What is Digg?103 Comments
- kent1146, on 10/11/2007, -3/+68"The "God Machine" eh? They seem to present it as a server but recommend 2 x PCIe video cards. Why ?"
Because people who read Ars Technica like to game. Nobody reads to get advice on how to build a server to run Oracle. That would be like going to your priest for sex advice. - FizixMan, on 10/11/2007, -15/+54http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013046&cid=CPU.907
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=005067&cid=RAM.475
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=004652&cid=HD.96
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=012423&cid=CR.196
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013570&cid=CS.664
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=012656&cid=PE.826
That's:
$80.99 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (65W) Dual-Core Socket AM2
$34.99 - Radiant P4 ATX Mid Tower Case with 500w PS (Black/Black)
$20.99 - Kingmax 512MB PC4300 DDR2 533MHz 240-pin Unbuffered DIMM
$47.99 - Western Digital Caviar SATA (WD800JD) 80GB 7200RPM 8MB Buffer
$25.99 - LiteOn 52X CD-RW/16X DVD-ROM Combo Drive
$15.99 - Logitech (967407) Cordless Combo - Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
$6.99 Flat Rate Shipping
Total: $233.93
Oh by the way -- that's in Canadian Dollars. I almost feel sorry for Dell. One more customer they will no longer hassle with 50 preloaded adware trial versions of useless programs.
:D - FIip, on 10/11/2007, -9/+35You're forgetting that this is Digg, so everyone already knows how to build a PC.
- EBFoxbat, on 10/11/2007, -1/+23WTF? "they seem to present it as a server"
Where did you get that? I got:
ASUS P5N32-E
Core 2 Extreme QX6800
(2x2GB) DDR2-800 DIMMs
Two GeForce 8800 Ultra
X-fi XtremeGamer
Adaptec 31205 SAS Controller
Four Maxtor Atlas 10K V 300GB SAS (8D300S0)
Two Pioneer DVR-212D
The only thing server-ish would be a SCSI and it's not really SCSI it's SAS. - bllambert, on 10/11/2007, -4/+23hhmmmm,,,, somthing is missing.........
motherboard?? Video? Audio?....Operating System. - Spelvin, on 10/11/2007, -9/+24You show me where I can buy the parts to build a AMD Athlon 64 3600+ X2 Dual Core, 512MB DDR2, 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive and 48X CD-RW/DVD with Case, power supply, Logitech Keyboard and mouse for less than $259 and I will never consider a Dell again.
- majinboy, on 10/11/2007, -4/+17That would have been the case if it was before digg became "popular"
- betterth, on 10/11/2007, -5/+16@Spuy
You can't run two 8800's on a 500W, little like both of them and the quad core extreme intel on a 500W. I'm surprised they can run it all on 750W.
And the speed benefits of running a scsi or sas setup are noticeable, and if you're going to the bleeding edge with two of the best video cards out there, one of the best processors out there, why not attempt for the fastest harddrive setup possible?
It's not the "I have a trust fund" box, you idiot, it's the "I'm not 18 box." Ya know, some people are 30, single, and have plenty of money because of the "no kids or wife" thing. - rcsheets, on 10/11/2007, -4/+14It's not meant to be a server. For that matter, it's the "God Box", not "God Machine". GG reading comprehension.
- FizixMan, on 10/11/2007, -9/+19Ahh, need a motherboard don't we?
Add another $72.99 to it. ><
Ok Digg, feel free to digg me down for ass talkage.
Most motherboards provide onboard video/audio -- he didn't ask for a gaming rig did he?
(I don't think I've ever had to buy an operating system -- I'd sure as heck prefer to wipe out the polluted one Dell provides and load my own)
Linux for the win? - psykiv, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10@spelvin? How about $259.95? It's only 95 cents over
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106040 Combo Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811147046 Case w/ 350w Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822145082 80GB SATA Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820609084 512mb DDR2 RAM
The motherboard/cpu are in a combo
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103046 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813135039 Mobo
CPU/Mobo Combo: $106.99
Ram: $17.99
80GB SATA HDD: $39.99
Case: $25.99
Combo Drive: $26.99
Shipping: $15
Total at Newegg: $232.95
*Wireless* Logitech Keyboard/Mouse on Fleabay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270129333402 $27 Shipped
Total: $259.95 Shipped - tnvwboy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10I disagree. "Budget" doesn't mean piece of crap. It means you want a decent machine but you have other things you need to spend your money on. Most built in monitor speakers sound like total crap. Even a cheap pair of desktop speakers ($20-30 range) will blow away most built-ins.
