Potential Specifcation & Cost for the Upgrade

[TeaLeaf]

I started this in a new thread to get some clarity on the spec & costs.  The 2U case sounds better to me as it gives slightly better options for PCI cards if you need them later on.  They also give the potential for better cooling, hopefully lengthening the chip life.  I have had a quick look round and come up with the following.

Costs:
Case £150 (safety margin added to Stryker's costs - can you give me the source or the cost of the one you want Stryker?)
CPU  Â£175 (Pentium IV 2.0Ghz)
Mobo £138 (MSI MS6534 inc onboard ethernet & sound, plus 8MB gfx card)
RAM £140 (1Gb SDRAM PC133)

Total £603

It's only a quick internet search that gave me the above, but I thought something like this might work.  I reckon we could cover this level of cost from known 'volunteer donors' and the remaining Clan members.

What I would like to be able to do is to put up a PLEDGE topic in the forums for people to pledge their money to the cause either publically or privately.  

Public Donations: This gives us a public list of donors and that always creates a little bit of healthy competition (and makes it more difficult for their pledges to disappear in a puff of smoke).  

Private Donations: Private donations are more difficult to admister with but tend to be better value so in past fund raising I have offered 2 options which would equate to:

(a) Add their donation amount to the forum list but as 'Anonymous 1', 'Anonymous 2'  so that everyone knows that someone has donated and how much, and the person donating knows which anonymous donation name they are.  
OR
(B) Add their name to the forum list but with an unspecified donation amount.  This way the person gets the public recognition without having to disclose how much they are donating.  You can only start posting these though when there are at least 2 unspecified amount donors (for obvious reasons).

The running total of how close we are then becomes part of the forum and this generates interest and in turn more money.  We can even pimp those who visit MH if we want, not just dMw members.  I reckon 10-14 days pimping should get us to the above figure.

Can I have some feedback from everyone on the tech spec, the initial costs & the PLEDGE page idea?  I am quite happy to drive the fund raising bit but I want someone else to sign off the 'yes that mobo/chip/card will fit in the box and work' list!!

Let's get this sorted in time for the ED Final......

[Gandalf]

looking good. As I've said before, I'm happy to donate £100. Let me know where to send the cheque and who to make it payable too!

[TeaLeaf]

Glad you think the prices look OK.  What about spec though & practicalities - Do they look ok too?

Thanks for the confirmation of the donation - I already have you on my list  :lol:  Don't worry though, I'm sure you won't be the only one donating......

Let's wait to hear from the others and I'll organise the buy when we've agreed the shopping list.

TL.

[DogMeat]

I'd prefer to have the graphics & NIC on the mobo - you don't need sound on a server.  In the server room, no-one can hear you scream...

[OldBloke]

If we plump for a P4, does that tie us to RDRAM or is it dependent on the mobo?

[Gandalf]

If we plump for a P4, does that tie us to RDRAM or is it dependent on the mobo?

sdram and p4 are fine. does depend on mobo though

[TeaLeaf]

OK, so I’ve taken the mobo search a little further in light of Dogger’s comments.  I have changed the spec sheet to include a different mobo with onboard graphics, sound & LAN. So the shopping list now looks like this:

Costs:
Case £150 (safety margin added to Stryker's costs - can you give me the source or the cost of the one you want Stryker?)
CPU £175 (Pentium IV 2.0Ghz)
Mobo c.£138 (MSI MS6526GL-L inc onboard ethernet, sound & gfx)
RAM £140 (1Gb SDRAM PC133)

Review of it here: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?art...eid=1172&page=6

Manufacturer site: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/detail_...del=MS-6526GL_L

My biggest problem is that I can’t find anyone in the UK who sells it at the moment!  But it should be within price range â€" let me know if (a) this mobo is OK and (B) if you know where we can get one!

Someone will also need to tell me which RAM can be used in the mobo as the description gets a bit too technical for me.....but it's not RDRAM as far as I can see Oldie  :lol:

Feedback please....

[Gandalf]

I'll make some calls tomorrow. The case will probably be cheaper if stryker gets it though. I'll see what prices I can come up with, or maybe an alternate spec.

