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orsino
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n°1264329
09-24-2006 at 03:25:41 PM

Some day in the distant future when Vista is actually stable and Kentsfields have come down in cost from their Q4 06 intro pricing, I'll want to retire the old Prescott 3.6 Supernova and put together a whole new system. I realize that some of the hardware isn't out yet, but I'm looking at what may be in the production pipeline. I am very accustomed to the way I use my PC, thus I have very specific requirements that will significantly vary from the "gamer" norm.

I only use the PC for Office, Photoshop and the usual web things. I do no OC'ing or gaming whatsoever. The only game I ever occasionally launch is SimCity 3000. However, I do have significant video requirements as I spend 3-6 hours a day watching Slingbox on my 19" Samsung 920N (not thru the tv, and eventually on a new 23-24" flatpanel). Right now I have a 6600 256MB that is giving me horrificly blotchy Sling video (although acceptable DVD or HD video play). I have to get the Sling video up to the best possible quality and "money is no object" on this particular requirement. Quad SLI, Octopus SLI, whatever. I just wanna watch the Bucs lose their games with the maximum clarity as possible. :roll:

More info on the Sling. I'm sucking in the data at exactly 420Kbps. There is no way to make it faster on the up or on this down end. That's it. To do anything else I'd have to move house on two continents.

I have "fairly" modest requirements on HD. I'd love to have two 300GB SATAs on RAID 1 as I'm a backup freak. I would also have an old leftover IDE drive on an external chassis to do critical backups and take them offsite to another building (in case of computer case theft, fire, etc.)

Basic cheap DVD reader is fine as I only use it for loading software and never burn a damn thing.

Basic sound card. I listen to music constantly but at barely above a whisper.

Don't even need Ethernet as it's a standalone PC and the ADSL comes in through USB. Same for Firewire, etc.

I'm going air cooling as I have a killer 305mm fan setup (For info, see my post in Overclocking>Coolers & Heatsinks) that if I add an external Peltier element is going to reverse global warming.

I want a 1337izoid PSU. A zillion watts would be nice. I also want it dead quiet but not watercooled. I have a Q in my Coolers post about killing the fans and plunking the PSU in front of the monster fan.

I want RAM and lots of it. I use Photoshop CS2 daily and it devours RAM faster than the 750 pound man eats Mars bars. Hate to sound like a n00b but all these RAM details make my eyes roll back in my head. Here are my RAM Qs:

1) What is the max "legitimate" RAM headroom for Vista? Not the max theoretical, but the max that actually can be commonly accessed with Photoshop.
2) Kentsfield uses DDR1? DDR2? Speed? Latency? What???
3) Are there any Kentsfield mobos in the pipeline that have more than 4 RAM slots?
4) ReadyBoost? ReadyDrive? ReadySetGo? Do any of these really do anything significant or is it all marketing hype, and if so should I pay to get flash, hybrid drives, etc.?

Thanks in advance for the assistance! :D

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spud
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n°1265094
09-25-2006 at 01:53:17 AM

Quote :

Some day in the distant future when Vista is actually stable and Kentsfields have come down in cost from their Q4 06 intro pricing, I'll want to retire the old Prescott 3.6 Supernova and put together a whole new system. I realize that some of the hardware isn't out yet, but I'm looking at what may be in the production pipeline. I am very accustomed to the way I use my PC, thus I have very specific requirements that will significantly vary from the "gamer" norm.

I only use the PC for Office, Photoshop and the usual web things. I do no OC'ing or gaming whatsoever. The only game I ever occasionally launch is SimCity 3000. However, I do have significant video requirements as I spend 3-6 hours a day watching Slingbox on my 19" Samsung 920N (not thru the tv, and eventually on a new 23-24" flatpanel). Right now I have a 6600 256MB that is giving me horrificly blotchy Sling video (although acceptable DVD or HD video play). I have to get the Sling video up to the best possible quality and "money is no object" on this particular requirement. Quad SLI, Octopus SLI, whatever. I just wanna watch the Bucs lose their games with the maximum clarity as possible. :roll:

More info on the Sling. I'm sucking in the data at exactly 420Kbps. There is no way to make it faster on the up or on this down end. That's it. To do anything else I'd have to move house on two continents.

I have "fairly" modest requirements on HD. I'd love to have two 300GB SATAs on RAID 1 as I'm a backup freak. I would also have an old leftover IDE drive on an external chassis to do critical backups and take them offsite to another building (in case of computer case theft, fire, etc.)

Basic cheap DVD reader is fine as I only use it for loading software and never burn a damn thing.

Basic sound card. I listen to music constantly but at barely above a whisper.

Don't even need Ethernet as it's a standalone PC and the ADSL comes in through USB. Same for Firewire, etc.