- MackPrime, on 10/11/2007, -10/+19The "God Machine" eh? They seem to present it as a server but recommend 2 x PCIe video cards. Why ?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+11Great guide. I suggest anyone who still buys their computers from DELL/ HP etc read this, and learn it.
You will do yourself a huge favor in the long run, and its cheaper to build your own also. - Spuy767, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11Unfortunately, you are right, now Digg is merely a soapbox on which to stand an spout meaningless opinions. Digg is a mere husk of its former self.
- n0va, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Shouldn't the keyboard in the God Box be Optimus Maximus?
- XTX7X, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9You forgot the fusion power plant and liquid nitrogen required to power and cool a Pentium D at 4 GHz.
Also, an 8800Ultra is the *worst* GPU decision out there. It's just an overclocked 8800GTX for $200 more. Save the cash and buy a liquid cooling system and do some higher OC's yourself. - kent1146, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9"i dont know maybe not i didnt read the whole thingy since i build my own comps and dont need help"
"Wait. People that read Ars Technica don't already know how to put together a system? Shocking."
There's a big difference between knowing how to put parts together (ie, put processor A in socket B), and knowing how to select the best parts. The tricky part is, everybody thinks they know how to select the best parts, including you two (a little humility goes a long way). If all of it was plain-as-day obvious like you think it is, then half of the forum threads at HardOCP, SharkyForums, AnandTech, ExtremeTech, etc wouldn't exist.
Having any hardware guide like this is just something to start discussion, or provide mental masturbation to those who can't afford a $10,000 system. - rompom7, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7spelvin: "You show me where I can buy the parts to build a AMD Athlon 64 3600+ X2 Dual Core, 512MB DDR2, 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive and 48X CD-RW/DVD with Case, power supply, Logitech Keyboard and mouse for less than $259 and I will never consider a Dell again."
Thats the thing, you can keep your old case, you can keep the powersupply, you can keep mouse, keyboard, hard drives, RAM (if it is the right speed/size) and CD/DVD Drives.Then you just go buy a new Motherboard, CPU, an extra stick of RAM, and a Graphics card.
I don't know about outside of Australia, but Dell have cheap PCs, but nothing cheaper than I could put together. And the most important aspect is CHOICE. I can go online and read reviews about good motherboards, RAM, gfx cards, etc, and choose any component I want. I can make sure that I'm getting the best bang for my buck.
If you think you are a crafty consumerist because you bought a Dell, think again, there are lots of places to get cheap hardware and only upgrade the parts that you need to, when you need to. I suggest also to look around for cheap hardware vendors, newegg (from what I have heard) are good, but local vendors might be cheaper. - oxuultae, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I miss the days when practically everyone on Digg was just a fan of Kevin Rose.
- xspinkickx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I love how the god box has a recommended OS, and it suggest Linux but tells you to get an XFI card, which btw is not supported by alsa or have workable alsa drivers for the card. Maybe they should research a little better, btw my primary OS is linux, and while the XFI cards are great I am not touching them until they work in linux, other wise its an expensive paperweight.
- rompom7, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8Maybe the submitter thought it was Speak like a Pirate day.
ARRRRS Technica. - psykiv, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4too late for the edit, but you can definitely pick up a wired logitech keyboard and mouse for less than $25 (making it under the $259 mark). You didn't mention if yours was wireless or not.
- colonelpanic, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5I get scared when my customers try and build their own pcs. It usually results in a big mess I need to clean up.
- lazerasa, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3uhhh, Ars does this every few months... Why is this news all of a sudden?
- Spelvin, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4@noch
http://www.dealsofamerica.com/dellcoupons.php
call that bluff....new deals listed daily, I just pulled the first one I saw.
As for keeping your old equipment, at this point I would need new RAM, since mine is DDR not DDR2, New Graphics card as I have an AGP and would need a PCIe, New DVD burner as most new decent motherboards have SATA only....
Also the "old" PC is fine in this case so why not use it as a HTPC or something else. It is still cheaper for me to buy the stupid Dell then it is to build one of the same specs. I attribute it to the Quantity that they move...I am not saying it is right, but I am saying its cheap. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7UPS? Dual LCD's? $400 speakers? Tape backup? Linux on a gaming system (are there really enough games to justify this)? WTF
I understand this is supposed to be overkill, but at this point it seems asinine..unless you're planning to run a server or something. - Durinthal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Do you have anything better to suggest?
