Why you should consider it: If there’s any out there who should know how to get the best bang from a buck….it’s the forum members of Short-Media. If these people only had a nickel to their name they’d melt it down to make a heatsink. Short-Media challenged our enthusiasts to dream up the cheapest PC around and one that only Howard Hughes would own. They did just that and told us, in their words, what they did to get there.

If there’s any out there who should know how to get the best bang from a buck….it’s
the forum members of Short-Media. If these people only had a nickel to their
name they’d melt it down to make a heatsink. These are our enthusiasts and we
are damn proud of them and their knowledge when it comes to getting the most
for your hard earned dollar. Short-Media challenged our enthusiasts to dream
up the cheapest PC around and one that only Howard Hughes would own. They did
just that and told us, in their words, what they did to get there.

The budget PC had to deliver acceptable performance for office productivity,
gaming performance and multimedia experience. We set the bar high and kept our
fingers tightly wound around the wad of singles by asking that this PC have
at least a year or three before dying a horrific death of obsolescence. We stipulated
that all parts must be new and from reputable sources that most anyone could
order from. All prices are shown in USD before tax, shipping and handling. Under
$1000 for a full system including speakers and monitor is pretty good. These
guys were so cheap it’s like we said they could keep everything they didn’t
spend.

The next challenge was to blow the budget. We said the sky’s the limit and
spend whatever you want and whatever it takes. The only provision was that all
parts must be production line models currently available in mass quantities.
There were to be no “special” one-off items.

We thought a budget buster PC would come in at around $10,000. These guys just
didn’t bust the budget; they obliterated it. They made a $10,000 PC look like
a 486.

Several of our forum member’s submitted their picks for budget PC and budget
buster PC. For those afraid to open their wallet we start on with the tightwad’s
special; the budget PC.

GHoosdum: Scotsman’s PC special

Respectable performance on about $500. This budget system is a moderately high
performer yet designed for someone on a tight budget. The Ahanix case includes
front USB ports for easy peripheral connectivity. The PSU is a respectable 400W
Powmax unit. The motherboard is the core of any great PC build. I have chosen
an nForce2 IGP unit for performance, expandability and capability. The Biostar
M7NCG 400 unit includes the nForce2 400 MHz FSB capable chipset. This is one
of the few IGP boards with the 400 MHz chipset, and one of the lower priced
boards. Since it is an IGP board, GeForce4 MX440 graphics are built in. Additionally,
the M7NCG contains onboard 6-channel nVidia Soundstorm Sound, and built-in LAN
as well. This motherboard is the perfect centerpiece to a budget multimedia,
gaming, and internet/word-processing rig.

The AMD XP2100+ processor can be purchased in a retail box built on the Thoroughbred-B
core from a variety of sources. RAM is PC3200 and GEIL or Samsung. The hard
drive, perfect for storing large amounts of multimedia to be accessed quickly,
is the Western Digital 80GB Special Edition (8MB Cache) drive. The Lite-On CD-RW
drive carries an impressive 52X write speed. Alternately a DVD-ROM can be found
for a similar price. This combination of core components can pack quite a performance
wallop, without hitting the wallet very hard at all.

Finally, peripherals round out the package, making the PC usable. I have chosen
a 17″ CRT monitor for reasons of price. This size of monitor can be found
for very reasonable prices from many establishments including Best Buy. Look
for mail-in rebates for further discounts. I have included a selection of possible
generic style keyboards in a $10 price range but truly generic keyboards can
regularly be found free after rebate from retailers such as OfficeMax. I would
not settle for anything less than an optical mouse and I wouldn’t recommend
anyone else do so either; even on a budget system. Ultimately, no respectable
multimedia system would be worth its salt without decent speakers so I’ve
chosen the Logitech Z-340 2.1 channel system. These speakers put out great sound
at moderate power providing an excellent soundscape for the multimedia user.

Ultimately, this system will be easily upgraded for the power user by adding
a second 256 MB stick of ram to run the system in Dual-Channel mode. The motherboard
can accommodate today’s most powerful video cards because of the available
AGP 8x slot. Adding a better heatsink and fan to the processor nets some free
MHz by allowing an the ability to overclock beyond the 2 GHz barrier.

Total price: $471.48

Seversphere’s easy on the wallet budget PC

The PC case is best bought used and locally. Just ask for top mounted ATX which
can be found for around $15 but if that isn’t available then the cheapest top
mounted ATX from Newegg including S&H is generally $35~$40 on any given
week.

I didn’t go for the lowest of the low because you would would want quality…cheap…not
defective cheap. Where to buy should never be sacrificed for budget needs and
with an online store like Newegg you don’t have to do much sacrificing. What
you may save at another vendor gets quickly offset by the extra shipping and
handling costs. Purchasing from newegg not only saves money but also time and
reliability which is often a hidden cost of ordering online.

In my experience the Viewsonic monitor is completely justifiable because of
the great picture and long lasting quality. 5 years from now you will still
love this monitor for it’s features and picture. The Logitech keyboard – mouse
combo is a quality, cheap component that fits the look of the viewsonic monitor.
This is usually a necessary thing since the monitor, keyboard, and mouse will
all be on the desktop. It’s the same reasoning for the Altec Lansing speakers,
affordable quality and they fit the look on the desktop. I have a good ear for
music but not it’s not a professional ear. Having said that I find Altec Lansing
to be a very natural sounding quality speaker.

The Shuttle AK32VN provides a stable money saving board by including onboard
sound and lan and is meant for the budget gamer since the person would buy a
AGP video card. If just basic video is needed then the Shuttle MN31N would be
another choice since it has “onboard everything”. The onboard video
is good enough to get away with playing many current games at low settings.

The Sapphire 9200 128mb Radeon card is perfect as the all-around video card
to meet 3D gaming as well as potential 2D/3D rendering needs.

Samsung makes a great reliable floppy drive that is nearly silent.

