Help Me Configure Eventual Kentsfield System

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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)

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?

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!

And point 5, look into the new Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 disks, http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/ma [...] 200_10.pdf they are the best disks on the market at 7.2k rpm - and performance is damn close to the Raptors, plus they are HUGE (like up to 750GB)

Yes, I read that in Wiki how Home Basic and Premium may be restricted to 8GB and 16GB respectively but not Ultimate, right? (I wonder how many seconds it will take for the hacker community to "unlock" the final release install CD for Home Basic that turns it into Premium...)

All I know about Xeon is that he is supposed to have thrown a few billion souls from his Space DC-8 into a volcano and nuked them! And that I learned from South Park.

Aren't FBDIMMS slower or more ornery than DDRs?

Those Barracuda 7200.10 disks look sweet! A couple of their 300GBs would really hit the spot!

Thanks!

Why worry about it now, you still have a couple of months. I would say just chill back, relax, and troll the boards slowly.

In answer to some of the questions, I agree about the new 320 gig PMR drives, offer some of the best performance for 7.2k RPM drive's I've seen. If your a back-up freak, then you might love this case:

http://www.hardware-review.net/htm [...] e&sid=2099

It's for a niche market, but you might fit into it.

Biggets PSU is PC P&C 1000W right now, with a 1200W coming out soon... but I don't know why you want that much. Planning on powering your whole house?

Most mobo's will come with basic sound, so your good there too. Mobo's for Kentfield should work on existing mobo's but I would hold off on buying a mobo now in case any complications arise... O.O

1) My PSU power requirements? At one point or another in its imagineering, this potential configuration could have had 4 150GB Raptors on RAID 1, an additional external HD, possibly a Quad SLI, 16GB RAM, and a Kentsfield that under load could draw just short of 200W. Yeah, I need a big muther power supply. It's getting to the point where PCs pull more juice than Air Conditioners!!!

2) I like that huge case, but I'm already well equipped with a monster setup with room for over a dozen internal HDs with a 305mm fan which is like building a PC in a wind tunnel. (See my post in Overclocking>Coolers & Heatsinks)

3) I'm not gonna buy anything until Spring at the earliest. Hell, Vista might not even be out by then!

4) Granted that FBDIMMs may now be the only way to get over 8GB, but it might be a good gamble to go with 4x2GB DDRsomethings and expect that within the next year 4GB sticks might be available. I can appreciate AMD and have used their chips for years, but right at this time, it's advantage Intel. However, that might change with their 4X4.

P.S. Anyone have a relatively reasonable estimate of when DirectX10 cards will be out?