- tnvwboy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Being a Budget Buyer myself right now I appreciated their comments on many of the parts. One thing that bugged me is that most of us have decent peripherals already.
My computer up and died on me a couple months ago (thank god for a laptop from work). The DVD burner, HD, Monitor, Keyboard/Mouse, etc are all fine. I could build my own but I did that already and my wife gives me hell for it constantly. "I've never had problems with my Gateway. It's because of that AMD chip." Blah Blah. So I've been looking at pre-built. The best I've see in terms of flexibility and price has been from IBuyPower.com. Any thoughts there? The prices I've seen there are pretty comparable to what are in this article (in terms of total price).
Help a guy out here. Am I better off just building my own again and risking the wrath of the wife or is iBuyPower decent? - Allanon, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Why not put Vista on the God Box? It seems like it was built to play games and Vista is the next gen PC gaming platform. The Box has all the requirements for Vista and DirectX 10 so why not go with it?
- OBKenobi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3[quote]Nobody reads to get advice on how to build a server to run Oracle.[/quote]
Speak for yourself, junior. The cutting edge isn't taught in schools. I have built several servers for clients and I need to know all the latest *****. They're better than that overpriced HP junk, if I do say so myself. - SLKR, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Xp home can only use 1 physical cpu, but it will work with a multi core cpu, which count as logical processors not physical.
- immrlizard, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3@ scabbers
I agree! It will eventually change though. They will eventually stop making them. I do have to admit that I have never gamed on a high end LCD, but that is because of price. - LegendOfLink, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4If you've read Ars over the years, you'd soon discover that the God Box is usually a ridiculously juiced up computer. It's unrealistic and overly powerful; hence the "God" part.
But it's a great guide. Keep up the good work Ars, you guys rock. - sk545, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think its cheaper to build it yourself, however, thats only if you have a few things: A) Time B) Patience C) Copy of Windows D) Ghosting program.
The computer itself is easy to build, its the software that kills you. Windows comes for "Free" on a Dell and sometimes the monitor is also included. So, if you want to start from scratch and have no parts, get a Dell. If you have Windows and some parts left over (monitor, ram, case, psu, dvd drive), build one yourself or try to upgrade the cpu/ram/hd if possible instead.
Obviously, this advise applies to the average user. - Shuk, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4If you buy the God Box, the motherboard makes the sound "pe-pupu-pe-pupu-pe-pupu-pe...pu......pu" on boot up.
- nicc, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3amazing that on the hot-rod and the god box they are still pushing crap like Creative for audio!
- mbthompson, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Apple users move along, this fun hobby is exclusively for PC users. :-P
- XTX7X, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5ebfoxbat, although some may have moral quarrels with the RIAA stealing profits from artists, there is no "teh big corpor4t10n", not even Microsoft, that can justify pirating an operating system. You're only screwing over programmers, and it's not right. Windows is actually very fairly priced- $100-$300 for something that your computer cannot function without, just like a processor, motherboard, etc.
Don't like it? Use Linux. - SaII, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2buried for ars being an asus wh0r
- Timmmm, on 10/11/2007, -6/+7"If your looking..."
Arrrggh! Buried. - tony4moroney, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@fizux man. oh how i envy you. if only they had prices like that down here. no real online retailers. computer part stores = more expensive then a dell machine. yep. thats right.
- Error601, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2For people that haven't noticed computers became a commodity many years ago?
- tybris, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Meh, boring. This is not at all about building a CPU out of transistors.
- Paulk501, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Ive got the same MB in my computer, but not the quad or the video cards, or 4gigs of ram( 2gbis what i have)
- funkydopeloven, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1not quite the specs spelvin was looking for but its only $199.99 :)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3174615&sku=P459-1232%20B&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEM1386SX - superdoug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1http://duggmirror.com/hardware/ARS_Technica_s_Do_It_Yourself_Computer_Building_Guide http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200706.html
- ProBeast, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Good article, but why not mention that Linux and X-FI don't really mix and offer an alternative sound card solution? :)
- thinman1189, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Great guide. I wish they had one for getting a good laptop, preferably Linux friendly.
- psykiv, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@funkydopeloven
As much as PC Chips motherboards suck (seriously, couldn't they have thrown in an ECS, Foxconn, or MSI?) thats actually not a bad price. Its one of those perfect for resale things. You just need a mouse + keyboard and monitor. Too bad for me that price will include tax and shipping (ive never seen that at their outlet store) so it kind of kills it :( -
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