the better choice right now...a better video card still makes a much bigger difference then a better CPU...Nehalem will usher in the quad era for me

[Gorganzola]

Don't forget one of these to make sure the lug nuts are on there tight:

Folding Metric Lug Wrench*-*Duluth Trading Company

[k0NG0]

Also, I am yearning for one of these: Adaptec - Adaptec RAID 3405

[Gorganzola]

So why not get three hard drives then and do RAID 5? Have to read up on what the E or EE versions of RAID are.

[k0NG0]

Yeah, it's an interesting prospect. Although that would jack up the price quite a bit, and I'm not sure if the benefits outweigh the cost.

The case does suspend 3 drives, though... Heh.

[Gorganzola]

You could do a software RAID setup, but that would take processing power away from other things.

I do have RAID 5 running on a Promise SX4000 card with 256MB and it does run well. None of the drives have ever failed and no drivers for Vista though.

[polonyc2]

the new Phenom X4 9350e sports a maximum TDP of just 65W

although the negative is that it uses the 65nm process and the clockspeed is 'only' 2.0 GHz

[Gorganzola]

It's a whole architectural change too. I'm thinking that support for Intel gear in a Linux in environment is going to be greater. Especially given that it is used more.

Originally Posted by polonyc2

the new Phenom X4 9350e sports a maximum TDP of just 65W

although the negative is that it uses the 65nm process and the clockspeed is 'only' 2.0 GHz

[k0NG0]

AMD support is pretty good too from what I've read. The binary drivers work well for graphics, and so on (plus they supply full registry information for the GPUs to open-source projects, something only nVidia fails to do.). But I'm set on Intel for this rig, I really like the 780G and would have loved to use it with an Intel CPU, but that's unfortunately out of the question. I think the G35 will serve me well, it won't be slower than my Matrox G400, that's for sure. And it'll handle 1920x1200 which is what I will require. Lack of 3D oomph beyond the basic 3D Vista GUI is perfectly fine too.

I am very very close to getting the Adaptec card and a third 750GB Samsung F1. It's $500 on top of the rest, but not having to mess around with weird RAID setups for dual-booting and whatnot is very tempting. And it'll make it possible to move the whole drive shebang to new computers should the need arise. And I haven't upgraded in 6 friggin' years, I deserve some cooing over semi-enterprise hardware.

I'll probably order next week. I thought about waiting for the G45 and the new Penryn steppings but who am I kidding, it won't make much of a difference to me.

[k0NG0]

As ordered by me 5 minutes ago:

Asus P5E-VM HDMI
Intel E8500
Corsair PC2-6400 4GB (2x2GB)
Samsung F1 750GB (x3)
Adaptec 3405 SAS/SATA HW RAID 4-port
Corsair 450W PSU
Antec SOLO case
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 heatsink
120mm + 92mm Nexus fans
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7203S (SATA burner, black)
Zalman FanMate 2 (x2)
Arctic Silver 5

The three drives will be in a RAID5 array. I went with hardware RAID because (I'm worth it) it's fun and also because it makes life easier in terms of drivers and such (support for pretty much any OS out there + drivers for *nix are from Adaptec but fully open source).

1.5TB of storage will last me years and years. Redundancy means a lot to me. Suspended drives (the case suspends 3) means no vibrational noise from the drives (the F1 is quiet from the get-go as well). The Xigmatec cooler is #2 on SPCR's list of recommended coolers, coupled with the 120mm Nexus at 7V or so, it'll be quiet as a mouse and handle the 65W TDP like child's play. The 92mm fan will be cooling the drives at a very low voltage.

At most I'll be taxing the PSU at about 50% of what it's rated for, which is the sweet-spot for efficiency (84-86% for 220VAC). Though, in all honesty, I expect this rig to draw less than 200W thanks to no add-in graphics card).

Should be sweet. Had to order from 2 places since the RAID card isn't very common, but ordering the case from the other place actually saved me almost $100 thanks to cheaper shipping and a cheaper price on the case. Which is nice.

[SRTDodge05]

Hey Kongo let me know how you like the Samsung F1 750GB drives. I'm been looking for some bigger drivers for my server and im not sure what brand to go with. Its been a hit and miss on the reviews from newegg. I like the samsung because its the cheapest but it is also little slower then the rest.

[ctal]

Sounds cool, kONGO -- good luck with it!

I have the OCZ Vendetta 2 hsf, which is somewhat similar to the Xigmatek (btw, are you sure it's HDT-S1238 and not HDT-S1283?), and I've been very pleased with it. One tip concerning its installation -- although it supposedly installs from the top of the mobo, and even when the mobo is already installed in the case, you'll be doing yourself and your thumbs a favor if you install it while the underside of the mobo is still accessible. Trying to get the pushpins inserted while working just from the top is extremely difficult, at least with the OCZ, and while you are pressing them in the mobo flexes horribly. It is MUCH less difficult, and no flexing occurs, if while you are pressing down on the pushpins you are simultaneously pressing up on the underside of the mobo at a location immediately adjacent to the hole the pushpin is going into.

I did that, of course, while wearing a grounded wrist-strap, and with a grounded anti-static mat as the work surface.

Best of luck with it!
-- Al

[k0NG0]

It's the HDT-S1283, yeah, I mistyped.

Good advice, thanks. I almost went with a Zerotherm HSF that had through-mobo mounting, since pushpins sound flimsy for that much weight, but reading up on it I think it'll be fine. I rarely if ever move the case around anyway. (The Vendetta 2 looks to be a sibling to the Xigmatek, I'd be willing to bet they are built by the same OEM and the only difference is the shape of the fins. They even use the same rubber fan mounting.)