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Greetings Gary,
Friday, December 28, 2001, 4:27:20 PM, you wrote:
GF> Hi Tai,
GF> I'm in the market for a dual-CPU system.
GF> What would you & your HW freak friends recommend for this situation?
GF> I just visited a Fry's in Phoenix (visiting in-laws for Christmas)
GF> and they recommended a Tyan Tiger MP mobo (about $200) with a pair of
GF> 1.6 Athlons (about $200 ea).
I have read good things about the Tyan Tiger MP mobo and I would
probably go with this route if I were to purchase one. To quote
someone that spoke about the mobo, "no bells, no whistles, but
stable..."
GF> One supposed expert told me that AMD
GF> CPUs are like Jaguars -- fast and sleek when they run, but very
GF> trouble-prone. The Fry's guy said they'd had no problems with
GF> Athlons, and since Intel had discontinued the P3, and since the only
GF> mobo that supports dual-CPU doesn't have an AGP slot, he thought the
GF> Athlon was a better answer. What's your read on that?
I personally have an AMD chip and I have one of the fastest email
computers. I'd agree that AMD chips aren't fully "set it and forget
it," but they're not nearly as complex nor troublesome as many say.
You just have to be weary of the components you purchase with it and
take a little xtra time to read a few additional lines in the specs.
Other than that, current AMD chips give you way more power for $$ than
Intel chips, IMHO.
GF> He also recommended a $150 case (can't remember the brand offhand)
GF> because the dual-CPU "server-class" boards supposedly demand more &
GF> don't work as well in the standard cases.
Which ever case it is, make sure it has enough power since you're
running a dual cpu system. $150 isn't an outrageous price for a
decent case.
GF> So about $600 for mobo & CPUs, maybe $150 for 512MB of ECC RAM, $80-
GF> 100 for a video board, $120 for a 40-60GB HD, $50-150 for a CD-RW
GF> depending on how fancy you want to get, and $150 for a case, I'm
GF> looking at about $1200 for this system. Reasonable?
I didn't add up the numbers but off of my head, 12k seems reasonable.
Spend the extra money on a nice mouse :)
GF> Gary
--
Wishing You Happiness,
Tai Nguyen mailto:csuslistproc@xxxxxxxxx
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