Math simulations/Gaming system

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Chankama

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Hey guys.. I am going to be building a new computer soon, and thought I'd get some feedback from you guys.

I am an Engineering student, so will be running a lot of processor intensive math/engineering simulations with a lot of floating point operations. There might also be a lot of disk accesses, but not all the time. While it's doing that, I also need the ability to write reports, compile stuff, surf the net etc. So I was thinking Intel with hyper-threading.

1) Intel "seems" to be better at multitasking during heavy work loads than AMDs. Is this right?

2) I also want to play games like Half Life 2, etc. Sometimes even DURING a simulation :).. But not always.

My budget is not unlimitted, so I would really like to get a bang for the buck. My proposed system:

CPU - Intel 3.2 GHZ, socket 775
MB - Abit AG8
Vid card - 6600 GT
Memory - OCZ 1 GB - 2x512M PC3200, 2.5-3-3-7
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA150 160G w/NCQ
PSU - Enermax NoiseTaker 420W
Case – Enermax CS-800TA

With keyboard, mouse, CDRW, DVD Rom, floppy, 56K modem, the price comes to $1150 (US) before taxes = $1400 (Cdn) before taxes.

What do you guys think?. Please suggest replacement parts if you think some areas could be improved for a similar price.

How is this setup for overclocking?. I won't even try to do that until later on since there is no point at this stage. I will only try to overclock when my system performance degrades with respect to the apps I am running. I guess the memory is questionable. Hopefully it still supports decent overclocking. And I am thinking of using the stock fan shipped with the intel box. The case will have 2 case fans.

Thanks guys. :D
 
I think you need an intel. AMD is really good with games. Dont get me wrong Intel is good at games too, but not as good than AMD in games but Intel blows away the AMD's in AutoCad apps, 3-D programs and CPU intensive programs. The intel is good for overclocking I got my 2.8 to 3.7ghz with stock cooling. I dont know what the max OC is for the 3.2 but it should be good.
 
That's a pretty decent overclock man. I will probably only try to do that when my warranty period comes close to expiring. In anycase, I have a feeling that my memory "might" be a bottle neck. It's the Premier version of OCZ (not Performance EL). Hopefully the modules would be ok with overclocking close to 4GHZ. Even 3.8 GHz would be good.
 
Yeah man. :). I was contemplating on getting a 6600 (non-GT) or the X700 pro. But the 6600 GT seems to be the best bang for the buck. It put me a little bit over the budget. I am still trying to convince myself that the investment is worth it :).. X700 pro seems to suck with the Doom 3 engine.
 
Unless space and data protection is critical to you, grab two 10,000RPM 36GB Raptor drives and stick them in a RAID 0 for fast data access. You can even add a larger IDE drive for data that isn't accessed that much or for data that does need to load particularily faster than normal.

I'm going to have to agree that Intel is the better choice here, although an FX proccesor may also work pretty well (plus added HT), I think that would push you a bit over budget and you can get an Intel that works just as well for much cheaper.
 
killians45 said:
Id go for dual procs (like the xeon) instead of hyper thread. google it for more info on why.

hes gonna game on it so thats not a best option and id go with opterons if you want a server type of set up
 
he's going to game with it, however, he is going to be doing alot of fp calcualtions thus the reason for dual procs. so yes, dual procs would be the best to go with for the simple reason of mass calculations. thats what dual procs were pretty much designed for. higher function mathmatics.
 
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