The xp1800 Thoroughbred 1.53ghz cpu is a good option for budget systems which
need the cheapest cpu that maintains current instruction sets and offers the
potential for a little overclocking to extend the “best bang for buck”
of the cpu. The heatsink and fan meet the cooling needs and low noise requirements
that a majority of users require but may not necessarily be aware of. Crucial
RAM is a reliable brand with good warranty service. The Lite On combo CD/DVD
drive will maintain the budget system’s functionality well into the next few
years. The Western Digital 40 gigabyte 8mb cache hard drive is selected not
only for the best size versus cost but also for being the cheapest one with
a 3 year warranty. The 400 watt POWMAX is better because of the decent amount
of amps on the 3.3, 5, and 12 volt rails. POWMAX also has better quality control
than many other brands.

For a budget minded consumer buying a case online goes against common sense.
If the situation is that they have to buy online because they cannot locate
one locally then just a little time into browsing what Newegg has to offer will
find what’s best for the each individual consumer. The basic budget system totals
551.97 before a case is selected. The budget gamer totals 669.47 before a case
is selected. Considering the lengths for which the budget minded consumer goes
through to save money asking for the screws and IDE/floppy cables from the local
computer store is the best option. If forced to order from Newegg then add $20
to each total. These two systems will last for years and provide great overall
quality through brand selection and reliability from good warranties on top
of the brand selection.

Total price: $575.46

Armogeddon00 full swing budget system

I believe this system is one of the best low budget systems available for construction
The Mother board is the heart of the computer and it must be a good one to with
stand the tests of time. I chose the ECS K7S5A Pro. My reason is simply economics.
The board will support ALL AMD Athlon XP processors. To support greater than
an XP 2000+ all you need is a simple bios update. Not only that but the board
comes with 2 USB 2.0 ports on the back, and support for 2 more to be plugged
into the board. It had integrated AC97 sound which performs well, integrated
10/100 NIC. It has support for BOTH SDRAM as well as DDR266. This kind of support
will allow the buyer to dip down even more into the cheap box?.

I chose APACER 256MB of PC2100 DDR. I felt this was the minimum amount of RAM
that a standard computer should have in this day and age. SDRAM would suffice
for playing games in the present or in the future. With the prices of ram at
a low I felt it was a good investment to the system to splurge for 256mb.

I went with a 40 gig hard drive for a few reasons. Its not too expensive, and
for gamming and casual computer processing its more than enough. 40 gigs will
hold an average novice for a long long time.

The AMD processor I chose was an Athlon 2000+.this is far more power than any
average novice student who does work will need. It has enough power for all
games out on the Market today. For $62 this processor is an excellent buy. If
at anytime it isn’t enough power, you can buy any current AMD processor
for this mother board.

The monitor I chose is a Viewsonic. I feel that VS makes some of THE best monitors
I’ve ever seen. They have exceptional quality and that’s why I chose
them for my monitor choice.

My heat sink I chose was a influence from the SM forums, I needed a good cooling
device for a 1900+. They sent for to a OCZ Gladiator 3. I’ve found that
the OCZ G3 is an exceptional heat sink. The heat sink supports up to a AMD Athlon
3200+.

I chose an ATI Radeon 8500le. The 8500le is an exceptional card for games.
There probably isn’t a game on the market that this game can’t safely
handle. It’s not too old, or expensive.

I went with a CD-RW for the CD drive. The CD burner greatly increases the range
of interactively to this system. A CD-RW allows this user/games/novice/grandma
to burn CD’s and that is a great feature for an inexpensive computer.

I chose Altec Lansing APTW3.1 speakers because I had a set previously. They
are very good speakers with not to high of a price. They perform beautifully
and are a great addition to the budget system.

The case is a standard case. The case should reflect the systems innards. It
should be clean and look nice along with the rest of the external components.
This case is very clean and I believe it is a great asset to this machine. It
comes with a p4 approved power supply but I changed that out for an Antec 300
watt power supply. The Antec power supply is most assured to be better than
the power supply that case comes with originally.

I feel that this system is the best low budget system you can buy. Its massive
expandability in the case and the motherboard allow you to be able to increase
the ability of the computer. With my setup you get a CD-RW and a very decent
video card. The video card allows you to play a huge variety of games out now
and for the future. All my components come from www.newegg.com I use them because
another aspect of building a compute is time. You don’t want to have to
wait a full week for your computer parts to come. I know that newegg is a very
fast company. You can receive your parts in as few as 3 working days. I live
in Virginia and the part that ships come from California so you can tell that
they are fast. I picked a few more additions to the list that could have been
scrapped to save money, but I think that the additions I made ( CD-RW, 256mb
of ram instead of the minimum 128 ) will allow this system to be more flexible
and save the user time, and saving time is just as important as saving money.
For $619 after shipping and handling you have a full system that won’t
be outdated in a month. And when it does become sluggish with newer technology
advancements, this computer can flex and more with it.

Total Price: $614.72

Damn the torpedoes and full spending ahead! All bets are off as our Short-Median’s
spend money like it’s going out of style. It wasn’t a matter of looking for
the most expensive items. Each person had to justify what they spent and why.

Simguy’s Black Hole Extreme Short-Media Super Computer

Imagine if you, the computer enthusiast, had a bank account large enough to
scare Bill Gates. Where would you go today to purchase the components to build
the ULTIMATE personal computer? This is my vision. The $65,292 USD Short-Media
Super Computer, with enough horsepower, disk space, I/O and visual space to
make even the elitist of computer enthusiasts drool:

The following listing of system components were researched thoroughly across
multiple web-based computer stores in both the United States and Canada. Related
shipping costs and applicable taxes for each component have not been entered.
Unless otherwise stated, all prices are in US Dollars.

System Chassis: Yeong-Yang YY-0221B Server Cube Case

The Yeong-Yang YY-0221B Server Cube case, with its’ 16 drive bays (10
3.5″ & 6 5.25″) boasts 2 incredible features. The first is that
this chassis is divided into 2 compartments; the left hand side houses the motherboard
& expansion cards, while the right hand side houses all of the optical drives
& hard disks. The second is that this chassis has space for 3 92mm cooling
fans and 1 120mm cooling fan, allowing for even the hottest running computer
equipment to be sufficiently cooled.

