[kelly]

I'm considering building a new box. This one will be running 24/7 under heavy load and needs to be very stable and quiet.

I've been an AMD supporter for years and tend toward the underdog, especially when they're cheaper... but in this case, stability is everything and the Intel isn't much more expensive for what should be equal performance.

So... what have you guys heard?

Also, can anyone direct me to any good motherboard and/or CPU reviews other than Tom's Hardware?

 

[penvzila]

Well, I am an AMD fan too, but right now Intel has got the power, the best mobos, + their excellent quality. Unless some great AMD comes out, my next system will be Intel.

 

[wallijonn]

http://www.quietpc.com/uk/products.php
http://www.anandtech.com/
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/
http://www.arstechnica.com/
http://www.motherboards.org/
http://www.8dimensional.com/mainboard-reviews/
http://www.mbreview.com/
http://www.sysopt.com/userreviews/ (one of my favourites)
http://www.overclockers.com/topiclist/index19.asp (one of the best)
http://active-hardware.com/english/r.../mainboard.htm
http://www.extremetech.com/category2...09KTX1K0100361
http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/hard11.htm
http://motherboards.com/catalog/reviews.php

http://www.athlonmb.com/

http://www.linuxhardware.org/search.pl?topic=12

Just make sure that whatever motherboard you buy can support ECC Memory. I personally do not like built in Raid Controllers, especially if they are NOT Adaptec. So what mobo can do dual procs & has 8 memory slots (4 per proc)? You can probably find a used SUN cheap... Remember, if you do the math, your bottleneck will be the NIC transfer rate.

 

[PodMan]

You can try www.anandtech.com (cpu/motherboard), or www.aceshardware.com (cpu) for reviews.

Intel also has the Prescott (Pentium 5?) due out at the end of this year/early next year. AMD has their Athlon 64.

I own an AMD system right now but if I were to buy a new system today, i would probably pick an intel cpu.

 

[AIM9x]

go intel.... i've seen too many amds get thrown in the trash. They can't beat the P4 performance-wise now, and the mobos are horrible. STICK WITH THE KING BABY! for now, all i can say is buy intel. They're the one with their heads in the game.

 

[bootman]

2.4 P4 with a 800hz bus.
Pick any MB with the intel 865 chipset.
Check out prices at www.newegg.com.
are you a gamer?
If not you can get a 865 board with builtin graphics for about $110.
Asus makes good solid boards.

Leave the 64 bit pcs for the hardcore compilers.
"normal" 64bit optimized apps won't be out for awhile.

 

[bootman]

Want a real quiet PC?

SB61G2

It uses a heatpump instead of a fan to cool the cpu for a virtually silent pc.
It has the 865 chipset with video.
(you can always upgrade later)

A 2.4 P4 w/800mhz bus runs about $170 shipped.
The SB61G2 is about $300 shipped.
Bring over your harddrive, cdrom/dvd and mem (if ddr-ram) and you will have a nice upgrade for under $500.

 

[blip]

Hmmm... I was going to post some links... but I think that Walli covered most everything I was going to post and more! Impressively useful posting as always.

Just curious... what are you using this system for? I assume some sort of server duties... but what specifically?

 

[bootman]

If you are going to run a server nix the above suggestions.
What kind of heavy loads are we talking here?
File server, application server, web server?

An intel chipset 875 with builtin gige takes care of the network bottleneck.
Your harddrives will always be your slowest link.
But a full scsi raid system kind of throws quiet out the window.

 

[kelly]

This will be for an HTPC. The performance hit will be the CPU. At first, the PC will be running deinterlacing and video filtering from standard resolution sources and will be left on 24/7. It will also be used to play back DVDs at first with software and maybe via hardware decompression via the X-Card/PDI later (depending on how much I like the software players).

Though I want this PC to be very quiet, I'd like to stick with a full sized case so that I have room to grow. It will eventually be used for HD stuff and may use additional audio input/output boards depending on what becomes available.

File serving will ultimately be done from a different box running linux. The HTPC will be running Windows.

I saw the specials on Newegg when I ordered the soundcard--I was very tempted by the P4P800 Deluxe and 2.4G Northwood.

 

[BoyElroy]

Kelly,

I just got myself an Abit IC7-G Max2 875p motherboard w/ a P4C 2.6 GHz chip. This combo seems to be a pretty good compromise but I've actually been rec. the Asus P4P800 Deluxe to others because of its generally better perf. across the board and because its an Asus! The one drawback of the Asus, though, is its 3com LAN controller chip which takes a 30% hit in speed compared to the native Intel chipset. This shouldn't be a big deal to most people but I move a lot of data back and forth between my home PC and my notebook and I thought that the Abit would be a better fit due to its faster LAN speeds.

Newegg seems to have a lot of the recent Malay stepping P2.4Cs which are pretty amazing chips so your Asus/2.4C combo would be a v. nice setup.

 

[bootman]

Ok.

Then the asus and 2.4C will be your best price vs performance.
Just make sure to get 2 sticks of ram to take advantage of the
dual ddr capabilities of the motherboard.

Chech out http://www.silentpcreview.com/ for good tips on a quiet pc.

 

[andrzejpw]

kelly: go with either the 865 or 875 for your motherboard. Personally, I'd go for the 875, but for htpc duties, your cpu and hard drives are of paramount importance, so if you want, go with the 865. Don't however skimp on the hard drives.

 

[kelly]

The LAN speed thing is odd. Was this reported by multiple sources?

I'm not stuck on Asus but I've been happy with their boards in the past.

 

[kelly]

I'm reading a lot of stuff but I'm impatient, so here are some questions:

875 vs 865 is mostly this "PAT" technology? Is it worth the $55 price difference?

On Newegg, I see some Intel chips listed as 2.4CGhz and some as 2.4Ghz. What does this differentiation mean?