I would like to build a new computer with the following features:
- quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible
- motherboard supporting Nehalem, USB 3, SATA 6.0 Gbit/s and UEFI
- cheapest possible graphics card supporting gpugrid.net crunching (all the GPU applications) and Blu-ray movies
- very fast (but cheap) Flash drive
- 80 PLUS Gold PSU

Maybe Intel 32GB X-25E Extreme SATA Solid State Drive would be cool as a Flash drive, but maybe it is too expensive.

Maybe the graphics card should be passively cooled, if possible. Too many fans make too much noise and they collect dust.

When can I buy the components I listed above? What is the minimum price for a computer like that?

Thanks!

Henri.

---

Manned mission to Mars in 2019 Petition <-- Sign this, please.

USB 3 is your limiter. It'll be out around 2010 in devices, and everything else is already out or will be coming out soon.

So, it stands to reason that it could be a very cheap machine. The Westmere shrink of Nehalem will be out, and Sandy Bridge could be on it's way so it stands to reason a good 8C/16T processor would run you in the $300 range or less by then. Much less if you'd settle for 4C/8T

Current graphics cards are good enough for GPGPU, so you could scrounge a used 1 TFlop card (today's high end) for pretty cheap. Or wait for the mainstream cards of 2010 which have a higher chance of being passively cooled, and probably similar performance.

SSD prices are already plummeting, DDR3 is dropping pretty fast...

I'd say an entire system would run you US$700 if you use multiple graphics cards.

---

Eating more cheese on Thursdays.

Intel i7 is being released November 16th. Cheapest at that time will be the i7-920, 2.67GHz for around $300 ($284 tray price).

I would expect a wave of motherboards at the same time. Reviews should start popping up any time now. Don't expect them to be cheap, they know that affordability isn't in an early adopters' vocabulary.

As for the GPU grid. Since they recommend 50 Streaming Processors or more, that makes the 9600GT the minimum video card. But we are talking over 100 watts of heat to dissipate. However there are some passively cool ones available at NewEgg. As for Blu-Ray decode, all the ATI HD 4xxx and nVidia 9xxx/GTX 2xx series can handle it.

Cheap flash drives (read affordable) are relatively slow. Bigish reviews at Tom's Hardware and The Tech Report. Right now, the good performance SSDs are around $300-400 for 32GB.

Don't know of any 80 PLUS Gold certified PSUs. At least none listed as such at NewEgg. Only 3 listed at the 80Plus.org site, none of the major PC players though. Plenty of the other 80 Plus certified PSUs including Bronze and Silver rated at NewEgg.

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

Thank you, Keith and Grebuloner!

I hope to see those PSUs, motherboards and CPUs next December at the latest. :)

I hope they can get the USB 3 specs ready right away.

Henri.

---

Manned mission to Mars in 2019 Petition <-- Sign this, please.

There is always a good reason to wait 3 to 6 months.

... and in 3 to 6 months, there will be a good reason to wait for 3 to 6 months.

---

I would like to build a new computer with the following features:
- quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible
- motherboard supporting Nehalem, USB 3, SATA 6.0 Gbit/s and UEFI
- cheapest possible graphics card supporting gpugrid.net crunching (all the GPU applications) and Blu-ray movies
- very fast (but cheap) Flash drive
- 80 PLUS Gold PSU

Maybe Intel 32GB X-25E Extreme SATA Solid State Drive would be cool as a Flash drive, but maybe it is too expensive.

Maybe the graphics card should be passively cooled, if possible. Too many fans make too much noise and they collect dust.

When can I buy the components I listed above? What is the minimum price for a computer like that?

Thanks!

Henri.

Very recently I was where you are now.

My advice: just do it. Don’t worry about getting the very latest ‘bleeding edge’ technology. Wait until Mark (msattler) sorts out the details on that! LOL

Ned Ludd is right: whenever you build, you will always be 6 months behind the curve, so whatever you decide, just do it.

Built it, crunch it, tweak it, then build again. But know that whatever you do, you will always be obsolete.

---

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.

Albert Einstein

There is only one person who is not behind in technology and that is Who?

---

quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible

I am also building a Nehalem once everything is ready and I can get detailed information, I think the closest you'll get to a Octo Core is the "Beckton" MP Server which is listed on Wikipedia as Release Date H2 2009 or the Westmere which will feature up to hexa-cores in 2010... I'm settling for a i7 Quad....

Just remember... when you build a computer, you can always upgrade and swap out components for better ones!

---

- Luke.

quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible

I am also building a Nehalem once everything is ready and I can get detailed information, I think the closest you'll get to a Octo Core is the "Beckton" MP Server which is listed on Wikipedia as Release Date H2 2009 or the Westmere which will feature up to hexa-cores in 2010... I'm settling for a i7 Quad....

Just remember... when you build a computer, you can always upgrade and swap out components for better ones!

For seti, you are not going to be dissapointed ... it screams on it.

