About to pull the trigger on a workstation build

[wct097]

Meh. Now I'm second guessing my need for a new PC.... ugh.

Two things are certain.
1. My current dual monitor desktop is not up to the task.
2. My current laptop is great, but coding for hours on a laptop sucks.

I wish the Apple thunderbolt displays weren't so expensive. A pair of those to get me where I need to be with my laptop for development work is more than the above mentioned computer.

 

[Justin]

Meh. Now I'm second guessing my need for a new PC.... ugh.

Two things are certain.
1. My current dual monitor desktop is not up to the task.
2. My current laptop is great, but coding for hours on a laptop sucks.

I wish the Apple thunderbolt displays weren't so expensive. A pair of those to get me where I need to be with my laptop for development work is more than the above mentioned computer.

If one of these would work

Amazon.com: Mini Displayport To Displayport Splitter Male To 2 X Female 1FT: Electronics

then all you'd need is two monitors that have a Displayport input on them.

 

[wct097]

If one of these would work

Amazon.com: Mini Displayport To Displayport Splitter Male To 2 X Female 1FT: Electronics

then all you'd need is two monitors that have a Displayport input on them.

I don't think that allows you to extend the desktop... just mirror it.

 

[whatttup_G]

If you're looking for performance these days, HDD isn't even part of the equation. SSD all the way. You could stick a SSD in that 2005 AMD and be faster than most current gen machines running HDDs.

That'd true.. SSD for the masses was just a threat in 05, I suppose I should investigate pricing... What does 500Gb or a terabyte go for in those?

 

[Justin]

That'd true.. SSD for the masses was just a threat in 05, I suppose I should investigate pricing... What does 500Gb or a terabyte go for in those?

Still $2+ per GB...

 

[themonk]

My HP demo unit is not performing as well as a nearly identical Dell.

 

[wct097]

My HP demo unit is not performing as well as a nearly identical Dell.

We recently deployed some HP laptops.... they were absolute garbage. BSOD sitting on my desk doing nothing about 3x a day.

 

[themonk]

The only problem we had wit the HP workstations deployed earlier this year had to do with the vendor. Their laptops aren't stellar though.

 

[wct097]

Placed the order. Went with the 600w PS due to the comments about how quiet it is and the 'flat' power cables. Will take/post pics as I get it built. Nothing fancy, no LEDs or any of that shit. Just simply. No DVD or front panel bays either. Switching to using my Apple Macbook Air Superdrive (USB DVD burner) for the rare occasion when I need to use a DVD.

 

[whatttup_G]

Still $2+ per GB...

Hmm..still a bit spendy.

 

[wct097]

Hmm..still a bit spendy.

I was really hoping the prices would come down a bit. That said, for this workstation, the 120gb will be more than enough for what I need to do. I'm getting by with less than half that on my laptop's Windows 7 partition. It's tight, but workable. This will give me a bit of breathing room.

My intention is to add a few TB of HDD space later, but I wanted to keep the bill in the $1500 range for now. My case has room for (6) 3.5" drives in addition to the SSD, plus I could fit another 4 into the 'external' bays if needed. If you're ok sacrificing speed, you could have 12tb of drive space for a few hundred dollars. I'll probably spring for a few 7200rpm 2tb drives to run in either RAID 5 or RAID 1. I'm fairly sure that I can't pull of RAID 5 with SATA III (4 SATA III ports on two controllers), but I could probably do it with the SATA II ports.

 

[Chite5e]

Build this:

 

[wct097]

Build this:

Samsung SSD Awesomeness - YouTube

Yea, that's only like $10-12k worth of drives....

 

[themonk]

One nice thing about buying a computer versus building it... I know that if the motherboard craps out on me, I can buy an exact replacement for it and as long as it's under warranty, I will get the exact part brand new rather than having to "make do" with a substitute or scrounge e-Bay for something that may work.

I may build an HTPC one of these days (but I also may abandon the idea totally). If I do, it will be something I build myself. But for workstations, I'm still leaning on buying. Hell, I found the mainboard bad on my neighbor's HP. Still under warranty, onsite too. I didn't even have to talk to anybody. I emailed them with the pertinent data and diagnostic efforts. They emailed me back saying they agreed the motherboard was the problem and shipped one out. A tech will come to install it this week.

 

[wct097]

I would not build a workstation for a 'work' PC, but for personal 'work', I'd prefer rolling my own.

This mobo has a 5 year warranty.

 

[themonk]

I would not build a workstation for a 'work' PC, but for personal 'work', I'd prefer rolling my own.

This mobo has a 5 year warranty.

If that motherboard fails in 4 years, you won't get an exact board to replace it. You'll get a then current equivalent which basically means you'll be building a new computer.

Having been a PC repair guy for years, I decided it's too much of a PITA and I am extremely hesitant to roll my own. HTPC is only case I can think of where I might.

 

[Justin]

Build this:

Samsung SSD Awesomeness - YouTube

Meh. You can buy a single PCI-e SSD now that can beat that.

 

[wct097]

If that motherboard fails in 4 years, you won't get an exact board to replace it. You'll get a then current equivalent which basically means you'll be building a new computer.

Having been a PC repair guy for years, I decided it's too much of a PITA and I am extremely hesitant to roll my own. HTPC is only case I can think of where I might.

I don't know how they could justify replacing a board with a different board that didn't support the same RAM/CPU. The way Intel works these days, every chip has a different socket. Socket 1155 probably won't be in use 5 years, so I'd expect them to replace it with a 1155 board at minimum.

Not a big deal either way. I'd probably be replacing it in 5 years anyway.

 

[themonk]

Once they've sold out their inventory.... What are they going to supply you with? Computers aren't like care and have a far shorter manufacturing life. Under a year from what I've seen. If you are lucky they will have a dependent model that is totally compatible. But don't plan on it.

 

[wct097]

Once they've sold out their inventory.... What are they going to supply you with? Computers aren't like care and have a far shorter manufacturing life. Under a year from what I've seen. If you are lucky they will have a dependent model that is totally compatible. But don't plan on it.

Warranty means that they're on the hook for it one way or the other. I'm not really concerned with it though.... my 5 year old PC now is completely out of warranty and I'd scrap it if something expensive broke.