Power Supply Unit: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510W Deluxe

With a total of 16 internal optical drives and hard disks to be powered, along
with the motherboard and everything connected to it, the choice of power supply
was clear. Each and every year, PC Power & Cooling wins award after award
for producing the most high quality power supply in the world. With many power
supply manufacturers misleadingly labeling their units at higher Wattage ratings,
PC Power & Cooling steps up to the plate with a super high quality device
that provides more than enough juice for our beefy system. A PC Power &
Cooling TurboCool 510W Deluxe power supply unit, the best available in the business,
provides the stable, clean, reliable electricity that is needed for today’s
hard-working systems.

Processors: Dual AMD® Opteron® 246 Processors @ 2.00GHz

The future is here and it’s green with 64-bits. With the 4 GB memory-addressability
limit of today’s 32-bit computer systems imposing performance limits on
servers and high-end workstations, the necessity of a 64-bit computing platform
that can address gobs of ram is necessary. AMD, an enthusiast staple since the
dawn of time, has stepped up to that challenge. The AMD Opteron 246 processor,
offering up to 1 TB of memory addressability and performance equal to a P4 3.0
GHz from a 2.0 GHz chip, can plow through even the most intensive computing
tasks. What better way to power a system than to put 2 of them in there. Dual
processor goodness.

CPU Coolers: Dynatron SK-V2 Heavy Duty Aluminum Heatsink

With the dual AMD Opteron 246 processors in the system generating considerably
smaller amounts of heat when compared to today’s Athlon XP and Pentium
4 processors, cooling requirements are not as substantial. With Opteron CPU
coolers being far and in-between, the Dynatron heavy duty aluminum heatsink
provides cooling for our dual bad-boy processors. Why not copper? As of the
time this was written, there were no copper-based Opteron heatsinks available.

Case Cooling: Triple Asetek VapoChill Case Cooler Systems

No enthusiast computer system is complete without the aid of some type of extreme
cooling unit. Some enthusiasts choose water-cooling to cool their system, as
it’s moderately priced and there are a multitude of parts available. Then,
there’s the top 1% of enthusiasts who go the distance for the utmost in
extreme cooling. The Asetek VapoChill Case Cooler System is a mid-tower ATX
chassis that contains a puron-based compressor, evaporator-core and a cold-air
transfer system. Attach the cold air transfer duct of 1 unit to the rear of
the Short-Media Super Computer case and the other 2 units to the dual external
SCSI enclosures and voila: you’ve got the coolest computer system in town,
allowing for superb overclocking!

Motherboard: Tyan® Thunder K8W Motherboard

The choice of the Tyan Thunder K8W motherboard was a no-brainer. It supports
everything under the sun from dual Opteron processors, 16 GB’s of DDR
SDRAM, PCI-66, AGP8x and SATA-RAID. With the K8W taking advantage of AMD’s
8111 HyperTransport system, there is oodles and oodles of bandwidth for all
of the devices in the system to share. One down side to the K8W was that it
is only available in the Extended-ATX form factor, meaning that only certain
large full-tower & server cases could hold it. Luckily for us, our Server
Cube Case can hold this baby just fine.

Floppy Drive: NONE

More and more computers today are shipping without a floppy drive, and the
Short-Media Super Computer is no different. The floppy drive is the oldest legacy
component in any system today and it is no longer needed. With the advent of
bootable CD’s and with hardware manufacturers now utilizing CD’s
for their drivers, the floppy can finally enjoy a long-overdue retirement.

System Memory: 16 GB Generic PC3200 ECC DDR-SDRAM CAS 2.5

With today’s applications and operating systems gobbling up memory like
it’s going out of style, it is very important to have enough system memory.
Without adequate system memory, the system must perform “disk caching”
and swap chunks of data out of memory to a temporary storage spot on your hard
disk, which results in very poor performance. With that in mind, and the fact
that 64-bit Opteron based systems can address up to 1 TB of system memory, this
system is packed to the hilt with memory. All 8 DIMM banks of the Tyan Thunder
K8W are filled with a mind-boggling 16 GB of ECC DDR SDRAM, providing all the
memory a system of this magnitude could ask for and providing error checking
capability for added system stability. Why PC3200 you ask? Simply put, it’s
the fastest RAM available in 2 GB configurations and gives our Dual Opteron
system here some headroom to overclock with, as it only requires PC2700 RAM
to operate at the specified speeds.

Hard Disks (System): Dual 147 GB Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 Ultra320 SCSI
10000RPM in RAID-0

Although today’s SATA-150 desktop hard drives offer substantial performance
increases over previous generations of IDE devices, the fact remains that no
current IDE device can match the data transfer speed and performance of a Small
Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) hard disk array. A system will only run as
fast as its slowest hard disk, and we want the Short-Media Super Computer to
have an extreme performance I/O system. The Tyan Thunder K8W does not have any
built in support for SCSI devices, so it was necessary to include the use of
an extra SCSI-RAID controller card (more on that later). Seagate has been making
high performance server-grade SCSI hard disks since the early 1980’s and
has considerable experience in designing drives for each and every environment.
Spinning at an insane 10,000 RPM with a capacity of 147 GB, the Seagate Cheetah
10k.6 Ultra320 SCSI drive provides the required bandwidth and capacity to store
insane amounts of data. What better way to spice up system performance than
to stick 2 of these drives in a RAID-0 array and utilize them as our system
drive. Each drive is connected to its own channel on the 4-Channel Ultra320
SCSI RAID controller.

Hard Disks (SATA Storage): Eight 250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE
SATA-150 7,200RPM in RAID-10

Now that the system drive is taken care of (the one with the operating system,
which should be the fastest one in the system), we can move onto the storage
array of the Short-Media Super Computer. RAID is our friend in this case. For
the past 18 months, Western Digital has led the world in desktop IDE drive performance.
Their “JB” lineup of drives, featuring a 7200 RPM rotation rate
and an 8 MB data buffer has supercharged the performance of today’s IDE
drives. The Short-Media Super Computer was designed to cover all aspects of
computing, from internet surfing to game playing to raw digital video editing.
The latter, raw digital video editing, can bring a disk I/O system to its’
knees by reading in gigabytes of data at a time, even for the shortest of video
clips. What better way to bring the needed capacity to a video editing system
than utilizing RAID-10 on 8 of the currently largest available desktop IDE devices
available: the 250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE, SATA-150 edition drives.

