Gotta build a dualie

[pseudonym]

Well, my dad has decided he wants a dualie to do his CAD work on. Fine with me cause I get to play with it!! I know absolutely nothing about dualies and the current hot setups so I was wondering if you guys could give me some suggestions. I'm an AMD fanboy of course, but I don't mind Intel stuff if I have to, all I know is that my dad says to keep it under 2k.

[primesuspect]

opterons!

[Thrax]

Anyone know if the Abit WN-2S+ is out?

[Geeky1]

Well... right now the Xeon systems are cheaper than the Opterons, and my dual 2.8 Xeon @ 3.2 is a damn fast machine... easily the fastest machine I've ever used, in fact. A good Opteron system would certainly be faster, but the Xeons aren't bad either, and they're cheaper.

[mmonnin]

The abit board Thrax mentioned looks to be a nice one.

[csimon]

What does the 2k need to include a monitor also?

[Tex]

Unless you need the high end opterons they are not that expensive.

And thrax I don't know if the Abit board is out but as far as I know they never brought any dual amd board to market ( they had some intel ones I think) so I would hedge my bets and go MSI or Tyan. Doubt his Dad is gonna overclock or anything.

Tex

[Tim]

Why build? I've got a dual CPU system for sale:

Abit BP-6 motherboard, one month old rebuilt / RMA from Abit. Been running folding at 100% for a month, never a crash!

Windows 2000 Pro

Twin 533 Mhz Mendocino core Socket 370 Celerons overclocked to 600 Mhz (raised FSB to 75 Mhz).

256 MB PC133 SDRAM

CD drive

6 GB hard drive

Cheap computer case with 400 watt generic "Performance" brand power supply.

Pentium 3 size all aluminum heat sinks and 60 mm Foxconn cooling fans.

All for the bargain basement price of $190 plus UPS!!!

What a deal, right? :D

Seriously, it's for sale.

[Tex]

Yeah if he wants 4 or 5 year old technology that can be outrun by a new cpu/motherboard for $50 I guess its a cool deal.

Tex

[Tim]

It's a dual system. He said he wanted a dual system. He didn't say a FAST dual system. :rolleyes:

[Tex]

Who wants a "dual" system slower then a single cpu system made a couple years ago?

Get real.

Tex

[pseudonym]

It's a dual system. He said he wanted a dual system. He didn't say a FAST dual system. :rolleyes:

thanks for the offer Tim, but I'm looking for something quicker.

What does the 2k need to include a monitor also?

It will need a monitor. Probably a used 21" Trinitron or whatever good deal I can find at the time.

The system needs to have a few gig of ram, good vid card, and then the dual proc. I'd like to go Opterons if I could I guess, a 64 bit system would be nice to have around.

OCing would definitely not be done on this system, it needs to be very reliable (I know I can make it reliable, but I'd rather just spend a bit extra rather than go low and OC on this one).

Other than that I guess a DVD burner so he could put big model files on it, and do you think I should RAID it? Seems to be the type of thing to do with a system like this.

[Geeky1]

Who wants a "dual" system slower then a single cpu system made a couple years ago?

Get real.

Tex

I'm pretty sure he was joking tex... people don't generally put ":D" smilies in their post unless they're being funny (or at least trying to be...) ;)

Oh, and to answer your question (which I'm sure was rhetorical) I buy old SMP stuff that's slower than a new single CPU & board combo... I'm actually sort of considering buying a Tyan Thunder 2500 (Dual slot 1, Serverworks chipset, 8 DIMM slots, takes ECC/REG SDRAM in pairs only) at some point :p

[csimon]

What CAD program does he like to use and what type of design/drawing?

[pseudonym]

What CAD program does he like to use and what type of design/drawing?

Welllll, He uses whatever he gets his hands on basically. Right now he uses Solidworks and is getting Pro-E, I am starting to use Catia and I know IDEAS (Still want a Windows copy). We are looking at doing some other stuff on it too (low level CFD, FEA etc).

Everything he does now is 3d modeling, I don't think hes started doing full assemblys yet, but I'm sure thats going to come. What will come out of this design program of ours is a full 3d modeled race car assembly. Not as complex as say a road car, but still complex with excellent system choking capability. ;D

[mmonnin]

Just because Thrax mentioned the abit board, doesnt mean he thought you should overclock it. It looks like it will be a serious performer in a workstation system: Dual opterons, 2x PCIe 16x, SATA II, dual GIG Ethernet.

