Who knew raising a powerful dark lord from the dead wouldn’t require me cutting off a hand after all? While not the most powerful and costly wizard on the block (see: Harry Potter), raising Voldemort didn’t require boatloads of money for great performance. All in all, the roughly $1800 spent on this system (including peripherals, shipping, and taxes) was a pretty good deal, especially when you consider that the components had an MSRP total of $2399.45 (not including shipping/taxes). So what makes this dark lord a great bang for the buck? Let’s fly through the details.

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
The Core i7 line of CPUs is the first line of chips by Intel to have an integrated memory controller. This new memory controller dramatically decreases latency times by connecting the CPU directly with the memory without having to go through a northbridge first. Core i7 also offers triple channel memory capabilities, which increases memory bandwidth over the more common dual channel standard. Four physical cores and four virtual cores, from Hyper-Threading, give the Core i7 immense computing power. Intel currently has two variants of the i7 line of CPUs, one for socket 1156 and the other for the superior socket 1366.  The i7 920 is the lowest rated processor you can get for socket 1366. And why would such a powerful Dark Lord go for the lowest CPU in its class?  Because the i7 920, while the lowest 1366 CPU available, offers incredible value in its common ability to overclock to more expensive i7 speeds. Pair it with a good heatsink and even after the extra cost you’re still paying less than a more expensive model while getting the same, if not better performance.

Heatsink:

• COGAGE TRUE Spirit
• Thermalright 1366 bolt-through kit
• 1850rpm Scythe Gentle Typhoon
• Arctic Silver 5

To ensure that the Dark Lord stayed cool while lingering in the shadows I enlisted the help of the COGAGE TRUE Spirit CPU heatsink. If you’re thinking that the TRUE Spirit looks an awful lot like the Thermalright Ultra Extreme (TRUE), you’ll be comforted to know that the TRUE Spirit is the TRUE’s little brother. Compared to the TRUE, the TRUE Spirit features two less heatpipes (for a total of four), a smaller size, and most importantly, a significantly cheaper price. Performance wise, the TRUE Spirit has just slightly less cooling ability. Included with the TRUE Spirit is a 120mm PWM (pulse width modulated) fan that’s rated to move from 35-66.5CFM of air at 19.6-37.4dBA.

The Thermalright 1366 bolt-through kit offers a more stable and secure mounting solution for Thermalright and COGAGE TRUE based coolers. It helps apply more pressure ensuring better contact and heat conductivity between the CPU and heatsink. As the TRUE Spirit is far from a small cooler, the bolt-through kit offers one a good peace of mind.

The name Gentle Typhoon actually describes Scythe’s latest line of fans quite well. Despite the irony (who’s ever heard of a “gentle” typhoon?), these fans put out a strong amount of airflow at a quiet noise level. Utilizing a dual ball bearing design, the Gentle Typhoon fan series has a long lifespan as well as the ability to be mounted horizontally, which can quickly kill conventional sleeve bearing fans. High pitched fan blades give the Gentle Typhoons good static pressure, which is essential to keep the air flowing through obstructions such as tightly packed heatsink fins or filters. Some innovative features of the Gentle Typhoon fans are the ring of weights around the motor as well as small notches at the base of each propeller. The ring of weights reduces vibration and noise, while the notches create a different sound pitch that’s less noticable and thus less annoying. While these fans aren’t cheap, they live up to their name by moving lots of air at very quiet levels. I’ve chosen the 1850rpm model for my heatsink, which is rated to move 58CFM at only 28dBA.

When it comes to high performance thermal interface materials none has had as long a reputation as Arctic Silver. Now in its 5th iteration, Arctic Silver 5 effectively uses silver atoms in its paste to better transfer heat from the CPU to heatsink. Why do you need this paste between your CPU and heatsink? Unfortunately CPU heat spreaders and heatsink bases aren’t 100% flat or smooth due to machining processes. Thus a thermal paste is needed to fill the microscopic ridges and valleys for better surface contact and heat transfer.

