recommendation for dev system
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen -
What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenBasically, Sempron is the successor to the Athlon XP. Price/performance is naturally better than a P4 once you go above mid range. I doubt two hard drives make that much difference, better get one drive with an 8MB internal buffer. Elaine :rose: PS I just but an Athlon64 3.5GHz Shuttle SFF together, lovely but a bit more than €440 ! The tigress is here :-D
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Basically, Sempron is the successor to the Athlon XP. Price/performance is naturally better than a P4 once you go above mid range. I doubt two hard drives make that much difference, better get one drive with an 8MB internal buffer. Elaine :rose: PS I just but an Athlon64 3.5GHz Shuttle SFF together, lovely but a bit more than €440 ! The tigress is here :-D
You got it then? :cool: The Athlon is purring away quite happily upstairs. As I write I'm using it via Remote Desktop (over wi-fi) to debug some multithreading code... Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen- nForce3 motherboard that supports the 939-pin Athlon64 (about $150) - comes with sound/LAN/video - Athlon64 3000/939 (only 149!) If you already have DDR memory, you can use it in this system. There's absolutely no reason not to go to a 64-bit cpu. I would avoid the 754-pin Amd64 stuff because a) it's at the end of it's life-cycle, b) a 939-pin chip of comparable speed is the same price, and c) the 939-pin chips make less heat and use less power than the 754's. If you want memory, a 1-gb stick of name-brand DDR400 (PC3200) goes for about $280, but you can use lower-speed memory if money is tight. I use two drives in all of my systems. A small one for the boot drive, and a larger one for data. That way, if I have to wipe the boot drive and start over, all I've really lost is the OS. ------- sig starts "I've heard some drivers saying, 'We're going too fast here...'. If you're not here to race, go the hell home - don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Why don't you tie a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001
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Basically, Sempron is the successor to the Athlon XP. Price/performance is naturally better than a P4 once you go above mid range. I doubt two hard drives make that much difference, better get one drive with an 8MB internal buffer. Elaine :rose: PS I just but an Athlon64 3.5GHz Shuttle SFF together, lovely but a bit more than €440 ! The tigress is here :-D
Trollslayer wrote: I doubt two hard drives make that much difference, better get one drive with an 8MB internal buffer. Depends ;) I have 2 WD drives with 8MB buffer, and they are running in RAID 0. It makes a fairly big difference :) - Anders Bill's Bar
My PhotosWDevs - The worlds first DSP, free blog space, email and more. Now also with forums :)
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You got it then? :cool: The Athlon is purring away quite happily upstairs. As I write I'm using it via Remote Desktop (over wi-fi) to debug some multithreading code... Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
Yes, a black lump that you have to lean over to hear ! :laugh: I've even got Redhat9 running under Virtual PC (trail version) so I can get my Linux up to speed enough for interviews, faster than native on other PCs. It looks like I'll be ending up in Cambridge or near Macnhester so I'll let you know as soon as something happens.. Elaine (64 bit fluffy tigress) The tigress is here :-D
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Yes, a black lump that you have to lean over to hear ! :laugh: I've even got Redhat9 running under Virtual PC (trail version) so I can get my Linux up to speed enough for interviews, faster than native on other PCs. It looks like I'll be ending up in Cambridge or near Macnhester so I'll let you know as soon as something happens.. Elaine (64 bit fluffy tigress) The tigress is here :-D
Cool :) Good luck with the job hunt! By the sound of it, you already have a couple of good possibilities. Ironically I've already got friends in both areas... Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenThough I use P4s only, the debate between Intel and AMD has become moot - they're both damn fast. In the future I think I'll let motherboard features control the decision, and let the chips fall where they may. The additional cost of RAM is so small now that I'd start out at 1 GB, but make sure you have room for expansion on the MB. Windows isn't going to get smaller anytime soon. Whether you use one or many hard drives is largely a matter of personal preference. Multiple drives can improve performance in some situations - like keeping database and log files separate in SQL Server, or using a separate drive for the Windows swap files. I prefer multiple drives, as I've found that in the past Windows eventually grew to suck up all available space on the C: volume no matter how large I made it. I now dedicate one drive to Windows (and all those apps which don't let me choose an installation location written by amateurs), then add one or more drives to hold well behaved applications. In the next incarnation of this server - next time Windows crashes - I plan to add two more drives to the current 3 x 60 GB set, and combine 4 of them in a RAID5 set. The remaining solo drive will be the boot and system drive, and a volume in the RAID set will be reserved for backing up the primary. I haven't tried a SATA drive yet, but it is becoming common to find SATA implemented on motherboards these days. There must be some reason for that; it's catching on far better and faster than SCSI, which never was worth the extra cost to me. "If it's Snowbird season, why can't we shoot them?" - Overheard in a bar in Bullhead City
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenOn the memory; I'm running SQL Server, IIS and VS.NET on my laptop. When I first got it it had 512mb and was workable though not fantastic, certainly less than I expected from a P4 3.2Ghz. I then received the other 512mb stick and holy smokes, Batman! It makes a big difference. So get at least 1Gig. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?
