Techie!!! here techie!!!! r.e. super computer

[random]

OK so not really a super computer but I have decided to build 1 with say 8 gigs ram 3 terrabytes hard drive a couple CD/RW's all that stuff (thanks EBAY!) but what does the giga hertz and all that mean with the processors? you see nice ones with 4 gig ram with 2.6 Ghz and fairly generic ones with 1 or 2 gig ram and 3.6 Ghz I want the best of the best, my theory is to build 1 and avoid all this upgrade.......upgrade expense just update the OS as needed every 5 years or so. It'll be an Asus motherboard designed for 8 gigs ram and run windows 7 I guess because XP won't read that much ram.

 

Anything else you think might be useful for my project please include it..........of course in simple terms please

 

The goal is to click and there is the program no waiting even while multiple programs are running.........be nice to burn a dvd while doing somthing else like watching a movie and surfing the internet etc. I'm not a gamer either just movies

[insane_alien]

OK so not really a super computer but I have decided to build 1 with say 8 gigs ram 3 terrabytes hard drive a couple CD/RW's all that stuff (thanks EBAY!) but what does the giga hertz and all that mean with the processors?

 

1 gigahertz means the processor has 1billion (1 000 000 000) clock cycles per second.

 

 

The goal is to click and there is the program no waiting even while multiple programs are running.........be nice to burn a dvd while doing somthing else like watching a movie and surfing the internet etc. I'm not a gamer either just movies

 

define " no waiting" there will be nothing instantaneous and even then, if its a pig of a program to load then its going to take a while no matter how fast your PC is.

 

also, burning a DVD and watching a movie can be easily accomplished with even a cheap computer these days.

[Xittenn]

Look for something iCore probably an i5 processor LGA1156 maybe LGA1155 .....

 

Video cards are really important in general and insuring that you have the proper case and power supply to adequately cool your system is also important. Myself I have soaked $400 bucks into my case, power supply and heat sink(liquid cooling, radiator) all corsair.

 

An SSD drive will really boost things like system startup times and will play an important factor in your no wait scenario. You really don't have to spend thousands to get a good computer these days. It isn't like when the 80286 came out and a system sold for $20 000 and had a Meg of RAM and a 100Meg HDD that had transfer rates slower than old ADSL. Knowing what you will be using it for is always helpful .... if it's scientific computing and you need a super computer knowing what your expectations are can make a reply more relevant.

[Blahah]

Upgrading is cheaper than buying the best machine up front, because components get cheaper over time, i.e. the price per GHz or per GB decreases very quickly over time. Nothing wrong with building a really nice PC, I'm just saying it's always cheaper to upgrade in a few years than to buy extra capacity in anticipation. It's especially true of RAM where you can just fill another slot in a few years.

[wikki]

this is my super computer specs.

 

1. intel core i7 (3.47 Ghz) extreme edition .....( i have liquid cooling or this baby gets super hot).

2. intel extreme motherboard top of the line dont remember the model (its brand new tho)

3. 16gb ram

4. 2 TB hard drive (enough for me)

5. Antec case P180b

6. graphics card is Ati radeon 5870 HD

7. Bluray drive plus other formats.

[Schrödinger's hat]

this is my super computer specs.

 

1. intel core i7 (3.47 Ghz) extreme edition .....( i have liquid cooling or this baby gets super hot).

2. intel extreme motherboard top of the line dont remember the model (its brand new tho)

3. 16gb ram

4. 2 TB hard drive (enough for me)

5. Antec case P180b

6. graphics card is Ati radeon 5870 HD

7. Bluray drive plus other formats.

 

If you want your system to be responsive you're probably a lot better off spending your money on an SSD for your OS and programs volume (and then a HDD for bulk storage) than buying a high end CPU. Ram is a good idea too (16GB should be more than even the most bloaty programs use for a few years yet, for most purposes at least).

 

<Shameless plug> Also picking the right software can make a huge difference. As an extreme example I installed a lightweight linux on my eee recently and it's far more responsive than many newer desktop machines with windows 7 i have used </shameless plug>

[TonyMcC]

I don't think spending a lot of money on a system that wont need updating for many years is a practical proposition. Program development and operating system size demands more and more of everything on an exponential curve. Take your suggestion for 16 GBytes of ram for example. It sounds a lot but you have to wonder why some versions of Windows7 can handle 192 GBytes. What do Windows developers know that we don't know?

Probably the most economical path is to buy (or make up) a computer that very comfortably meets your needs with a fair margin and resign yourself to a decision to update or buy new when developments dictate (IMO).

Edited April 4, 2011 by TonyMcC

[keelanz]

OK so not really a super computer but I have decided to build 1 with say 8 gigs ram 3 terrabytes hard drive a couple CD/RW's all that stuff (thanks EBAY!) but what does the giga hertz and all that mean with the processors? you see nice ones with 4 gig ram with 2.6 Ghz and fairly generic ones with 1 or 2 gig ram and 3.6 Ghz I want the best of the best, my theory is to build 1 and avoid all this upgrade.......upgrade expense just update the OS as needed every 5 years or so. It'll be an Asus motherboard designed for 8 gigs ram and run windows 7 I guess because XP won't read that much ram.

 

Anything else you think might be useful for my project please include it..........of course in simple terms please

 

The goal is to click and there is the program no waiting even while multiple programs are running.........be nice to burn a dvd while doing somthing else like watching a movie and surfing the internet etc. I'm not a gamer either just movies

 

your attempting a pretty much impossible task without a good cause but hey lol, before you even go into clock cycles and multi threading all you really need is a half decent PC hooked up to a server bank (pref fible optics) then run your pc virtually of the server, thats pretty much the best solution for building the powerfulest machine without having to build IC & switch's & firmware in between.

 

good luck

 

if your goal is to play movies and burn disks p4 3.0 with 1gb RAM 160 gb HD and radeon HD 3450 will do ya, whatever you save on the PC spend on a 42" HD TV and a small surround sound and you'll have a home cinema in HD, buy a blue ray player and maybe some more RAM, just giving you a feel

 

to be honest id get a ps3 and a decent tv if your going for movies, whatever you save from making the super computer use to make a decent PC and go linux to optimise the PC's potential, go dual boot with windows 7 for media and familiarity but get ubuntu or any user friendly distro & thats probably the best you can get with your money

Edited April 14, 2011 by keelanz

[pwagen]

Like others have said, it's probably not a very practical idea.

 

However, if you want to do a few things at the same time, I'm guessing a multi core processor would be a good idea, so each process gets their own core to work on. But even then, you probably wouldn't need more than a quad core (4 cores), because really, how many programs are you planning to run simultaneously? But then again, I'm not 100% sure how multi-cores work, in reality.

 

As for your "click and it happens", get an SSD drive, as have already been mentioned. They are quite expensive per storage space you get, compared to normal ones. But a lot faster. To see just how fast, have a look at this demo:

 

 

While you probably shouldn't expect that kind of insane performance without a ridiculously overpowered system, you should get an idea of the difference. The people I've talked to that don't have such a drive say it's not worth it. However, the people I've talked to that have one says it is, so I'm guessing one should take their word for it.