Motherboard: Asus P6T6 WS Revolution
Asus has been a  longtime high quality manufacturer of motherboards and one of the worldls largest computer hardware OEMs. Known for their innovative designs and features, reliability, and performance Asus was very appealing for me. I chose their “WS” workstation grade P6T6 WS Revolution motherboard. While the P6T6 is pegged as a workstation board, it offers incredible enthusiast performance as well. High performance and robust overclocking abilities make for a great combination. The P6T6 utilizes an advanced phase voltage regulation design offering 16 clean and stable power phases for your CPU cores and an additional two phases for the uncore (QPI, memory controller). This is important for high overclocks. Another prominent feature is the six PCI-E 2.0 16x slots, which let you run up to three video cards in full 16x mode. PCI-E 16x slots will also accept PCI-E 8x, 4x, 2x, and 1x cards. One thing the P6T6 does not have is legacy support (no IDE, only one PS/2 slot). Other features include six SATA ports, two Marvell controlled SAS (which will also accept SATA) ports, integrated 8-channel high-definition audio, an external SATA (eSATA), crash free bios, helpful quick diagnosis card,  and a host of other innovative features.

RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 CMX6GX3M3A1600C9
Ask any computer enthusiast what a great performing, stable, and reliable brand of RAM is and Corsair is sure to be one of the answers. I picked up a 6GB (3 x 2GB sticks) kit of 1600MHz Corsair XMS3 RAM in order to utilize the i7’s triple channel capability. Corsair’s XMS line has always been a high performance product. With timings at 9-9-9-24, this particular kit wasn’t the absolute fastest, since lower is better, but then again Corsair tends to rate their products conservatively. So why did I get a 1600MHz kit when the i7 920 only runs RAM at 1066MHz? The answer is expandability. When overclocking a CPU you also alter the RAM speeds. Running higher RAM speeds results in higher performance.

Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD5850
ATI left their competitors in the dust when they unleashed the HD5800 series of graphics cards. It’s impressive that the HD5800 cards have lower idle power requirements, and similar load power requirements compared to the previous HD4800 series of graphics cards, which had about half the transistors of the new HD5800s. These new cards are the performance kings being the first DirectX 11 (DX11) capable GPU’s to the market. The only drawback are the cards’ huge sizes as my HD5850 comes in a a whopping 10.5 in. Another smaller drawback is the poor yields, which pushes the prices of these cards at MSRP or higher. Even though Voldemort’s HD5850 is out-wanded by the $379 HD5870 and $599 HD5970, it’s more than powerful enough to run any game at full settings at a 1920×1080 resolution. Spending the additional money for the more powerful graphics cards wouldn’t have given me any tangible benefits. The HD5850 features 1GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit ring bus which can travel in either direction, allowing for full AA and AF effects. Overclocking the HD5850 to HD5870 levels of performance shouldn’t be very difficult as this card is a HD5870 with some stream processors disabled and a slightly lower clock speed.

Hard Drive Disks: Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB
The Dark Lord called upon Western Digital’s Caviar Black line in order to remember all the people to exact revenge on. The Caviar Blacks outperform virtually of their competition with their low access times and high read/write speeds. Bundled with the Caviar Blacks is a comforting five-year warranty. I decided on the  750GB models for a RAID 0 configuration because Newegg.com had an amazing deal at the time of purchase. RAID 0 is when your computer treats both drives as one large drive (750GB x 2 = 1.5TB drive). Half the data is processed from each drive when the computer is in this configuration allowing for almost double read/write speeds. Caviar Blacks should not be used for data redundancy RAID modes such as RAID 1 or RAID 5 as their time-limited, error- recovery (TLER) cannot be adjusted. This results in less stability in those RAID modes compared to enterprise-grade drives.

Power Supply: Corsair HX 850
Like it’s memory, Corsair has made a big name for itself in the power supply arena since its entry in 2006. Over the past year Corsair power suppliess have been getting rave reviews for their price, performance, and ease of use. I purchased the HX850 modular model, which achieves 80-Plus Silver levels of power efficiency. Even though many HX850 units achieve 80-Plus Gold levels, and are rated Gold level by the 80-Plus organization, Corsair decided to be conservative and only advertises 80-Plus Silver. Included with the HX850 is a velvet bag for the unit itself, as well as a plethora of quality modular cables in their own hook and loop storage bag. The modular interface of the HX850 means you can attach just the cables you need, allowing for a cleaning looking interior. Essential wires are hardwired to the unit for maximum performance. Cooling this high-powered unit is a large 140mm fan. Pricewise, the HX850 is a hard product to beat.