Stripe 4 of them together with RAID-0 and then mirror the RAID-0 array onto
4 identical drives to create a RAID-10 array and voila: you have 1.00 terabyte
(1000 GB’s) of storage for everything you can think of under the sun and
integrated real-time on-the-fly disk mirroring, providing real-time fault tolerance
to protect every byte of data. The benefits of RAID continue to amaze me. You
could have a disk crash, and its’ as simple as pie to repair. Replace
the faulty hard disk with an identical model (WD2500JD) and the RAID array will
automatically repair and restore your data. With the hot-swap ability of SATA-drives,
you wouldn’t even need to turn the system off to perform this. To support
this type of RAID array, an extra 8-channel SATA-RAID card was required (more
on that later).

Hard Disks (SCSI Storage): Sixteen 147 GB Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 Ultra320
SCSI 10000 RPM

Feel the need for speed. With a total of 16 independent 147 GB Seagate Cheetah
10.K6 Ultra320 hard disks, the Short-Media Super Computer has enough disk space
capacity to last for the foreseeable future. By utilizing an advanced Ultra320
SCSI 4-Channel RAID controller and 2 external 8-bay Ultra320 SCSI enclosures,
the performance and capacity of the Short-Media Super Computer system is unmatched.
Why on earth would anyone need this type of disk I/O throughput and capacity?
Users who would purchase a set of SCSI storage devices like this typically are
the type of user who does extremely large image manipulation, raw video editing
of feature-length movies or users who need RAID Disk Mirroring for fault-tolerance,
yet still maintain extreme read & write I/O performance.

A total of 8 Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 drives are housed in each external Ultra320
SCSI enclosure, with a separate high-speed, EMI-shielded Ultra320 SCSI cable
connecting each enclosure to the 4-Channel Ultra320 SCSI controller card inside
the main system via both of the 68-pin LVD compliant ports on the back of the
card. The entire set of 16 drives is setup as a RAID-10 array, giving the user
a total available array space of 1.176 TB and the performance increase of RAID-0,
while providing integrated, on-the-fly real-time RAID-1 disk mirroring for the
utmost in fault-tolerance and data integrity.

SCSI Enclosure: Dual SCS 8-Bay External Ultra320 SCSI Enclosures

In order to hold all 16 Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 Ultra320 drives, a radical solution
was needed to enclose, power and connect. SCSI Cable Source, an online-based
company that specializes in everything SCSI stepped up to the challenge with
their external SCSI enclosures. Supporting up to 8 Ultra320 5.25″ devices,
or 8 Ultra320 3.5″ devices with adapter brackets, the SCSI Cable Source
8-Bay External Ultra320 SCSI Enclosure provides the answer to our storage dilemma.
With a 250W PSU, there is no need to run power connector wires from the main
system to energize the SCSI devices. Integrated into the enclosure is an 8-port
EMI-shielded, LVD-compatible Ultra320 SCSI cable with a pre-installed active
LVD terminator at one end. The other end terminates at a female 68-pin LVD-compatible
port for connection to the 4-Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Controller in the main
system. Without these external enclosures, the Short-Media Super Computer could
not have the I/O subsystem it does.

DVD-ROM Drive: Pioneer DVD-120 16x DVD-ROM Drive

Today’s computers are more than fancy word processors. With a large enough
monitor and good speakers, you can turn your PC into a movie theatre. DVD is
the format of choice for video retailers today. Pioneer is a reputable brand
with a legacy of great optical drives, most notably their DVD & DVD-R drives.
This makes the choice of DVD-ROM easy: the Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM tray load drive
boasts one of the highest sustained read rates of any optical drive available,
while being whisper quiet.

CD-ReWriter Drive: Plextor PlexWriter 52×24x52 CD-ReWritable Drive

Plextor drives don’t need any type of introduction. Since the dawn of
the CD-Recordable drive, Plextor has been producing legendary optical drives
that blow away the competition. With the Plextor 52×24x52x CD-ReWritable drive,
users can burn a full CD in under 90 seconds. With proprietary compression technology,
Plextor has managed to be able to get 1 GB of data burnt onto a 700 MB CD-R.
With features like this, it’s no wonder that the Short-Media Super Computer
system has to have one!

DVD-ReWriter Device: Pioneer DVR-106 DVD+RW/DVD-RW Drive

The recordable DVD market is in turmoil. With 2 different standards, each with
different compression technologies, support equipment and compatibility issues,
making the choice of a DVD-RW (or DVD+RW) is difficult. Again, Pioneer rises
to the challenge of these 2 different standards by producing a high-speed, burn-proof
enabled DVD-ReWriter that supports both standards. What more can you ask!

3D Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB AGP

What good would a computer like the Short-Media Computer System be like if
you couldn’t play games on it at the highest possible resolution with
Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering cranked to the max for incredible graphics
smoothness. With the release of the ATI Radeon 9800 XT, a Canadian company has
taken the world by storm. Now, users can enjoy playing their favourite games
at unheard-of resolutions with virtually penalty-free Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic
Filtering. Combine that with 256 MB’s of high speed DDR SDRAM and one-sweet
looking heatsink and you have the world’s fastest 3D graphics accelerator.

2D Graphics Card: PNY Quadro4 NVS 400 64MB PCI

You are probably asking why the Short-Media Super Computer needs ANOTHER video
card? It’s quite simple for reasons that you will very soon experience
for the first time in history. The PNY Quadro4 NVS 400 is a professional PCI
video adapter that supports up to 4 display devices through its’ 2 high-density
LFH connectors and dual integrated RAMDAC’s. With the LFH -to- Dual
DVI-I pigtail adapters, each LFH connector on the back of the Quadro4 NVS 400
can support 2 independent analogue or digital displays. With the included NView
Desktop Management software, a user can select which display adapter they want
as their main display and which display devices to extend their desktop onto.
NView is even smart enough to change over to utilize the high-powered AGP graphics
adapter in the system when a 3D application is launched. You’ll see the
main reason why the PNY Quadro4 NVS 400 2D graphics card is required in a little
while.