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=264

[Tex]

My point was missed. If I was building a dual cpu system for my DAD who wanted stable probably above all else I would choose a manufacturer with a long line of experiance building and supporting this type of boards.

Did that one make more sense? Abit tends to cater more to the enthusiast crowd. Tyan had much more experiance making and supporting dual cpu boards. It's a much "safer" choice especially when you will get crap from your dad forever if you make a wrong choice here. It's not the sexy choice but it's much safer in general.

In fact I am a Opteron guy through and through. I have had a couple dual opterons and I still have one now along with a single opteron rig and a amd64 but... for my Dad.... he might get dual xeons.

The choices would be based on a differant set of criteria for "Dad.

Tex

[mmonnin]

The stability of the Dual Opteron Abit board has yet to be proven or disproven.

And yes I know MSI and Tyan name stable dual CPU boards.

And you missed my point. He didnt mention it for looks or sexiness but rather for its Dual CPUs, Dual Ethernet, and Dual Video cards which could come in handy (I'm not sure how taxing the CAD program he is using actually is). In fact I would like to see the board have another 2050 chip on it for some more I/O capabilities.

I was merely supporting Thrax and his comment on the board, which I also think might be a good choice if it was even out yet.

[Tex]

I think its a sexy board with sexy features. Not one I would build anything for a client or my Dad on.

New board from a company with little experiance in that marketplace. A year from now ? Maybe. Not now.

Would I get one for me to play with? Yep. But I wouldn't sell one to a customer much less my Dad who is much less interested in cool features as rock solid stable and compatibility etc..

Way to risky to sell to customers or have to listen to crap from my dad over a myriad of bios upgrades fighting instability and incompatibility etc..

It's a "black hole". Thats not what you stake your reputation on.

Tex

[McBain]

Hey pseudo,

Want a kick ass computer? Theres an amd 2000+, radeon 9500 softmod, 512mb ram, and some other neat-o stuff sitting in my basement, not running, for the last 6 months. Oh....wait....ITS YOURS....come get your damn computer.

[csimon]

ok when we start talking sexy computers it's gone over my head! ;D

check out the matrox parhelia cards pseud ...they have nice pci-express cards too! :thumbsup:

[mmonnin]

The board has features his dad might need, nothing else does. They are not just sey features, the might be needed features. Only the nF4 Pro motherboards support dual opterons and dual PCIe x16 slots. No matter who the manufacture is stability is not guaranteed. Any manufacture is as good as another with a new chipset like this.

[Tex]

Any manufacture is as good as another with a new chipset like this.

Hogwash and Bologna.

I remember how long I waited for Abits dualy based on the MPX chipset. It was out on their website for months. Never got it stable and it died before reaching market. But asus, msi, tyan and gigabyte all managed to get ones to market. Some better then others.

Now I have experiance with dozens of dualies based on brand new chipsets from differant manufactures. How many roughly have you had hands-on experiance with to date to make statements such as this as fact?

I bet NOTTA. As in zero as in none.

Thanks. Have a great day.

Tex

[muddocktor]

Psuedo, $2K doesn't give much scratching room for a decent dually unless you plan to overclock the procs some. Here's some quick numbers for you to ponder on both Intel and AMD duallies.

Intel machine:
mobo - Iwill DH800 - $265
procs - Xeon 2.8/533 (Prestonia core) - $280 X 2=$560
ram - Corsair VS reg ECC 1GB modules - $255.12 X 2=$510.24

core system parts costs - $1335.24

AMD machine
mobo - MSI K8T Master2 FAR - $212
procs - Opteron 244 (1.8 GHz) - $327 X 2=$654
ram - Corsair VS reg ECC 1GB modules - $255.12 X 2=$510.24

core system parts costs - $1376.24

That's for 2 middle class dual systems. By the time you add in a good vid card and drives, you've eaten up at least $2K without the monitor. For a higher end dual system, I think you need to allocate at least $2500-3000 for a budget.

And I agree with Tex 100% about the Abit board. Since Abit hasn't had the balls to make an AMD based dually before now, I dfefinitely wouldn't want my Dad to be a guinea pig to try that board on. With your situation, stability is paramount.

[Tex]

The 240 opterons are maybe half that also. I got my last pair on ebay for like $210 for the pair. Last time I checked newegg they were about $170 and are maybe lower now. From a single cpu box to even dual lowe end opterons he would probably be thrilled performance wise for his uses.