Case: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme
Dark and intimidating looking, the Raidmax Smilodon Extreme had all the features the Dark Lord was looking for in a body. The matte black exterior with eerie green LED’s provided just the aesthetic atmosphere I was looking for. The Smilodon Extreme features a full front door that opens to the right. Behind this are four 5.25 inch bays, two 3.5 inch bays and a 120mm fan. For my build I stuck my optical drive in the top 5.25 inch bay and installed a Mountain Mods 120mm fan holder in the remaining three 5.25 inch bays. The center of the door contains a metal mesh running vertically allowing airflow to the fans. The side doors fold out with the pull of a latch near the top of each door. Additionally, the door with the motherboard features a removable motherboard tray. However, users beware: should you install a heatsink too tall to clear your power supply, folding out the motherboard side door will not be an option. All drive bays utilize a tool-less mounting method for quick installation and removal of devices. Additionally the hard drive cage is also removable. I had to make some modifications for my Smilodon Extreme, which will be explained further in the modifications section. I chose not to include the crossbar “dirk tooth” piece because it wouldn’t fit with my hardware, and because it was an obstruction to the case window. Luckily this piece is easily removed.

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS-324 Dual-Layer DVD-RW Drive
The Lite-On iHAS324 is a versatile DVD-RW drive with many capabilities. It can read/write all the latest formats except for Blu-ray. Lite-On has always provided quality drives at a good price giving the buyer great value. The iHAS324 uses SATA connection and power adapters for faster data transfer and less cable clutter.

Keyboard: Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
Microsoft’s Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard combined all the features I wanted for my keyboard. I desired for an ergonomic design as well as media and functionality keys. The Comfort Curve 2000 places your hands at a more natural angle. I liked the seamlessness of the main keypad as opposed to the break in the MS Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. The Comfort Curve 2000 includes media and web buttons up top as well as an extremely handy calculator button to the right above the keypad. While the key’s aren’t the quietest, they aren’t obnoxiously loud either. This keyboard connects via USB connection.

Mouse: Logitech G5 rev.2
Even though the Logitech G5 has been discontinued and replaced by the G500, it is still an outstanding mouse. With a plethora of buttons such as very handy forward and back buttons, to a side tilt scroll wheel, the G5 offers quick access to many controls. Underneath the G5 is an adjustable weight cartridge allowing users to adjust the feel of the mouse to their liking. The surface is a rubbery matte coating that offers very tactile grip. Three user-adjustable DPI settings are available via the + and – buttons on the mouse for gaming. The USB cable is covered in braided nylon offering great protection.

Monitor: NEC EA231WMi
The NEC EA231WMi is the latest 23 inch monitor coming out of NEC Display Solutions. Featuring a 23 inch LG e-IPS panel, the EA231WMi offers superior color as well as much greater viewing angles than standard TN panel monitors. The convenient stand rotates, adjusts for height, and even has an integrated cable management system for a professional and clean look. Connections include DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort, as well as audio-in for the integrated speakers. On the left side of the screen are two USB ports for extra connectivity. The entire screen will also rotate 90 degrees for a portrait mode picture. Nifty features include a power saving eco-mode as well as a light sensor that auto adjusts the brightness of the screen to match your environment. Controls are easy to use thanks to a small joystick, and the on-screen display menu is very functional and natural to navigate. I noticed no ghosting while playing games and input lag seemed minimal. This monitor runs at a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 so you can experience all your media in full HD. Standard color profiles are easy to select and tests on various publications have shown that the EA231WMi out of the box has a very accurate color in the sRGB mode. At only about $339, this monitor is unrivaled in its features and performance.

Modifications and Tweaks:
While all the components of Project Voldemort were great individually, getting them all to work in conjunction with each other and helping them to meet my quiet and clean-looking requirements did warrant some modifications.

Working with the Case:
The Raidmax Smilodon case was certainly a pleasure to work with. Tool-less drive bays, fold out sides, and a removable hard drive cage all came in very handy. In order to maximize this case’s functionality some mods had to be done. As I couldn’t let Voldemort be “buried” again I had to make sure this case inhaled as little dust as possible. To achieve this, I followed SilverStone’s line of thought in their cases and implemented the use of positive pressure. Positive pressure occurs when your intake fans intake more air than what your exhaust fans exhaust. I had orginally planned on using the Smilodon’s side 80mm fan mounted on the Dirk-Tooth, but I hated how the Dirk-Tooth obstructed most of the interior and graphics card through the window. To remedy this I dremeled out the middle portion of the Dirk-Tooth. After completing this, however, I discovered that my COGAGE TRUE Spirit cooler was too wide, and obstructed the fan mount on the Dirk-Tooth. In the end I just went without the Dirk-Tooth.