SATA-RAID Controller: 3Ware Escalade 8506-8 64-Bit 8-Port SATA-RAID
Controller

In order to implement the 1 TB fault-tolerant RAID-10 disk storage array in
the Short-Media Super Computer, an external SATA-RAID Controller was required
to connect the 8 SATA hard disks. With that many SATA hard disks connected to
one PCI device, bandwidth sharing becomes a problem, as all 8 drives will be
trying to utilize up to 150 MB/s of PCI bandwidth each at the same time. Enter
the 3Ware Escalade 8506-8. Simply put, this is one serious bad-ass SATA-RAID
Controller. With 64-bit PCI support, an integrated hardware RAID chip for true
hardware RAID and support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 & JBOD, the 3Ware Escalade
8506-8 is the highest standard SATA-RAID Controller available. Anything less
would make our 1 TB SATA RAID storage array slower than molasses on a cold winter
day.

SCSI-RAID Controller: LSI MegaRAID SCSI 320-4X 4-Channel Ultra320
SCSI RAID Controller

To support the sheer number of Ultra320 SCSI devices utilized in the Short-Media
Super Computer disk storage array, an external SCSI Controller card was required.
In order to get the most out of our SCSI array, we needed a controller that
supported at a minimum 18 devices on a minimum of 3 channels and had a PCI-X
interface. Even more important was performance, as the level of I/O performance
of a disk array is directly related to how fast a computer system can operate.
The LSI MegaRAID SCSI 320-4X 4 channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID controller is the
worlds fastest, most comprehensive Ultra320 controller for use in mission-critical
servers and workstations. With support for up to 32 physical drives per array
in write-cache mode across 4 independent channels, the LSI MegaRAID provides
the required device support. As for performance, the LSI MegaRaid includes a
built in 128 MB EEC B-DIMM that acts as a high-speed data-buffer between the
SCSI devices attached to the LSI MegaRAID and the system in which it is attached.
As well, this B-DIMM has a transportable battery-backup module attached to it,
keeping each and every bit of information inside that B-DIMM safe, even during
electrical failure. With support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 and Quick RAID 5,
the LSI MegaRAID allows the Short-Media Super Computer and its 2 external SCSI
enclosures to achieve extraordinary I/O bandwidth and extreme Ultra320 RAID-10
SCSI array capacity. For the mother of all systems, this is the mother of all
SCSI RAID cards.

Audio Controller: M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Sound Card

Many of today’s games support Creative Labs EAX & EAX Advanced HD
specifications. These specifications were written to allow software developers
to finally create spatial audio effects in their games, allowing the end user
with appropriate hardware (sound card and speakers) to take their games to the
next level. Monsters in Half-Life 2 no longer come from all speakers, but only
from the speaker in the direction the monster is traveling towards you. Freaky
eh? M-Audio has been in the industry for over 10 years, producing high-quality
consumer and professional audio equipment for PC use and professional sound
mixing use. The M-Audio Revolution 7.1 supports up to 7.1 speaker systems with
a high resolution audio output of 24-bit/192kHz across all 7 channels. With
a 107dB signal-to-noise ratio, this card packs some serious punch, more than
the Sound Blaster Audigy 2. With the ability to perform stereo to surround sound
conversion in real-time and decode DTS & Dolby Digital EX (6.1) encoded
audio in real time, the Revolution 7.1 is one hell of a sound card. At a price
of $90.00, it’s a steal compared to the Audigy 2 and supports more features.
The driver support alone is worth the $90.00 price tag!

Network Controller: Intel Pro/1000 MT Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet Controller

With a whole 2 terabytes of data stored on the Short-Media Super Computer,
there has to be a way to efficiently and quickly move that data to a remote
system across a LAN link, whether for additional backup purposes, or for production/publication
purposes. With traditional 100 Mbps Ethernet, it would take hours to send that
much data across a LAN link, not to mention completely tie up the RAID array.
Is there anything faster and more efficient? You bet there is. Intel has been
in the networking business for nearly 40 years and offers a wide array of Ethernet
adapters for use in nearly every type of application. For this system, the Intel
Pro/1000 MT Dual-Port gigabit Ethernet controller is the obvious choice. Simply
put, the 1000 MT supports 10/100/1000 Ethernet protocols over CAT-5 networking
cable. With a dedicated Intel RISC processor on the controller, there is no
system CPU usage, as all networking-related requests are processed by the onboard
processor. With the ability to remote-boot a system with this Ethernet controller
and a unified driver structure, the Intel Pro/1000 MT dual-port gigabit Ethernet
adapter is the high-bandwidth, low system utilization answer to the network
file transfer problem.

3D Display: Dual Samsung 24″ SyncMaster 240T Digital LCDs

Ever wanted to utilize 3D applications on the largest LCD possible at a resolution
of 1600×1200? In keeping with the “Dual” theme of the Short-Media
Super Computer, I present to you the Samsung SyncMaster 240T LCD display. With
the extreme 3D graphics horsepower of this system provided by the insanely powerful
ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB, the era of 1600×1200 Anti-Aliased and Anisotropic-Filtered
graphics are upon us. Many users may think 1 LCD is enough. Not a chance. With
ATI’s HydraVision software, the sky is the limit when it comes to the
number of desktops that can be supported and expanded across different display
devices. HydraVision even allows 3D gamers to stretch their 3D games across
multiple monitors, giving you twice the horizontal viewable area, allowing you
to see your enemy before they see you and react faster. DVD viewing on the Samsung
240T has been enriched. The 240T supports native aspect ratio’s of 16:10,
5:4 and 4:3, allowing widescreen DVD’s to be played without the annoying
black-bars at the top and bottom of the image from being displayed. With picture-in-picture
support, you can play 2 movies at the same time and still thoroughly enjoy both!
With a 25ms response time, the inherent ghosting problems of LCDs are practically
eliminated. Even if you think that dual 24″ LCD’s are a treat, you
are not going to believe your eyes on the next component.

