"Jamie" == Jamie Guinan <guinan@bluebutton.com> writes:
Jamie> I've built a few PCs over the past few years, so I can share Jamie> some experiences. Jamie> #3: AMD64 x2, Tyan motherboard with NVidia chipset, Jamie> Coolermaster Centurion case. This is my main system these Jamie> days, it runs quiet, and I'm happy with every part of it. Jamie> Wattage numbers: How good is the video? Do you need the NV proprietary kernel module? I'm really just interested in great 2-D graphics, with some 3-d, but I don't play games much at all these days, so I don't care. Mostly, I'm looking for clear crisp text. The AMDs just rock. Jamie> The VIAs are seductive, but when I looked harder at them, they Jamie> either required small (=noisy) fans, Jamie> http://mini-itx.com/news/images/story0386-05L.jpg Jamie> or ridiculous heatsinking to run fanless, Jamie> http://www2.multithread.co.uk/images/en12000e_alt1_large.jpg Jamie> So I would avoid them. True, but they are tempting just from the size/power constraint, plus they usually have a couple of PCI slots and built-in video... Jamie> For server purposes, it sounds like reusing your existing Dell Jamie> box is ideal. I still have my former main desktop (2x Celeron Jamie> 466) running my internal web server, Postgresql, etc. I'm starting to think that this is the way to go really. And I think I could even stuff the DLT drive into the box, to make it even smaller. Jamie> For the desktop, if I were building a new system today, I would Jamie> look into the Intel core2/double/duo/whatever, retail packaging Jamie> for the nice quiet Intel fan, and a mobo with an Intel graphics Jamie> chipset. The core/foo's run lower wattage than recent AMDs (I Jamie> hear), the Intel graphics are decent for 3D stuff, and the GPU Jamie> drivers are open source. No dealing with ATI/NVidia driver Jamie> madness. I dunno... I like the AMD opterons we have here at work, but it's not really that big a deal I guess. Which ever has the best price/power/cost metric. Now the Intel graphics are nice, if only because the specs are available, and I certainly don't need super-duper graphics. My Matrox G450 still does a nice job for what I want it to do. Thanks for the hints. John