The next mod to achieve positive pressure was to seal up the case’s openings. The side 80mm vent over the CPU cooler was sealed using a Mountain Mods 80mm acrylic cover and the lower Dirk-Tooth vents were covered with clear packing tape. On the motherboard side a piece of flat black paper and tape sealed the 80mm fan opening.

In the front of the case I mentioned how I installed an extra 120mm fan in a Mountain Mods triple 5.25 inch mount. Due to the tool-less design of the Smilodon, the unique mounting system wasn’t compatible with the triple 5.25 inch mount’s conventional screw holes. Also, supports for the drives on the chassis protruded into the mount. Once again the handy Dremel came forth and I made new holes and threaded them so I could mount the fan mount to the chassis. I also used the Dremel to remove sections of the mount that interfered with the chassis’ protrusions.

In order to maximize airflow and reduce noise, all unnecessary airflow obstructions had to be removed. The steel grid behind the front fan was dremeled out as well as the rear honeycomb, which was replaced by a much less restrictive 120mm fan grille.

I required dust filters to prevent dust from entering the case and burying the Dark Lord alive. After thinking about how I could mount conventional filters on both intake fans, and not liking the possibilities, a new unconventional method came to mind. Remember that perforated metal grille on the door? I looked on the inside of the door and delightfully found that it was mounted by simple machine screws. I also noticed that my used dryer sheets would work very well as a filter material. Utilizing six screws on the inside of the door I mounted two used dryer sheets to the inside, which would act as my filter material. This process is easy and affordable, since I will have fresh filter material every time I do my laundry.

Hard Drives:
Hard drives rotate at high speeds and thus create noise via vibration. In order to ensure the low noise output of this computer I needed to find a way to dampen the hard drives. The standard mounts that came with the Smilodon didn’t work well in my Western Digital Caviar Black drives and didn’t mount them effectively. The standard way of mounting the drives also caused them to protrude into the case giving it a messy look. To conquer both of these challenges I thought of a couple unconventional ways to mount them. The first way was to mount the drives backwards. By mounting the drives “cords in” no wires would be left sticking out into the case giving a much cleaner look overall. It also allowed me to move the drives into the hard drive cage more giving them a lower profile.

The second unconventional way of mounting the drives was to suspend them in an elastic material to reduce the drives’ vibrations and noise. I recalled the innovative P150 chassis, by Antec, and how it allowed users to mount their hard drives in rubber bands. While I didn’t have any elastic lying around, I did have 100 feet of paracord (also called 550 cord). Paracord is a thin shoelace-like material that can withstand 550 pounds of load. Seeing as how it was thin, way overbuilt, and easy to work with I used it as my ideal material. I devised a criss-cross pattern so that the drives would be secure from shifting into the sides of the hard drive cage. I also blocked off the front and back to prevent the drives from sliding out. When completed the hard drive suspension worked marvelously.

Fans:
Fans all create vibrations and can really make a lot of noise. I used tiny o-rings I had lying around to dampen the vibrations coming from my fans. Sticking these o-rings between the fan and the chassis gave me a medium with which to absorb lots of vibrations and thus reduce sound. I didn’t just stop with case fans however, and ended up using o-rings between my power supply and case as well in order to dampen vibrations there too. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit o-rings between my 120mm fan and the Mountain Mods triple 5.25 inch fan mount; I was, however, able to stick o-rings between the fan mount and the chassis, therefore solving that problem. This modification was very convenient since o-rings are plentiful and cheap.

Conclusion:
Building Project: Voldemort had its ups and downs, but overall it was an educational and good experience. The performance coming from this machine is impressive, and has taken everything I’ve thrown at it with ease. Passing multiple days of intensive stress testing proved the components’ durabilities where cheaper options would have failed. If you’re looking for a similar computer, there are other parts options which will perform similarly to the ones I selected. While some of my components may be considered overkill, they add to the overall durability and longevity of the system. Should your budget not be quite as high as Project: Voldemort’s, I highly suggest looking into the Intel P55 chipset (1156 socket) and a Core i5 processor. That will significantly reduce costs. If you’re looking for even greater performance, acquiring a solid state drive (SSD) and moving up to a more powerful video card are a few options.

