2P Workstation

[Terminashunator]

My dad needs a new computer, and I enticed him with eBay deals. He's frugal, and still using a P4 for DVD ripping, Video Compiling, Video Capture DVR, and netflix watching.

I need advice for this, since I do not know servers. I was hoping @Whaler_99 could shed some light!

 

My dad uses soem IDE drives, some sata. He also uses a PCI video capture and a PCI IDE add-in card. Will these work in PCIx slots?

 

The build i have so far.

 

Dual Xeon X5450 @3Ghz

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151189905020

 

IntelS50000P5L

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151010625229

 

Hynix DDR2 5300 ECC 4Gb (x4)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130873533400

 

XFX 7770 (For netflix!)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage:  Crucial V4 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($59.20 @ Amazon)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($118.98 @ OutletPC)
Case:  Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($88.51 @ Newegg)
Power Supply:  SeaSonic 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($47.07 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive:  Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer  ($49.55 @ Newegg)
Total: $363.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-21 01:23 EST-0500)

 

Suggestions? I forgot CPU fans..

[Giggitygoebbels]

You need a EEB case to fit the motherboard.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Crucial V4 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($54.95 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($104.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card ($60.38 @ Newegg)

Case: Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $389.28

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-21 00:36 EST-0500)

The 5450 is something you should never get.Also a Seasonic Power supply is much more reliable.

For fans,NF-F12 from noctua.CPU heatsink,Hyper 212.

[Terminashunator]

You need a EEB case to fit the motherboard.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Crucial V4 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($54.95 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($104.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card ($60.38 @ Newegg)

Case: Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $389.28

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-21 00:36 EST-0500)

The 5450 is something you should never get.Also a Seasonic Power supply is much more reliable.

For fans,NF-F12 from noctua.CPU heatsink,Hyper 212.

May I ask why the change from WD to Seagate? He uses entirely WD right now.

Why upgrade the GPU, all he does it Netflix. He's been using the onboard for the past 10 years and has no  complaints. I only put that low end card in because the onboard is 1024x768.

Does the power supply really make that much of a difference?

 

I appreciate your opinions, but would you mind stating your reasoning?

Also, the Hyper 212, I am not sure they support socket 771.

And why not the 5450's? Are those CPUs  a bad egg? What else would you get?

[Skylark]

If the 212 fits on socket 775 it will fit on 771.

[Terminashunator]

If the 212 fits on socket 775 it will fit on 771.

Socket 771

 

Socket 775

[Giggitygoebbels]

May I ask why the change from WD to Seagate? He uses entirely WD right now.

Why upgrade the GPU, all he does it Netflix. He's been using the onboard for the past 10 years and has no complaints. I only put that low end card in because the onboard is 1024x768.

Does the power supply really make that much of a difference?

I appreciate your opinions, but would you mind stating your reasoning?

Also, the Hyper 212, I am not sure they support socket 771.

And why not the 5450's? Are those CPUs a bad egg? What else would you get?

WD to seagate to cut costs.

That GPU is not worth it and performs badly even for basic applications.

The corsair PSU you chose uses CapXon Electrolyte Capacitors which are very bad and they can ruin the entire system.

Wait sorry the 212 will not fit(actually it will if you have some custom rails like what @tobben did).

How about this heatsink:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-FRAHEATSINK-D71361-001-LGA771-Tower-Heat-Sink-For-SC5400RA-New-/380752983495

[Skylark]

Damn Xoxide lead me astray, they list the 771 and 775 interchangeably.  Sorry about that bud

 

http://www.xoxide.com/intelsocket775.html

[Terminashunator]

WD to seagate to cut costs.

That GPU is not worth it and performs badly even for basic applications.

The corsair PSU you chose uses CapXon Electrolyte Capacitors which are very bad and they can ruin the entire system.

Wait sorry the 212 will not fit(actually it will if you have some custom rails like what @tobben did).