2D Display: L-Technologies Grand Canyon 92″ Digital LCD

Cue 2001: A Space Odyssey music. The world is about to witness the dawn of
surround video displays. The L-Technologies Grand Canyon 92″ Digital LCD
is a remarkable piece of technology that has been designed for one sole purpose:
to provide the computer enthusiast with as much viewable desktop space as possible
in the lightest form factor possible. With the coupling of 4 23″ LCDs
and the integration of a proprietary quad DVI-I cross-bar video input controller,
this behemoth of a display gives the user the ability to see up to 4 full-size,
maximized windows at one time. Powered by the PNY Quadro4 NVS 400, this display
can have 4 independent desktops running at any one time, or give the NView software
a click and you can stretch your favorite movie across this technological wonder.
With a 1600×1200 native resolution on each LCD panel (a combined resolution
of 6400×1200) and a response time of 13ms, the Grand Canyon will completely
change the way you work with your PC. At a price of $17,499.99 and a weight
of 108 lbs, this display device is only for the computing elite that desire
to reach the summit of PC perfection.

5.1 Speaker System: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 500 W

Today’s 3D games and DVD’s all feature audio soundtracks encoded
in Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 surround sound, allowing the listener to immerse
themselves into the environment by directional audio. However, this can only
happen if they have the correct hardware to support such a feature. With the
Short-Media Super Computer’s audio subsystem being powered by the M-Audio
Revolution 7.1 sound card, and the lack of a high performance, true 7.1 speaker
system on the market, a little creative thinking was required to solve the problem
of what speaker system to utilize. For over 40 years, Klipschorn (Klipsch) has
been producing high-fidelity professional speakers for use in everything from
the Ed Sullivan Theatre to the 2003 SARS Benefit Concert in Toronto, ON. Because
of the impeccable features, solid craftsmanship and impressive sound, the Klipsch
ProMedia 5.1 speaker system was chosen. Better still, Klipsch surprised us with
an upgraded version of the standard ProMedia 5.1’s called the “ProMedia
Ultra 5.1’s.” Sporting a larger subwoofer, revamped control box,
upgraded & isolated cross-over network and a visual makeover, the Klipsch
ProMedia Ultra 5.1’s pack even more punch than their predecessors. No
computer system that is used as a multimedia powerhouse should be without this
set.

2.1 Speaker System: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 200 W Speaker System

Remember that the M-Audio Revolution is a 7.1 sound card? With only a 5.1 speaker
system hooked up, there are still 2 channels that aren’t being utilized
to offer the fullest surround audio experience. Because of this, a 2.1 speaker
system needed to be integrated into the system that had to be able to match
the power, performance and finesse of the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1’s.
For that duty, we looked no further than the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1’s, the
world’s highest quality 2.1 speaker system. Now, with a total of 7 satellite
speakers and 2 thunderous subwoofers, DVD soundtracks come alive with brilliant
clarity and spatial effects and 3D games that support Creative Labs EAX &
EAX Advanced HD sound protocols come to a whole new level.

Keyboard: Logitech Cordless Comfort Duo

In order to enjoy this behemoth of a system, a high quality set of input devices
are needed. With wireless technologies finally eliminating the latency that
was once associated with input devices, Logitech’s new breed of wireless
mice and keyboards are so comfortable and fast, they can be used in the most
grueling of conditions: gaming. The “comfort” mouse that ships with
the Logitech Cordless Comfort Duo can be out-performed by another product, which
will be discussed very shortly. With a multitude of hot-keys, an ergonomic layout
and a high-gloss black finish, the keyboard component of the Logitech Cordless
Comfort Duo package should be on every enthusiasts wish-list. Battery life with
this device is excellent, with some users being able to get almost 6 full months
of use out of a single set of AA batteries without having to replace them.

Pointing Device: Logitech MX900 Bluetooth Cordless Optical Mouse

What better way to perfectly compliment the Logitech Cordless Comfort Keyboard
than to pair it with the most advanced, smooth tracking wireless mouse on the
planet. The Logitech MX900 Cordless Optical Mouse with BlueTooth wireless technology
is at the fore-front of optical pointing device technology. With 4x optical
resolution of first-generation optical technology, the MX900 can be used for
even the most critical of operations. With the integrated BlueTooth technology,
wireless interference is no longer a problem. Using FM instead of infrared,
the BlueTooth-enabled MX900 can be used almost anywhere, providing a clear and
reliable signal to the base receiver station without interfering with nearby
electronics or being interfered with by nearby electronics. A rechargeable NiMH
battery pack inside the MX900 is charged by placing the mouse into the charging
cradle, which also happens to be the BlueTooth receiver. The MX900 represents
the latest in optical pointing device technology, and what better device to
have for the Short-Media Super Computer.

Uninterruptible Power Supply: APC SU5000TXFMR 5000VA/3750W UPS

What good is the Short-Media Super Computer to a user if it can’t be
stable due to power fluctuations? What if the power goes out while you are working
on that important 100-page thesis that’s due in 2 hours? The sheer amount
of money invested in the number of devices that are utilized in the Short-Media
Super Computer requires that some type of protection be offered. Enter the APC
SU5000TXFMR UPS. With the ability to deliver up to 3,750W of power, this UPS
is large enough to power all of the Short-Media Super Computer’s devices
during an electrical failure for up to 6 minutes (with the exception of all
3 Asetek VapoChill units). With the APC Commander software and built in Windows
support, should a power failure occur when you are not near the Short-Media
Super Computer, it will automatically save all of your data and properly shut
down the computer, saving it from potential hardware failures and data loss
due to external influences (whether that’s an electrical storm, bad wiring,
flood, fire). For the utmost in UPS technology, look no further than APC.

