Computer Component Advice

[goLfie]

Hey there!

 

I'm buying computer components for a new system of mine.

I'm trying to get a few expert opinions on this before I actually purchase anything.

 

What would you say is better? (better meaning, more reliable and faster performance)

AMD or Intel

and

NVIDIA or ATI

and

Seagate or Western Digital

 

Thanks!

[Steve Krause]

I think it's all a matter of personal preference....

 

 

Here's my 2 cents:

 

1) AMD Vs. INTEL

 

Whoever gives you the best deal at the time.

 

I have a mix of both INTEL and AMD. Both are great home boxes. The AMD boxes have always been less expensive however they have never failed me. Just be sure either one you choose has Virtualization Technology Built into the CPU. AMD calls it "AMD-V" and Intel Calls it "Intel VT".

 

2) NVidia VS. ATI

 

Personally, I like NVIDIA. I've had video driver issues with ATI in the past and I guess I'm just an old NVidia Old schooler.

 

3) Seagate Vs. Western Digital

 

Western Digital every time.

 

For year, Seagate was a corporate Server only drive but about 5 years ago they started making the lower cost sata and scsi drives for home systems. I started to buy them then and I've had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with them.

 

Western Digital on the other hand has an AMAZING warranty systems w/RMA's and they have always been ROCK solid. All my "Garage" systems 5+ years old are still running WD drives. Love em, that's all I buy.

 

Looking forward to hear what others think!

[Guest Animis]

Hey golfie, if you're looking for the beata bang for your buck go with AMD, personnaly I've never even used intel.

 

Also from my experience ATI tends to be slightly faster, but like mr.groove said their drivers have issues. Honestly though drivers have been an issue with Nvidia too and recently ATI has been doing a good job. Nvidia still has a nicer interface though.

 

I think both seagate and western digital make good Hd's but go with whatever has the best warranty/price.

[shockersh]

Intel all the way

ATI or NVidia. It makes no matter.

Western Digital for me. I've had the external Seagate drives and they are flaky.

[alexmvp]

Hey there!

 

I'm buying computer components for a new system of mine.

I'm trying to get a few expert opinions on this before I actually purchase anything.

 

What would you say is better? (better meaning, more reliable and faster performance)

AMD or Intel

and

NVIDIA or ATI

and

Seagate or Western Digital

 

Thanks!

 

Looking at the Poll to bad we don't have any EXPERTS

 

Umm... I buy either and all. Don't really care WHAT it is as long as it runs and it's cheaper than the box next to it. Personally I stopped building systems 3 years ago with DELL and HP started selling systems for less than I could build them. Sure... My case might not glow anymore but my games run fast, the systems are quiet and I'm never under the hood trying to fix something (plus my wife doesnt yell at me anymore because the computer is in 4 pieces in my office).

 

[goLfie]

okay so I was looking at processor's and AMD looks like it is definitely cheaper.

 

so AMD looks to have 2 virtualization enabled processors.

Opteron

also the

Phenom

am I missing one?

any advice on which is better? I was looking on newegg and there are a few good combo's for this that include an Asus motheboard. (I like ASUS the best when it comes to AMD boards) It looks like the Opteron is a Server cpu, does this mean I won't be able to run regular programs on it like a normal desktop cpu or?

 

Then I was checking out cards and the ati 4850 512mb was on sale for $130, was thinking about getting two of those and running crossfire.

[Steve Krause]

Calling a proc. a Server CPU is just marketing.

 

If both have the AMD-V enabled on them the next thing you look at is number of cores, speed, cache, bus speed etc... obviously the nicer the CPU the higher the cost.

 

I was looking on newegg and there are a few good combo's for this that include an Asus motheboard. (I like ASUS the best when it comes to AMD boards)

 

I like going with a combo. That way you know it's a good fit and you can usually save a few $$$ on them. You can't go wrong with an ASUS board. If you go with a cheaper system you could have issues with a "FLAKY" board. I bought a few ECS in times past and they were always buggy.

 

What are you going to do with the box? If it's going to by a Hypervisor box (Microsoft Hyper-V or ESX-I) dont spend to much money on the video card since it will be headless (no monitor) and stored under your desk or in the garage. DO spend some cash on RAM however and a few drives. You should go for AT LEAST 4 to 16 GIGS or ram is possible so make sure your Motherboard can take you up that high.

 

Also, don't skimp on drives. One of the biggest problem people get themselves into with a Virtual Server host is Drive IO. Be sure to get a big case for all those drives also.