I'm going air cooling as I have a killer 305mm fan setup (For info, see my post in Overclocking>Coolers & Heatsinks) that if I add an external Peltier element is going to reverse global warming.

I want a 1337izoid PSU. A zillion watts would be nice. I also want it dead quiet but not watercooled. I have a Q in my Coolers post about killing the fans and plunking the PSU in front of the monster fan.

I want RAM and lots of it. I use Photoshop CS2 daily and it devours RAM faster than the 750 pound man eats Mars bars. Hate to sound like a n00b but all these RAM details make my eyes roll back in my head. Here are my RAM Qs:

1) What is the max "legitimate" RAM headroom for Vista? Not the max theoretical, but the max that actually can be commonly accessed with Photoshop.
2) Kentsfield uses DDR1? DDR2? Speed? Latency? What???
3) Are there any Kentsfield mobos in the pipeline that have more than 4 RAM slots?
4) ReadyBoost? ReadyDrive? ReadySetGo? Do any of these really do anything significant or is it all marketing hype, and if so should I pay to get flash, hybrid drives, etc.?

Thanks in advance for the assistance! :D



Bump.

//He seems to have a legitimate question regarding a system//

der_meister
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n°1265127
09-25-2006 at 02:14:58 AM

1) from what i have read Vista will need 800mb of ram to run stable.
2)Kentsfield will use DDR2, im guessing that it will be ddr2-800 since there arnt that many higher frequencie DDR2 moduals out at the moment, i think AMD would go for more of a main stream clock speed.
3)I dont think i have even heard of any kentsfield supporting mobos yet, i think in the next 3-4 months well know more.
4)have no idea.

Heyyou27
Still playing my Dreamcast
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n°1265163
09-25-2006 at 02:35:06 AM

I think you're best off waiting for the release of Kentsfield; by the time it's out, things may have changed quite a bit.

BaronMatrix
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n°1265202
09-25-2006 at 02:58:52 AM

Quote :

Some day in the distant future when Vista is actually stable and Kentsfields have come down in cost from their Q4 06 intro pricing, I'll want to retire the old Prescott 3.6 Supernova and put together a whole new system. I realize that some of the hardware isn't out yet, but I'm looking at what may be in the production pipeline. I am very accustomed to the way I use my PC, thus I have very specific requirements that will significantly vary from the "gamer" norm.

I only use the PC for Office, Photoshop and the usual web things. I do no OC'ing or gaming whatsoever. The only game I ever occasionally launch is SimCity 3000. However, I do have significant video requirements as I spend 3-6 hours a day watching Slingbox on my 19" Samsung 920N (not thru the tv, and eventually on a new 23-24" flatpanel). Right now I have a 6600 256MB that is giving me horrificly blotchy Sling video (although acceptable DVD or HD video play). I have to get the Sling video up to the best possible quality and "money is no object" on this particular requirement. Quad SLI, Octopus SLI, whatever. I just wanna watch the Bucs lose their games with the maximum clarity as possible. :roll:

More info on the Sling. I'm sucking in the data at exactly 420Kbps. There is no way to make it faster on the up or on this down end. That's it. To do anything else I'd have to move house on two continents.

I have "fairly" modest requirements on HD. I'd love to have two 300GB SATAs on RAID 1 as I'm a backup freak. I would also have an old leftover IDE drive on an external chassis to do critical backups and take them offsite to another building (in case of computer case theft, fire, etc.)

Basic cheap DVD reader is fine as I only use it for loading software and never burn a damn thing.

Basic sound card. I listen to music constantly but at barely above a whisper.

Don't even need Ethernet as it's a standalone PC and the ADSL comes in through USB. Same for Firewire, etc.

I'm going air cooling as I have a killer 305mm fan setup (For info, see my post in Overclocking>Coolers & Heatsinks) that if I add an external Peltier element is going to reverse global warming.

I want a 1337izoid PSU. A zillion watts would be nice. I also want it dead quiet but not watercooled. I have a Q in my Coolers post about killing the fans and plunking the PSU in front of the monster fan.

I want RAM and lots of it. I use Photoshop CS2 daily and it devours RAM faster than the 750 pound man eats Mars bars. Hate to sound like a n00b but all these RAM details make my eyes roll back in my head. Here are my RAM Qs:

1) What is the max "legitimate" RAM headroom for Vista? Not the max theoretical, but the max that actually can be commonly accessed with Photoshop.
2) Kentsfield uses DDR1? DDR2? Speed? Latency? What???
3) Are there any Kentsfield mobos in the pipeline that have more than 4 RAM slots?
4) ReadyBoost? ReadyDrive? ReadySetGo? Do any of these really do anything significant or is it all marketing hype, and if so should I pay to get flash, hybrid drives, etc.?

