God Box & Future predictions

[x35Agent]

HAVE FUN DREAM BIG

If you had $20,000 to spend on a computer not including software. What would you build. What do you think the God box will be in the year 2002?
I thought this would be a good theme to go along with all the "This is my System" posts. Just want to see what everyone is thinking. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[krusty the klown]

I would build a Beowulf system:
http://www.beowulf.org/
http://www.beowulf-underground.org/

from overclocked celery2's

and kick @ss at something..... dunno what! Praps I could hire out the computing time to someone wanting to do CFD or finite element analysis...... or to someone wasting to serrrrriously crack RC5 http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

and then in 2002, I'd be crying because my $20k Beowulf beast would be the equivalent of a 486 today http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/redface.gif

[akaBruno]

I'm waiting for the scratch and sniff monitor. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

Bruno

[krusty the klown]

I can see that those who frequent the XXX sites would be interested in that, too http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[akaBruno]

heheheh...

I was thinking more along the lines of cooking recipes... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[MadMatt]

Here's a fun exercise - go to Dell.com and price out an enterprise server. Max out everything and see what you get. I got it up over $156k for one box!

[NeilTrain]

I wish you could go to IBM and price out one of thier servers. I've heard of them selleing servers for like 5 million bucks. Huge racks with like 12 Pentium III Xeons each, a but-load of Ram, huge Hard drives, built in air-conditioners, backup generators, all hot swap components, you name it. They make a killing selling these to big companies.

<edit> Maybe i should just call them up, act like a im an important CEO somewhere, and tell them i want the best server they have, and then see what price they give me..... </edit>

[This message has been edited by NeilTrain (edited 06-09-2000).]

[krusty the klown]

LOL Bruno...... I believe you http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Joel Kleppinger]

Hmmm... This ought to be fun... let's see if I can nail it. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Dual P3 933EB CPUs - $1600
Tyan Thunder 2400 motherboard - $600
http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunder2400_p.html
1GB Crucial PC133 SDRAM - $1260
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.asp?imodule=CT32M64S4D75
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum - $150
Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 - $250
http://209.212.194.229/store/product.asp%3Fdept%5Fid=1%26pf%5Fid=001
and just to prove you can never have too many speakers (I've had 3 sets hooked up to my main system before), and because the Klipsch's are on 6-8 week backorder:
Cambridge SoundWorks Digital Theater 5.1 DTT2500 speakers - $240 http://www.onvia.com/usa/products/index.cfm?Task=ViewProduct&SearchText=dtt25 00&IdCatalog=2466565 (http://www.onvia.com/usa/products/index.cfm?Task=ViewProduct&SearchText=dtt2500&IdCatalog=2466565)
DPT (Adaptec Century design) Ultra160 RAID - $900
http://www.pcnation.com/asp/details.asp?item=444034
4 36GB Quantum Atlas 10k II Hard drives (100 GB of RAID 5 storage) - $3800
http://www.pcnation.com/asp/details.asp?item=043557
Plextor 14/4/32 Ultra SCSI CD-RW drive - $300
http://www.gogocity.com//product_details.asp?dept_id=231&pf_id=CO02CDR0037
Procom 4.8 SCSI DVD drive (was hoping for a 10/40x slot load SCSI, but alas) - $140
http://www.thebigstore.com/dept/product.asp?pid=278699

and the best is saved for last... the video setup
Voodoo5 6000 AGP - $600
Elsa Gladiac PCI - $350 (don't think it's out yet)
ATI All in Wonder 128 PCI - $170
http://www.valueamerica.com/product.asp?p=659.612.15108.119368.152708.1211.0 .0.0&l=1.8&r=0.1.4.4.0 (http://www.valueamerica.com/product.asp?p=659.612.15108.119368.152708.1211.0.0 .0&l=1.8&r=0.1.4.4.0)

Sony 24" monitor (Main display) - $2000
http://www.onvia.com/CnetShopper/Products/index.cfm?Task=ViewProduct&IDCatalog=124182 (http://www.onvia.com/CnetShopper/Products/index.cfm?Task=ViewProduct&IDCatalog=124182)
2 NEC 18" digital or analog flat panel - $6600
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=214240

Toss in a Keytronic Lifetime Designer keyboard, a Logitech Wingman Gaming mouse, and an Everglide Giganta mousepad, and I'm sold. (probably around $100 total)

As for the case, I left that open. Probably get something with redundant power supplies, but other than that, there's no real need to go for more. So figure about $300 for a case.

That puts us in at about a total of... (drumroll)
TOTAL: $19,400

BTW, there's a reason 40% of the money is spent on video... it's what depreciates the least amount and is most noticeable. I really wanted to get a Philips Flat TV, but that was $12,500 alone so that put it a bit out of reach. A Mitsubishi 40" plasma widescreen only did 640x480 so I elected to save $3k and go for another 18" digital/analog screen.

And another note: Even though some of this isn't available right now (the Voodoo5 being an example), there is enough immediately available to have a fully-functional system with the rest of the stuff coming in over the next couple of months.

I also struggled to find video cards that were available in PCI models that also had digital flat panel display connectors... so replace the ones put in there with an appropriate card (tho one card needs to be PCI + video editing).

[This message has been edited by Joel Kleppinger (edited 06-09-2000).]

[hd581]

OOH OOH! I wanna try!

