New Machine

[wishy]

Getting a two machines for work and would like some advice on best bet. We getting new mobo cpu and ram for two machines.
Existing hardware is SCSI Hard + controller, GF2Mx in one, Elsa Gloria XL in other both using NT and CAD software. Audio has no meaning.

Am considering ABit board/PIV 1.7/512Mb.

Main priorities are
Must work ALL THE TIME as my job is not worth living otherwise.

Fast as possible (handling large (50Mb) 3D model files BUT not at expense of reliability (current bottleneck is raw CPU speed but mobo will not upgrade past 333MHz).

easily upgradeable later if just CPU only (that is main reason I am looking at Intel as sockets appear more stable for future upgrade), tell me if im wrong as me just bought 1st AMD for home use (for pure speed but doesn't matter if it messes up for a few days etc)

Any advice would be welcome

 

[Ice_Gargoylle]

u cud always get a duel board and add a cpu at a later time.

 

[RangerJoe]

if you are going to be doing imaging, i say you get something like the MSI k7t-266a pro 2 or pro2 ru (raid version if needed) with 256mb x 2 corsair XMS pc2400 ram, xp 1600+ or xp 1700+, umm. you have hard drives...so that should work for you. those motherboards have tons of features and are very stable.....

if you seriously wanted to do the dual board thing, get dual xp1800+ cpu's and 512mb X 2 corsair xms pc2400 ram....but thats not really needed that much, the first one would do you just fine

 

[wishy]

Was going to Intel for this one for the reason that socket 478 mobo looks like it will upgrade CPU at a later date better then Socket A when clawhammer etc come out.

Current choice looking at specs (AND PRICE) is

ABit BD7 RAID
Corsair XMS2400 256Mb x 2
1.8GHz Northwood

Dual mobo option would be nice but by the time I get another budget to upgrade then it will be much cheaper to just buy new mobo cpu combo. Bear in mind that I have only just got the go ahead to replace current P-II 300/256Mb RAM system after 4 years of use AND only on the condition that I only buy mobo/CPU/RAM and fit myself. Also bear in mind that I.T. is NOT my day job so I need to spend zero time fitting this at work and it needs to be rock solid. I aint even gonna think about overclocking it (that's for this thing i'm typing on now ;-) )

 

[Ice_Gargoylle]

i see where u are going, and thats what my thoughts were exactly. I dont want to upgrade, atleast not for 5-8 years here. So i went duel p3 1.26's w/ raid. When i bought this i paid ALOT for the cpu's/mobo/and ram, but since then the prices have dropped alot.
I went this route becuase the core system is sweet, i only need to upgrade my video card etc. in the future. And i guess 3 years down the road i cud pik up 2 of the faster p3 tualatins if i wanted. And those will be real cheap by then.

But this system shud last me for atleast 5 years, and hopefully 8 or 9. It only has to run my programs, not games, so this will not be outdated so soon. I think it was a very wise investment over the long term.

mobo=180
cpu's=520
ram/1.5gig pc133 = 207

so that was alot but im sure the cpu's have dropped, but the rest is prolly the same, and u prolly dont need all that ram.