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- nForce3 motherboard that supports the 939-pin Athlon64 (about $150) - comes with sound/LAN/video - Athlon64 3000/939 (only 149!) If you already have DDR memory, you can use it in this system. There's absolutely no reason not to go to a 64-bit cpu. I would avoid the 754-pin Amd64 stuff because a) it's at the end of it's life-cycle, b) a 939-pin chip of comparable speed is the same price, and c) the 939-pin chips make less heat and use less power than the 754's. If you want memory, a 1-gb stick of name-brand DDR400 (PC3200) goes for about $280, but you can use lower-speed memory if money is tight. I use two drives in all of my systems. A small one for the boot drive, and a larger one for data. That way, if I have to wipe the boot drive and start over, all I've really lost is the OS. ------- sig starts "I've heard some drivers saying, 'We're going too fast here...'. If you're not here to race, go the hell home - don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Why don't you tie a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001
John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: I use two drives in all of my systems. A small one for the boot drive, and a larger one for data. That way, if I have to wipe the boot drive and start over, all I've really lost is the OS Very good point .. but you can accomplish the same thing via 2 partitions on a single drive. So if money is an issue this reason alone may not be enough to justify the extra money.
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Trollslayer wrote: I doubt two hard drives make that much difference, better get one drive with an 8MB internal buffer. Depends ;) I have 2 WD drives with 8MB buffer, and they are running in RAID 0. It makes a fairly big difference :) - Anders Bill's Bar
My PhotosWDevs - The worlds first DSP, free blog space, email and more. Now also with forums :)
Anders Molin wrote: I have 2 WD drives with 8MB buffer, and they are running in RAID 0. It makes a fairly big difference I agree. I know it is application dependant, but if you need anything to write fast, you need RAID 0. There was a review somewhere on the net for when RAID 0 no longer gave you a read-benefit and I think it was just past 2 drives (2 drives gave good benefit, but after 2, benefits were much smaller). I don't recall who did that assessment though. I have Raid0 because of our other group who does digital streaming video, and they use constant highspeed read-write, and always use Raid0. I will have to ask on their improvements. My computers are duplicates of theirs, thus many Raid0 with a high-end graphics card. I do high speed reading of digital terrain, paged from disks, and I notice the performance hit on any single drive system, even high speed drives. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: I use two drives in all of my systems. A small one for the boot drive, and a larger one for data. That way, if I have to wipe the boot drive and start over, all I've really lost is the OS Very good point .. but you can accomplish the same thing via 2 partitions on a single drive. So if money is an issue this reason alone may not be enough to justify the extra money.
David Patrick wrote: Very good point .. but you can accomplish the same thing via 2 partitions on a single drive. So if money is an issue this reason alone may not be enough to justify the extra money. true, but multiple partitions means quick-seeks from one end of the disk to the other, reduces performance, and increases disk failure (though not super significantly on the latter). I still prefer two drives on different channels for full speed access to each drive. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenI am also looking for a new system. My setup will include 1 giga of memory, AMD 64, 128 MB radeon(?) One harddisk is enough on a dev system. More important is to install two XP's on your system(if you have company licence, of course). One on C and one on D. It is a life-saver when things go wrong and perfect for doing backups by copying the whole partition to another harddisk. (€500 no peripherals) jhaga --------------------------------- Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: I use two drives in all of my systems. A small one for the boot drive, and a larger one for data. That way, if I have to wipe the boot drive and start over, all I've really lost is the OS Very good point .. but you can accomplish the same thing via 2 partitions on a single drive. So if money is an issue this reason alone may not be enough to justify the extra money.
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On the memory; I'm running SQL Server, IIS and VS.NET on my laptop. When I first got it it had 512mb and was workable though not fantastic, certainly less than I expected from a P4 3.2Ghz. I then received the other 512mb stick and holy smokes, Batman! It makes a big difference. So get at least 1Gig. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?
Paul Watson wrote: So get at least 1Gig. :(( Regards, Brian Dela :-) Now Bloging![^]
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I am also looking for a new system. My setup will include 1 giga of memory, AMD 64, 128 MB radeon(?) One harddisk is enough on a dev system. More important is to install two XP's on your system(if you have company licence, of course). One on C and one on D. It is a life-saver when things go wrong and perfect for doing backups by copying the whole partition to another harddisk. (€500 no peripherals) jhaga --------------------------------- Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
I use Ghost to backup my os drive. ------- sig starts "I've heard some drivers saying, 'We're going too fast here...'. If you're not here to race, go the hell home - don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Why don't you tie a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001
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I use Ghost to backup my os drive. ------- sig starts "I've heard some drivers saying, 'We're going too fast here...'. If you're not here to race, go the hell home - don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Why don't you tie a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001
I still think booting to another drive and copying is faster. Of course last time I did it, I was taken down by Mslaugh(alias Blaster) in ten seconds flat. :) jhaga --------------------------------- Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenThe Sempron is the new Duron (ie: the lower-end AMD processor). Go for the Athlon64, Socket939. I use 1G, which is very nice as AutoCAD is a memory hog. No need for 2 drives, but "more is better", and SATA is nice, but you don't *need* it. I wish I could get a new system like that for 440euros. The kindest thing you can do for a stupid person, and for the gene pool, is to let him expire of his own dumb choices. [Roger Wright on stupid people] We're like private member functions [John Theal on R&D] We're figuring out the parent thing as we go though. Kinda like setting up Linux for the first time ya' know... [Nitron]
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What would you recommend now for a midrange development system? I'm currently looking at a P4 system for €440 (no peripherals). Processor - P4 worth it? What is an "AMD Sempron"?? RAM - 512MB seems standard now. Would you recommend 1G? (have it at work, is a charm of course) HDD - do two drives still improve performance notably? is SATA worth the additional price?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenLike others have posted, gobs of memory will speed up your system more then anything else these days, so don't skimp. Personally, I'm a little paranoid about drive failures so I try to do raid 1 whenever I can. SATA is just much nicer to work with so do that if you can.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
