[Techtalk] Asking for new PC recommended specs

[David Merrill]

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On Wednesday 01 October 2003 12:25 am, L J Laubenheimer wrote:
> Kai MacTane wrote:
> > At 9/30/03 12:21 AM , David Merrill wrote:
> >> POWER:  480 watt power supply (extra quiet model, woo hoo!)
> >> MOBO:   Intel D875PBZLK 875P 800MHz FSB 8xAGP Hyper-Threading SATA

I've dropped the Intel and decided to go with:

MOBO: ASUS P4C800-E DELUXE 875P 800MHz FSB 8xAGP Hyper-Threading SATA

It's almost *exactly* the same mobo, at least it has all the same primary 
chipsets, but it adds on a second SATA/RAID controller, the Promise 
20378. The 20378 supports RAID0+1, so the mobo has lots of interfaces for 
drives:

Intel ICH5R Controller:
  2 x UltraDMA 133 (two IDE hard drives)
  2 x SATA RAID0

Promise 20378 RAID Controller:
  1 x UltraDMA 133 (two IDE hard drives)
  2 x SATA RAID0, RAID1, RAID0+1, Multiple RAID

That's a lot of flexibility.

Just so happens that in the course of my extensive research (I'm so tired 
of wading through forums and specs and lkml archives!), I discovered that 
both the ICH5, ICH5R and 20378 chip(set)s have only gone into the kernel 
with version 2.4.22-ac (only in Alan Cox's tree). But at least it *is* 
supported.

> >> Gb LAN CPU:    2.80GHz P4, 800MHz FSB, 512K cache, Hyper Threading
> >
> > IME, you can get a better MHz/$currency_unit ratio from AMD chips.
> > But that's just a general rule, and in your specific case, you may
> > not be able to find a cheaper AMD at your desired speed (or a faster
> > AMD at your price point).
>
> AMD is now selling 64bit processors.  I tend to prefer AMD because
> their benchmarking is a bit more accurate...

I do too. I haven't bought Intel in years. I've a house full of AMDs, a G4 
and even a dead Alpha I hope to resurrect someday. Intel and AMD seem to 
be leapfrogging each other, but right now the Intel mobos seem ahead 
(it's not just the CPUs!) and I don't want to pay the premium for an 
Opteron, nor do I want to wait any longer.

> Also, I don't buy from system integrators as a rule - not when I have
> the expertise living in my house!  In fact, I tend to enjoy playing
> with assembling hardware myself, even with my 50 hour a week job.

I was initially going to buy from pcusa.com, which lets you spec out the 
system to the smallest detail. I had even spec'ed the machine out. Then 
my SO told me he had bought from ABS twice and had good experiences both 
times, so I tried them out and found their "Gamer" system, with a 
downgraded video card, pretty much suits my needs. In fact it was *very* 
close to the same specs I had come up with on my own, so what the heck.

Perhaps I'll reprice the same components on pricewatch and see how it 
comes out. I might be able to buy each component separately for less 
money (and pay much more shipping!), but I'm not really into putting the 
machine together so it would have to save plenty'o'bucks.

- -- 
David C. Merrill                         http://www.lupercalia.net
Linux Documentation Project                   david at lupercalia.net
Lead Developer                                 http://www.tldp.org

Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn
All that dies shall be reborn
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