Host Machine

[NVentive]

Hey All--

We've been awaiting the arrival of SpeedEd by stashing away money for the optimum host machine. Our reg has been lost in the netherworld of the NTek server, so we have not pulled our copy down yet. No biggie, we'll build the machine first.
But what machine? we had been thinking quad-core with SCSI's, quads seem now delayed. So....
A pair of duals, perhaps? What Mobo? We've had less than good luck with SuperMicro....
SCSI's, we are told, are probably the most reliable, but they're still pretty pricey. Is SATA3
the way to go now?
We've got ECC ram in our [4]. Good idiea for SpeedEd?

We'd like to build the new machine ourselvs so we will know it from the ground up. We had lots of glitchies with our dealer-built system. Is this smart, or should we just buy a Dell?

Thanks All -- Merry Christmas!

[rbartlett]

A Mac Pro seems a very economic entry into dual cores across 2CPUs in the Core2 arena. Also the sort-of BIOS thing that it uses is able to support Core2Quad when you feel ready for their price/availability. FBDIMM is a bit of a pain to have to face.

Kentsfield based workstations are more economic still however until the Q6600 arrives - the 1333FSB of the Mac Pro might suit you better.

Doesn't make for a good backup architecture slot wise for your [4] as there are no onboard PCI slots (you could use an expensive outboard bridge, or a case-bending PCIexpress adapter if you were ever pushed to use this as a spare VT chassis.

I'm not a dealer, but I'd recommend pricing up an SE machine in this way and then asking your favourite dealer how much better they can an equivalent for. You might be pleasantly surprised by the offer or if it is more, what extra they can supply you with as a bundle.