Time to replace my desktop.

msteinhilber

Finally switching from Core2 technology to i7. The ideal goal here is to be able to replace my workstation and eliminate one of my VM boxes and the file server I use for all of my raw HD video and photo's while offsetting the cost of this by stripping down the VM box and fileserver to a typical desktop config and selling them to co-workers who have been pestering me for a computer.

Should be able to overclock this nicely and have enough life for a couple years again. Swapping the GTX 260, PSU, drives, and case from my existing rig to this one. Once I move my old parts, I think I'm going to order a couple 147GB 15k RPM SAS drives - that should speed things up fairly nice

Newegg.com - ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Newegg.com - Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Case Fan - Case Fans

Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - SANS DIGITAL TR8M-B 8 Bay SATA to eSATA (Port Multiplier) JBOD Enclosure - Server RAID Systems

I wasn't planning on the SATA enclosure at first, but Newegg had a pretty slick $80 off promotion so I figured what the heck. Second fan is for the cpu cooler for a push/pull configuration. When it's not being used for training on a bunch of VM's it might see a little bit of gaming but otherwise some HD video editing or Photoshop. Thoughts? I have until tomorrow mid morning to make changes, all of my research shows it should be a fairly solid setup with good OC ability but I haven't followed the i7 very much and only began my research pretty hard the past couple of days.

mrmcmint

erm, i dont think you will need to overclock that in a hurry!!! its a beast!

I did the same sort of custom build about a year and a half ago.

asus crosshair mobo
quad core amd phenom 9750
4gb ocz titanium pc2-6400 ram 800
pny nVidia 9600gt graphics
3 x 750gb sataII + 1 x 500gb sata II
ocz gamextreme 600w psu
antec nine hundred case
vista ultimate x64 retail

It runs as many vm's simultaneously as i need it to and it shows no sign of slowing down, and yours will be much much quicker than mine!

I have read excellent things about the i7 - no fsb! direct mem access.

I'm not jealous or anything though................. promise.................

mrmcmint

just had a closer look at the motherboard - how many pci express slots????

anyway...

if the budget allows, go for 2 raptor drives and configure them as raid 0

well worth it - twice the disk throughput!

Tyrant1919

When 7 comes out I'll buy another computer probably. Good build for you I say. At least you're not beeing stupid and buying a $1300 processor like I did three years ago.

Lee H

Why dont you try this mobo instead, it plays solotaire with total ease


Biostar P4M900-M7 FE Socket 775 Motherboard - Aria Technology


lol

msteinhilber

mrmcmint wrote: »

just had a closer look at the motherboard - how many pci express slots????

anyway...

if the budget allows, go for 2 raptor drives and configure them as raid 0

well worth it - twice the disk throughput!

6 PCI-E slots, I doubt I'll ever use more than 3 maybe 4 but the main attraction to this board was a basic SAS controller built in. I didn't order any drives with it, but in a month or two once I sell my old stuff I plan to pickup two 147GB 15k RPM SAS drives - they are only $10 more than the 150gb so I'd get the benefits of a 15k rpm spindle speed as well as the SAS command set vs SATA.

I came VERY close to picking up a dual LGA1366 socket workstation board and a couple of Xeon E5520's. But I couldn't justify it since unless I went with a huge server board and as a result a larger case - I would have only been able to (inexpensively) put up to 12GB in, and with all of those core's available 12GB wouldn't make much sense since I would run out of RAM before CPU.

mrmcmint

2 x 15k sas drives.....

thats pretty much my dream system.

Funny this really, i have been approached by an architect in work today who has been told to spec himself a pc up, and he came to me for advice....... i think i could have some fun with this one

jibbajabba

mrmcmint wrote: »

2 x 15k sas drives.....

You gotta love SAS ... Got 4x15k.6 146GB in Raid 10 for the System and 4x 1TB ES.2 SAS for storage (even though it is SAS - it is "just" 7200 rpm) in my home PC (using an Adaptec 5805).

I know it is overkill, but heh, we work closely together with Seagate so you get different "discounts"

The cool thing with a PC with 8 SAS drives : No thief easily rolls that one out of the room

dynamik

msteinhilber wrote: »

I would have only been able to (inexpensively) put up to 12GB in, and with all of those core's available 12GB wouldn't make much sense since I would run out of RAM before CPU.

Uh, I have 16gb in my system with a quad-core. You can get plenty of things loaded up into memory that just sit there, so I wouldn't shy away from that.

Jordus

I just set up a box with 16 450GB SAS 15k rpm drives yesterday....

....its called an Equallogic PS6000.

royal

I just built the following for my home desktop:

Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1287-AR GeForce GTX 285 SSC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - Internal Hard Drives

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme-1366 RT CPU Heatsink (Socket LGA 1366) - FrozenCPU.com

Nexus 120 mm Quiet Computer Fan

bertieb

mrmcmint wrote: »

Funny this really, i have been approached by an architect in work today who has been told to spec himself a pc up, and he came to me for advice....... i think i could have some fun with this one

I found an old Pentium 60 (the one with the floating point division bug) in my garage just last night, you are welcome to have this as part of the spec