[goLfie]

yeah, but even if it is a VM server, wouldn't it need a decent video card to run applications that are installed on any GUEST systems?

 

Thanks for the tip, that's a funny way to market it but it makes sense.

[Austin]

if you're going AMD and you need virtualization

the best combo looks like

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX920XCGIBOX

Mboard - GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3HP AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.155235

 

Pick up a Western Digital, seagate is getting a really bad wrap lately because their drives keep failing or are dead on arrival. the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s is good, 64.99 + Free Shipping

 

As far as the Video cards go, the

SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported

$144.99

($129.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate)

Free Shipping

 

 

either get that or a 9800gtx+, but right now the

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

is being advertised as a regular 9800 but it's really a 9800+ in the box and on the picture, read the reviews for confirmation.

$159.99

($149.99 after $10.00 Mail-InRebate)

and it comes with COD: World at War. which if you don't like you could probably sell on ebay or craigslist for $20-$30. kinda like your own version of a rebate.

both cards will work great and if you ever need to upgrade you can just buy another and SLI/Crossfire them

 

the 4850 has been having a lot of sales lately so if you have a good time frame you may want to wait and see if it drops even more.

 

i gotta do a little more research on intel, but I prefer them over AMD because they tend to have better chipsets. I'll post what I find with virtualization enabled Intel combos.

[shockersh]

yeah, but even if it is a VM server, wouldn't it need a decent video card to run applications that are installed on any GUEST systems?

 

Thanks for the tip, that's a funny way to market it but it makes sense.

 

no dude. just get a motherboard with a built in video. Dont waste money on a vid card for a virtual host. no need. it's not like your going to be playing games on the virtual boxes heheh. Plus, that's not how it works. The video card on the vm's will be virtual. the grafx will be only as good as the machine you are connecting into it with.

 

In other words:

 

Let's say you create a Vista Virtual box and you connect into it with a Pimp daddy Notebook. If the Pimp Daddy notebook is running Vista with Aero theme enabled, you can configure the Vista VM to run with Aero (I'm doing that right now as I type this). My home notebook (dont have a desktop) is a pimped out Dell running Vista w/Aero. My home "Server" is a pimped out Dell Desktop - 2 procs with 2 cores each. Anyway, the Video card is lame but that don't matter. It's running server 2008 standard with Hyper-V and vista running on it give me the Aero theme over Remote Desktop. It's sweet.

 

Make sense?

[goLfie]

ah okay, so I guess I should build just a VM server and stick it in the closet, and then build another personal pc for myself rather than trying to use 1 for both purposes.

okie dokie, thanks shocker

 

 

Dexter, thanks for the info on the motherboard and cpu. Looks like that one will do up to 16gigs of ram. I was reading alot of hardware sites and everyone really sounds like "intel chipsets are better" like you were saying.

 

What is a chipset anyway? Is that just like the onboard sound/video and stuff?

[Guest Animis]

you're probably in need of ram, there is some on sale @ zipzoomfly. It is a mail-in-rebate though.

 

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... e=10006082

 

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2-800 Memory Kit for $50 - $30 Rebate = $20 free shipping

[alexmvp]

ah okay, so I guess I should build just a VM server and stick it in the closet, and then build another personal pc for myself rather than trying to use 1 for both purposes.

okie dokie, thanks shocker

 

 

Dexter, thanks for the info on the motherboard and cpu. Looks like that one will do up to 16gigs of ram. I was reading alot of hardware sites and everyone really sounds like "intel chipsets are better" like you were saying.

 

What is a chipset anyway? Is that just like the onboard sound/video and stuff?

 

Exactly. You don't want to be playing WOW on a virtual server host :)

 

If you crash your box, you lose 5 servers.... and that's never good

 

Just grab a free Hyper-Visor and shove it in the closet.

 

 

ChipSet = yeah, just the components on the Motherboard or Card in general. It's the electrical components that make up the card/motherboard. Electronics....

[Steve Krause]

Hey folks - Just an FYI - I saw quite a few questions here about "Building a Virtual Server Host" so I put some thoughts down on the main site - http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microso ... st-server/.

 

just an FYI

[goLfie]

Wow thanks for all the help guys, I think I got it down now. Going to run it with the mobo combo that dexter reccomended. Then pick up a few more small 7500+ rpm drives and another 4 gigs of ram and I'm set. Mrgroove thankyou for the in depth article!

[alexmvp]

sweet!