Building a $400 per component Super PC January 30, 2006 Alan /.effect Dang, Pfucata.com

Introduction

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The last time we did our system building articles, dual-core CPUs were brand-new, and the GeForce 6 was the flagship GPU on the market. Much has changed in the last half-year and so it's time for us to do another ultimate system building guide. In the past, we've done things like the "no-budget but don't waste money" approach as well as the $1000 budget PC. We've built servers, workstations, and even high-definition home theater PCs.


So for this article, I'm placing the following constraint: No component can cost more than $400. This will prevent us from going overboard with something like SLI 7800GTX's or an Athlon FX-57. More importantly, the advantage of putting this limit is that it'll show you how you can spend $400 on a single component and get really cool stuff. Of course, putting a $400 limit per component still allows us to build a stunning system – think about what kind of PC case $400 can buy you! It just means that we won't spend quite so much on our CPU or graphics system. The other goal we have for this system is to keep the noise level down. While we aren't going to the extreme with a fanless setup, we are going to be choosing components that tend to be on the quiet side and use passive cooling whenever feasible. Of course, system stability is paramount.

In a way, we're still building the "no-budget but don't waste money" system. It's just more fun that way. We're still going only for the very best components and the point isn't for you to replicate the exact system we're describing. The goal is to give you a sense of how the FiringSquad staff ends up choosing the components that we use in our own personal systems. We actually use the products we discuss in these articles. In fact, I'm typing this up on the Ultimate Workstation built during the Summer…

So without further ado, I present you January's Super PC.

The processor

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We always start off by talking about the CPU of choice. With the Xbox 360 out and developers beginning to focus their attention on multi-core programming, we clearly had to go with a dual core CPU. The discussion of whether dual core or single core CPUs are better for gaming has been resolved. Both ATI and NVIDIA have released drivers that work with multiple CPUs and this is just the beginning of what multi-core processors will have to offer in 2006. In fact, this is exactly what I predicted last year in my original Dual-Core AMD Opteron article.

Our pick for the best "under $400" dual-core CPU is the Socket 939 Opteron 165.

What about Pentium D 830?

We actually started our system building article using a Pentium D 830 that we had purchased at retail. After all, we've been using AMD processors in virtually all of our system building guides. The last time we used Intel was in our storage server, at a time then the i875P chipset was king. Unfortunately, our hands-on experience with the Pentium D was so disappointing that we felt unable to recommend it as a platform. The most striking difference between Intel and AMD is the heat and power consumption. With the Pentium D and the Intel boxed heatsink, running the CPU at full load produces a blow-dryer like effect. Not only does the CPU fan become annoyingly loud, but the air that it pushed out of the case is just as hot as the Xbox 360. In fact, before our Arctic Silver 5 reached its final equilibrium consistency with the Pentium D, we were getting constant data corruption and system lock-ups! CPU temperatures hovered in the high 60's initially (Celsius) and then dropped into the 50's. In contrast, the Opteron 165 was incredibly cool. Full load produced temperatures in the high 40's when using the stock heatsink and idle temperatures in the 30's.

Gaming and productivity comparisons between the AMD X2 Intel Pentium D have long shown the advantage of the X2 platform. In fact, the original 4200+ X2 (AMD's bottom-of-the-line dual core CPU at launch) outperformed Intel's flagship Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor in most major applications. Intel has always been strong with its SSE implementation. One of the reasons we had been tempted to try the Pentium D was we expected the Pentium D to act as a great CPU for digital photography. In practice there ended up being very little difference between the two equally priced CPUs. Moreover, it was impossible to overclock the Pentium D.




Until Intel gets their dual core CPU act together, we're recommending AMD Opteron and Athlon64 X2 exclusively. Intel isn't faster, but it's definitely hotter which can lead to stability problems in a minimally ventilated system.

Cooling

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Thermal interface

*update* After this article was completed, Coolermaster announced NanoFusion Thermal Grease. We have not tested its performance or ease of use.

Arctic Silver 5 – 3.5 g (enough for ~15 large CPU cores)
$10 http://www.arcticsilver.com/

Heatsink

Traditionally, we have used the Zalman CNPS-7000B-AlCu in our system builds. This 90mm aluminum-copper hybrid is a true workhorse, providing exceptional cooling in one of the easiest installation methods I've ever encountered. It continues to be a highly recommended component. That said, these System Building Articles are also a good way for FiringSquad to perform long-term tests of components. If we always used the CNPS-7000B-AlCu, we'd never have an opportunity to find out if something else was any good!

