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I'm ready to start buying hardware for my new workstation. I'm really behind on the heavy metal stuff, since my current computer based on P4 2.4Ghz is 5 years old, and I haven't been up to date as far as what's going in the hardware world.
I need a machine for web development, graphics design, coding and some day-to-day tasks. No gaming.
After a few days of research here is what I have on my scrap paper:
$400 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
$250 - ASUS P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
$235 - Patriot eXtreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC24G6400ELK
OR
$300 (150*2) 4Gb - OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N10662GK
$205 - Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
(the only reason I chose this is 10K RPM and Average Latency: 2.99ms, Average Seek Time: 4.6ms, Average Write Time: 5.2ms.. . otherwise I'm not sure if it's worth the money)
$150 - XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
$116 - Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$60 - Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CUL, TUV, FCC, and CB certification
$280 - BenQ FP222WH Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen HDMI LCD Monitor
OR $320 - SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms
I have BenQ FP91G+ Black 19" 8ms DVI LCD MonitorBanQ F91P and I think it is the best of that size. I haven't seen Dells thought, but I saw Samsung 24" in Costco and didn't like it much, but may be it just needs to be tuned up a bit.
I haven't been working with hardware for a while now, would appreciate any pointers on what I may need, or what's not worth the money. I'm trying to put together something that wouldn't deprecate too fast. The ASUS P5K3 mobo will allow me to upgrade my memory to DDR3-1333 in the future (right now it's crazy expensive), plus any Quad Core CPUs will go into it as well. Not sure about the video card (newegg has good reviews, but my current pc has a buil-in one into the mobo... so I guess this one should be enough for me).
Also, I don't know if I need any special tools to put this thing together... thermal paste for the CPU (or it comes with it), do I need to get a ~$50 heatsink as well? The mobo comes with the heatpipes, but I have no clue if that's enough.
Thanks!
You didn't supply details, but a 2.4gHz Pentium IV should be more than adequate for most web development work.
However, hard disks have become faster so replacing that may be a benefit. If you install a new hard disk as the primary, reinstall windows keeping the old drive as a slave, all your documents will accessible and you'll have a highly capable machine.
If you are not sure about heat-sinks, thermal paste and tools, etc. stay away from assembling your own computer - in any case, it's more expensive than buying off the shelf.
Kaled.
Any of the monster heatsinks that use 120mm fans should do a good job for you, while lowering noise. (The bigger the fan, the less the noise.) While I doubt thermal grease is a problem, there are premium brands that claim to work much better, and it's such a small expense for a small tube of the stuff that I always use the good stuff. (I use Arctic Silver 5).
The heat pipes on the motherboard are for cooling the support chips - not the CPU. The heat pipes serve to move the heat to locations on the motherboard where larger heatsinks can be placed. (i.e. the support chips themselves have insufficient space around them for directly placing heatsinks.) Or, they're there solely to impress the buyer - take your pick. Take care that they don't get in the way of the CPU heatsink! If they do, you may want to choose another motherboard.
I think it would be useful to determine just WHAT seems slow (you haven't been specific) and see if there is some other problem than raw CPU speed. As somebody else has mentioned, it's quite possible the problem lies elsewhere.
Multiple cores DO improve Windows responsiveness considerably.
Good luck picking something that won't depreciate fast! Best way to do that is to buy on the knee of the pricing curve. You can figure this out intuitively, or you may be able to find some price charts for key components, or just plot the prices yourself. Typical pricing curves on computer components have a "hockey stick" form as performance increases - nearly flat, then an upward bend to the curve, then nearly vertical. You want to buy where the curve bends.
BTW, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 just dropped in price today - NewEgg sells it for $300 and mwave for $273. Is this the knee of the pricing curve you were talking about jtara?
