The Mother of All PCs
 

Ok, well I have to report this somewhere because I'm all giddy. :)

3.2 GHz P4 o.c.'ed to 3.5 GHz (Coolermaster Jet4 fan)
1 GB PC3200 RAM
2 200 GB SATA RAID-0 Hard Drives

I feel like Moses in the Ten Commandments after seeing the Burning Bush. Windows XP installed in 15 minutes. Sustained file writing goes at 60 MB/s and beyond.

I asked long ago where my bottleneck was. Well it was everywhere. The processor, Hyperthreading, and 800 MHz bus all made a huge difference, but I think the single most astounding difference was going to SATA RAID-0.

FYI, RAID-0 is the simplest RAID array, and most effiicient and fastest performing. It takes every file and splits it across multiple drives. When you read files, it reads from all the drives simultaneously and pieces them together on the fly.

The HUGE drawback of RAID-0 is that if you lose one drive, you lose all the data on all the drives, because it's split. So you absolutely must back up anything important.

But my God, it is unbelievable.

Wait until you get one of these computers:
http://www.go-l.com
3.9mhz
Lotsa RAM
RAM hard drive

There have been computers built that are better than those listed at go-l.com. The processor can overclock more. :)

By the way, your front side bus is not 800mhz. It's a bit faster than that :) Too bad front side bus speeds don't make much difference is performance. It's mainly processor speed (at least for video editing).

I had the option of building the biggest, fastest PC too. The day AFTER I had ordered everything, they released the AMD 2100 processor. For all of 10 hours, my machine would have been cutting edge.

But, I did get a machine that is great for editing and modeling, all for $4,495.00.

64 bit processing is here! It will certainly get better as time goes by. Now if only the software supported it :)

Jess

Right, the FSB right now is about 880 MHz I think.

I'm kind of afraid to try to o.c. it to 4.0 GHz, but I suppose I'll try at least once. My old Mobo shot off if the CPU got too hot - do they always?

Damn you why did you have to send me that link? Now I have to get one of those panoramic monitors!! :)

The thing is this wasn't terribly expensive. I think about $1200 when all is said and done - I already have a monitor, case, etc.

I wonder what kind of cooling system they use for the 3.9 GHz.

<<<-- Originally posted by Glenn Chan : Wait until you get one of these computers:
http://www.go-l.com
3.9mhz
Lotsa RAM
RAM hard drive

There have been computers built that are better than those listed at go-l.com. The processor can overclock more. :)

By the way, your front side bus is not 800mhz. It's a bit faster than that :) Too bad front side bus speeds don't make much difference is performance. It's mainly processor speed (at least for video editing). -->>>

No Intel CPU warranty though. :(

That's why it's better to buy boxed.

I wonder if they can tell if it's been o.c.'ed.

They use phase change cooling (by Asetek). It's the same concept as air conditioners and your fridge I believe. The only thing better is dry ice or liquid nitrogen, but those aren't practical solutions!

With air cooling the max is about 3.5-3.6ghz.

So compressed gas? Best way to cool yet invented. :)

I've got the Jet 4 on max, running 3.5 GHz, and the CPU's at 80F. Granted I have the window wide open (I like the cold myself), but even when it's toasty, it hasn't gone above 105F. As I said though I'm afraid to push it to 4...

PS - I just rendered a minute and a half of MPEG-2 video with the MainConcept encoder in 66 seconds. I'm not saying my PC's the best in the world by a longshot, BUT my God I've been missing out! :)