For this system build, we are trying the SilverStone Nitrogon NT02. The Nitrogon NT02 is a classic heatsink design with a few tricks up its sleeve including sintered heat pipes as opposed to soldered heatpipes that should improve efficiency. While the heatsink is almost twice as heavy as the Zalman (880g versus 445g), the cooler fits better in tight spaces. The basic design is simple: a copper base bonded to an aluminum heatsink. Copper heatpipes then pull heat away from the aluminum heatsink to a larger copper radiator that is fan cooled.

While it lacks the aesthetics of the Zalman coolers, the integrated fan controller allows you to adjust the fan speed from quieter-than-Zalman speeds all the way up to rackmount blower fan volumes. In our use, we found the NT02 to be very competitive in performance to the Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu. The biggest problem is that the NT02 is substantially pricier, and while it's good enough to make the cut into our system, we still think the Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu offers better value for the money. The real test will be long-term performance and seeing how well the NT02 deals with dust. For now, we'll probably stick with the Zalman as our heatsink of choice.

Silverstone Nitrogon NT02
$50 – http://www.silverstonetek.com

Motherboard and Memory

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Motherboard

The nForce 4 platform remains our chipset of choice for AMD Athlon/Opteron systems. It offers superb performance, reliability, and a robust feature set. Moreover, when features such as the hardware firewall are discovered to have bugs that corrupt software downloads, NVIDIA has been a proactive company that's worked to quash problems as they are discovered via software updates.

The main advantages of the A8N32SLI-Deluxe over the standard version are dual x16 PCI express slots when running SLI graphics, 8 phase CPU power, and additional SATA-II ports. However, the disadvantage is that the A8N32-SLI is a two-chip motherboard design which results in greater cooling requirements and less ideal placement of the PCI ports. In our system build, a secondary goal was to keep the system as quiet as possible without compromising long-term reliability.

Since our mid-range system will not be running SLI (would break our $400/component price tag) and because we will be using a high-quality power supply, we opted to go for the older A8N-SLI Premium instead. To be clear, all of these motherboards are exceptional choices and the price difference is small enough where it's probably better to go for the A8N32-SLI or DFI Expert. For our needs, the standard version is good enough. For gamers who don't mind the louder chipset fan on the DFI Expert, or the dual chip design of the A8N32SLI, those two motherboards will likely be a better choice.

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Memory

FiringSquad strongly recommends the use of brand-name memory in your system builds. Although performance differences "day 1" may not be noticeable, we consistently experience better long-term stability with RAM from companies such as from Corsair and OCZ. While we are comfortable saying that there are several manufacturers with high-quality memory products, at the end of the day, we have to pick one manufacturer to use in one system. Alexis and I tend to use Corsair RAM in the systems we build for ourselves and when building for others. In fact, FiringSquad's web and database servers run Corsair as well. That said, I used OCZ's flagship RAM in the last DFI system build and had great results too. Brandon uses OCZ RAM the last time I checked too. I have nothing but good results with OCZ memory, but if I had to say on record what brand of memory is in most of the PCs that I build or recommend to others, the answer is Corsair. I think fundamentally the reason for choosing Corsair is that the price is pretty similar among all flagship memory manufacturers, and if I know that Corsair works well, why should I try a different brand? It's not like power supplies where I'm trying to find something as good as a PC Power & Cooling PSU for less money or heatsinks where I'm trying to find better performance.

For this system build, we went with the Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2PT. Although the RAM doesn't feature any flashy LEDs or offer blazing clockspeeds or ridiculously small latencies, the TWINX2048-3200C2 offers exceptional value. Games are already benefiting from 2GB of system memory, and the 2-3-3-6 timings reflect the inflection point where you get the most value for the money. In addition, the faster memory from OCZ and Corsair also tend to produce more heat and require more system cooling.

Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2PT
$240 – http://www.corsair.com

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The video card

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The decision between which video card to get is even harder this year. Never before have ATI and NVIDIA had such "non-overlapping" talents. On NVIDIA's side, the best gaming value comes from the GeForce 7800GT and on the ATI side, it's the All-in-Wonder X1800 XL. If you're just looking for video only, your best option is probably an X1600 XL provided that it has the display connectors you need.

