Building an Engineering Workstation > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Component Selection
I started purchasing components right before Christmas (I actually placed all of the orders on 23 December). For tax reasons, everything had to ship by the end of the year. In a few cases, my top choice for a component wasn't in stock, so I had to choose an alternative.
CPU
Pentium III 500 MHz and Soyo SY-6BA+IV motherboard bundle, $377 from TC Computers
The CPU is the heart of the system, so that's where I started. I decided to get a Pentium III, not because I think the AMD processors are inferior, but because all of my experience is with Intel systems.
My PII-300 at work is fast enough for fairly complex analyses, so I knew I didn't need the fastest available processor. I chose a 500 MHz CPU, because it occupied the "sweet spot" in the price spectrum. It was only $40 more than a 450 MHz, but $200 less than a 550 MHz.
Motherboard
The motherboard is the most important component, because everything builds off of it. I was able to quickly narrow down the choices based on a few criteria:
- ATX form factor - easiest to work on, greatest expandability, becoming the standard.
- Slot 1 - required for Pentium III.
- AGP Slot - faster graphics.
- Five PCI slots - maximum expandability.
- Four DIMM slots - maximum RAM capacity (plus I had 4 DIMMS available from another machine).
The last criterion actually narrowed the field the most. The majority of boards only have three DIMM slots, and some only have two. I knew I might want a half gig of RAM, and maybe even a full gig in the future. One of the office machines is maxed out at 384 MB, and I've found that to be borderline for some analyses.
Two other choices I considered were dual CPU capability and onboard SCSI. Based on my experience with the office machines, the motherboard would be the first component requiring an upgrade replacement. Onboard SCSI adds about $200 to the price of the motherboard, and that's a recurring cost if I replace the board. A separate SCSI card costs about the same, but it will outlive the motherboard--the Adaptec card on my office machine is about five years old and still going strong.
Dual CPU capability was a harder choice. It doesn't benefit most applications, but some of the graphics cards I was considering could use two CPUs. Increased cost would have been $50 to $100 (not counting the second CPU, which I didn't plan to buy for a while). In the end, I chose a single CPU board, because: 1) I couldn't find a reasonably priced dual board with all of the features I wanted; and 2) one of my office machines is dual CPU capable and, by the time I was ready to add a second CPU, compatible processors were no longer available.
Before making any of these choices, I knew I would buy the CPU and motherboard from TC Computers. That's where I bought components for my office systems. I was pleased with their service, they have good prices (not necessarily the lowest), they test out CPU/motherboard bundles before shipping, and they have a great warranty (three years on CPUs and motherboards, lifetime on RAM).
TC had five boards that met my criteria. My first choice was one from Supermicro, because that's what I use on my office machines, but it was over $200. I eventually settled on the Soyo SY-6BA+IV. It wasn't the lowest priced, but it met all of my criteria, got good reviews, and has an onboard UltraDMA/66 controller. The latter feature means that it can handle eight IDE devices instead of the usual four. (The board is also a popular overclocking choice, but I don't plan to use it for that.)
Memory
2x128MB SDRAM PC100 DIMMs, $438 from TC Computers
I had some surplus RAM, so I didn't need to buy memory for this machine. If I was buying, though, I would have started with two 128 MB DIMMs. This gives me plenty of memory to start, and I don't have to remove any to upgrade.
My actual configuration will be four 64 MB DIMMs. I'll have to remove some of them to upgrade, but then they are free.
Case
InWin Q500, $85 from Page Computer
With an ATX motherboard, I obviously need an ATX case. I also wanted a full tower. Mid-towers are a bit too crowded, and I've run out of drive space in my office machines. I also chose a 300W power supply, because you can never have too much power.
I chose an InWin Q500. There aren't many choices for full tower cases, and this one had a good mix of external and internal drive bays. I later found it had some other nice features, which I'll cover in the assembly section.