How about this heatsink:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-FRAHEATSINK-D71361-001-LGA771-Tower-Heat-Sink-For-SC5400RA-New-/380752983495

Then I'll give my dad my spare 7770.

And thank you, that's all I wanted was a great answer like that on the Corsair PSU!

And that heatsink looks glorious. Positively beautiful. I'd spray paint it red (i know it reduces thermals, I don't care. That's beautiful).

[Whaler_99]

Ok, first off, why this old Xeon solution? Honestly, this sucker won't perform very well at all , esp compared to some cheap solutions you could get. Those CPU's are already pushing 5+ years old on the design and were really made at the time for number crunching which mainstream processors, Core2Duo, were not brilliant at. That board performance as well was simply made for server workloads and is huge.

 

Typically PCI would work in PCI-x slots, but not always. Some cards where picky, so it's a risk.

 

I would look at ebay and other options, craigslist, kijiji, etc. for a used system like in the i3 or even a i5 range. A older IB or even SB i3 would probably perform at the level of those Xeons.

 

More info - those are 120W CPU's each - so can pull 240 Watts - in a 400 Watt PSU, that might not leave you much head room. Also, they run hot. So, again, an i3 solution would allow you to use a nice small board, case, PSU, etc. Probably be quieter, draw less power and run cooler.

 

Just some thoughts... 

[Giggitygoebbels]

Ok, first off, why this old Xeon solution? Honestly, this sucker won't perform very well at all , esp compared to some cheap solutions you could get. Those CPU's are already pushing 5+ years old on the design and were really made at the time for number crunching which mainstream processors, Core2Duo, were not brilliant at. That board performance as well was simply made for server workloads and is huge.

 

Typically PCI would work in PCI-x slots, but not always. Some cards where picky, so it's a risk.

 

I would look at ebay and other options, craigslist, kijiji, etc. for a used system like in the i3 or even a i5 range. A older IB or even SB i3 would probably perform at the level of those Xeons.

 

More info - those are 120W CPU's each - so can pull 240 Watts - in a 400 Watt PSU, that might not leave you much head room. Also, they run hot. So, again, an i3 solution would allow you to use a nice small board, case, PSU, etc. Probably be quieter, draw less power and run cooler.

 

Just some thoughts... 

Even taken with a grain of salt,the difference between benchmarks are big.An i3 is 3000-4000 in passmark,while the dual Xeons is around 8000+.

Also TDP is not really power drawn,kinda more related to heat...

[Whaler_99]

Even taken with a grain of salt,the difference between benchmarks are big.An i3 is 3000-4000 in passmark,while the dual Xeons is around 8000+.

Also TDP is not really power drawn,kinda more related to heat...

 

Yes, bench marks are one thing - but I work with Xeons in everyday work loads as part of my job. Except for the latest and newest ones, running server apps, I will take a Core X whatever over a Xeon. Running Windows, especially like Win7 and doing "normal" stuff, the core series will typically be cheaper, run cooler and quieter and draw less power. The bench mark give you a raw X number based on a work load. Yes, two 4 core, 12M cache chips will pop a I3... but in everyday perceived use, the i3 will do very well... Just my two cents on perception.

[Terminashunator]

Ok, first off, why this old Xeon solution? Honestly, this sucker won't perform very well at all , esp compared to some cheap solutions you could get. Those CPU's are already pushing 5+ years old on the design and were really made at the time for number crunching which mainstream processors, Core2Duo, were not brilliant at. That board performance as well was simply made for server workloads and is huge.

 

Typically PCI would work in PCI-x slots, but not always. Some cards where picky, so it's a risk.

 

I would look at ebay and other options, craigslist, kijiji, etc. for a used system like in the i3 or even a i5 range. A older IB or even SB i3 would probably perform at the level of those Xeons.

 

More info - those are 120W CPU's each - so can pull 240 Watts - in a 400 Watt PSU, that might not leave you much head room. Also, they run hot. So, again, an i3 solution would allow you to use a nice small board, case, PSU, etc. Probably be quieter, draw less power and run cooler.

