7 replies to this topic

[xXDeltaXx]

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Spec Me! Questionnaire
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1) What's your budget and in which Currency?
Not sure on budget (as cheap as possible), the good old GBP (£)

2) When are you going to buy your PC?
Within a year - probably within 6 months

3) What is your computer type?
c. Workstation

4) What's the main purpose of the PC?
We are getting a new test rig at work (hopefully) - it needs to be able to run as an independant system and data log from some not too demanding software. Possibly a Eurotherm based setup or a more advanced SCADA & Specview setup.
If we can make this rig run independant from a PC, we can get one on a different budget. If we cannot, I want a really cheap setup to run it - so we loose as little from the streched budget as possible.

5) When do you intend to upgrade your PC?
We don't - just maintain it as and when it breaks (we have one system still on Windows 3.1 with no mouse anymore) - PC investment is not really carried out :-(

6) Do you want to keep any component that you already own?
Nope, it would be a full new system

7) Do you prefer any brand or manufacturer (Intel/AMD, NVidia/ATI, Asus/Gigabyte,...)?
Nope.

8) Are you going to overclock?
Definitely not.

9) Where are you going to buy the components from? Do you have any preference over some store?
No preference - this may or may not happen. We would also be getting the rig manufacturer to buy as our IT policies are retarded... As far as our IT department go, this will not exist ;-)

10) Will you be assembling the system yourself or will it come pre-built?
Self assembly

11) Do you have any configuration in mind?
Nope - just small

12) Processor
a. Green Low Power
But not too shabby...

13) Motherboard
a. mATX / ITX
Probably ITX...

14) Graphics card
a. On Board

15) Storage
a. 1 drive (Indicate capacity)
A couple of hundred GB

16) Optical Drives
a. DVD writer

17) Power supply
a. Make sure it has the required wattage for your particular setup

18) Computer case and cooling methods
It is to go within a control panel - probably with little to no airflow...

19) Do you need any special connectivity?
(f.) more than likely needs multiple RS232 ports (similar test rig requires 2)
Should be standard - but NEEDS USB, probably an ethernet port as well.

20) Does the budget include any peripherals?
a. Monitor (Indicate the size, response time, resolution,...)
b. Keyboard (Specify if you want a gaming / home theater / normal one)
c. Mouse
All bog standard - workstation peripherals with a 15"/17" monitor (not CRT)

21) Do you need an operative system?
a. If so, which one?
XP or Windows 7 - probably a 32bit to avoid conflicts.
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End
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[mihapiha]

Workstations are only interesting and a smart investment if the computer will run for days (most likely on full load) and the intention is to not shut if off unless absolutely necessary.

If that computer you're intending to build will not be under that kind of load, I would suggest something more appropriate from the mainstream market.

Workstation wise id look at µATX C32 (AMD) socket motherboards... like:

Supermicro H8SCM, AMD SR5650 (Sockel-C32, dual PC3-10667R reg ECC DDR3)
Supermicro H8SCM-F bulk, AMD SR5650 (Sockel-C32, dual PC3-10667R reg ECC DDR3)
Supermicro H8SCM-F, AMD SR5650 (Sockel-C32, dual PC3-10667R reg ECC DDR3)

AMD Opteron 4180, 6x 2.60GHz, Sockel-C32, ECC unbuffered memory and a Noctua NH-U9DO A3 CPU cooler.
The rest is pretty straight forward...

This is cheap, quiet, affordable and the most stable thing you can imagine.

But I'm not sure you really need that kind of a system

[xXDeltaXx]

The machine is to run 24/7 pretty much 365 - it's pretty much just a data collection rig; just with the ability to run control software for programming / utilising a PLC.

[mihapiha]

Well then you can't do better I think than with the rig I suggested.
These main components I picked out should be about £400 total...
But there are cheaper CPUs out there... I just picked a really good one...
AMD Opteron 4122, 4x 2.20GHz should be around £65 only...

C32 is a good socket for updates too if necessary

[HaCkEr]

Work stations are THAT cheap??? I suppose u cant "GAME" on them, can ya?

[mihapiha]

You can. But it's not like the frequency of that thing could get close to a SandyBridge which is like 10x faster in games.
Remember these motherboards are focused on stability, ECC memory and will not allow overclocking.
You can't compare gaming rigs with workstations anyways. A proper workstation could be considered like a awesome truck you can load with tons and it will drive and drive and never brake down.
Gaming computers are Mini Coopers. Simply faster on the high way but a Mini Cooper can't handle that much load.

It's the best way I can put it...

You have to remember that if you buy a workstation based gaming rig (which Flight Simulator X fanatics usually do) you need a couple of stuff you don't even consider with a gaming rig.
Like a sound card, it may have only two USB connectors, so you might need more of those, There are not enough PCIe 2.0 x16 slots which drop to x8 instantly if there are certain slots
occupied. There are no SLI options (unless they have cracked drivers), etc.

And people for everybody who might start: The EVGA SR-2 is not a workstation motherboard!

Edited by mihapiha, 04 September 2011 - 01:03 AM.

[xXDeltaXx]

The Noctua looks pretty big.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of:
Jetway JNF92-270 Long Life Expandable Atom Mini-ITX Board with 12V DC In (mid page)
Plus - Jetway 2x Serial Port + 2x Serial Header Daughterboard Module (bottom of the page)

But I don't know how capable that system would be...

Also, the Supermicro board only has 1 RS232 / com / serial port...??

[dirtylarryuk]

mihapiha, on 04 September 2011 - 01:02 AM, said:

You can. But it's not like the frequency of that thing could get close to a SandyBridge which is like 10x faster in games.
Remember these motherboards are focused on stability, ECC memory and will not allow overclocking.
You can't compare gaming rigs with workstations anyways. A proper workstation could be considered like a awesome truck you can load with tons and it will drive and drive and never brake down.
Gaming computers are Mini Coopers. Simply faster on the high way but a Mini Cooper can't handle that much load.

It's the best way I can put it...

You have to remember that if you buy a workstation based gaming rig (which Flight Simulator X fanatics usually do) you need a couple of stuff you don't even consider with a gaming rig.
Like a sound card, it may have only two USB connectors, so you might need more of those, There are not enough PCIe 2.0 x16 slots which drop to x8 instantly if there are certain slots
occupied. There are no SLI options (unless they have cracked drivers), etc.

And people for everybody who might start: The EVGA SR-2 is not a workstation motherboard!

+1 mip, you can game on workstations but with no real OC and the fact the quadro drivers do allow DX9 these days but are frankly funkey at best with games you would not want to, making a workstation build your main games rig is like using a laptop for gaming best to spend cash on a games ony rig to compliment either.