To bad he doesnt have parts to scavenge from his old system. If he had a burner and hard drives it would help.

What kinda video card does he use now? Isnt a good CAD card maybe differant thena good gaming card also? I know they overlap some.... The guys I knew into that alwasy had dual monitors also. Just something to consider.

Sorry but a dual cpu AMD based rig from abit when they never produced one based ona chipset from nvidia who has also never had a dual cpu chipset for amd rigs is just bad mojo. not saying it's a bad board. Just not something for clients or family till its been tested and stable for a year.

Tex

[mmonnin]

Did I ever say it would be stable or not? Did I ever say it would be my first pic over Tyan or MSI? I never said his dad should be the guinea pic. NO!

Basically all I said was that it looks like its going to be a nice workstation board.

And I bought a dualie board from you, Tex! How can you question if I have ever used a dual CPU system?

[Tex]

You are not reading well today.

You made statements regarding the stability of NEW DUALIE BOARDS based on NEW CHIPSETS from DIFFERANT MANUFACTURES. And it was Bologna.

And this was my reply....

"Now I have experiance with dozens of dualies based on brand new chipsets from differant manufactures. How many roughly have you had hands-on experiance with to date to make statements such as this as fact?"

You have NO EXPERIANCE at all with NEW DUAL CPU BOARDS based on NEW CHIPSETS from DIFFERANT manufactures. And the problems and incompatibilitys with other video cards and unstable drivers, hassles with new chipset drivers and their problems etc...

Your bought one OLDER dual board from me that had DOZENS of bios updates on it etc.. Years to get stabilized. Hello?????

So you have zero experiance with new boards on new chipsets from differant manufactures and how they are stable or not stable.

You have no buisness GUESSSING about stuff you have no experiance with and I stand behind what I posted.

Tex

[pseudonym]

Hey pseudo,

Want a kick ass computer? Theres an amd 2000+, radeon 9500 softmod, 512mb ram, and some other neat-o stuff sitting in my basement, not running, for the last 6 months. Oh....wait....ITS YOURS....come get your damn computer.

Muahahahahaha, McBains basement storage, cheap and easy!!

[muddocktor]

Marc, have you read Tex's previous posts? He said that he wouldn't mind that Abit board to try out for himself at all; it's just that Abit has NO AMD DUALLY TRACK RECORD to base deploying that board for anyone not intimately familiar with tweaking and troubleshooting. After all, that is Abit's first AMD dual board (if you don't count their pathetic aborted MPX board) and it's also based on a new chipset. I would think of trying a nf4 based dually from Asus or MSI or Tyan before I would try the Abit in the environment that psuedo wants to use this board in. At least those other manufacturers have a proven track record with dual AMD machines; Abit doesn't. Now 6 months from now, that might be different if the Abit board has been proven to be troublefree.

[pseudonym]

Well he actually does his stuff on a P4 2.4, 512 MB, LAPTOP from Toshiba. Don't ask why, he just does and I think hes going batty.

Well, since Mudd's costs def make it look like I'm going to surpass 2k I'll have to come up with some creative solutions. It will need a CD-Rom drive, but I could probably forgo the DVD burner and he can transfer over the network and use mine if he was desperate, so that will drop some costs. Doesn't need a floppy drive, he just uses memory sticks. Maybe a zip drive, he does use those every blue moon, but I doubt it. Probably will RAID the thing so there is some more cost.

What size case do I need with a dualie?

Also heatsinking, I'm sure I won't need some monster thermaltake on it, so that will save some costs. I have a crapload of fans around the house that I bought for cheap so as long as it uses 80mm I'm set. I'd actually rather not use OEM heatsinks though, I'd like it to run cooler than that.

Now vid cards is the other issue, Parhelia is probably the way to go for the workstation. I remember talking to someone before about this and that ATI or NVidia cards were actually overkill for this sort of thing?

edit// Forgot about PS. I'm assuming it has to be a monster.

[mmonnin]

And neither of you have any experience with this board or this chipset so **** off.

[muddocktor]

psuedo, Both of those procs (Xeon and Opteron) are the retail versions I priced. I would go with their stock hsf's at least at first and see how they run before spending money on a premium hsf like a Thermalright XP90; they might work out ok. For a case, get something like a large mid/small full tower case like the SX840 or SX1040 type cases that give plenty or room. For a psu, a TrueControl 550 or the larger Fortron Source or OCZ or PC Power & Cooling psu's would be a good choice.