LCD Display Kit: LIS Red LCD Complete Kit

The beige box no longer has reign over the PC industry. With case modding &
enthusiast parts going mainstream, the availability of more sophisticated system
monitoring hardware has increased substantially over the last 3 years. The LIS
Red LCD Complete Kit is an all-in-one 5.25″ device that can monitor nearly
every aspect of the Short-Media Super Computer. With the ability to monitor
motherboard voltages, power supply voltages, CPU temperature, case temperature,
support for integrated temperature probes, hard disk space, your e-mail inbox
and the amount of CPU utilization, the LIS LCD Complete Kit gives the user nearly
every vital piece of system information at a moments notice.

Fan RPM Display Kit: CoolerMaster LLC-U01 Musketeer Tach Device Kit

Unfortunately, our LCD Display Kit does not have the ability to monitor fan
RPM’s. Even if it did, the CoolerMaster LLC-U01 Musketeer Tach fan RPM
device kit is one of the neatest looking case accessories available. Sporting
2 different tachometers, this fan RPM device translates the speed of the CPU
fan and any other case fans you have hooked up to its monitoring device to a
value that is shown on a fully functional tachometer, which is identical to
the ones you see in today’s cars. For the enthusiast who is looking for
a pure and simple way to show off their fan RPM’s, the CoolerMaster LLC-U01
Musketeer Tach Device kit is THE part to have.

Case Cooling: Triple 92mm Panaflo U1A 68.8 CFM Case Fans

With today’s computer components’ running hotter than ever, the
venerable case fan has become an ever more important decision in system design.
Panasonic carries a line-up of case fans dubbed “Panaflo” for their
high CFM performance, yet low noise design. With the Yeong-Yang YY-0221 system
chassis utilized in the Short-Media Super Computer supporting a total of 3 92mm
case fans, what better way to get optimal cooling than with these Panaflo high-performance
case fans. With a 68.8 CFM rating at 43 dBA, these case fans are high on performance,
and still quiet enough to be barely audible.

Cooling Cooling: 120mm Panaflo U1A 115 CFM Case Fan

With the Short-Media Super Computer’s Yeong-Yang YY-0221 system chassis
supporting a 120mm intake fan, there was no other choice but to utilize the
best cooling fan on the market. With 115 CFM at a whisper quiet 43 dBa, the
Panaflo U1A 120mm Case Fan will push plenty of air to keep the mission-critical
components inside the Short-Media Super Computer nice and cool.

IDE Cabling: Dual 24″ Rounded Red IDE ATA133 Cables

In order to streamline the airflow of the Short-Media Super Computer and to
keep the inside of the chassis free from an IDE/SCSI cabling nightmare, we took
the simple approach to attaching IDE devices. Rounded IDE cables are usually
a higher quality product than those run-of-the-mill IDE cables included in a
motherboard package, and are generally slightly longer. Because of the long
distance between the motherboard and the 5.25″ device bays, an air-flow
friendly, 24″ IDE cable was required. Hence, the decision to include rounded
IDE cables just made sense. Why red? Red and black look well together.

External SCSI Cabling: Dual 6′ Ultra320 VHD68 Male to HD68 Male
Shielded SCSI Cables

With the use of external Ultra320 SCSI enclosures to house all of the Short-Media
Super Computer’s SCSI disks, high quality, shielded Ultra320 SCSI cables
are required to attach the external SCSI enclosures to the LSI MegaRaid Ultra320
SCSI controller inside the main system chassis. A shielded cable will provide
some protection against any outside interference from EMI sources, while helping
to maintain data integrity. A 6-foot cable should be plenty long enough to allow
customizable distance between the main system chassis and the location of the
external SCSI enclosures.

LFH Dual Head Cables: Dual PNY LFH to Dual DVI-I Cables for NVidia
Quadro 4 NVS Cards

All NVidia Quadro 4 NVS cards utilize a dual set of high-density LFH outputs
instead of the regular DVI-I or VGA ports, rendering the card impossible to
use without some type of adapter. By attached a pair of LFH to Dual DVI-I Cables
to the NVidia Quadro 4 NVS 400 display adapter, a total of 4 DVI-I outputs are
now able to be utilized, which perfectly match the required number for the Short-Media
Super Computer’s awe-inspiring L-Technologies Grand Canyon 92″ LCD
Monitor. After the bill it totaled, the Short-Media Super Computer costs a whopping
$65,292.00 USD. Why would anyone build a system like this?

Quite simply… they have more money than they can possibly count and want
to reach the pinnacle of computing technology.

Total Price: $65,292

Geeky1: spending money like a drunken sailor

Case- The Chenbro SR101 is the largest ATX compatible single-computer case
I could find. This is a good thing, because generally speaking, the larger the
case, the better the cooling it will have. Obviously if you stuck your computer
in a huge sealed box, this wouldn’t be the case, but in most instances,
larger cases support more/larger fans, which means more airflow, which means
better cooling, which is good. They’re also much easier to work with than
smaller cases. You have room to work on the computer without having to pull
the entire thing apart, which makes life much easier.

Power- The Enermax EG851 is the largest EPS12V power supply I could find that
is made by an AMD-recommended power supply manufacturer. Enermax power supplies
are generally excellent, and this thing puts out enough power to light up a
small city (well, OK, maybe I’m exaggerating… but not by much),
so it should be able to handle anything anyone could throw at it.

External Enclosure- There’s not much to say. There are only so many external
SCSI cases out there, AMS makes good cases, and their cases are generally pretty
readily available.

Case fans- The SR101 takes 8 80mm fans, 4 92mm fans, and a 60mm fan. I chose
the Sunon KD1209PTB2-6 because it’s the best 92mm fan on the market in
terms of noise/airflow ratio, IMO, and Sunon is known for making outstanding
fans. The Thermaltake SmartFan2 is easily the best 80mm fan on the market. By
combining manual fan speed control, thermal control, and the option to run it
at full speed, Thermaltake has created the most flexible fan on the market.
It’s the only 80mm fan I use in my systems, and I’m quite happy
with them. I tend to doubt that they actually push 75cfm, but they do push noticeably
more air than my Sunon -BX6s, which do ~50cfm. The thermal control speed
curve is also much better on this fan than it is on most others, as it speeds
up sooner and faster than most other thermally controlled fans do. The Sunon
60mm fan I chose is a fairly generic, medium-noise 60×25mm unit, but since it’s
made by Sunon, it should be very reliable.