---

who?
Skulltrail D5400XS

quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible

I am also building a Nehalem once everything is ready and I can get detailed information, I think the closest you'll get to a Octo Core is the "Beckton" MP Server which is listed on Wikipedia as Release Date H2 2009 or the Westmere which will feature up to hexa-cores in 2010... I'm settling for a i7 Quad....

Just remember... when you build a computer, you can always upgrade and swap out components for better ones!

For seti, you are not going to be dissapointed ... it screams on it.

That's good to know, who, I can't wait for it to be released!

---

- Luke.

Thank you, my friends!

Can you give me an estimate of the SETI@home RAC of the cheapest possible 4-core Nehalem using optimized applications and running 24/7/365?

Thanks again.

Henri.

---

Manned mission to Mars in 2019 Petition <-- Sign this, please.

Thank you, my friends!

Can you give me an estimate of the SETI@home RAC of the cheapest possible 4-core Nehalem using optimized applications and running 24/7/365?

Thanks again.

Henri.

No One knows yet, but who? has said:

For seti, you are not going to be dissapointed ... it screams on it.

Now take that statement and overclock it!

---

- Luke.

quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible

I am also building a Nehalem once everything is ready and I can get detailed information, I think the closest you'll get to a Octo Core is the "Beckton" MP Server which is listed on Wikipedia as Release Date H2 2009 or the Westmere which will feature up to hexa-cores in 2010... I'm settling for a i7 Quad....

Just remember... when you build a computer, you can always upgrade and swap out components for better ones!

For seti, you are not going to be disappointed ... it screams on it.

Sounds like It should be a really revolutionary cpu then, I may have to buy two cpus and two motherboards then. Of course I was planning on merely upgrading a couple of slow quad crunchers, But since I have the time, New cases will also be in order as the current cases I own are just too restrictive on airflow, plus 3GB of ram each(1GBx3) only the speed of the ram, speed of the cpu and the motherboard brand are in question, The brand of DDR3 ram is already settled upon as It's an old favorite to Me of course. Asus, MSI, DFI or Biostar on the motherboards, On the ram Patriot, the cpu? No idea as of yet. As this Joker just doesn't know enough to come to a decision, yet.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Its always the "right" and "wrong" time for a new computer...

Thank you, my friends!

Can you give me an estimate of the SETI@home RAC of the cheapest possible 4-core Nehalem using optimized applications and running 24/7/365?

Thanks again.

Henri.

You will know very soon.

quad or octo core Nehalem, cheapest possible

I am also building a Nehalem once everything is ready and I can get detailed information, I think the closest you'll get to a Octo Core is the "Beckton" MP Server which is listed on Wikipedia as Release Date H2 2009 or the Westmere which will feature up to hexa-cores in 2010... I'm settling for a i7 Quad....

Just remember... when you build a computer, you can always upgrade and swap out components for better ones!

For seti, you are not going to be disappointed ... it screams on it.

Sounds like It should be a really revolutionary cpu then, I may have to buy two cpus and two motherboards then. Of course I was planning on merely upgrading a couple of slow quad crunchers, But since I have the time, New cases will also be in order as the current cases I own are just too restrictive on airflow, plus 3GB of ram each(1GBx3) only the speed of the ram, speed of the cpu and the motherboard brand are in question, The brand of DDR3 ram is already settled upon as It's an old favorite to Me of course. Asus, MSI, DFI or Biostar on the motherboards, On the ram Patriot, the cpu? No idea as of yet. As this Joker just doesn't know enough to come to a decision, yet.

Who? will know, but I would have thought the i7 Xeons would be both quad and octa core. A system with 2 x i7 quads would need 1 MoBo only. This would be upgradable to the Octacore i7, including those with the new implementation of HT on each core.

Look at that - a dual Xeon with octacore per Xeon CPU and HT on each core (32 way system). Now that with AK SSE4.1 would be an ass kicker?

Can you give me an estimate of the SETI@home RAC of the cheapest possible 4-core Nehalem using optimized applications and running 24/7/365?

Like those two here ->

Genuine Intel(R) CPU 000 @ 3.20GHz
Core i7 and another one Core i7

---

Join BOINC United now!

Can you give me an estimate of the SETI@home RAC of the cheapest possible 4-core Nehalem using optimized applications and running 24/7/365?

Like those two here ->

Genuine Intel(R) CPU 000 @ 3.20GHz
Core i7 and another one Core i7

The Floating point and Integer figures for these 2 x dual quad core i7 machines is similar to the current 45nM and 65nM core 2 performances seen (espeically the Intel Mac versions).

Can you give me an estimate of the SETI@home RAC of the cheapest possible 4-core Nehalem using optimized applications and running 24/7/365?

Like those two here ->

Genuine Intel(R) CPU 000 @ 3.20GHz
Core i7 and another one Core i7

The Floating point and Integer figures for these 2 x dual quad core i7 machines is similar to the current 45nM and 65nM core 2 performances seen (espeically the Intel Mac versions).

the funny part is that there is only one CPU in each machine ... lol!

I am aware that some manufacturers are planning to have 256 Nehalem cores machine ... it is just a matter of time :)