What can adding more RAM do for you?
RAM acts as a fast memory cache for system processes. Having more memory allows more programs to run simultaneously without having to access the slower virtual memory on the hard drive. Because DDR2 memory for laptops and desktops has become so cheap, adding more gives you the biggest bang compared to other hardware upgrades. Given that both Windows Vista and Windows 7 are particularly memory hungry, 2 GB of RAM is the sweet spot for most users, however if you are multitasking with resource intensive applications (i.e. Photoshop, Video Editing), consider getting more. (Note 1/2/10: I should mention that a 32-bit system won’t be able to utilize 4GB of RAM to its entirety.) With as little as $25 of RAM making a noticeable increase in performance, it’s a great way to stretch the life of a computer. Of course, upgrading your hardware is second to basic computer maintenance. Neglecting to disk defrag, optimize your start-up processes, update your drivers, and keep your registry clean will have a substantial impact on computer performance which adding more RAM won’t solve. Since the latter are all free, it would be wise to do some much-needed maintenance before deciding if you really need to upgrade.

Choosing the right RAM

• Speed – the clock speed, referred to by either the standard name or module name
• Capacity – the total size of the memory modules on the DIMM
• Pin count – the number of pins and their configuration
• Voltage – the voltage required to achieve the rated clock speed
• Timing - the refresh rate of the clock cycles, which the CAS latency is dependent upon

Using the improper RAM can not only lead to boot issues, but also cause costly damage to other components. For example, Intel i7 users should be aware of the dangers of using out of spec RAM since factory overvolted RAM above 1.65V fries CPUs. The first step in buying any piece of technology is to do some research and RAM is no different. Start by checking the manufacturer’s website for the specifications of the memory used in your computer. If you’re building a computer, you’ll need to check the respective manufacturer sites for both your motherboard and processor. Most manufacturers will have a list of tested compatible RAM by manufacturer and model. Using models from this list will guarantee compatibility, but the specified modules are often difficult to obtain and are not always the most cost-effective solution. From my experience, RAM with the correct size and speed will likely be compatible as the other factors often fall into place. However, it’s better to not make that assumption unless you’ve exhausted other ways of confirming what’s compatible.

I’ll use a few year old Sony Vaio PCG-7L1L laptop as an example. After a quick search on Sony’s Vaio support site I dug up the original advertised specs listing a 512 MB stick of DDR2-533, with a corresponding module name of PC2-4200. I was hoping to find if any higher speed 667 MHz or 800 MHz memory was supported to no avail, suggesting that any faster memory used would be downclocked to 533 MHz regardless of the rated speed. If manuals and online resources don’t prove helpful, another easy way to find out what’s compatible is to just pull out a stick of RAM and look at it.

Sony’s online specs also list a maximum supported RAM of 2 GB. At this point, I checked to see if the latest BIOS version enables 2 GB DIMM support. It didn’t, but we know we can use up to two 1 GB sticks and given its age, anything more than this would be overkill regardless.

Using matched memory, two identical sticks of the same make and model (including speed and size), is ideal. There’s no doubt that 1.5 GB of unmatched RAM is faster than the current 512 MBs, but two matched sticks of 512 MBs may actually perform similarly. In a future article, we’ll test how much of a performance hit is taken by using unmatched memory. It should be even more significant if we use a machine that benefits from dual channel memory, as dual channel will be disabled when using unmatched memory. I’ve been told mixing speeds is worse than mixing sizes to avoid adverse performance issues, but I don’t have any data to support that. The computer should boot regardless since the faster DIMMs downclock to the speed of the slowest.

Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t list any tested compatible memory, so at this point I can search the web to see what others are having success with or just wing it, by which I mean use your best judgment from what you know and what you can find. To put any worry to rest, I’ve had very few problems when using RAM of the proper speed and size. In the case of this Sony Vaio, there are plenty of 1 GB DDR2-533 options found online with free shipping for $25.

Recap:

• RAM in a computer acts like your brain’s short-term memory–it’s fast, small and ephemeral.
• Adding more RAM is a low-cost upgrade for a significant boost in performance.
• Basic computer maintenance is free and should take precedence to any hardware upgrades.
• Choose the right RAM based on the compatible speed and capacity for your computer.