Thanks in advance for the assistance! :D



First, I'd say get the slowest clockspeed as 4 core will do the job at any speed. Second I'd say go for RAID1 with 2 Western Digital Raptors. Then definitely get at least a 7950GT\X1950. Other than that you just need an SLI or XFire mobo.

BaronMatrix
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n°1265203
09-25-2006 at 03:00:14 AM

Oh yeah Flash RAM, etc will be additions to Windows not the platform. Vista X64 will support more RAM than you can fit in the sockets.

djkrypplephite
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n°1265239
09-25-2006 at 03:39:28 AM

Quote :

1) from what i have read Vista will need 800mb of ram to run stable.
2)Kentsfield will use DDR2, im guessing that it will be ddr2-800 since there arnt that many higher frequencie DDR2 moduals out at the moment, i think AMD would go for more of a main stream clock speed.
3)I dont think i have even heard of any kentsfield supporting mobos yet, i think in the next 3-4 months well know more.
4)have no idea.



you can run kentsfield on any 975 or 965 board that runs conroe.

evilr00t
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n°1265258
09-25-2006 at 03:54:49 AM

Quote :

Are you kidding? Were still waiting for nforce590 for Conroe and conroe has been out nearly 2 months.


you can run kentsfield on any 975 or 965 board that runs conroe.

What does nforce 590 have anything to do with being to run kentsfield?

Stop the FUD, MMM.

BaronMatrix
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n°1265267
09-25-2006 at 03:58:19 AM

Quote :

Are you kidding? Were still waiting for nforce590 for Conroe and conroe has been out nearly 2 months.




The Intel version is called nForce 5. Yeah there is only ONE on Newegg for $250, but they will be at least a little mor eplentiful by the time Kentsfield releases (though that may depend on how much crow Intel is willing to eat as PD is 75% of their supply, including Core Duo, Core 2 and Woodcrest)

1Tanker
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n°1265495
09-25-2006 at 07:33:54 AM

Quote :

Are you kidding? Were still waiting for nforce590 for Conroe and conroe has been out nearly 2 months.

I swear, your Alzheimers gets much worse every day. :roll:

carlhungis
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n°1265603
09-25-2006 at 09:25:42 AM

Quote :

Some day in the distant future when Vista is actually stable and Kentsfields have come down in cost from their Q4 06 intro pricing, I'll want to retire the old Prescott 3.6 Supernova and put together a whole new system. I realize that some of the hardware isn't out yet, but I'm looking at what may be in the production pipeline. I am very accustomed to the way I use my PC, thus I have very specific requirements that will significantly vary from the "gamer" norm.

I only use the PC for Office, Photoshop and the usual web things. I do no OC'ing or gaming whatsoever. The only game I ever occasionally launch is SimCity 3000. However, I do have significant video requirements as I spend 3-6 hours a day watching Slingbox on my 19" Samsung 920N (not thru the tv, and eventually on a new 23-24" flatpanel). Right now I have a 6600 256MB that is giving me horrificly blotchy Sling video (although acceptable DVD or HD video play). I have to get the Sling video up to the best possible quality and "money is no object" on this particular requirement. Quad SLI, Octopus SLI, whatever. I just wanna watch the Bucs lose their games with the maximum clarity as possible. :roll:

More info on the Sling. I'm sucking in the data at exactly 420Kbps. There is no way to make it faster on the up or on this down end. That's it. To do anything else I'd have to move house on two continents.

I have "fairly" modest requirements on HD. I'd love to have two 300GB SATAs on RAID 1 as I'm a backup freak. I would also have an old leftover IDE drive on an external chassis to do critical backups and take them offsite to another building (in case of computer case theft, fire, etc.)

Basic cheap DVD reader is fine as I only use it for loading software and never burn a damn thing.

Basic sound card. I listen to music constantly but at barely above a whisper.

Don't even need Ethernet as it's a standalone PC and the ADSL comes in through USB. Same for Firewire, etc.

I'm going air cooling as I have a killer 305mm fan setup (For info, see my post in Overclocking>Coolers & Heatsinks) that if I add an external Peltier element is going to reverse global warming.

I want a 1337izoid PSU. A zillion watts would be nice. I also want it dead quiet but not watercooled. I have a Q in my Coolers post about killing the fans and plunking the PSU in front of the monster fan.

I want RAM and lots of it. I use Photoshop CS2 daily and it devours RAM faster than the 750 pound man eats Mars bars. Hate to sound like a n00b but all these RAM details make my eyes roll back in my head. Here are my RAM Qs:

1) What is the max "legitimate" RAM headroom for Vista? Not the max theoretical, but the max that actually can be commonly accessed with Photoshop.
2) Kentsfield uses DDR1? DDR2? Speed? Latency? What???
3) Are there any Kentsfield mobos in the pipeline that have more than 4 RAM slots?
4) ReadyBoost? ReadyDrive? ReadySetGo? Do any of these really do anything significant or is it all marketing hype, and if so should I pay to get flash, hybrid drives, etc.?

