A question from a total neophyte

[EagleGreen]

I fell in love with the AMD chip when I bought my current machine 5+ years
ago. I went over the counter, Compaq, paid through the nose (insurance
settlement) and was very happy for 3 and a half years. around 2 years ago I
started having problems with my beloved machine, and while it still allows
me to access the internet, my Cd and DvD drives have long ago bit the big
one. So now, I am ready to take the next step and get my next machine, and
here lies my quandary. I am not sure I am ready to build my own, but I don't
trust any of the pre-builts available, and I really want to hold down my
costs this time. I've shopped the configure your own sites, but the only one
that could give me what I feel I should have to allow me another 5 year
period before buying again was AlienWare, and the end result there was over
$5k.
I need help friends, I need some direction before I get so frustrated I make
one of those "buyers remorse" decisions that has my wife kicking my tail for
the next 10 years. Is there a website out there that can point me in the
right direction, maybe even help me to build my own? Please don't suggest
taking a class at the local community college, I am disabled and
logistically, lets just say ordering from Tiger and building here would be
my best interest, but I still need help with choices and direction for
assembly.
If anyone could give me directions, I do thank you so much in advance.
Kevin

--
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the
opposite direction.

Albert Einstein
(1879-1955)

 

[Wes Newell]

If anyone could give me directions, I do thank you so much in advance.

Why don't you give us some idea as to what you want ir what you will
beusing it for and then you will probably get some reasonable suggestions.
I can't imagine what you were looking at that cost $5k when a $500 machine
is more than most people need these days.

 

[Kevin]

Why don't you give us some idea as to what you want ir what you will
beusing it for and then you will probably get some reasonable suggestions.
I can't imagine what you were looking at that cost $5k when a $500 machine
is more than most people need these days.

Fair question. I want to be able to play any new gen games coming out, and
have enough memory, I was thinking 2 Gb min. I plan on doing a bit of video
editing, so probably 160 to 250 gb min HD. I have both XP Pro and Office XP,
enterprise software, so I really don't need an OS until 64 bit Windows
releases. I will be using broadband (I have my home setup wireless) and I
really don't know much else. Hope that helps.

 

[Randy]

Dell...

Dual-capable P4 (2.8GHz) Xeon 64bit, HT 1M L2 cache server with 512M DDR2,
80G SATA, ATi VGA in a custom case for $500, ready for Win XP Pro 64 or Win
Server 2003 64 6 month evals from MS. You get PCI-Express slots (x4, x8) and
3 PCI-X (!00MHz, 64-bit) with the usual (33MHz, 32-bit) PCI slot for
expansion, gigabit ethernet, and upto 8G dual-channel or 12G single channel
PC3200 (400MHz) DDR2 SDRAM (ECC, Reg). CPU has 800MHz fsb.

It can handle upto 4 SATA or U320 SCSI internal (non hot-plug) hdds (1TB
max) with a RAID adaptor, or 2 SATA hdds (SW 0, 1 RAID) with the onboard
controller, and another 2 optical drives (CD included) running off the
onboard PATA ports (as well as an optional IDE TBU). Floppy disk drive
optional... USB2 front and rear, but no FW, AGP, sound, or modem. The case
itself is a work of art. Single 460W PS sits isolated, enclosed at bottom of
case.


Hard to beat at that price, which also gets you a year of next-day on-site
warranty work, a 14-day satisfaction guaranteed return period and great
web, email, & phone suport.

Did I mention it was $500 delivered ? I couldn't resist. Certified for
Win2003 Server 64 or Red Hat or Suse Linux 9 64 enterprise, but I'd bet Win
XP Pro 64 ($150 online) will work. And it should run in 32-bit mode with XP
Pro or 2000 Pro or whatever 32-bit OS you want. With the 64-bit OS, you can
run 32-bit apps in compatibility mode, but you need 64-bit drivers
regardless if they're called at all. They're all included on CD from Dell,
along with their install and storage manager software (GUI) and
documentation. Weighs about 40lbs, not much bigger than a typical midi tower
system, which is small for a server.

It's the SC1420 if you want to give it a gander... small business section at
dell.com, just watch for "Outrageous Deal" prices or you'll pay a couple
hundred more.

I'm disabled too, and couldn't imagine spending $5k on a system...

 

[Timbertea]

Dell...

Dual-capable P4 (2.8GHz) Xeon 64bit, HT 1M L2 cache server with 512M DDR2,
80G SATA, ATi VGA in a custom case for $500, ready for Win XP Pro 64 or Win
Server 2003 64 6 month evals from MS. You get PCI-Express slots (x4, x8) and
3 PCI-X (!00MHz, 64-bit) with the usual (33MHz, 32-bit) PCI slot for
expansion, gigabit ethernet, and upto 8G dual-channel or 12G single channel
PC3200 (400MHz) DDR2 SDRAM (ECC, Reg). CPU has 800MHz fsb.

It can handle upto 4 SATA or U320 SCSI internal (non hot-plug) hdds (1TB
max) with a RAID adaptor, or 2 SATA hdds (SW 0, 1 RAID) with the onboard
controller, and another 2 optical drives (CD included) running off the
onboard PATA ports (as well as an optional IDE TBU). Floppy disk drive
optional... USB2 front and rear, but no FW, AGP, sound, or modem. The case
itself is a work of art. Single 460W PS sits isolated, enclosed at bottom of
case.


