jpishgar :
We're updating the Tom's Hardware BestConfigs and are opening the field to user recommendations! Post the best configuration you can put together for the following build category and our editorial team will pick 5 recommendations in each category to put to a public vote. The top-ranking build will go on to become one of Tom's Hardware's BestConfigs, and you'll get the credit for having put together a brilliant build with special notice in the feature article.
Post your entries to this thread for the category of High-End Workstation, stay within $4700 and be sure to list the following components-
Processor:
Motherboard:
RAM:
Graphics Card:
Hard Drive:
Case:
Power Supply:
DVD Burner:
Good luck, and may the best builds win!
I have a few:
1. Build #1: Budget general-purpose workstation
- Processor: 2x Opteron 4180
- Motherboard: MSI MS-91F7
- RAM: 4x Kingston KVR1333D3D4R9S/4G (4x4 GB reg ECC DDR3-1333)
- Graphics card: would largely depend on what you're doing with the machine. Since this is Tom's, I'd say a Radeon 5770 would be appropriate.
- Hard drive: your favorite 128 GB SSD as the OS drive, 4x2 TB WD Green in RAID10 as the data drives
- Case: almost anything ATX or bigger will work, but let's say the Antec Nine Hundred since I am familiar with it.
- Power supply: any decent 600-700 W unit
- DVD burner: pick any SATA DVD+/-R/RW unit you want to.
2. Build #2: More expensive general-purpose workstation
- Processors: 2x Xeon E5620
- Motherboard: Supermicro X8DAH+
- RAM: 6x Kingston KVR1333D3D4R9S/4G (6x4 GB reg ECC DDR3-1333, machine will run this at DDR3-1066)
- Graphics card: Radeon HD 5850 or 5870, since I am sure the editors will want to play games
- Hard drive: 128 GB SSD of your choice as the OS drive, 6x2 TB WD Green in RAID10 as the data drives
- Case: your favorite EATX case, such as the CM Stacker 8x0.
- PSU: A good 700-800 watt unit
- DVD burner: pick 'em, just as with the #1 machine.
3. Build #3: Highly multithreaded video encoding/compiling workstation
- Processors: 2x Opteron 6168
- Motherboard: TYAN S8230WGM4NR
- RAM: 8x Kingston KVR1333D3E9S/2GI (8x2 GB unbuffered ECC DDR3-1333)
- Graphics card: Radeon HD 5770 or 5830
- HDD: your choice of a 128 GB SSD as the OS drive, 8x2 TB WD Green in RAID10 or RAID50 (4x2) as the data drives
- Case: your favorite EATX-capable case, same as above
- PSU: a good 700-800 W unit, same as above
- DVD burner: pick 'em.
4. Build #4: The "bigger hammer" highly-multithreaded video encoding/compiling workstation
- Processors: 4x Opteron 6168
- Motherboard: Supermicro H8QG6-F
- RAM: 16x KVR1333D3E9S/2GI (16x2 GB unbuffered ECC DDR3-1333)
- Graphics card: Radeon HD 5770 or 5830
- HDD: your choice of a 128 GB SSD as the OS drive, 8x2 TB WD Green in RAID10 or RAID50 (4x2) as the data drives
- Case: Chenming ATX-801F, which is one of the only cases I've found that will fit this motherboard
- PSU: Seventeam ST-1200F
- DVD burner: pick 'em.
If I had the money, I'd probably be putting together something like the fourth build, but with Opteron 6128s instead of 6128s because you can buy a 4P 6128 system for what a 2P 6168 unit costs, assuming you keep the same total RAM capacity. Also, the 4P Supermicro H8QG6-F is a better board than the DP TYAN S8230. I'd reuse my GTS250 in my current desktop since my workstation uses are mostly video and compiling and don't need a professional OpenGL GPU, so the $80 GTS250 will do plenty well there. I'd also pick up a set of Koolance CPU-360s with the G34 bolts, a Laing D5, and either a single 9x120 mm radiator or two 4x120 mm radiators for cooling. G34 air-cooled heatsinks are all pretty noisy and the Chenming's 92 mm fans get fairly loud with just a dual-CPU setup running full-blast, let alone a quad-CPU setup.