In the $300 price range, you have the GeForce 7800GT. It offers exceptional 3D performance and if you buy the card from XFX or eVGA, you get a free copy of Call of Duty 2 or an nForce4 SLI motherboard. The problem is that since CoD2 is a great game, many of you already have a copy. Likewise, although the free nForce4 SLI is an excellent value, the motherboard isn't as high-quality as what you'd get from a gaming-oriented board from ASUS, MSI, or DFI. If you buy an ASUS GPU (either ATI or NVIDIA), you get a copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. While it's not the super-high resolution Gamer's edition, it's still a FiringSquad Ricochet Award winner and if you already had CoD2, maybe the ASUS would be a better choice.


The last several builds, we've picked NVIDIA GPUs – sometimes it was because we've needed good Linux drivers, other times it was because NVIDIA was the only manufacturer with dual GPUs, and in the last HTPC article it was because NVIDIA had HD deinterlacing. This system isn't going to run Linux, and Catalyst 5.13 has pushed ATI ahead of NVIDIA in video, and although we're not planning to run dual GPU this system, ATI Crossfire is finally available in the hands of consumers.

One thing to keep in mind about the AIW X1800XL (and any other card with dual coaxial connectors on the backplane) is that it's physically incompatible with some Lian-Li cases. You'll need to remove the backplane from the card to seat it in, and then screw the backplane back on. An additional detail is that for dual monitor support, we've experienced poor image quality on the analog VGA out with the AIW X1800XL when using a CRT monitor with a DVI LCD panel. It's not a problem that I've seen on the GeForce cards.

For those of you who aren't interested in an AIW, an interesting GPU would be the ASUS EN7800GT TOP Silent. This is a fully passively cooled GeForce 7800GT that can be found for about $400. At idle, the GPU core temperature is equivalent to that of a standard NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT. In our test system, the Nitrogon CPU cooler was too tall, prevent us from positioning the heatsink fins in the area of optimal airflow. Even so, peak GPU core temperatures with the passive solution were only about 15 degrees hotter than the conventional 7800GT. If we had a different CPU cooler, the difference would be even less.

Usually, passive cooling requires manufacturers to reduce the clockspeed. You're not going to see a passively cooled 7800GTX 512MB. In the case of the ASUS EN7800GT however, ASUS has used higher-end 1.6ns GDDR3 memory modules. This gives the fanless EN7800GT a core clock of 420MHz and an effective memory clock of 1240 MHz. Most 7800GT's only ship with 400MHz core clock and a 1GHz memory cock. Even BFG's "7800GT OC" only uses a 1050 MHz memory clock and a 425MHz core clock. This translates into about a 100 point increase on each of the SM2.0 and SM3.0/HDR tests in 3DMark 06.

In addition, the ASUS EN7800GT TOP Silent is also one of the few 7800GT’s with video input.

3DMark 06 – Direct3D

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Storage

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Good alternatives would have been the Western Digital Caviar RE2, however despite their nearline reliability claims there seem to be more reports of failure in comparison to the WD Raptor. The RE2 is clearly attractive for its price/performance ratio, but we'll still be conservative and recommend the Raptor line for mission-critical SATA drives. SCSI continue to set the standard for reliability and I would expect this trend to continue with Serial-Attached-SCSI drives. We have a T7K250 as a long-term reference and we'll be adding these 7K500 drives to our long-term reference test equipment as well.

Hitachi 7K500 #1
$400 – http://www.hgst.com

Hitachi 7K500 #2
$400 – http://www.hgst.com

SiSoft Sandra 2005

The Case

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In our last ultimate system build, we loved the PC-V1000, PC-V1200, and PC-V2000 chassis from Lian-Li. It had the proven Lian-Li fit and finish with the novel inverted design that provided excellent cooling. The problem is that the proven Lian-Li fit ended up failing.

While the Lian-Li continues to be the case that's used in my current workhorse system, one of the side panels has begun to warp and change its shape. While the panel still looks perfect, and most consumers won't even notice a difference, I'm having a much tougher time getting the panel to fit in properly. It's true that I open and close my case more frequently than a typical PC user, but it's still disappointing to see such an expensive case have panel fit issues. If the Lian Li is stable, it'll keep its Editor's Choice award. If the amount of warping increases in the next 6 months, we'll probably have to be more cautious in the future. With the need for in mind, the decision was made to go with the Silverstone Temjin TJ-07. This case reflects the next flagship for the industry.


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Power Supply

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For this system, we wanted to try another Silverstone PSU. We know that PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool PSUs are the gold-standard, but we want to find cheaper alternatives. The Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF proved to be a good alternative as a workstation power supply. This time, because we wanted something quieter, we went with the Silverstone ST56F.

