New build spec

Jumblemo

Jumblemo

Jumblemo

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26 Jan 2007
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I'm putting together a new rig for a spot of gaming, photoshop, home video editing, and MS Office. I'll probably hold off on Vista for the time being, but might upgrade to it after SP1. So Any views on the spec below:

4 x 512mb DDR2 667mhz fully buffered ECC (Total 2GB)
2 x Intel Dual Core Xeon 'Woodcrest' 2.66ghz processors
4 x Nvidia Geforce 7300GT 256mb Graphics Cards
1 x 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
1 x 16x DVD drive

Budget needs to remain below £2.5k, but I've got monitors and keyboard
 
That spec sounds almost identical to a Mac Pro. Have you considered that? The price is quite competitive, it'll run Windows, the hardware is well made, and it all comes wrapped in a warm fuzzy warranty.
 
Just wondering why you don't get a 2GB kit instead of 4 x 512MB? Same with the CPUs and GPUs, why not go for a X6800 and a 8800 GTX instead of the multiple hardware?
 
Billy - you are just too good!

It is a Mac Pro spec. I was thinking of dropping hints in as the thread progressed. e.g. it must run Boot Camp. But you caught me out!! lol

Yes, I'm thinking to buy a single box to run both OS's and replace the Mac and PC I have on my desk.

I'm just hoping that at some future point Apple will move to a parallel OS version of bootcamp so I can simultaneously run both XP/Vista and OSX on different monitors...that would be neat.

J
 
Interesting, it seems to co-exist happily with boot camp so when you need full 3D support you can dedicate the box to run Windows natively, or in business type apps you can run under Parallels VM environment.
 
Yep, Parallels is some excellent software. :)

mishima, the reason it's 4 x 512 is that FB-DIMMS run in Quad Channel mode. Running 4 gives better performance than two.
 
Jumblemo said:
Forgot each could drive 2 monitors - only need 2 cards for 3 displays.
Click to expand...

What sort of gaming would you be doing? A 7300GT isn't all that great for gaming unless it is the DDR3 version and even then it isn't particularly good, I don't know what ATI drivers are like under OSX but I'd probably suggest the X1950pro as being about entry level for any sort of gaming beyond simply the casual non demanding gamer. As for the second card to drive the third monitor, almost anything should do provided it is just for general office-type work. :)

//edit, note that this is just based on experience of PCs, I don't know what sort of funky new ways Macs might have cooked up to mess with this. :D
 
semi-pro waster said:
What sort of gaming would you be doing? A 7300GT isn't all that great for gaming unless it is the DDR3 version and even then it isn't particularly good, I don't know what ATI drivers are like under OSX but I'd probably suggest the X1950pro as being about entry level for any sort of gaming beyond simply the casual non demanding gamer. As for the second card to drive the third monitor, almost anything should do provided it is just for general office-type work. :)

//edit, note that this is just based on experience of PCs, I don't know what sort of funky new ways Macs might have cooked up to mess with this. :D
Click to expand...

What I'd really like to do is run with a pair of GTS 8800 320mb cards. But I haven't got round to investigating whether the Mac supports them. I think you have to buy at least one graphics card with the machine, so I could go for the X1900 in their configurator, and then add another ATI card separately perhaps.
 
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