What mobo and processor would you build around right now?

[EricM]

If you could build your screaming fast dream box right now, what mobo and

processor would you build around right now? Would you hold off for a bit? Any

views or opinions about the new upcoming AMD Barcelona board? I'll be running

x64 XP with a min. of 4 gig of DDR-2.

 

Cheers,

 

Eric

[morrie_farbman]

I just build a system using a Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 4 gig of Ram and run XP Pro 32bit. I have overclocked the CPU by 25% (3GHz) and the system has been running rock solid and fast.

 

If you can wait about a month the prices of Core 2 Duo and Quad Cores will come down significantly. As far as what I have read there is no need to go Quad since Photoshop does not benefit much.

[jeff_s]

How's about a dual-Xeon Mac Pro with striped disk array? I think top models offer FOUR Xeon cores. I got a dual Xeon Apple Xserve at the office, and subjectively, it's a very large improvement over the PowerPC predecessors, and my little home dual-core Opteron setup feels quaint by comparision. I don't know how well 64-bit XP is supported, but regular XP Pro works very well under Boot Camp or Parallels software, and it feels just like any other PC.

 

At home, I have a Shuttle XPC with 2 gigs of DDR RAM and a dual core Opteron "Denmark" processor, and it's a cute little setup, but feels like no match for the big Xeon power. I'm not familiar with AMD's Barcelona.

[bruce_rubenstein___nyc]

A MacPro is really a waste of money for running Photoshop. This is what I posted on another forum:

 

"In spite of the Apple mystique, for the parts you can't see they use standard hardware. The current MacPro (a rather strange colletion of hardware*) uses FB DDR2-667 memory. The FB stands for Fully Buffered and is used in servers and work stations; it also costs twice as much as regular DDR2 memory. The hard drives are regular SATA drives.

 

*The MacPro uses a dual CPU server type mother board, Intel Zeon processors and server memory. The motherboard and memory cost about twice what personal computer parts do. This would all be super cool if it gave great performance, but it only does with certain applications. Content Creation applications that can make effective use of dual CPUs, with multiple cores are for doing things like rendering and editing video. It doesn't help a program like Photoshop. Going from a single, dual core CPU to even a dual processor, quad core computer will give very little performance increase.

 

There's a pretty big hardware hole in the Apple product line line between the iMac's, that are based on laptop harware, and the MacPro. People who do photo editing would get a lot more bang for their buck if Apple had a computer based on generic highend PC hardware. It would be quite a bit cheaper than the MacPro, but run PS just as well."

 

After over 10 years of AMD systems I went to a Core 2 Duo; you can't beat the performance. I recently built a system using a MSI Planinum (Nvidia 650 SLI) with a E6600 running at 3.3 ghz. If you don't play games you can get a basic video card (I have the 7300GT) and save a good chunk of money. I paid under $1000 for a MB, 2 gig RAM, video card, Corsair PS, 2 Seagate 320 gig drives, CPU and Zalman heatsink. (I kept the old case, optical & floppy drive.)

[steven_clark]

The Core 2 architecture is very, very good. Intel did something right on this chip and have been reaping the rewards since it's release. If Barcelona might steal the performance crown but we really won't know until it hits and the testing starts. Until then Core 2 will be the fastest processors.

 

That said AMD has been seriously slashing its prices to compensate and in many price points the AMD chip may be faster simply because the price/performance ratio is so good. Also it looks like AMD may have learned from the upset customers when they dropped socket 939 so quick and socket the upcoming AM3 chips designed for DDR3 will also works with DDR2 in current AM2 motherboards so there's a pretty good upgrade path for current AMD systems.

[crabseye]

I chose the Intel BadAxe2 + C2D E6600 for a build about 2 months ago.

 

If you're building now, it's a tough combo to beat.

 

If you want to wait a bit, there are newer chipsets just starting to appear in motherboards. They'll utilize faster DDR3 RAM and offer some other speed improvements. But it might be more of a benefit for later upgrades rather than current performance boosts.

[EricM]

Thanks everyone, please keep them coming. Money isn't much of an object, but time is. It's small pennies when sitting and doing gigs of raw files in batches and actions and multi-tasking.

 

Not sure if it is relevant, but I will be raiding (0) 4 raptor 10,000 rpm drives. My current box is x64 XP and wont be switching back to 32 XP, for RAM reasons, and fingers crossed, 64 bit CS in the future. And over the next few years, I wish to be able to plunk in 8 gigs of RAM if it will ever benefit.

 

@ Morrie, thanks. I think I will wait until Sept. At least until the Barcelona board is out and the first gen problems are known and fixed.

 

@ Jeff S, Mac isn't an option. Don't like them, too slow for the money, not true 64 bit, can't tinker and fiddle, and what to do with thousands of dollars in software when switching? Thanks though man.

 

@Bruce, thanks man. Thinking of the E6600 myself if I was to build today.

 

@Steven, I'm currently using a 939 board, not even two years old. Unreal they dropped it so quick.

 

Thanks again all for the help. Think I'll hold off for a few months for AM3 and/or Barcelona reviews.

 

Cheers,

 

E

[dves]

quad-core Q6600 (2.4GHz)~

4x 1Gb DDR2 800 ~

Gigabyte Core 2 GA-965P-DQ6 ~

2x 250Gb drives raid 1 ~

4x 500Gb drives raid 0+1 ~

1x Nvidia 7900 dual dvi graphics ~

22in CRT - hardware calibrator ~

run 3Gb switch ~

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e834e9c7-708c-43bf-b877-e14ae443ecbf.aspx ~

12x9 wacom ~

CS3 - lightroom 1.1 ~

xp pro 32 ~

see anandtech

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3038&p=14 ~

my site www.dves.co.nz! ~

[Uhooru]

Eric, get a mac pro w/4gigs of ram. You can raid it though I don't think that's so neccessary for photo files, but maybe if batching them. Just get the dual dual core 2.6 or 3.0 model they do fly in photoshop, and Vista from many accounts, Sux. Vista will be better in the future, but I wouldn't get it now. OSX is rock solid and you can run both windows and Mac on it. If you really want to blow your socks and pocket book off, get the dual quad's but that is really overkill, better spend that money on extra ram. I'm using an iMac 24" and though I don't tend to batch adjust, when I do, its not been a problem, go's quite fast. CS3 flys on it as does light room.

Cheers mate.

[EricM]

Thanks Jack.

 

Barry man, thanks too. But you know after all these years how I feel about Mac's :) Until they can build something as fast as a PC for the same $$$, I wont consider it. Mac isn't even a true 64. Besides, like a car, I like to be able to lift the hood and fidle a bit inside. I wont be going Vista as I have Xp pro in 32 and 64. Cheers man, see you out there. E