Links: Get RAM on Amazon

Project Colossus
To meet our needs, The Colossus had to be a versatile powerhouse that could multitask like no other with an emphasis on CPU rendering, all within my budget. I decided to go with a dual-socket Intel e5500 platform, keeping the cost to performance ratio in mind to avoid diminishing returns. Data redundancy was a must and extra scavenged hard drives are used to help keep costs down. After putting a plan together, it was time to do some shopping.

The Hardware:

• Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840 ($199.99)
• Motherboard: Supermicro X8DA3 ($449.99)
• CPU: (2x) Intel e5520 80w ($384.99 each)
• RAM: (2x) 3×2GB Wintec Industries ECC Registered DDR3-1333 ($199.99 each)
• CPU Heatsink: (2x) Noctua NH-U12DX ($69.99 each)
• Video Card: XFX ATI HD5870 ($379.99)
• PSU: OCZ Z Series Gold 1000W modular ($299.99)
• Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc 24x ($32.99)
• SSD + HDD:
  • -Intel x25-m G2 160GB ($479.40)
  • -Western Digital 1TB Black Caviar ($99.99)
  • -Western Digital 1TB RE3 Enterprise (2x) ($159.99 each)
  • -Western Digital 320GB Black Caviar (2x) ($64.99 each)
  • -Western Digital 500GB ($69.99)
• Miscelaneous:
  • Rosewill PCI RAID Controller ($19.99)
  • ICY DOCK 2.5″ to 3.5″ Drive Adapter ($24.99)

Total Cost: $3,835.21

Drive Configuration
To get the most out of our hardware and prevent a performance bottleneck, our operating system main drive will use a solid state drive (SSD). Unlike mechanical hard disk drives (HDD) that use physical platters, SSDs use flash-memory based storage that gives them much faster read and write speeds and incredible random access times, albeit at a premium price–$3.00/GB compared to around $0.10/GB for HDDs. We’re using a 160 GB Intel x25-m G2, the latest iteration of Intel’s MLC flash memory SSDs.

The latest firmware update for x25-m G2 drives enables TRIM support in Windows 7, hopefully without bricking the drive, as the first firmware update did with an unfortunate few. Along with TRIM support for Windows 7, Intel has provided a toolbox suite to execute a manual TRIM operation in XP and Vistato retain optimal drive performance. This will, for the most part, help the drive avoid the inherent performance degradation in all SSDs that occurs over time.

Whenever data has significant value, it’s wise to back it up. We’re going to do just that on the fly with data redundancy using two RAID 1 arrays, where the data on each drive is mirrored to another in case of drive failure. Using three 1 TB HDDs in RAID 5 was considered, but the cost of an extra drive and more substantially, the cost of a decent RAID 5 controller made RAID 1 our best option. Our two arrays consisted of a 320GB array, used for personal documents, and a 1TB array using Western Digital RE3 enterprise grade drives, that will store project files accessed by editing, modeling and rendering software. I also wanted plenty of space to store non-vital data, such as movies and music. For that I used a lone 1 TB and 500 GB drives.

This configuration already presented a problem simply because many of the dual-socket Intel 5500 motherboards only have six SATA ports and once we add a SATA optical drive, it will need eight. To solve this, I used an inexpensive 1.5 GB/s PCI RAID controller with two SATA ports and one IDE port that will also give us backwards compatibility with older drives. Despite its limitations, it’s just what we need for storage drives that won’t require high-speed transfer or complex RAID setups.

Building The Colossus
The Supermicro X8DA3 is a large eATX board, sized to accommodate two e5500 series Xeon processors and up to 96GB of ECC Registered memory, you read that right, ninety-six gigabytes. Supermicro had a particularly small list of tested compatible memory for the X8DA3, so we made our best guess with what was easily available. 12GB of Patriot ECC Registered memory was initially used, but ended up being swapped out for 12GB of Wintec Industries ECC Registered RAM due to incompatibility issues.

Taking a look at the board, right away we can see that the location of the 1394 FireWire pinouts is problematic as they get covered by whatever is placed in the secondary PCI-E 16x slot. On the bottom right corner of the board there’s an SAS controller under the green heatsink and ports to support up to eight SCSI drives. Supermicro actually makes an identical board, the X8DAi, that omits the SAS controller. Because of a discount, they just happened to both cost the same at the time of our hardware purchase and who are we to pass up SAS support?

