[Gllug] hardware recommendations?

[Adam Bower]

On Sun, Mar 02, 2003 at 09:19:57AM +0000, Martin A. Brooks wrote:
> At 02:07 02/03/2003 +0000, you wrote:
> >1. Is an Intel P4 1.7Ghz really going to be that much better over a
> >Intel Celeron 1.7Ghz?
> 
> Yes!  The onboard cache size for the Celeron is usually much lower.
> 
> >  Going for an Intel as I leave my box on all the time and
> >I read the article about the tests with the AMD catching fire (don't
> >want to burn my house down).
> 
> This is mostly misleading. If the article you're referring to is this one I 
> think you then, then that series of chips have long since been updated.  I 
> personally have two athlon processors, 1.3 and 1.4ghz - they have been 
> switched on constantly.

Only a few motherboards have the CPU overheat detection though which will 
shut the machine down quick enough to stop the CPU destroying itself, if you do
get an athlon it is worth getting this feature. I know someone who got a duron
and ran it without a fan for a few seconds, suffice to say he had to go out
immediatly and buy a new one. BTW whatever cpu route you go down getting a
cooler by Zalman is really reccomended, nice and quiet in my Athlon XP box
here and keeps the cpu at a very low temperature.

Anyhow the bang per buck of Athlon is very high over Intel based systems, I
have only bought AMD based kit recently for myself as they are very nice
systems.

> >2. Is a motherboard with onboard sound and network any good/work with
> >Linux? I all ready have a good soundblaster sound card and 3com Nic.
> 
> Yes, assuming the chipset is supported.  If you already have a network card 
> and soundcard, try and buy a motherboard without them. Otherwise, disable 
> the onboard devices in the BIOS.

I think that the nforce2 based motherboards are particulary good with linux 
IIRC.

> >5. Any particular RAM specifications I should be looking at?  Hoping to
> >get 512Mb, I see there is cheap 512Mb for £55, doesn't give any specs
> >though just PC133.
> 
> "Cheap" memory is rarely worth the price.  Crucial are currently selling a 
> 512mb 168pin 133mhz module for 63ukp - it's worth spending the extra few 
> pounds.

this I agree on, cheap RAM causes more problems than its worth. Actually cheap
computer hardware causes lots of problems, I can only advise buying
equipment that comes from vendors which have a good name. You may save yourself
£150 on the cost of a mid-range system by getting cheap kit, or end up getting
something 30% faster with that saving but it is never worth it. 

I once got a cheap athlon motherboard, cooler and RAM bundle from a supplier, I
returned it within a week as the new system crashed every 30 minutes and
returned to my Celeron 400Mhz at the time. You have to consider that having a
really fast computer that spends half of its time being rebooted is not really
very fast any more. 

Adam
-- 
"Step away from the Cathedral, This Bazaar is loaded"
jabberid = quinophex at jabber.earth.li

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