Originally posted by: volcs0
Am just starting to put together the order for my first build. I'd like to build a high-end machine (around $900-$1000) to replace our Dual G5, which has been our workhorse for the past six years.
1. Among the DS3L motherboard, does it matter which one to get? I'd like to follow Kaido's guide - so can I get any motherboard that is designated as DS3L?
2. The Q6600 is no longer available at Newegg. How do I choose among the other Core 2 Quad offerings?
3. Likewise, the GeForce 8800 is no longer available at Newegg. How to choose a different one?
Overall, I'd like to go for the "most compatible" set of hardware. That being said, I'd like to achieve a high level of performance. This machine will be used for a lot of video editing, compression, etc.
Thanks for the advice.
1. You can get these:
(1) Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Rev 1.0
(2) Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Rev 2.0
(3) Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L
2. The Q6600 is still available:
Q6600 with Retail Cooler
Q6600 (bare chip)
There are plenty of other good quad-core chips available, but the Q6600 is cheap (sub-$200) and overclocks well (both of mine go to 3.0ghz with good cooling easily). If you want a higher overclock (like in the 3.6 - 3.8ghz range), you may want a newer 45nm chip. The Q9550 is $310 right now and is good for 3.2 - 4.0ghz:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115041
3. The 9800GTX driver is now included as an EFI String. Here's one for $189:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814500039
I am also testing out the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P board. It's basically the same as the DS3L boards, but it has a newer ICH10R southbridge, supports up to 16gb RAM, has 8 SATA ports, 8 USB ports, onboard Firewire, 2 PCIe 16x ports (1 @ 16x, 1 @ 8x electrically), 3 PCIe 1x ports, and 2 PCI ports. It's $99 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128358
I have a working plugin for it already, just needs some more testing to make sure everything is kosher. As far as hard drives go, I totally recommend the Samsung F1 1TB 7200rpm drives:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...Tpk=samsung%20f1%201tb
They're fast (100 MB/s), cheap ($95 shipped), silent, and run fairly cool. So here's a sample rig you could put together for around $1,000:
$1,000 Sample Rig:
Antec Sonata III Case with 500w PSU & 120mm Fan ($130)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P ($120)
Q9550 CPU ($310)
Kingston 2GB DDR2-800 ($21 x 4 = $84)
Zotac 512mb 9800GTX ($190)
Samsung F1 1TB Hard Drive ($95)
Lite-On SATA 20x DL DVD Burner with Lightscribe ($26)
65-in-1 Internal 3.5" Card Reader with Front USB Port ($14)
That comes up to about $970, or
$980 including shipping for me. You'll also need a copy of Leopard: ($110)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832110040
And you'll probably want some spare hard drives, so add in $95 each for those. You can take $100 off the price by going with the Q6600 instead of the Q9550. You can take another $100 off the price by going with an ATI 3870, which is "the" card to get if you're planning on working with Motion:
http://pcwizcomputer.com/weaksauce12/?p=60
It's available on Newegg for only $105, or $90 AR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102719
There's instructions for getting driver support for that card here:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=94090