The Noctua NH-U12DX CPU heatsinks we’re using are server variants of the popular Noctua NH-U12P. They’re certainly overkill, but oh so quiet. To have access to the primary PCI-E 16x slot and the CPU1 8pin power slot, we’ve opted for an odd heatsink and fan placement where one fan pushes air through the heatsink and the other pulls air through, both bringing hot air towards the top of the case where it’s exhausted by the Cooler Master ATCS 840’s two massive 23cm fans. That brings up the topic of our choice of case.

A full tower was the only option short of a rackmount that will fit an eATX board. There’s a substantial difference in size between a mid-tower ATX case and the ACTS 840 full tower. This thing could eat a mid-tower and still have room left over. It’s beautifully clean aluminum exterior does away with the plethora of plastic vents, lights and other cheap aesthetics that seems to plague cases these days. Additionally, the ATCS 840 has a removable tray which made life easier when installing the RAM, processors and heatsinks, not to mention the clip-on heatsink fans.

The OCZ Z Series Gold 1000W was chosen for its high efficiency and modular cabling. For a 1 kW PSU, it’s surprisingly small and light. Because The Colossus will also be used as a render rig, it may be at a heavy load 24 hours a day for weeks at a time, that means an efficient PSU is crucial. With an 80 Plus Gold rating, the OCZ ZSeries Gold 1000W has been reported to run at 87% efficiency at low and peak loads and barely surpass 90% during optimal loading conditions. The power savings alone easily justify the higher cost and the modular cable system helped keep the case clean and was easier to work with.

The ATI HD5870
Certainly the most controversial piece of hardware in our rig is the video card, ATI’s new-to-market HD5870, the most powerful single GPU card available and is currently in short supply–which would explain why it’s retail price has raised from $379.99 to $429.99 since we bought it, making it the best hardware investment we ever made.

Remember that even though Project Colossus is all about building a high performance computer, as a workstation, it should be a stable work platform. Using a brand new piece of hardware (with brand new drivers) as critical as the video card is questionable, traditionally one would use a professional workstation card that’s designed specifically to work with simulation, modeling and rendering software. So, are we crazy or something? While The Colossus is a workstation, our goal was to build an all around power platform for both work and play. For the same price as the HD5870, we would have been able to afford something along the lines of a Quadro FX 1800, which should deliver gaming performance close to the midrange 9600GSO, another G94b GPU based card. All in all, a desktop card is a compromise, trading professional software performance for gaming performance. It’s still a new card with potentially unstable and/or incompatible drivers. We could have gone with a card in the HD4000 or GT200 series that would have had mature drivers. So, why the HD5870? Because we’re crazy.

Now that The Colossus put together, it’s time to test it and offer some juicy benchmark results. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we make your computer look puny.

Bill Gates started off the Microsoft CES keynote with his thoughts on the rapid advancement that the technology market has undergone in recent years, and quickly tied it all into the release of Windows Vista and the importance of the new operating system. Other than Vista’s features, the keynote included information about their new Windows Home Server, Live Anywhere, Xbox IPTV, and a big deal with Ford Motors.

Vista’s ShadowCopy:
A neat feature, showcased by Justin Hutchinson, is called ShadowCopy, which in essence provides Vista with another safety net from human error. In short, it allows users who accidentally saved an incorrect version of a document or overwrote the wrong file to “restore previous versions of [the] document with just a couple of clicks” The feature is a lot like the current System Restore, but works on an individual file level. “It’s better than going back in time,” joked Justin (referring to OSX’s Time Machine).

Vista’s GroupShot:
Continuing with Vista, Hutchinson described how the Ultimate version of Vista will include downloadable extras for those of us willing to shell out the extra money for this particular version. One of the more impressive downloadable programs is Groupshot, which allows users to select parts of different pictures and combine them into one for a better overall image. The aim of this program is to fix awkward facial expressions of an individual in a series of group shots, where the face of a person in one image can be transplanted over onto his or her face in another image.

DreamScene Backgrounds:
Another Ultimate Extra is found in the form of DreamScene, which allows users to use full motion video as a desktop background. This feature will probably only be recommendable for those who have enough graphics horsepower to spare after having turned on Aero Glass, not to mention the patience to deal with a distracting video playing in the background.