Hard to beat at that price, which also gets you a year of next-day on-site
warranty work, a 14-day satisfaction guaranteed return period and great
web, email, & phone suport.

Did I mention it was $500 delivered ? I couldn't resist. Certified for
Win2003 Server 64 or Red Hat or Suse Linux 9 64 enterprise, but I'd bet Win
XP Pro 64 ($150 online) will work. And it should run in 32-bit mode with XP
Pro or 2000 Pro or whatever 32-bit OS you want. With the 64-bit OS, you can
run 32-bit apps in compatibility mode, but you need 64-bit drivers
regardless if they're called at all. They're all included on CD from Dell,
along with their install and storage manager software (GUI) and
documentation. Weighs about 40lbs, not much bigger than a typical midi tower
system, which is small for a server.

It's the SC1420 if you want to give it a gander... small business section at
dell.com, just watch for "Outrageous Deal" prices or you'll pay a couple
hundred more.

I'm disabled too, and couldn't imagine spending $5k on a system...

I see the 1420, but it starts at *$1508* not $500.

The 420 is around that price, but that is a different product.

--Timbertea

 

[JohnOfArc]

I fell in love with the AMD chip when I bought my current machine 5+ years
ago. I went over the counter, Compaq, paid through the nose (insurance
settlement) and was very happy for 3 and a half years. around 2 years ago
I started having problems with my beloved machine, and while it still
allows me to access the internet, my Cd and DvD drives have long ago bit
the big one. So now, I am ready to take the next step and get my next
machine, and here lies my quandary. I am not sure I am ready to build my
own, but I don't trust any of the pre-builts available, and I really want
to hold down my costs this time. I've shopped the configure your own
sites, but the only one that could give me what I feel I should have to
allow me another 5 year period before buying again was AlienWare, and the
end result there was over $5k.
WTF???

I need help friends, I need some direction before I get so frustrated I
make one of those "buyers remorse" decisions that has my wife kicking my
tail for the next 10 years. Is there a website out there that can point me
in the right direction, maybe even help me to build my own? Please don't
suggest taking a class at the local community college, I am disabled and
logistically, lets just say ordering from Tiger and building here would be
my best interest, but I still need help with choices and direction for
assembly.
If anyone could give me directions, I do thank you so much in advance.
Kevin

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MHGSBG/article.php/3503061 that

features an amd 4000+ on a dfi sli board (but for $179 you could choose
most any brand), but you'd have to settle (LOL) for a single GF 6800 gt.
About $2.5K, for a system most of us would consider close to state of the
art. For $4k they suggest what just about any sane person would consider
overkill-

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/EGBG/article.php/3494656

both guides also suggest alternate Intel setups. Not sure what you specced
out, perhaps something like this

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=1925&p=1

"So the point is not missed - the Elite PC Titan FX is the fastest
gaming system we have ever tested." or "This is the fastest system we have
tested, period." ~3k (just the box, but nevertheless...).

but for 5k you must be talking dual opteron, sli (dual gf 6800 ultras), 4
gb memory, etc - I recently saw a review of such a beast, but then you're
definitely not even remotely considering bang-for-the-buck (you'll be able
to get a better system in a few years for half that price).

How about a more realistic approach...

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/system-guide-200504.ars/3

about $1600, looks like heaven to me, YMMV.

 

[The Graduate]

Yeah, I saw that on their business site too, that is unreal... same system,
but maybe a longer warranty/onsite service? For the $500 price point (which
varies by week, as does the CPU speed, memory size, etc.), look in the small
business section.

Don't get me wrong; I think it may be worth $1,500; I'm just not able or
willing to pay that. This is a fairly expensive novelty for me right now as
it is.

They also have a dual Xeon 1U server for about $850 in the small business
area (again, the price varies week by week). Obviously maxes out at only 2
internal hdds, but I think it handles 12G RAM or more. You can also upgrade
either system to 2M L2 Xeons, but the price increase is huge.

My biggest beef is the lack of sound or firewire... I bought a USB
SoundBlaster MP3+, but it won't have 64bit drivers until Q4 of this year.
And I'm not thrilled about the x8 max PCI-e slot considering there's no AGP,
so I can use neither my AIO Radeon card nor a typical PCI-e x16 card
(without modifying the x8 slot if I follow the lead of some hackers, I think
not). So I'm stuck with PCI graphics. But that's really no big deal as I
don't do games or serious graphic applications anyway. And I can add
firewire via PCI or PCI-X slots. And I'll either forego a modem (not many
PCI have 64bit drivers yet), or try a USB version (same problem), or simply
go through my LAN modem as I do now.

I just received XP Pro x64 in the mail yesterday and I'm praying it works...
not really up to installing and maintaining a server OS (2002 x64, which I
also have a trial of from MS).

 

[The Graduate]

AMD is the way to go for gaming, but video editing is much better served by
an Intel system...

 

[keith]

AMD is the way to go for gaming, but video editing is much better served by
an Intel system...

I'm not convinced "much" is true anymore. AMD has been kicking Intel's
butt for quite some time. If you look at the price, I'd still go AMD if I
wanted to do streaming video. If you're really doing video for a living,
I'd suggest an Apple.