<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 11:37 AM, Michael Mol <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mikemol@gmail.com">mikemol@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
So I'm speccing out a Linux system, and I thought I'd share the<br>
components I'm looking at right now, and see what the rest of you<br>
folks may have been looking at lately. My focus for this box is to<br>
have an AFFORDABLE machine that performs better than my current<br>
Pentium 4 desktop with 1GB of RAM, yet has room to cheaply upgrade in<br>
the future. As such, I looked at Newegg components that were<br>
highly-rated, but were also fairly cheap. I also stuck with an AMD<br>
platform because AMD platforms tend to be cheaper right now. (And I<br>
like AMD.) I'm not going for the fastest computer, just something I<br>
can buy on a budget.<br>
<br>
OCZ Platinum 4GB DDR2 1066 RAM kit - I wanted 4GB of RAM. I'll be<br>
running 64-bit Linux, and I wanted as much RAM as I could afford to<br>
drop in. I wanted DDR2 1066 because it'll be easier to get my hands on<br>
in the future than, say, DDR2 800. (I've already run into this problem<br>
before when seeking to upgrade the RAM on older systems...)<br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298</a></blockquote><div><br>2 gig is plenty I think. I'm running 1066 as well but the mobo I got has an<br>
North Bridge
AMD 770 chipset (1st 1066 support) and it only supports 1066<br>in one channel set. I don't believe the the AMD 780G has this problem but...<br><br>The other thing is, depending on the bios, you might have to manually configure<br>
the dual channel feature & the memory timings. The chips report themselves as<br>the JEDEC standard which tops at 533 or 800mhz. Some new bios's have programs<br>that will test the memory performance for users who don't know how to set the timings.<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
<br>
AMD Phenom 8450 - I would have gone with a dual-core processor, but I<br>
wanted DDR2 1066, DDR2 1066 requires socket AM2+, and there weren't<br>
any dual-core socket AM2+ CPUs listed.<br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103254" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103254</a></blockquote><div><br>I have this proc running a server in an ASUS M3A board w 2gig mem.<br>
You will have to go out of your way to overload the CPU.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
<br>
Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB - I'm only going with one of these<br>
until someone comes out with an 8GB SLC solid-state disk. I don't<br>
want or need a large drive for my / mount point; Ubuntu takes less<br>
than 5GB on my desktop machine. In the mean time, this drive is cheap<br>
and highly-rated.<br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106</a></blockquote><div><br>I preference Seagate products.<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
<br>
Rosewill 500W PSU - I have no intention of using fancy video cards, so<br>
even 500W is overkill for this computer; They recommend 550W if you're<br>
running an SLI configuration, which means I could probably throw in a<br>
single high-end video card if I ever got tired of the onboard video.<br>
(Such as if I want to go dual-screen.)<br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182009" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182009</a></blockquote><div><br>Look for Power Factor Correction (PFC) to save energy as well. <br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
<br>
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA780G motherboard - Similarly-specced boards cost<br>
twice as much, and the onboard video is more than powerful enough for<br>
my needs.<br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138105" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138105</a></blockquote><div><br>Alot of the AMD780 mobos designs can't handle anything over the 90W Phenoms.<br>
If U plan a proc upgrade you need to look for one that specs it can handle the 125W<br>or 140W phemons. ASUS has upgraded some M3A designs for this. To bad I have the old design. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
<br>
There are a few components you'll notice are missing, like case,<br>
monitor, etc. I'm reusing components I already have around the house<br>
for these roles, so I don't have to buy new ones.<br>
<br>
The final price for the listed components? $375.96<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
--<br>
:wq<br>
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