Virtual Earth 3D:
After a brief Vista discussion, the topic changed to the Virtual Earth 3D technology that’s part of the Windows Live network. Using an Xbox 360 controller, Hutchinson was able to fly a camera around in a fully three dimensional recreation of Sin City. The concept felt a lot like Google Earth with SketchUp, but it’s always nice to see competition.

Windows Home Server:
The next item of interest was the mention of a project that Microsoft has worked on with HP, called Windows Home Server. As the name implies, this will be network attached device that will be available to multiple PCs, Xbox consoles, the Zune music players and any other compatible devices. They can be used for backups or additional storage. Expect to see the HP Media Smart Server in stores later on in the second half of this year.

“Live” Anywhere:
With Windows Vista, Microsoft will be introducing the concept of Live Anywhere, which basically amounts to being able to play a game, like Uno, on your Vista machine with someone else playing on their Xbox 360, and vice versa. In the future the service will support more “hardcore games.”

Xbox 360 Gets TV:
The entertainment experience doesn’t stop with Live Anywhere. Microsoft also plans to provide its customers with a wide variety of TV content, which it will soon be offering in four different ways.

• 1) HD-DVD – the new addon for the Xbox 360 will provide HD video. More units will be shipped out since they are in “incredibly high” demand.
• 2) Media Center PC – recorded and live TV content can be accessed on the Xbox 360 by networking it with one of these PCs.
• 3) Xbox Live Video – the recently launched service allows users to download HD and SD movies onto the console. The service already has a thousand hours of content. And it’s really simple, because the Xbox is already on the internet and, it’s connected to a big [screen].
• 4) IPTV – with just a simple internet connection and a Xbox 360, you soon can receive standard TV channels (live) over the internet. Microsoft is planning on turning the 360 into a Top Set Box soon after gaining support from third-party telephony companies such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, C-Com and SwissCom.

The new IPTV service will be able to handle both standard and high definition streaming for a variety of different channels. The software includes picture-in-picture support, recording, and other TiVo-type features. The service will NOT be free, but will be much cheaper than paying regular cable and extra equipment. (great for college students)

Ford Motors:
The final major announcement to come forth from the CES keynote was that Microsoft has partnered up with the Ford Motor Company to offer a “fully integrated, voice activated, in-car communications and entertainment system for mobile phones and digital music players.” This Ford exclusive, called “Synch”, will support Bluetooth, phone book syncing, three way calling, and text-to-speech reading for text messages. Not only will it be compatible with the Zune and the iPod, but as a bonus there will also be a USB port for Flash Thumb Drives.

Watch: Bill Gates’s Keynote (requires Windows Media Player)
Links: Microsoft at CES 2007
Related: CES: Verizon – Mobile TV

As Windows Vista is getting closer to launch, Microsoft has published a comprehensive guide to outline the minimum hardware requirements necessary to run their new operating system. Their new “Get Ready” program will help consumers, who are planning to purchase new machines, determine whether their new computer will be able to run Vista. According to Microsoft, to be able to run Windows Vista on the bare minimum specifications, your hardware must meet the following:

• Processor: 800 MHz / 32-bit or 64-bit
• System Memory: at least 512MB
• Hard Drive: 20GB (15GB free)
• Optical Drive: CD-ROM drive

However, to be able “To better experience Windows Vista,” (use the new “aero theme“) you must have the following hardware specifications:

• Processor: 1 GHz / 32-bit or 64-bit
• System Memory: 1GB recommended
• Graphics Processor: DirectX 9 capable
• Graphics Memory: 128MB or above
• Hard Drive: 40GB (15GB free space)
• Optical Drive: DVD-ROM or CD-ROM
• Others: Audio Out and Internet Access

Most new computer manufacturers such as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Sony, and more will begin to brand their machines with “Windows Vista Capable” logos. If you want to know whether your machine can run Windows Vista, visit Microsoft’s “Get Ready” website. Microsoft has also released a “Vista Upgrade Advisor” tool which will determine if the hardware on your machine is “Vista Capable”.

Links: “Get Ready” Information | Windows Vista | Microsoft
Other Links: Offical Press Release | Vista Upgrade Advisor
Related: Windows Vista Editions | Wikipedia: Windows Vista