[Geeky1]

Mudd... the Xeons don't need ECC/REG ram with an i875 chipset (post #24) Using regular unbuffered, non-ECC RAM is most of what makes the Xeon so much cheaper than the Opteron right now. :)

[Tex]

My dual xeon was in a differnat chipset geeky and what made the price acceptable was I could use the ecc/reg ddr on hand. Not the same for most individuals. For most that chipset would be a HUGE advantage!

I sold the dual xeon I had for basicaly a sideways dance into a dual opteron but I play in the used market.

Tex

[Tex]

And neither of you have any experience with this board or this chipset so **** off.

Hi sweetheart,

That was quite the witty comeback. Hope you didnt overtask yourself thinking up that response.

And unlike me.... you have no experience with any new dualie chipset period sunshine.

And you're ragging on me?? Oooops... Your bad.....

So your up the legendary polluted river without a proper means of propulsion again. Too bad. No paddles to lend ya this time so hold on tight !

Read a few more reviews and read some more posts I guess. It's all you can do without real life experience. Without real life experiance to back the post up your just ...... guessing again. ooooops. Your bad again...

Please towel yourself off and wipe your mouth before posting again honey.

You seem to be frothing and....... it doesn't become you at all.

Love Ya Man !!

Have a GREAT DAY!!!!!

Tex

If you come up with any more witty comebacks after a few hours to think about it please post back and I will be more then cheerful to answer your questions again.

have a most BLESSED day !!!!

[muddocktor]

Mudd... the Xeons don't need ECC/REG ram with an i875 chipset (post #24) Using regular unbuffered, non-ECC RAM is most of what makes the Xeon so much cheaper than the Opteron right now. :)

That's true, Geeky, but I'm a believer in Reg/ECC in a dually for added stability. I run Reg/ECC in both my MPX dullies because of that, even though 1 of them has only a single 512 MB stick in it. Seeing that his Dad is planning on doing the CAD work with it, I think going with the Reg/ECC is the ticket. But you are right in pointing out that he can use regular unbuffered ram and save a few bucks.

BTW, those sticks of ddr I priced out are 1 GB sticks, giving him 2 gigs for the machine.

[csimon]

here is the special I started the thread about in the dealer post. AMD/mushkin combo rebate. Might be something for you here!

http://www.newegg.com/promo/amdmushkin/

Here's how it works:
* Select any AMD 64 CPU and Mushkin Enhanced Memory and click "Buy this Combo"
* Be sure to also download the Mushkin rebate form. (Click here) (http://images10.newegg.com/UploadFilesForNewegg/rebate/amd_mushkin_promo_rebate_newegg.pdf)

[Animal]

all this fuss over JUST a motherboard.

anyway i was just looking around and saw this MSI K8T Master2 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=44941&item=6742862516&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW) on ebay for $160 $175 inc shipping although it does only have 4 hours left you can also get a pair of 242's for $300 here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80142&item=6743107853&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW) on ebay and finally a new matrox PARHELIA 512 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=40160&item=5165105145&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW). Those prices were just off ebay so sorry is i have just posted stuff you have already seen. From PERSONAL experience of a BRAND NEW power supply i am very impressed with the Tagan 480W power supply. Prices were correct at time of pricing, could have gone up on ebay!

[profdlp]

Hi sweetheart...
Hey Tex. Why don't you go out and take a walk.

You could use some fresh air.

[Geeky1]

That's true, Geeky, but I'm a believer in Reg/ECC in a dually for added stability.

*shrugs* I have never, ever, ever had stability issues with my Xeon or dual Athlon systems, both of which run regular RAM. The memory controller on the K7D just died, and the windows install on the Xeon is currently hosed (thanks to creative's MP3 player driver) but neither computer has ever had stability issues in general. I've never had either one blue screen due to hardware, and I've only had the Xeon system blue screen on me in the last week- due to the MP3 driver. We run regular non-ecc unbuffered RAM in the CAD machines at work and we've never had a problem with them. :)

[Tex]

Geeky it depends so much on the chipset. With the MPX they limit ya to two slots only with no reg ddr and I had no probs with any really GOOD ddr for example mis matched mushkin, corsair, crusial and samsung worked perfect. Any generic crap ram gave errors.

No matter what combo of mismatched 4 sticks of reg ddr every mpx board worked fine. Over at 2cpu.com the horror stories are famous for those with probs with non reg DDR even really good ddr that all went away with reg ddr on the mpx chipset especially.