$ 60 Inwin q500a Case (http://209.35.87.111/reviews/inwin_q500.htm)
$ 344 Athlon 750 w/ Abit KA7 (http://www.amd.com)
$ 175 256MB RAM
$ 245 9.1GB IBM U160 Hard drive (http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/ultra/ul18lzx.htm)
$ 293 12/4/32 (w,rw,r) SCSI CD-RW (http://www.plextor.com/english/products/12_4_32.html)
$ 95 40X Ultra Wide SCSI CD-R (http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ultraplex_wide.html)
$ 39 LS-120
$ 183 Adaptec 29160 (http://www.adaptec.com/support/overview/asc29160.html)
$17,308 1.07 GB Quantum Rushmore Hard drive (http://www.quantum.com/products/ssd/ultra/ultra_overview.htm)
--------
$18,742 Total

Ok so that Rushmore skewed the price a little. But man, 30 MB/s sustained (not burst) is pretty darn good and you just can't beat that .05 ms access period.

Couldn't find links for everything, I'll prob go back and try to add them in later.

[NeilTrain]

C'mon guys, get those wimpy $20,000 systems out of here, how much do you think a system with 64 processors,64 GB of Ram, and 112 PCI slots costs?

check out this bad boy:
http://www.sequent.com/hardware/numaq2000/numa.html

Anybody feel like finding out how much one of these baby's costs??

[RobRich]

-IBM Netfinity 86816RY base unit = 24,000.00
(Comes with 1 p3 2meg xeon and 512meg of RDIMM-2)
-31 x 512mb IBM 100mhz ECC RDIMM-2 = 31 * 2,435 = 75,485
To upgrade to 16gb of ram
-7 x IBM certified Intel P3 Xeon 550mhz (2meg l2 cache) = 6699 * 7 = 46,893
To upgrade to 8 cpu's
-4 x external IBM v.90 rack mount modem = 4 * 249 = 996
-Serial I/O SST16P DB PCI Adapter = 799 (for the extra i/o expansion)
-IBM T85A 18.1" Flat Screen Monitor = 3,699
-Quantum 3D AAlchemy 8464 (32 chip 3dfx VSA-100) 39,999
-Mylex 5 channel SCSI RAID controller = 3,461
-5 x IBM Netfinity 36.4GB 10K-3 Wide Ultra2 SCSI Hot-Swap HDD = 5 * 1799 = 8,995
-Adaptec AVA-2902 PCI SCSI controller = 49
-HP Surestore 92001 32x/8x/4x CD-RW (SCSI Internal) = 258
-IBM 12x Internal SCSI DVD Drive = 249
-Panasonic 5.2gb internal DVD-RAM = 649
-IBM Magstar MP 3570 Tape Library (for backup) = 25,960
-Internal LS-120 3.5" drive = 99
-Internal Zip 250 drive = 149
-IBM APC Smart UPS (3000RMB) = 2,009
-IBM Gigabit Ethernet SX Adapther = 715
-SB Live! Platinum Edition = 199
-Bose Surround Theatre Sound = 499
-Hollywood DVD decoder card = 50
+Labor: 4,000
+Operating Systems (multiple boot options):
-Linux Slackware 7.0 = 49
-IBM OS/2 Warp Server 4.0 = 199
-Sun Solaris 7 Unix Retail Box Intel = 199
-Novell Netware 5.0 server(base install + 5 clients) = 975
-Win2000 NT5 (8 cpu capable) OEM = 750

Total: $242,183 US + tax

I believe this system would surfice for light gaming and internet surfing, but I'm not quite sure. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

I would have stayed under $20,000, but since I'm spending imaginary money, why not add on a few extra optoins? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Prebuilt factory favorites of mine include:

-x86 Intel Paragon: 9,216 Pentium Pro 200's
-MasPar MP-2: 16,384 custom CMOS cpu's

More info can also be obtained from: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6270/superp.html

Catch ya' later,
Robert Richmond

[This message has been edited by RobRich (edited 06-09-2000).]

[rtyp3]

Anybody feel like finding out how much power one of these baby's sucks?

[RobRich]

I can't say I know how much power the numaq2000 pulls, but just the video graphics solution in my setup is 1600+ watts!

BTW, I noticed some people posting links to parts. All my prices a valid, and have been checked against pricewatch, ibm, and quantum3d.

Catch ya' later,
Robert Richmond

[Szech]

NeilTrain: Funny you should bring that up. The company my friend works for is building a super computer, and the specs he was telling me about seems very much like those specs... 100+ PCI slots, 50+ Xeon processors, and a bunch of other **** I couldn't afford if were Donald Trump.

[brandon184]

My dads company has a machine that has a value in the 6 digit dollar figure. I'm not too sure of the specs, but it sure is awesome.

[x35Agent]

Good going Joel that is what I was looking for it was fun to look at all your links and dream If I only had the money look at what I could do http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks
Vance

[Dave_H]

Sweet system Joel.
Have you submitted the request to EarthWeb?
I believe everyone here would love to see that system reviewed and tested. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif
Dave

[krusty the klown]

Strictly for research purposes, of course http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Tekkitan]

I would build a dual P3 850mhz, with 1gb of ram, 3 x 50gb Seagate SCSI hard drives, SCSI cd-writer, 3D Prophet II GTS 64mb graphics card ($420!!!), Creative Labs Sound Blaster Platinum, with SuSe Linux loaded. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif