Project: Building a custom SMP (symmetrical multiprocessing) capable PC
Total Cost: with boards such as the MSI 694D now available at less than C$275, you can put together a basic "duallie" system for under a thousand bucks... or as much more than that as you care to spend. We spent about C$2700 for the semi-deluxe components listed here.
Pros: Complete control over all aspects of the hardware and software allows better compatibility and optimum performance -- theoretically, at least.
Cons: Complex technical issues. Some assembly (and maybe a little teeth-gnashing) required. Building a PC from components costs 15 to 20 percent more than some pre-built systems.
Our quest was to build the perfect SMP-PC. Specifically, a PC optimized for the dual-processing power of "next generation" operating systems such as Linux, Windows 2000 and their successors. We set out to build a computer that took advantage of the latest motherboard designs and hardware innovations, such as a system that could exploit ACPI (advanced configurable power interface) and Microsoft's "OnNow" feature (as seen in "Whistler," the forthcoming OS likely to be known as Winmdows.NET 1.0 when it is released in 2001) to go into "standby mode" and return almost instantly to whatever task you were performing before it went to sleep.
We wanted features like high-performance AGP 4x (accelerated graphics port) video, dual-monitor support, blazing hardware 3D graphics acceleration, DVD and more, more, more. But...although our number one consideration was quality, we wanted to "have it all" on a reasonable budget. We set as our target figure $2700, which is often quoted as the amount of money Canadians end up spending on a new computer. Although we had to make some compromises, we did end up with a computer that worked perfectly the very first time we plugged it all in. This is the story of what we installed, what worked and what didn't, and how we did it.
What's it For?
Of course, the definition of "perfect" depends on the qualifier, "for what?" We wanted to put together the best machine for graphics performance, with exceptional Windows 2000 (or, if you only plan to use a single CPU, Windows Me) compatibility -- while spending a reasonable amount of money. We wanted it to be as flexible as possible, and to be as easy as possible to administer and maintain. We wanted stunning graphics performance, killer sound, and blazing speed -- in short, a tall order. We knew we'd have to cut some corners (a "no compromise" machine that supplied all of these items in spades could easily top $5,000), but we wanted the flexibility to be able to add more power in the future.
Here is a short list of the components we considered, and notes on why various items were considered and rejected. Refer to the end of the article for a list of what ended up in our Perfect PC.
CPU: We considered AMD Athlon, T-bird, Duron, Celeron PPGA, Celeron FC-PGA (sometimes called the "Celeron II" or "Coppermine 128") and Pentium III processors of the original and newer Coppermine varieties. For a variety of reasons (mostly related to keeping the widest array of options available), we eventually narrowed it down to three: PPGA Celeron, FC-PGA Celeron or Coppermine FC-PGA PIII. Those with a bigger budget will probably want to go for the PIII, for its better performance and dual-CPU capability, while value-minded buyers may choose the PPGA Celerons, which are (or, in some cases, were) available at speeds up to 533MHz. The Celeron II, however, is a special case. Put simply, it doesn't support dual processor configurations, period. While we expect somebody, sooner or later, will come up with a hack to work around this design limitation built into the chips by Intel, at the moment, the Celeron II FC-PGA family of processors are not a good choice for SMP applications.
That's unfortunate, because in most other regards, the Celeron II is nearly ideal. It supports the SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions) that give the PIII added multimedia and 3D "oomph." Its .18 micron fabrication process and "flip-chip" design makes it run cool enough to overclock like crazy -- particularly in its 600 MHz "cC0 stepping" version, which can usually achieve speeds of 900 MHz or more.
With SMP as our goal, we had to choose from the nearly obsolete PPGA Celerons or a pair of pricey PIIIs. Here, too, are complicating factors. The older PPGA Celerons lack support for the SSE instructions of the PIII. This makes some websites, such as Intel's WebOutfitter site, not work properly. Although we can write this off as a mere marketing ploy by Intel to get you to buy the (much) more expensive PIIIs instead, the fact that the PPGA Celeron is all but discontinued is more troubling. In essence, if you plan to set up a dual-CPU system based on PPGA Celerons, you'd better buy them both now -- you may not be able to find them at all in a few months. Thus, the PIII FC-PGA became our #1 choice.
At the time this article was written, FC-PGA PIII models ranging from 533MHz to 1GHz were available, at prices ranging from about $250 to about quadruple that. For budgetary reasons (not to mention its high overclocking success rates), we ended up with a 650MHz CPU (about $265 at this writing). The 700 MHz version is also a good choice, with excellent overclocking potential. Faster CPUs are, of course, available for more.
Motherboard: Our short list had us choosing between Abit VP6, MSA 694D Pro-A and SuperMicro boards. We considered going with a dual CPU board (our very first SMP system was based on the SuperMicro P6DLE and, since its release the company has never faltered in its commitment to the high-end of the market, with SMP boards well suited for server usage or maniacal power freaks) or Asus' BX-based P2B-D board with two (slot 1) CPU sockets, but we eventually decided to go for the MSI 694D Pro-A, for its 133MHz FSB, ATA100 and AGP4x support, overclocking and voltage tweaking capabilities, extra USB ports and optional FireWire feature. It has 4 RAM slots and 5 PCI slots (no ISA slots, however!), plus built-in sound.
We originally had our eye on the Abit VP6, but the board wasn't available locally when we went looking. (Details at www.abit.com.tw.) The company, however, earned a bit of a black eye over the older dual Socket 370 (PPGA Celeron) BP6, which provided UDMA/66 drive support that basically, gave users nothing but headaches, with hard drives that didn't boot properly, Windows systems that wouldn't load after the motherboard was upgraded, and generally notorious flakiness. It, like other recent Abit boards, has excellent overclocking features. It supports two Socket 370 CPUs, but does not support the newer FC-PGA chips -- at least without hardware modifications. Thus, it, too, was crossed off our list.
Some people may prefer an older, tried-but-true BX chipset based board with on-board SCSI, such as the Asus P2B-DS or the now-discounted Legend-QDI BrillianX 4, but several of the dealers we spoke to expressed reservations about this (the BrillianX 4, it seems, isn't particularly compatible with Windows 2000 when configured with dual CPUs, for example) but it was, more than anything, the price of a decent SCSI hard drive that essentially scared us off the idea. Still, we liked the Asus board's quality, feature-set and its excellent documentation, but ultimately chose the MSI board over other strong competitors for its ability to custom-control the CPU core voltage, better compatibility with Intel's newest FC-PGA CPUs, the latest ATA100 storage devices and faster 133 MHz bus and 4x AGP graphics speeds.
Of course, there's always a better board around the corner. New dual CPU boards are on the way from Gigabyte, Tyan, Abit and others.
Older SMP mainboards: Depending on your budget and intent, you may find that an older BX (or even LX)-based mainboard is adequate. But beware -- a notable limitation of the 1995-vintage SuperMicro P6DLE board, for example, is its lack of support for processors faster than 333 MHz. Just try and find a processor that slow these days.
Still, it was an innovative product in its day, with its ability to automatically sense the CPU temperature. It was possible to configure these systems to automatically adjust their fan speed, sound an alarm or even shut themselves down if overheating occurred. These features, while more common today, are still not ubiquitous.
Another forward-looking feature of this motherboard was the incorporation of ACPI -- advanced configurable power interface. This feature, finally implemented properly in Windows Millennium Edition, makes the SuperMicro board more power-smart -- and compliant with the Windows "Standby" mode, now dubbed OnNow by Microsoft. It, like other PCs based on the ATX power supply design, also features the ability to power down completely or put into suspend mode by invoking the Shut Down command. This soft-off power meant that the unit could be turned on via a telephone call -- again, not too uncommon today, but innovative for its time. The SuperMicro Dual Pentium II MB originally carried a street price of C$430 -- nearly double the price of an MSI 694D or similar "duallie" board of today.
And, if the P6DLE's four PCI slots weren't enough for you, the company also made a dual PII model called the P6DLH that had a whopping 9 PCI and 3 ISA slots. Today, the company offers similar, but updated (and still pricey!) models, with on-board SCSI, RAID capabilities, etc.
RAM: We originally planned to use one 128MB SDRAM PC133 DIMM, leaving us with two free sockets to add more RAM in the future. However, we discovered that using two DIMMs allowed us to force the system into using a more efficient form of memory interleaving. We used PC133 (CAS2) memory supplied by Crucial.com for our test system. Total cost per 64MB DIMM: C$88.
Case and power supply: We spent quite a bit of time shopping around for cases. The Antec SX-830 series cases are the super-deluxe solution for a server-type setup, but they're not cheap -- about C$160. You can get a nice case from Inwin for about $100 or a basic one from any number of other manufacturers for even less. We couldn't resist -- we had to go for the Antec case.
Beware of super-low-cost or "AT type" cases. The cheapest cases have low-quality power supplies and shoddy workmanship. AT cases have a different, incompatible type of power supply with a connector incompatible with that found on an ATX motherboard, such as any of those mentioned above. Of coursze, you could buy a replacement ATX power supply, but these typically cost almost as much as a whole new case. You may also find that some cases use a proprietary power supply design with unusual power wiring or cabling requirements. Because power supplies do fail on occasion, we recommend against this design.
Indeed, we've seen cases with a "soft-off" power switch design, where the case wasn't compatible with a "standard" replacement power supply. Other cases (including a gorgeous Macintosh G4-lookalike unit, in silver-and-cream-colured plastics) can be difficult to work with, with front panels too difficult to remove, or side panels nearly impossible to open or close. Grrr! You may also have other considerations with your hardware design, such as the number of expansion bays available, and so on.
While we were researching, we learned quite a bit about power supplies. Basically, it is clear that all power supplies are most definitely not created equal, even if they are rated similarly. We compared three 230W power supplies: a cheapo unit (about $35) from a local clone retailer, a mid-priced unit ($60) and a super-deluxe power supply from Compucon (about $90). We found that the more expensive units have better heat sinks (for better heat dissipation), quieter fans, and better shielding. We'd recommend going for a good power supply. Total street price cost for our easy-open Antec SX-830 case (The MSI 694D, unlike some other dual-CPU mainboards, needs only a single power supply -- in our case, a 300W ATX model): about C$160, complete with three fans.
CD-ROM drive: We decided to go for the gusto and installed a Creative Labs Encore DVD kit. We were delighted to see that the DVD drive is recognized by Windows boot disc as a standard IDE device, which allowed our bootable CD to load the OS without the need to create floppy disks or other hassles. You may wish to substitute or add a CD Rewritable drive in your system configuration. Obviously, your system should be configured to serve your needs.
When reading CDs, a 4x4x24 CD rewriter drive behaves like a 24x CD-ROM; an 8x/4x/32x drive (where 8x refers to the Write, 4x means ReWrite, and 32x is the Read speed) would perform as a 32x CD-ROM.
Note that, even if you get only a DVD drive, it is also able (with the appropriate software) to read CD-RW, CD-R, and, of course, DVD discs. Note, however, that the ability to play DVD movies is dependant on your video card and/or the availability of either hardware or software DVD decoder on your system.
Hardware decoders generally tax your system's CPU less than software-based solutions; however, the pass-through cable that routes the output from a standard video card into and back out of the DVD decoder card sometimes produces a small amount of interference in the video display. In our tests, it was barely visible, but definitely present. Moving the Creative Labs DVD decoder card (actually, a repackaged version of Sigma Designs' Hollywood Plus decoder hardware) to a slot further away from our AGP graphics card didn't seem to solve the problem, but happily, changing the video configuration options eliminated the interference. The unit was a breeze to set up and the movie playback performance was excellent. Total cost: about C$400. (US$299.)
The DVD drive worked very well in our tests. We tested it with a selection of discs from the ever growing collection of DVD-ROM (computer program) discs here at PC Buyers Guide: a sci-fi action game called Wing Commander 4, starring Malcolm (Clockwork Orange, O Lucky Man) McDowall and Mark Hamill (Star Wars), a cartoon-style game of swashbuckling pirate cats called "Claw," a DVD-ROM version of Microsoft's popular Encarta encyclopedia, and numerous DVD-ROM enhanced movies.
We also checked out the the first entirely computer-generated DVD-ROM disc we've seen: Planetary Traveler, from Third Planet Entertainment. This disc features animated landscapes built with Bryce3D, a 3D program from Metacreations. Despite its occasionally overbearing music, it is a sightseeing tour unlike anything else. Another notable new DVD title is Microsoft's Encarta 98, which exploits the enourmous capacity of DVD discs to fit more multimedia content than ever on a single disc. Encarta 98 DVD edition includes an amazing "Virtual Globe" feature that, for example, not only allowed us to locate our home town on the map, but could also zoom right down to street level and locate interesting tourist destinations in a number of metropolitan areas. Alternate views provided us with sights and sounds of the cities, topographical relief maps of the areas, statistics and much more. Very cool.
We tested it with several "standard" DVD movie titles, too. We watched a DVD version of the movie Terminator 2 and marveled at the extras on the DVD disc: biographies of the actors, production notes, theatrical trailers and more. The Austin Powers disc has several scenes that were deleted from the movie, including two alternate endings, commentaries on every scene by the director and Mike Myers, plus several extra goodies, including animations, a spy-genre retrospective and "Music to shag to."
Sound Card: Tough choice. It was a toss-up between several cards: the Guillemot Maxi Studio ISIS card, the Terratec EWS 64XL, and the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! (reviewed in more detail in a separate article). All had their merits. We eventually chose the Live! for its unsurpassed compatibility. There are several models of SB Live! to choose from: an"MP3+" edition includes music applications (and a full-blown MP3 "ripper" capable of encoding MP3s at bitrates up to 320K -- producing vastly superior results to those achievable by the standard Windows MP3 codec, with its 64K ceiling), an "X-Gamer" version bundles several games (Need for Speed 4, Expendable, Rollcage, etc.), a deluxe "Platinum Edition" throws in all of these software titles and more, plus adds a audio interface box that mounts in one of your PC's drive bay for front-panel plug-in convenience. There's also a "value edition for about $70 that delivers only a basic software selection -- or, if you are a home theatre enthusiast, there are versions of the product with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound capabilities, too. We decided to go for the MP3+ edition, dreaming of a high-speed Internet connection to Napster and its ilk. We routed the DVD drive's audio output to the DVD decoder card, which provided an audio pass-through to the Sound Blaster's CD-audio input connector. Total cost: C$150.
Floppy drive: We considered an LS-120 (120 megabyte "floptical") drive, but its $130 cost made our budget bulge. $20 dollars for a standard floppy helped trim the bottom line. Total cost: C$20.
Operating System: We elected to install Windows 2000 OEM and found it to support our motherboard's advanced features such as ACPI and USB very well, although Windows 98, Me would also work well on this system. albeit without support of the second CPU.
If you are intending to run Windows 2000 (or indeed, any other OS), it is important to choose compatible hardware. Our custom system is partially compatible with Windows NT, Linux and other PC operating systems, but NT 4's lack of plug-and-play support and its incompatibility with some of the hardware and software components we wanted to use made Windows 2000 or Windows Me our best "general purpose PC" choices. If, as mentioned earlier, you are more focused on gaming than high reliability, you might prefer the greater user friendliness and multimedia compatibility of Windows 98/Me. However, if you want to use that second CPU, don't bother with Windows 95, 98 or Me - they don't support multi-processing at all.
Video card: For sheer performance, it's hard to beat a video card based on an nVIDIA chipset such as the GeForce II, but these cards are very expensive. Those on a budget may want to consider a card based on nVIDIA's TNT2 Vanta (now under $100). The TNT2 chip that powers these cards offers excellent overall performance and its hardware 3D acceleration includes a full implementation of OpenGL, not just a mini-driver, such as is supplied by comparably priced cards from ATI, 3dfx and Matrox. Another good choice -- particularly if you want a TV output connector -- is an ATI Rage Fury (about $150). Note however, that there are faster graphics chips on the market: If you don't mind spending $300 or $400 for a graphics card and you want your games to run as fast as possible, a GeForce II or Voodoo5 might be your best investment. Beware, however, of older cards such as the ATI Xpert 98 or 3D Labs Permedia2. These cards are not as good at rendering some 3D and transparency effects as higher-end models from Matrox, ATI, 3dfx or performance leader nVIDIA.
Of course, if blazing 3D performance is not as important as overall functionality, you might find the ATI All-in-Wonder 128 (based on the same chip as the above mentioned Rage Fury) a strong contender, but be aware that the Rage 128 chip that powers the ATI card -- even with the newest driver posted at support.atitech.ca -- doesn't perform as well as nVIDIA's offerings in some of the areas many gamers deem most important: 3D rendering, solid OpenGL support and games performance. However, if video input and capture capabilities are important, the ATI All-in-Wonder 128 (based on a better chip than its older sibling) or the Matrox Marvel G400-TV or new G450 eTV are good choices and any one of these three products delivers a highly functional, best-of-both-worlds solution.