Thanks in advance for the assistance! :D



First, I'd say get the slowest clockspeed as 4 core will do the job at any speed. Second I'd say go for RAID1 with 2 Western Digital Raptors. Then definitely get at least a 7950GT\X1950. Other than that you just need an SLI or XFire mobo.

Since he said that he doesn't play games at all, would he really need such high end video cards and associated mobo's?

jamesgoddard
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n°1265780
09-25-2006 at 02:27:12 PM

Quote :

1) What is the max "legitimate" RAM headroom ? Not the max theoretical, but the max that actually can be commonly accessed with Photoshop.
2) Kentsfield uses DDR1? DDR2? Speed? Latency? What???
3) Are there any Kentsfield mobos in the pipeline that have more than 4 RAM slots?
4) ReadyBoost? ReadyDrive? ReadySetGo? Do any of these really do anything significant or is it all marketing hype, and if so should I pay to get flash, hybrid drives, etc.?

Thanks in advance for the assistance! :D



A1) With 64bit the "legitimate" RAM headroom for Vista is more then you could ever use - currently the limit is 1024GB, but this is a hardware limit.
A2) Kentsfield does not 'use' any memory type, this is all handled by the motherboards Northbridge. If someone releases a motherboard with socket 775 and DDR3, then Kentsfield will be able to use it etc..
A3) If you need more memory than 4 slots look to Xeon based motherboards, normal motherboards are limited to 4 sticks
A4) readyxxx will be useful when hardware that supports it is fully available, till then just don’t worry about it.

PS you know you can get 8GB on most current LGA775 motherboards using 2GB sticks, they cost but are available.

orsino
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n°1265927
09-25-2006 at 05:14:34 PM

Hey, thanks to everyone for the replies. They are extremely informative. I completely understand that this is all way premature and that there will be significant developments between now and then on features/specs/prices, etc., but I appreciate the opportunity to get a bird's eye view of what is likely coming down the pike for next year on this configuration.

I'd like to address several of the comments:

1) So we've been able to determine that Vista needs a minimum of .8GB and Vista x64 maxes out at a jaw-dropping 1TB. Yikes. It seems only yesterday that I used to make a small fortune upgrading Mac Pluses from 1MB to 4MB RAM! :)

2) Am I to understand that the RAM speed is irrelevant for quadcores? In that case, (should the mobo support it) would it be preferable to shell out the big bux and go with DDR3? Is there really a noticeable advantage between DDR 1, 2 and 3? Or just save the ca$h and get whatever DDR1 is on sale?

3) I'd love to get more than 8GB to throw at the ravenous Photoshop monster, so if I end up getting a Xeon mobo with, say, 8 RAM slots, I could dump 16GB into the system. Would that mobo support the Kentsfield or Core 2 Quadro or whatever the heck they're gonna call it? Do the Xeon mobos have a 775 socket? I thought Xeon was Socket 603/604/771. They're not compatible with C2Q are they?

4) The only reason for me as a non-gamer to blow the wad on video is that my Slingbox video really sux. I'd gladly pay $1,000 or more to get even a relatively minor image quality increase. As I said, I'm deadstuck on both ends with the net connections that exist and the relatively slow data transfer speeds of 420Kbps I'm getting now on the Sling until the ISPs decide to offer a bigger pipe which may not be for a couple of years!

5) Newegg has the Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 10,000 RPM SATA at $199 so that's a really great price for what you're getting. My concern was that I'd heard that 10,000 RPM drives are really noisy, two of them in the same case are unbearably whiny and I'm trying to keep the screech to a minimum. Would I be that much more handicapped with two larger, quieter 7,200 RPM drives on RAID 1?

6) Samsung seems to have that 32GB Flash ready to go, so wouldn't that work with Vista as of next year? Is there some other ReadyWhatever pratfall that I have to allow for?

Thanks again for your help!

jamesgoddard
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n°1266010
09-25-2006 at 06:13:18 PM

2 clarifications...

Firstly I hear that MS will put a 16GB memory of limit on 'home' editions of Vista, but the business versions will have no such limit.

Second, the 'Woodcrest' Xeons are exactly the same chip as C2D, just branded for servers and workstations, if you get a socket 771 motherboard and a couple of Woodcrest Xeon 51XX CPUs you are getting exactly the same as C2D, just with more memory. Oh yes, another thing, Xeon socket 771 motherboards all use FBDIMMS that max at 4GB a stick, so there are motherboards that support 32GB :)

jamesgoddard
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