Seems even dependent on not just a MB series but even a EXACT MB and memory combo. They didnt all behave the same even with identical MB and ram???

Not argueing but for about the same price you can kill all your problems in advance with reg ddr.

Again some chipsets handle it much differant then others.

But if the MB takes reg ddr I vote to just get it and flush the problems goodbye. Not worth the potential hassle.

Cheers !

Tex

[pseudonym]

Ok guys, this has just changed dramatically. My dad didn't tell me how hardcore he wanted this system, and he just told me he thought he was crazy when he asked to do it for under 2k. Hes telling me now he wants to run Fluent (A CFD program) and that he wants around 12 gig ram :eek3: So basically my budget restrictions just went out the window, so lets go for some power. I don't know if its even going to be possible to run that much ram on a board, or what to do if you couldn't, this is completely uncharted waters for me. Now this makes me think that I'm going to have to switch OS's too and go unix because that seems to be the norm for this type of computer.

So there goes our budget restrictions, just go nuts. Def RAID, reg mem, processors don't have to be highest of the high, but at least midrange. Time for me to do some big time digging around.

[Tex]

Just price out the ram for him.

many boards have four memory slots. Some have 6 or 8. Fior 12gb ram figure six sticks of 2gb ddr.

Price that out for him for starters. Thats probably 1200 bucks at the least maybe way way more... I buy used crap on ebay. Do that before you price anything else. We were trying to stay under 1300 or 1400 before total. Now we got that in ddr easy.

Whats his price limit and we can back into the rest the numbers?

I mean does he want a 5 or 6 grand top of the line box or what?

Tex

[pseudonym]

Well cheapest I see right now (quick looks during commercials) is like 500 a stick for 2 gb so 8 gb on most boards looking at around 2000. 6 sticks around 3000

/me shudders

Told him that, that got him thinking, hes reconsidering what he wants now considering the storebought version of what he wanted is like 8500 bucks, minus a bit for building your own=still a crapload.

[primesuspect]

Yeah, at this point I'd start looking at an OEM workstation-class unix box, like a sunblade 2500 (http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/sunblade2500/index.xml) or something.

Still, no matter what, 12gb of ram is gonna cost over five figures - he has to realize that there's just no way around it.

[Geeky1]

Windows XP will only run 4 gigs of ram anyhow...

[Tex]

excellant point geeky. And a server OS to use that much Ram boosts the price that much more out of site with only ram and OS before we even get back to the original dual cpu setup.

And I agree with prime that if your getting to this point really getting a server Like a dell or soemthing maybe a better way to go if he is stuck on 12gb

I think realisticaly a nice dual cpu rig with 4gb ram is what we need to focus on. Whats his current rig anyway?

Tex

[pseudonym]

I think realisticaly a nice dual cpu rig with 4gb ram is what we need to focus on. Whats his current rig anyway?
Tex

His current rig is a Toshiba lappy with a 2.4 P4, 512 MB ram. It was fine for learning, but he has surpassed its capabilities.

I think he is pretty much set on doing a CAD workstation now and has realized he doesn't really want to spend the money to do a station that can do CFD, but you never know. Right now I think you are right and a nice 4GB station will do just fine. Get some nice processors, Ram, and Vid card and that should be good. If he really wants a CFD system, I'm not going to be building it from the looks of things.

[pseudonym]

After messing with Dell and HP workstations, a 4GB station is right around 5500 dollars (w/o monitor). We'll use that as my budget then so I guess I'm going to keep it under that and beat them out. I'll have to see what my dads dell discount is though.

[Tex]

Check the dell refurb section. I have bought 4 or 5 of their dual cpu rack servers in the last 12 months and they all looked brand new. Come with the same Dell warranty as a new one also.

I have done a lot of dual cpu boxs..... but for buisness you don't roll your own you buy a real server and Dell's refurbs are often GREAT deals.

When you get a firm budget to compare to we can spec out a serious dualie if you want to build it. And if you don't feel comfortable doing a dual cpu rig I'll build it up and do the OS and everything for ya for a very small price and I have built tons of these.

Let me know if I can help.

Tex

[csimon]

His current rig is a Toshiba lappy with a 2.4 P4, 512 MB ram. It was fine for learning, but he has surpassed its capabilities.

