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 All prices courtesy of Price
Watch.
The
God Box represents what the Ars folk would buy if money were no obstacle, and
x86 was still the platform du jour. Sure, some might argue that a God Box
could only be accurately identified as a CAVE, but at Ars, for a box to be the
pinnacle of power and wisdom, it needs balance and realism. If you've got
any suggestions or complaints, voice 'em in the OpenForum.
Motherboard:
ABIT VP6
That's right...we've finally gotten our hands on the ABIT VP6 here in the Ars
Orbiting HQ (took long enough **cough**), but now that it's here we're sufficiently
impressed. With very little effort we got our 700e's kickin' out 933 each,
and have heard that the cC0 stepping 700e's are hitting dual 1GHz fairly easy.
That with the HPT370 and RAID 0 makes for a nice stable combo. Certainly
recommended.
Price: $147 (2/5/2001)
Processor:
2 FCPGA Pentium III 1GHz SMP
When ordering, be sure to specify verify that your CPUs are SL4MF S-Spec.
That's Intel's new PIII on the cC0 stepping which Intel has SMP certified.
2 X 1GHz = Blazing Speed. Also keep in mind that if you don't mind a bit
o' gambling, there is some serious overclockability with this board, so dual
700's ain't outta the question. But the only way to guarantee GHz is to
buy GHz.
Some of you will say, "Why not the Athlon?" Well, it's simple: SMP
is tres' chic. It's not like in general you can point to something being
amazingly faster on a SMP box than a uni-proc box (sure some apps smoke but in
general), it's mostly a smoothness thing. It's a multi-tasking thing.
It's a...a...a...geek thing.
Price: $518 [$259 for one] (2/5/2001)
RAM:
512MB PC150 SDRAM
Sure, sure, sure...we know it's not a standard, but if you're looking to OC a
133MHz FSB CPU (like them dual GHz mofo's) then 150MHz SDRAM isn't such a bad
idea. There's a couple different modules on the market, one of them being
the Kingmax DIMMs. I've used these and was happy with their stability and
speed. You may pay a bit more, but you should be happy with the results.
Price: $308 [$154 for one 256MB DIMM] (2/5/2001)
Video:
Nvidia GeForce II GTS 64MB Ultra
We've decided, since there are so damn many cards on the market right now that
sport the Nvidia chipsets, to call the chipset the
champ and let you decide. ASUS and Guillemot have both impressed us here,
but the market is full of options, like Leadtek, VisioTek, eVga and others. Find
one that you like price-wise and snatch that up.
If you're looking for a more well-rounded card, the ATi All-In-Wonder Radeon
would be a good choice. From Video-Editing to watching TV, this card does a
little bit of everything...and doesn't suck @ Q3 at the same time.
On the other hand, if gaming ain't yo bag o' fish, you could grab yourself a
Matrox G450 and have some of the industry's best 2D graphics with a supa-fly
dual head setup, all for less than what you'd pay for a night at the Ritz.
But really, we're not kidding about the gaming part...
Cost: $335 (2/5/2001)
Sound:
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1
The Soundblaster Live! Platinum has been Caesar's favorite
around the Ars HQ here for a while. Now Creative ups the ante with the 5.1
version. Supporting full 5.1 Dolby Digital features, Live Drive 2, and a
spiffy remote control, the Live! Platinum is guaranteed to have more bells and
whistles on it than you know what to do with.
Cost: $160 (2/5/2001)
Communications:
Intel EtherExpress Pro 100+ PCI
A NIC is a very personal choice. Oddly, it's one of the most debated parts
of the system recommendations every month. We here at Ars have had
excellent luck with the Intel series of cards, but many advocate 3Com's 3C90X
series of cards, or even Netgear's. Personally I've used 'em all and
haven't found any that have as widespread OS support as the Intel card.
Price: $32 (2/5/2001)
Other Cards:
Mylex AcceleRAID 170
Where to start? Let's see...how about the ability to do RAID 50 and JBOD?
Or perhaps you'd be interested in a RAID card that you can upgrade to have 64MB
of cache? How's about a card that will allow you up to 1.08TB (that's TeraBytes)
of storage? I think that'll keep the Cheetahs happy, no? The AcceleRAID
170 is a good entry-level SCSI RAID card. I have a friend who lives
and breathes SCSI RAID, and he stands by Mylex products like...well, like he'd
trust them with his life. Of course, this may be considered overkill
what with the HPT370 controller, but this is the god box and there is no
such thing as overkill, right?
Price: $383 (with 32MB) (2/5/2001)
REALmagic Hollywood DVD decoder
Hardware DVD decoding is the way to fly, especially if you've got the extra
cash to throw around. This is strictly optional; many people believe that
software decoding is higher quality than hardware these days, and with 2 GHz of
CPU power and a GF II Ultra, DVD decoding should be a snap.
Price: $45 (2/5/2001)
Hard Drive:
2 Seagate Cheetah 73GB ST173404LC
160MB/s transfer rate, 10,000 RPM, 4MB of
cache, 73 Gigs of storage per drive, and you could probably fry eggs for
breakfast on 'em. Price and your storage needs should dictate the drives
you buy, but we're talkin' top-of-the-line here. 146GB RAID 0? Or if
you're feelin' nutty...nab 5 of these and config yourself a RAID 5 Array.