[OldBloke]

Question for both DM and Stryker.

Does it have to be a rack-mounted case? Couldn't we go with the box I've got available NOW and convert to rack-mount at a later date when space is pressing (assuming it isn't already)?

We could still use donations to upgrade the CPU and RDRAM.

[TeaLeaf]

Silly question, but is it a microATX box or does a microATX mobo fit a normal ATX case anyway?  Sorry if that's a stupid question, but having never tried it before.....  8O

[TeaLeaf]

OK, here are some other possible mobo's.  They all take SDRAM (some DDR SDRAM) not RDRAM, are all MicroATX form and either include or allow the option to include integrated graphics, LAN & sound.

ASUS P4B533-VM plus the optional LAN and sound
http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socket478/p4b533...ecification.htm

ASUS P4BGL-VM plus the optional LAN & sound
http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socket478/p4bgl-...ecification.htm

ASUS P4S333-VM plus the optional LAN & sound
http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socket478/p4s333...ecification.htm

GIGABYTE GA-8SMML+ (£76)
//www.dabs.co.uk

GIGABYTE GA-8SMML (£74)
//www.dabs.co.uk

SOLTEK http://www.soltek.de/English/home/01.htm
Soltek SL-85MIR-L
Soltek SL-85LIR-L
Soltek SL-85MIV-L

Epox EP-4GLM+
http://www.epox.nl/english/products/mother...ml/ep-4glm+.htm

AOpen MX4LS
http://www.aopen.nl/products/mb/mx4ls.htm

AOpen MX46LS
http://www.aopen.nl/products/mb/mx46ls.htm

AOpen MX4GR
http://www.aopen.nl/products/mb/mx4gr.htm

AOpen MX4G
http://www.aopen.nl/products/mb/mx4g.htm

AOpen MX4LR
http://www.aopen.nl/products/mb/mx4lr.htm

I am not a techie, so can someone please pick one?

Thanks.

TL.

[Stryker]

A micro ATX board will fit in all current cases.

Yes I guess we could use a standard case but I'd imagine we may need the space it takes by/around JAN/FEB 03... a case takes 3Us of vauluable rack space, a 1U case.... well think that says it all :-)

In short Yes.  We could use a standard case with a mATX m/b and change to a rackmount case later.  Maybe that processor is a bit beefy.  Do they do a 1.6 or a 1.8?  would it be much cheaper or not worth it?

I must say at this time I'm strapped.... IE wife just gets a birthday card this august that kinda strapped :-)

[TeaLeaf]

OK, so we can edit the list down to esclude a 1/2U case for the timebeing if we really need to.  That would bring the budgeted cost down to

CPU £170 (Pentium IV 2.0Ghz)
Mobo c.£140 (to be decided)
RAM £140 (1Gb SDRAM PC133 or similar)

Total £450

Yes we can get lower processor speeds, but the saving is marginal.  For example

Pentium 4 2.0GHz S478 400MHz 512Kb - £170
Pentium 4 1.9GHz S478 400MHz 256Kb - £159
Pentium 4 1.8GHz S478 400MHz 512Kb - £152
Pentium 4 1.7GHz S478 400MHz 256Kb - £152
Pentium 4 1.6GHz S478 400MHz 256Kb - £124

To my mind the costs are close enough to say 2.0Ghz.  Anything more than that and it jumps in price a lot (e.g. 2.2Ghz is £235).  Also, not all P4 chip speeds fit all mobos.  The 2.0Ghz is a common speed and fits most of the current crop of mobos.

If we don't have to buy the case I am as sure as I can ever be that we will reach the target.  But I still need someone to select the mobo from the list I gave above.

TL.

[Stryker]

Epox EP-4GLM+
http://www.epox.nl/english/products/mother...ml/ep-4glm+.htm

looks pretty good... if it turns out to be £150 then I guess I dont like it :-)

[DogMeat]

However, see here for memory prices.  DDR 2100 is more expensive than PC133.
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts....LM%2B&submit=Go