Indeed, you may wish to add a second video card and monitor, to take advantage of Windows 2000's multi-display support. However, at least in our tests of Windows 2000, we could not get an All-in-Wonder PCI card and a Permedia2-based Winfast card to co-exist reliably. (We could get them to work together as dual displays by deleting the Leadtek driver and reinstalling it. However, after a reboot, it would stop working again, despite the fact that Microsoft's Windows release notes claim that the Permedia2 and All-in-Wonder are "OK" as primary and secondary graphics adapters, respectively.) WE also experienced some glitches with both Matrox and ATI graphics drivers. Under Windows 2000, for example, the "XL-R8R" hardware recommendation service from MadOnion.com crashes rather gracelessly.
We did, however, have much better success when we configured two PCI adapters (a Permedia2-based Graphics Blaster Exxtreme and an All-in-Wonder Pro, in this case) for our dual displays. As the Windows release notes state, not all video cards are supported as a secondary display. We tried to use a Canopus Total3D 128V as our second display with no success. So, if you do not elect to exercise Windows' multi-display option, you should have an extra PCI slot available for future expansion... perhaps an Ethernet card for a high-speed Internet connection, or one of the many other expansion (SCSI ports, hard drive controllers, modems, etc.) or PC enhancement cards (radios, TV tuners, etc.) on the market.
Mouse: We chose a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, an optical mouse that never needs cleaning. The wheel on the Intellimouse is very useful, for example, to zoom and pan in 3D Studio MAX R2 or to smooth-scroll through web pages in Internet Explorer. The model we chose came with a PS/2 connector and an adapter that allows it to be converted to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) mouse, thereby maximizing our options. We installed it as a PS/2 mouse, which left us with two free USB ports. Total cost: C$60.
Modem(s): The way our system is set up, we have several options for adding a modem. We could, for example, use one of the two PCMCIA slots to add a PC Card modem, such as would normally be used with a portable computer. We tested an ActionTec 56Kflex PCMCIA model with good results. Or, with two free serial ports, it is a snap to add an external modem such as the reliable (and flash-upgradeable) SupraModem that has served us so well over the last few years. Or, we could drop an internal modem into a free PCI slot. We did, however, have limited success getting a dial tone with a cheap Acer/Aopen internal modem we tried to install, especially when attempting to use the software drivers it comes with. We had better success when Windows auto-configured it as a "standard PC modem." It was enough of an annoyance, however, to lose "perfect PC" status, so out it came and we resorted to our trusty external Supra modem instead. The 56K modem is, of course, pretty old news compared to the much higher Internet speeds attainable by the use of ADSL or a cable connection.
However, if you need a modem, we'd recommend one that adheres to the V.90 standard, ideally a unit not of the "winmodem" variety.
For high-speed Internet, you'll want to add an Ethernet network card to your system. We had good results from an AMD PCnet 10baseT Ethernet model, initially, but when we needed to reclaim a PCI slot, we substituted a PCMCIA-based Xircom 10baseT card. The best value, however, is from a cheap-but-reliable card such as the 530TX 10/100baseT adapter (PCI) from D-Link, for about $20, or a similarly priced unit from Realtek. With one of these cards and a monthly fee, you can connect to a "cable modem" system, such as the "Wave" system from Rogers or Shaw (etc.) or, in some areas, ADSL ("asymmetric digital subscriber line") service from your phone company for blazingly fast Internet performance.
Software and Details
One of the key pieces of our PC system is, of course, its software. Overall, we found Windows 2000 to be very little trouble and the All in Wonder 128 worked perfectly as a TV Tuner card when we tested the WebTV for Windows feature in Windows 98 and Me. However, we did find a few incompatibilities elsewhere. See ntcompatible.com for a full list.
We had a few other compatibility problems, which are detailed in our separate Windows 2000 report, but we managed to resolve them all and now have a machine that benchmarks significantly above the level denoted as "high-end" by popular benchmark tests.
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