I think he is pretty much set on doing a CAD workstation now and has realized he doesn't really want to spend the money to do a station that can do CFD, but you never know. Right now I think you are right and a nice 4GB station will do just fine. Get some nice processors, Ram, and Vid card and that should be good. If he really wants a CFD system, I'm not going to be building it from the looks of things.
IMO you don't need all that to run Fluent it'll run fine on what he has so far.
Just take the new budget and build him a screamming 3d machine with room to grow! :thumbsup:

Does he really need a dualie?

[muddocktor]

Just messed around at the Egg and fixed up a quick workstation class machine and this is what I came up with:

mobo - Iwill DK8X - $445.00
Procs - Opteron 250 X 2 - $720.00 X 2=$1440
case - Lian Li PC75 full tower - $185.00
psu - OCZ Powerstream 600 - $205.00
ram - Corsair 1 GB ValueSelect X 4 - $255.12 X 4=$1020.48
DVD burner - Silver NEC - $62.99
RAID drives - WD 74 GB Raptors X 4 - $175.00 X 4=$700.00
backup drive - Hitachi 400 GB ide drive - $329.00
floppy drive - $10.00 (I subbed a more expensive beige drive for a silver, which wasn't in stock)
sound - SB Audigy2 ZS Platiunum - $169.99
OS - Windows XP Pro - $147.95
video - XFX GeForce 6800 Ultra - $490.00 (sub in whatever workstation card you like if this doesn't suit you)

Total - $5205.41
Shipping - $93.71 (to louisiana, sub your state in)

Grand total - $5299.12

Of course you would most probably want to change some things around, but this at least gives an idea of what you can build with your much expanded budget.

[Tex]

skip the raided raptors. Dump that cost and thats a pretty killer rig for the price considering its 250 opterons.

The price goes way down with slower ones and he still gains compared to what he was using. A pair of 244 opterons for CAd kicks booty compared to the laptop.

I can not even imagine using a laptop for CAD stuff. Not just the disk/cpu sucky speed but the piss ant monitor. get the BIGGEST monitor you can buy. Save money in lots of other areas but get the BIGGEST monitor you can afford. Used is fine. 21 inch is a given. Bigger is even better..... LCD is not required at all. I have all 20 and 21" monitors and it pains me to even use a 17" anymore. I actually offer to bring my own to work if needed.

Tex

[csimon]

On that budget I would build myself a nice CAD performer that would laff at CFD's.

Athlon 64 4000+ 939 - $640 <personally I can't see buying anything but 939

Mushkin Hi Perf LII V2 Dual Pack pc-3200 (512 x 2) $223 x 2 (if compat) - $446 < I know it's only 2gb
Abit AN8 1k fsb - $149 <939 not teh dualie
3dlabs Wildcat Realizm 800 PCI-E x16 $2195 <dualie gpu
Samsung 213t lcd - $859
yeah I'd do a raptor for the OS but that's it and maybe raid large drives for storage and backup.

so you see where I'm going with this? ...dual monitor maybe but I don't see utilizing dual cpu's when you've got dual gpu's! :thumbsup:

Now newegg doesn't have the parhelia I like so the realizm can do for now.
I'll edit this later so take it with a grain of salt. I know you want a dualie but if I wanted hardcore CAD this is basically the route I'd take for now.

edit:\ oh yeah did I mention the rebate on amd/mushkin stuff? lol Yesterday the fx-55 was mislabled @ $750

[Flintstone]

I would just substitute a Tyan Thunder K8W with bios version 2.03 Beta for the Iwill board above. That is if he needs it NOW versus 6 months from now after the bugs are dead with the new nVidia chips.

Flint (proud owner of a ROCKIN' dually based on a K8W!)

[muddocktor]

Yeah, I looked for the Tyan board at the Egg, but they didn't have it in stock, so I used the Iwill. I just tried to put together a system from just 1 site. The Tyan would have been my first choice too.

And Tex, I just included the RAID Raptors to show what he could do and not necessarily be the way to go. I've never built a machine in this performance class and it looked to be a fun excercise. ;) If you dump the Raptors, you end up with a lot more money to buy a nice monitor or 2, since that vid card will do 2 monitors.

[mmonnin]

What would you replace the Raptors with? Does CAD not need that much Hard disk I/O?

[csimon]

What would you replace the Raptors with? Does CAD not need that much Hard disk I/O?
Not especially the paging should be minimal with enough ram.
like I said though ...raptors for the os and 7200/300gb wd's for the raid ...not that raid is at all necessary or that size hard disk just depends on how much data he wants to store and backup. Question is how much is enough? Only he can determine that I'm sure.
The biggest benefit will be in floating points.