Price: $1790 [$895 for one] (2/5/2001)
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 75GB
Perhaps it's all the fruit smoothie breakfasts I've been havin'
recently...but I'm goin' out on a limb to recommend a RAID 1 for your extra
storage needs. A big MP3 collection deserves backup, right? We're
going 7200 RPM ('cause we can) and dual 75GB drives for redundancy.
Price: $610 [$305 for one] (2/5/2001)
CD-ROM:
Yamaha CRW2100EZ 16/10/40X
Whoa! The Plextor got bumped? Yup...I'm sure they'll have a 16X
drive on the market soon, but Yamaha and TDK are the only ones with such drives
available right now (AFAIK) and the Yamaha is the only one listed on Pricewatch,
so it gets the nod. 16X burning speed means that you can rip a 700MB disc
in about 5 minutes...all the speed you need for today's fast paced world.
Price: $195 (2/5/2001)
Pioneer DVD-115 16X
Unbelievably, IDE is still beating SCSI for the fastest DVD drive, too.
So, the Pioneer gets the recommendation again.
Price: $73 (2/5/2001)
Other Media:
ATAPI Zip Drive
The only reason this isn't a waste of money is because of the large Zip
installed base. Definitely a good sneaker net solution, but it could be
left out to save some bucks. Goin' IDE for a change since they're significantly
cheaper and since we have IDE ports open...well, you know.
Price: $34 (2/5/2001)
Case:
Supermicro SC750A
A good case is an investment, and this puppy could conceivably last you
through years of upgrades. Just make sure you get a good 300W PS.
Check out our review
for the dirt on why this case rocks. I was really tempted to give the
Godbox the Coolermaster
case, but the drive bays, and lack of additional 5 1/4" bays hindered
it as our choice.
Price: $120 (2/5/2001)
Monitor:
Sony GDM-FW900
Let's see...24" with a 21.5" viewable. What kind of
resolution can you pull off? Well the maximum is 2304x1440 @ 80Hz.
Umm...Jeez, I run high-res and that even boggles my mind. But, ya can't
beat the size, though you can beat the price.
Price: $2188 (2/5/2001)
Speakers:
Klipsch ProMedia 4.2
How do you top the Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400s? Who can
top 'em? Klipsch. For those who don't need the four point surround
of the v.2-400s Klipsch recently released the ProMedia
2.1s. The 4.2s
are two sets of 2.1s together. What's that mean? Four point
surround with dual sub-woofers. Man...that hurts my kidneys just thinking
about it. I haven't heard a set of these (but would really love to, Klipsch!
;) but based on the Klipsch home speakers I got kickin' 'round the Ars HQ
here...they're gonna thump enough to get the cops showin' up on a regular basis.
Price: $400 (2/5/2001)
Mouse:
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer
What a great combination. The wheel doohickey of the IntelliMouse plus
Microsoft's new IntelliEye laser tech. Never clean your mouse balls
again, and use the Railgun like a masta (if you can handle high sensitivity!).
Check out our
review.
Cost: $37 (2/5/2001)
Keyboard:
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro
Fight RSI and have your arrow keys arranged correctly at the same time!
The Elite version is cheaper, but those arrow keys are really annoying.
Plus the Pro has a bunch of wacky (and surprisingly addictive) keys for
controlling media and 'net apps.
Cost: $55 (2/5/2001)
Floppy:
Generic
While some may say you don't need a floppy drive (like Apple)
it is still nice to have, if *gasp* your bootable CD-ROM doesn't work right.
Cost: $8 (2/5/2001)
Total Price: $7348 + S&H (2/5/2001), w/o OS
Recommended Operating
Systems:
Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows 98, Linux, BeOS
While a computer isn't much good without an operating system, these system
recommendations are intended to be hardware only. But do not despair, we
have some OS recommendations specially formulated for the God Box.
Windows 2000 Server: Take WinNT, add on some Win98 glitz and some
all-around improvements, and you've got Win2k. Gamers will be pleased with
the improved gaming support over WinNT, and everybody can get something out of
the improved stability over Win98, especially post-SP1. We recommend
Server 'cause this powerful of a box is beggin' to have some visitors. But
if you don't care about licensing, or have no plans of server domination,
Professional will work just fine.
Price: $649 (2/5/2001)
Windows NT 4.0 Server: If you don't want to play any DirectX
games, and you're still nervous about making the leap to 2k, consider Windows NT.
Why not NT Workstation? Same justification as with Win2k Server above.
Price: $359 (2/5/2001)
Windows 98SE: It's unfortunate, but this buggy OS is the best thing
out there for people who still want to play the latest games. You could go
for WinME, but we're assuming you'll only be using this outdated core for gaming and a better OS for everything else, so you might as well go for the
cheaper of the two. Just don't expect to get anything out of the God Box's
SMP configuration. As above, you can get the low price listed by buying it
with your equipment.
Price: $47 (2/5/2001)
Linux: Take your pick of distributions and go nuts!
Price: Free, or around $50 for a prepackaged
distribution like RedHat's (2/5/2001)
BeOS R5 Personal Edition: While the future of this OS is uncertain,
you can't beat the price. So, if you want to see one of the purtiest
Operating Systems out there, give it a shot. Check out our look at BeOS
Personal Edition.
Price: Free (2/5/2001)
The Other Systems
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