This is a 560W power supply with a single 120mm fan. The unique feature is that it is more than 80% efficient, much like the Seasonic S12's that we've enjoyed using. This means that there is less heat production and less waste of electricity. Importantly, the Silverstone ST56F isn't a re-badged Seasonic. It's manufactured by the same factory that produces the Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF so we anticipate very good long-term stability with this PSU. It's not that much cheaper than the ST65ZF, but it certainly is quieter.

Silverstone Strider ST56F
$125 – http://www.silverstonetek.com

Summary

The total cost for this machine? $2545 in core hardware components. Add another $50 for a DVD burner, $100 for a licensed copy of Windows, and another $100 for a high-end keyboard/mouse combo and you’re looking at $2800 for a machine. Clearly, our money went into the terabyte of storage in two Hitachi 500GB drives, the stunning Silverstone Temjin TJ-07 case, and the ASUS EN7800GT TOP Silent, the fastest passive cooled GPU in the world. We’ve hardly gone for the best value products in this machine, but there’s no doubt that the quiet, yet exceptionally fast and robust system has been a pleasure to use.

These system builds are starting to get fairly repetitive and boring because it seems like the products with the proven track records are the components we end up selecting time and time again. It’s been more than 2 years since we’ve ever recommended an Intel CPU for a gaming machine, a workstation or server. The AMD64 platform with NVIDIA core logic has been such a reliable combination that with the exception of Pentium M and Core Duo, the only reason to buy Intel is if you’re participating in some sort of promotional discount form Dell or if you’re looking at a notebook. When it comes to motherboards, we’ve pretty much stuck with the top tier brands only, ASUS and DFI at the high-end, MSI and Abit for the mid-range, and Tyan for the enterprise/workstation technology. Corsair and OCZ continue to be our top two picks for memory, with Corsair tending to be our more conservative pick. It’s probably our bias, but then again – if it works and it’s not more expensive, why not? Hard drives have ended up with the 10,000 rpm Raptor taking the high-end, and the Hitachi T7K250 taking the 7200 rpm segment. Sure there are Caviar RE2’s or silent Seagate drives that are also useful products, but it’s hard to ignore the bang-for-the-buck that the T7K250 offers. The 7K500s we used in this article let you achieve terabyte-capacity without compromising system thermal management by having too many drives. Optical drives are so close in performance today, that it’s not really worth reviewing them anymore. Even the video card market seems to fall into place. The decision between NVIDIA and ATI continues to be a personal choice, but unless you’re going for ASUS’s Silent solutions, most GPUs end up being very similar. For power supplies, we’ve now identified several good choices ranging from 500 to 650W; the Seasonic S12-500, the SilverStone Strider ST56F, the PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 510-SLI, and the SilverStone Zeus ST65ZF. Pick any of these four and you’ll be fine.

Where the Future Lies

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The one area where there’s still innovation is the system chassis. I know what you’re thinking. $400 was a ridiculous amount to spend on a system chassis. That said, this is where the future lies. Not only are GPUs and CPUs drawing more and more power (and therefore producing more and more heat), we’re starting to add pairs of GPUs, pairs of CPUs, and pairs of HDDs into a “enthusiast level system.” Add the beefy power supply that needs to power all of this equipment and it’s pretty clear that thermal management is going to be the main issue of the technology industry in the second half of this decade.

In fact, if you talk with the engineers focused on the 5 year roadmaps for 1U servers, there is some buzz about bringing liquid cooling technology to the mainstream. We’ve already seen heatpipes, once the bastion of the extreme overclocker, become standard practice. The dual 2.5GHz Apple G5’s shipped with a liquid cooling system a year ago. In 5 years, Dell PCs will come with liquid cooling

BTX died as an initiative because it didn’t offer the improvement that would be needed in the long-term. There are only two ways to combat heat. First, is to focus on the heat production. Improvements in fabrication technology will certainly play a key role here. The second is to improve heat transfer. Bigger heatsinks and more fans with greater airflow seems to be the theme for the moment but the future will involve more elegant solutions. Up until now, the fundamental approach to system design has been the same: a big motherboard with several daughterboards. The design of supercomputers has always been more creative – they’ve looked at thermal management in three dimensions. As the average cost of a system chassis continues to increase, we’re eventually going to reach a point where it becomes more cost effective to design specific motherboard/case combinations that break the ATX standard in order to provide optimal system cooling.

FiringSquad’s Editor’s Choice awards