Building new computer, looking for insights on upgradeability, performance and price
 

Hello!
I'm a broke software development student, and I'm building a box to replace my desktop, which is going to replace my old Duron 900 Slackware server. The server is used for backups, CVS of my source code, and is my domain PDC. It just isn't cutting it any more. So, I have an intel box as my desktop currently, which is more than powerful enough to replace the Slackware server.

Since I am a broke college student, I have to put together this new box as I get cash, and it would be nice to have a future upgrade path. I'll probably end up running Slackware 11 on it, with Beryl/compbiz/To Be Announced. I'm also going to have to VMWare my current XP install (I may not like windows, but the rest of the world forces me to, unfortunately).

I would like to do something along these lines:

• AMD mobo/CPU - socket 939 would be nice since DDR is dirt cheap compared to DDR2 and the X2 CPUs just dropped in price again...but I don't know how much longer I can get Socket939 CPUs. Going to AM2 would mean going to DDR2 RAM, although a better upgrade path. Dual cores highly preferred.
• Onboard RAID would be nice, Perpendicular SATA drives are cheap (RAID 5 would be ideal)
• My primary concern is "best fit" with GNU/Linux (the GNU for you purists :cool:) - I've found that some setups CPU/Mobo./RAM/Gfx. seem to play nicer than others
• Speed for number crunching preferred over sheer data throughput (another reason for DDR over DDR2 - tighter timings)
• Dual NICs would be killer, but not at extra cost

So, I figured that I'd solicit thoughts from you fine people. What would my best options be, and do my guide lines for a system seem rational, or is there an entirely different path I should be looking at taking? Is there a preferred chipset for performance?

Thank you very much for your insights and time!

If you're on a budget, consider Socket 754 as well as Socket 939. Last I heard, Socket 754 is actually going to outlive 939, as AMD keeps it as their "budget" line while Socket 939 is phased out entirely in favor of AM2. I've put together four Debian Etch machines around the ECS NForce3-A board, which is really cheap at Fry's Outpost.

For hard drive performance, I don't think RAID5 is a good idea. RAID5 can be useful if you want tons of space, but for best performance two Raptors in RAID0 are going to outperform a bunch of perpendicular drives in RAID5.

Personally, I was very underwhelmed at the performance boost of even RAID0. I went back to plain old single drive partitions. On a limited budget, I think it's best to just get a single fast drive than mess around with multiple drives in a RAID. A single drive will be cooler and more reliable, also.

Socket 939 is, obviously, the older generation produced by AMD. This is from AMD's website, "As a customer-centric company, we plan to support the socket 939-pin package parts as long as customer demand warrants it." You'll have to decide what that means.


The difference in price between DDR and DDR2 isn't that great and will only get closer. If you shop around, you can get a deal. NewEgg has 1GB of Kingston PC 4200 (DDR2) for $54 and 1GB of Kingston PC2700 (DDR) for $83 right now.

I would go with an AM2 processor. But if you do, choose one with an EVEN clock multiplier. Read my post in this thread http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...02#post2703802.

My :twocents:

IsaacKuo - Yeah, very good points on the RAID issue. I think I may have gotten shiny object syndrom in my zeal for performance. I'm surprised, however, that you were dissapointed by RAID 0, were you using NCQ drives? I was under the impression that you could expect around a 75% increase in the real world by using RAID 0. Was it an issue of a saturated bus that limited the performance, or it just didn't seem up to par, that made you go back to a single drive. I would love to get 10K RPM Raptors, but I just cannot justify the price on my budget :(.

Arow - Thanks, bro. Great insight! I didn't even know that DDR3 was on the radar, yet! I think you've persuaded me to AM2 (along with IsaacKuo) instead of 939. I'm surprised AMD is already talking AM3; AM2 is very young, still. I read your post on the multiplier; thanks, I hadn't even thought about the issue at all. Have you any advice or experience with AM2 motherboards/chipsets? I guess the memory controller being the in the CPU effectively eliminates the need for a powerful north bridge, is this an issue anymore?

Thanks, once again for your insights!

Oh, RAID0 was much faster going by benchmark numbers...but the actual performance boost during actual use wasn't very noticeable. Almost everything I do is apparently more CPU limited than drive speed limited. In fact, I now do almost everything on a diskless workstation with a measly 100mbps LAN connection. This gives roughly half the disc access performance of a local drive, and yet it's still responsive enough for me.

Now, anything requiring fast disk speed still gets run on the file server, via ssh. But this is mostly batch jobs where I don't really care whether it takes two minutes or three.

Also, where are you looking? Tigerdirect.com and Newegg.com offer good hardware and good deals on CPU and Motherboards combos. Just my :twocents:

Oh, and thank God you don't have to pay for windows! ;-)

IsaacKuo - Ahh, IC. Thanks for the insight!

kalabanta - I've been mostly looking on newegg and zipzoomfly; I've always felt that tigerdirect is just a bit shady. There's something about them that just rubs me the wrong way. The thing is, the combo deals always seem to be items that they just want to clear out. I've been looking at the combos - but usually one of the components are not too appetizing. Usually, on a combo deal, I would only save $20, and not have the choice to pick each component. Perhaps I should stop being so picky :), but the day after I bought, they'd have the combo that I've been waiting for! :D

Have you looked at pcclub.com? When I lived in LA, they had a store that was close by, so I did most of my PC shopping there.

Great link, thanks!