HELP 4 SELF-BUILD

[fubot]

I need help with a new build. It is time I replace my old Dell and decided to go with a real machine. After reading these postings, I found some good direction. I only have the HD's (WD 740 Raptor 74GB x2) purchased so far. I need help selecting MOBO, RAM, Vid, and CPU.

I have some $$ to spend on this one but I am frustrated about which CPU/Mobo to get.

I need to decide first to go with dual Xeon (very costly) or P4 550/560. Reasoning for Xeon is huge multitasking (22+ windows) required, CPU entensive encryprion, and multiple (simultaneous) RAR/PAR oper's. No real gaming required but would like to keep open as an option. So do I go with ASUS overclocking board and single P4 Prescott 550/560 or spend the $$ and get dual Xeon 3.2/800/1MB with Supermicro or another recommended affordable good Xeon board with built-in SATA contr?

Video maybe Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB for the price point?

Memory I have not researched yet as I would like to solidify me MOBO/CPU purchase first. So please recommend mem along with CPU/MOBO combo.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dd_viper]

U could try going with an A64 system.

go with a a64 board (nforce 4 coming soon!) and a 3000+ or a 3200+ A64. if u got the cash (400) go with a pci-e 6800GT or if u have a little less (200) go with a pci-e 6600GT. and if u got a lot of money for RAM go with the crucial ballistix PC-3200, (~130 each). all this is in USD and cant answer ur question about lowew priced ram, for i am not too familiar with it.

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Lisa: When u put ur shirt on backwards
Homer: (crying) o ya, (crying) the tag chafed my skin (crying)

 

[RichPLS]

Intel is best for Multi-tasking.

You could go with a Prescott 3200 for around $200 to save cash now, and have upgrade ability to 3800 when prices drop.
Gigabyte makes a good 925 chipset board for around $190, and corsair makes some excellent 667mhz DDR2 memory.

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[HardWareBoss]

I would not buy the Scotty. You have the money buy the Dual Xeons. Tom's had nice article on Dual Xeon boards. SuperMicro came out tops.

 

[RichPLS]

True, I was just hung up on the cost, i guess.
Dual Zeons at 3GHZ would outperform a P4 3800 in certain apps multi-tasking.

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[RichPLS]

I wish there were more Xeon options available w/o onboard graphics.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
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[fubot]

I appreciate the feedback. However, I am still torn. If you look at my needs (no gaming for now) I need a serious workhorse for business apps and mutli-task rar/compression/encrypition functions.

I am really asking for a prefessional opinion from someone "in the know" on Xeon vs. Prescott re my needs specifically. I am not looking to build a terror machine, just a powerfull workstation that lets me multitask veeeeery quickly.

The corsair recommendation seems like it has some meat to it after some follow up in other posts. I am leaning towards the dual 3.0 xeon with supermicro board and corsair 1 X 1MB. Any further thoughts/recommendations?

 

[HardWareBoss]

Go with the Dual Xeons. Now if you have big $$$$$ SuperMicro had {have not looked in awhile] Quad Xeon Mobo.

 

[fubot]

I went ahead and purchased a Prescott 3.4 (550) yesterday. The dual Xeon seemed too $$ after adding mobo and dual chips. Thanks again for your suggestions.

Now , I need a good recommendation on a great board and cooler. Looking at THG recommendation of the ASUS OC boards. Please post thoughts. Looking to purchase Friday (after Thanksgiving). Next, of course, is the memory (1-1GB module)and the Video card (PCI Express?)purchases - so please again any recommendations?