 

Just some thoughts... 

Why old Xeons? Cause they're 4 Core, cheap, and powerful. He's using a P4 right now.

And this TV tuner he has likely will be picky.

He doesn't want used, but he was okay with the used Xeons, ram, and mobo. I don't get it.

At max they'd pull 240, maybe. He's not really planning on putting any high draw stuff on that computer. No gaming, so no real need for a heavy GPU. We were planning modding some Hyper 212's.

 

 

Yes, bench marks are one thing - but I work with Xeons in everyday work loads as part of my job. Except for the latest and newest ones, running server apps, I will take a Core X whatever over a Xeon. Running Windows, especially like Win7 and doing "normal" stuff, the core series will typically be cheaper, run cooler and quieter and draw less power. The bench mark give you a raw X number based on a work load. Yes, two 4 core, 12M cache chips will pop a I3... but in everyday perceived use, the i3 will do very well... Just my two cents on perception.

The Dual Xeon would be about $150 for CPU, Ram, and Mobo. an i3 + ram + Mobo would be about 200.

 

But yes, I understand it's over the top, inefficient, downright vulgar for a Netflix and Video Capture rig. He plans on running XP... He wants to stay in the 2002 Era. I should just tell him to get an FX8-Core

 

Thank you for your opinion, @Whaler_99 that's why i asked for you personally. I'll tell him it's not worth the problem

[Terminashunator]

double post

[Whaler_99]

BTW - although XP Pro does support 2 CPU's, (Home edition only supports) one, it doesn't care how many cores. You need x64 for 4+GB of ram. XP kinda chokes after 4 anyway.

 

You be much better off, with any system, running x64 version of Windows 7. Much better experience now and can utilize the power under the hood. 

[Terminashunator]

BTW - although XP Pro does support 2 CPU's, (Home edition only supports) one, it doesn't care how many cores. You need x64 for 4+GB of ram. XP kinda chokes after 4 anyway.

 

You be much better off, with any system, running x64 version of Windows 7. Much better experience now and can utilize the power under the hood. 

 He refuses to use 7. I tried. He is going to use XP even after support stops.

[Razarza]

The corsair PSU you chose uses CapXon Electrolyte Capacitors which are very bad and they can ruin the entire system.

Which power supply are you talking about here? OP has since removed it from his post.

 

 He refuses to use 7. I tried. He is going to use XP even after support stops.

I'm pretty sure there are some great themes that aesthetically turn Win7 into XP. I wouldn't be surprised if there were any for windows 8 as well.

 

I found one that turns 7 into XP.

[Giggitygoebbels]

Which power supply are you talking about here? OP has since removed it from his post.

 

I'm pretty sure there are some great themes that aesthetically turn Win7 into XP. I wouldn't be surprised if there were any for windows 8 as well.

 

I found one that turns 7 into XP.

CX430.

[Terminashunator]

Which power supply are you talking about here? OP has since removed it from his post.

 

I'm pretty sure there are some great themes that aesthetically turn Win7 into XP. I wouldn't be surprised if there were any for windows 8 as well.

 

I found one that turns 7 into XP.

Just a Corsair CX430. The typical one i suggest for everyone. =\

 

He has hardware he doesn't wnat to replace that don't have Vista/7/8 driver support. He's stubborn.

[Whaler_99]

Yes, and that board, and most "server" class ones, won't ever have XP/7/8 drivers. OS should still work, just wont have things like chipset optimized...

[Razarza]

Just a Corsair CX430. 

 

CX430.

 

Oh, any idea if the CXM lineup has this problem?

[Giggitygoebbels]

Oh, any idea if the CXM lineup has this problem?

Yes.They are just the same with extra PCB AFAIK.

[Terminashunator]

HAHA I did this before it was cool.

 

 

Well, thought about it before it was cool. I ended up just making him a Socket 775 Q8200 system. 

 

Good times.