Motherboard- The Tyan Thunder K8 (S2885) is supposed to be the best dual Opteron
board on the market. Since the point of my submission was to create the best
Windows-XP compatible computer possible, I naturally chose the fastest CPU on
the market, and the best board for said CPU.

CPUs- The AMD Opteron is the fastest x86 CPU on the market, to the best of
my knowledge. It’s certainly the fastest one that most people are likely
to be able to get. As such, it was the logical choice for this project.

CPU Cooling- The Zalman CNPS7000A-CU is one of only about two aftermarket heatsinks
that are compatible with socket 940 CPUs (the only other one that I’m
aware of is the 7000A-ALCU, which is an aluminum/copper hybrid, the -CU
is solid copper), and it’s the best one you can get, so it was the logical
choice.

RAM- Because I had a self-imposed mandate of Windows XP compatibility, I was
stuck with “only” 4GB of RAM. However, 4GB should be more than enough
for anything you can run on XP, and since its Corsair memory, its excellent
quality RAM.

Video- The ATi Radeon 9800XT is the fastest 3D Accelerator on the market, bar
none. Sure, a professional level CAD/CAM card, such as a 3DLabs Wildcat, may
be faster in some specialized applications, but overall, the XT is the fastest
thing going. I chose the ASUS card because it has better cooling than the stock
9800XT, and ASUS’s tech support is outstanding.

RAID- The LSI Logic Megaraid U320-4 is the best SCSI RAID controller that I
know of. With 4 channels, it can support up to 60 devices per controller, it
takes up to 1GB of DDR cache (which I included in the parts list), supports
a number of advanced RAID levels, and has a PCI-X 133MHz interface, which is
the fastest interface currently available for SCSI cards.

Sound- While the Tyan board has onboard audio, it’s not as good as a
high-end aftermarket card. I went with the SoundBlaster Audigy2 Platinum Pro
ZS because it is the best consumer-level card on the market. I didn’t
want to go to a professional level card that you might see in a recording studio
because I wanted to retain compatibility with the various 3D audio styles used
in games.

CD-RW- Plextor has a reputation for producing some of the best optical drives
available, and the 52/32/52 is no different. With some of the fastest burn times
in the industry, along with Plextor’s quality, it was the obvious choice.

DVD-RW- Once again, Plextor’s drives are some of the best on the market,
and I would expect their top-of-the-line DVD burner to be one of the best available.

Floppy- A floppy drive is a floppy drive is a floppy drive, right? Wrong! This
particular Mitsumi drive has a rather unique feature- it’s got an integrated
USB flash memory card reader.

Hard Drives- I included 4 250GB Maxtor SATA drives to be used as internal storage,
so that if you wanted to lug this system to a LAN, you wouldn’t have to
bring 16 external drive enclosures along with you. Ideally, the Maxtors would
be in 2, 2-drive RAID 0 arrays, but obviously, you would be free to configure
them however you wanted to. The SCSI drives are there for one reason, and one
reason only- hard drives are the largest bottleneck in any computer system.
My aim was to have the fastest possible storage subsystem without going to solid
state disks, because (IMO) using RAM disks is too big of a risk- if you accidentally
unplug the power cord/battery backup, all your data is gone. So, I chose to
use the fastest hard drives available, which are the 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetahs.
Specifically, I chose to use 240 of them, in 8 30-drive RAID 0 arrays (or RAID
0+1 or 10, if you prefer not to take chances with your data…). These drives
are capable of sustained data transfer rates of over 50MB/s each, as I recall.
With 30 of them in each array, the bottleneck won’t be the drives themselves,
but the PCI-X bus that the controllers are on. The amount of storage space you’d
have is another benefit, but was more of a side effect of going for the highest
density, highest RPM drives I could find. However, for the record, 240 73.4GB
drives have an unformatted capacity of 17,616GB, or 17.616 Terabytes.

Cables, adapter plates, etc- Basically, I just chose cables that had the right
connectors. However, the SATA cables have right angle connectors for better
cable routing, and the Antec Cobra Cables are shielded and grounded, so they
may offer slightly better performance than regular rounded cables. While the
difference is small, if it’s there at all (some say it is, others say
it’s not), for the few extra $$ they cost, there’s no reason not
to get them over generic rounded cables or ribbon cables, even in an everyday
“non-budget-buster” system.

Monitors- The Sony GDM-FW900 is THE monitor. This is my personal favorite monitor,
and if I’d had the money to buy one when I bought my computer, I would
have (as it is, I’m “stuck” with a CPD-G520 that does “only”
2048×1536 @ like 80Hz). The maximum resolution is 2304×1440 @ 80Hz, and it’s
a 16:9 display, so it’s perfect for DVDs. Multiply by two and you have
a perfect setup for web development, programming, photoshop, games, or anything
else.

Keyboard- I’m a big fan of the Microsoft Natural keyboards, and while
I really wish they’d kept the Pro, the Multimedia is the newest one, and
it’s better than any of the other versions that you can still get without
going to Ebay or something. I’ve found that once you get used to the Natural
keyboards, you can type faster, with fewer errors and for longer periods of
time than you can with regular keyboards.

Mouse- The Logitech MX series are supposed to be the best mice on the market.
I chose the MX500 because I’d loose the MX700 (it’s cordless), and
the MX500 is the top-of-the-line corded model.

Speakers- Simply put, Logitech’s Z680s are the best computer speakers
available. Barring the use of a home theater system, these are the speakers
to get.

Tablet- If you have 2 24″ monitors, you might as well put them to use.
The best way I can think of to do this is to get a drawing tablet. Wacom’s
Intuos2 tablets are (IMO) the best you can get. I love my 12×12″ tablet,
and the 12×18″ is their top-of-the-line model. These things are a must
have item for Photoshop work.

Total Price: $147,277.89

Conclusion

It may have been a fun to get the “most for the least” or just plain
get “the most”. There is valuable information in what these enthusiasts
have virtually assembled. Look to their configurations and what they have chosen.
It’s not so much important what they have chosen…but why.