Good machine for app dev

[chows3]

What makes a good machine that will be mainly used for application development. The 2 components that I think will make the most difference are the amount of memory and the hd speed, do you agree? Will a see a noticeable increase in performance if I use dual channel DDR?

Software I'll be running daily are vs.net 2003, iis, sql server, vmware, msword (for documentation). I like to play games occasionnally - call of duty, rise of nation, rpgs. The rig I am considering so far is:

MSI K7N2 Delta-L
AMD XP 2500+
512-MB (2x256-MB) PC3200 Kingston ValueRAM
80 GB Western Digital SE (8MB cache)

 

[mindless1]

Well if this is the ONLY machine you'll be using and testing app dev. on, you want just the opposite of your goal, a deliberately low performance machine, so you'll know how it runs on lesser spec systems.

Anyway, the parts you list look like a good value-priced system for general purpose use, except that the WD hard drive is louder but no better performance than the other alternatives these days, like Maxtor, Seagate, or Samsung. Mainly those WDs still use ball-bearings in their 8MB version AFAIK, while a liquid-bearing drive is a better choice.

Frankly, today if I only had one drive in a box I'd be wanting something larger than 80GB, even if you don't PLAN to need the space it's seldom I hear someone complaining that they have too much free space... at worst you can have multiple partitions and keep all files on the first, outer, faster portion of the drive.

Also, today it makes more sense to buy 2 x 512MB memory modules... or just 1 - 512MB now and another later instead of having to scrap both 256MB modules when you later want to upgrade memory, which I think you will if you only started with 512MB. Best is to buy both 512MB at same time so you know they work TOGETHER, stabily on the m'board.

NOthing wrong with a regular XP2500 but if you have any inclination to overclock, better to get the Mobile Barton.

 

[DaveSimmons]

For VMWare having 1 GB is a good idea.

I'd get a 120 GB Samsung with 3-year warranty.

CD or DVD burner for backups.

For 3D you might get by with a used gf4 ti4200, but of course a 9800 pro would be ideal for 3D games.

CPU is fine, I wasn't having any problems with good-sized VC++ 6 programs (7.5 MB of source in 500+ files) with just a P3 933 MHz, though for building a new system it seems a shame not to get an A64 3000+ instead. VMWare and games would see a significant jump in speed since that A64 is something like an XP 3600+ or better in speed.

 

[chows3]

What can I say, but budget is tight.

I can only afford 512MB at the moment. I'm interested to know what is the difference in real world performance compared to 2x256MB.

I picked WD for the better performance from the 8MB cache. Now I am having seconds thoughts. It seems they run noticeably louder than other hds. Between quieter and faster, I'll pick quieter everytime. So which hd manufacturer provides a good balance of speed & noise.

What about mb, is MSI K7N2 Delta-L a good choice?

Thanks

 

[mindless1]

Many drives now have 8MB cache, it was simply that WD was amoung the first to bring that to PATA, but nowdays you can take your pick, you can't expect a WD to be any faster, just louder. Oddly their 2MB cache drives had already went to liquid bearing, i never understood why as it would seem to be a bit backwards from a product tiering perspective but perhaps it all boiled down to which factory made which drive.

I already mentioned the three drives I'd consider, Maxtor, Seagate, and Samsung. The Samsung seems quietest to me, though they're all close, the Maxtor the louder drive but in sustained read it also seems faster by a hair... buy based on price unless the Samsung's longer 3 yr warranty is important, though Maxtor seems to have more rebates for B&M stores in the US.

Dual-channel memory is most critical with integrated video, more important on a P4 too, but still you might expect 5-10% benefit, though like anything else it depends on the application, some things aren't memory bound. However, in the PC biz the slightest performance difference is overexaggerated, nForce2 isn't faster than KT600 when in single channel mode, actually KT600 might be faster then and already has native SATA. Even so, I'd get an nForce2 with only one memory module with a plan to buy a second 51MB module later, but that's just me... when talking performance, you will exceed 512MB of memory usage for anything modern quite easily, plus with WinXP not needing to be rebooted so often you can run code from the vcache so the HDD speed matters even less... IF you have enough memory to do so.

Motherboard, could spend a day on that alone... Best deal right now is a Newegg Refurb'd Asus A7N88X Dlx or "-E" Dlx, $39/50 delivered. If paying full price I'd probably get an Abit NF-7 though with nForce2 you have to decide if the upgraded audio is worth paying for (in other words, do you already have a decent sound card). I'm too lazy at the moment to look up the feature set for the MSI but if that's what you want, you could certainly do a lot worse than MSI.

Check out the motherboard forums at amdmb.com, for many of the more popular boards there is a great collection of user's experiences, tweaks, mods, etc.