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.

Sony VAIO P Series Specs:

• Processor: 1.33GHz Intel Atom
• Hard Drive: 60GB HDD, 64GB SSD, or 128GB SSD
• Memory: 2GB 533MHz DDR2
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic
• Graphics: Intel GMA 500
• Built-in Webcam & Microphone: Yes
• Keyboard / Mouse: Reduced Standard / Pointer
• Display: 8-inch 1600 x 768 LED
• Wireless: WiFi b/g/n & Bluetooth 2.1 & WWAN
• Expansion Slot: Memory Stick & SD Card slots
• Audio: Speakers and 1 Headphone Jack
• Ports: 2x USB 2.0 & Expansion I/O Connector

My initial response on first glancing over the specifications might have been that a lot of it was quite impressive. Although Sony’s PR folks were quite serious about not advertising it as a netbook, we’ll still call it one since it has a Atom Processor. Although the starting price might set it far away from other “netbooks,” but I’ll get to that later. First off, this is probably one of the few portable laptops I’ve come across that doesn’t have a crappy resolution. Sony managed to squeeze 1600×768 pixels into a 8-inch wide screen display. It’s great for those with decent vision, however will be a pain for many to see. And yes, I do know that text size can be changed in a second. But point being made, for those who can see, is the ability to view more content on the display than any other netbook. In fact the most common resolution for a 13-inch laptop is still 1280×800. Next, the SSD options offer plenty of storage space for multimedia. The P Series sports WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth, and optional 3G Mobile Broadband through Verizon Wireless. The large spacious keyboard makes typing easier than on many other portables.

The most unique feature is probably the built in GPS module which functions independently of 3G card, so no service is required. Your laptop now functions as a turn-by-turn navigator and applications such as Google Earth should be able to pinpoint your exact location. The other neat feature is the “instant OS” which borrows the UI from the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. It allows quick access to music, movies, photos, and a web browser without needing to start up Windows Vista.

Sony claims a 4 hour battery life with the standard capacity battery and a 8 hour capacity with the extended battery. Units will be available in red, green, blue, white, and black. Sony is now taking pre-orders on SonyStyle.com. Pricing starts at $900 for the lowest-end model. It will become available in retail stores next month. We will be getting a unit in a few weeks, so check back for an in-depth review!

Links: Sony Style P Series

The Zune desktop software will also be getting some improvements with Mixview and a new Now Playing page which both offer new graphical and interactive ways to browse and view your library. And the new firmware will also bring support for a couple of games, audiobooks (supports Audible), and real ebooks through OverDrive. Most of those are great, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to read a whole book on a Zune. Anyways if you are interested in getting a new Zune, starting on September 16th, pricing will be set at $250 for a 120GB HDD model, $229 for a 80GB HDD model, $199 for a 16GB SSD model, and $149 for a 8GB SSD model. Apple is also rolling out new iPods today, so I might suggest holding off until the end of the day if you happen to be deciding between the two.

Links: Zune.net

Earlier this month, Lenovo rolled out the IdeaPad S10, an entry-level ultra-portable laptop. The IdeaPad S10 sub-notebook is primarily intended for those getting into computing for the first time and for those seeking a secondary portable laptop. The laptop will allow performing simple tasks such as browsing the web, accessing emails, listening to music, and running basic applications. For college students, this S10 is a great tool to take notes in class and have WiFi internet access when away from their desk especially since it is just an inch thick and weighs approximately 2 pounds.

The IdeaPad’s keyboard is about 85% the size of a standard keyboard, so typing won’t be too difficult. The 10 inch display has a 1024×600 pixel resolution making it large enough to view most web pages and since it’s LED backlit, battery life will also be conserved. The laptop has the standard WiFi b/g networks built in, however it also supports use of Mobile Broadband through the Express Card slot. The laptop also features the standard tools such as a microphone, a webcam, a speaker, audio in/out, two USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, and a VGA display output.

The S10 comes with Windows XP, which is still the most popular OS, so there shouldn’t be any complains. The performance won’t be too slow for basic apps, considering that it is running a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom processor with 512MB of RAM. (Upgradeable to 1GB+) The notebook doesn’t sport a Solid State Drive (SSD), but rather a standard 80GB 5400RPM HDD. Laptop Mag has a video of it booting up in about 35 seconds. The only downside might be battery life. A 3 cell battery apparently provides only 2.5 hours worth of juice. The unit comes in White, Black, and Red with more choices down the road.

The laptop has current MSRP of $400 for the current configuration option. Customization will become available later on. Units are expected to reach customers by early to mid-September. As implied in the title, Lenovo is now taking in pre-orders on their website for this notebook. We’ll be trying to get a hold of a unit for review soon, so keep checking back! Dell’s mini-Insprion (aka Inspirion 910) launch seems to be imminent and rumors indicate a $300 starting price point!

Links: Lenovo.com

Early this morning, Dell announced over seven new models to their Latitude lineup during their press event. Although each of the models has some amazing new features such as their 14-inch laptop with 19 hours of battery life, I’ll be focusing on their 12-inch Latitude E4200 which weighs just 2.2 pounds. Dell has taken a whole new approach to everything from battery life, hardware, security, software, and style before building these machines and it is all looking pretty good.

Starting with the tech specs, this laptop has got just about all the latest circuitry. The Latitude E4200 uses the Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage Processor running at 1.4 GHz which is the first aspect to conserving battery life. Next, the 12.1 inch WXGA LED backlit display and the 128GB Solid State Drive, which supposedly performs better than a standard 7200RPM HDD, also demand less power than their traditional counterparts. Since this laptop comes with a flavor of Vista, most consumers will demand a good amount of RAM. With the new chipset, the E4200 Latitude has 1GB built-in onboard and supports up to 4GB in the extra slot. In addition to the standard goodies that come with most laptops the notebook also has USB port with “PowerShare” which allows charge devices even when the laptop is turned off and an eSATA port for high speed data access to external storage. The laptop is completely networked with Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g/n, Mobile Broadband & GPS, and Bluetooth 2.1. Every Latitude series is also compatible with a set of newly designed docking stations. You definitely won’t be left in the dark with lack of ports, however one thing this laptop does lack is a built in optical drive.

Even with all these features packed in, the laptop weighs around just 2.2 pounds with the standard battery pack making it the lightest consumer laptop Dell has ever produced. If you are aiming for 16 hours of battery life, you’ll need to attach an extended battery and a new “battery slab” which attaches to the bottom of the laptop, meaning it won’t be so “lightweight” anymore. Also, for the first time, customers will have the opportunity to customize their Latitude with their choice of color: Regatta Blue, Regal Red and Quartz Pink. The ultra portable Latitude also comes with optional features such as a backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, a contact-less Smart Card reader, a Trusted Platform Module for encryption, and a fingerprint reader. Since such a large number of laptops are stolen, another item Dell focused on was protecting data. They do that by offering hardware-based encryption to prevent data from being viewed by those without proper access. In addition they include services which will help track & locate a stolen laptops and offer the ability to remotely command a wipe all data if it were stolen.

Finally, Dell also included new instant Operating System entitled “Dell Latitude On,” which may or not be a hit. But according to Dell, it boots within seconds and offers access to email, calendars, contacts, files, and the web without having to load your full Vista operating system. This instant OS is much faster and demands much less power for performing most simple tasks such as watching a movie or listening to music. Dell claims that by using this technology along with the new low-voltage processors and new batteries their laptops can offer “multi-day battery life.” This laptop isn’t yet available for purchase, but should appear on their online store within a couple of weeks. We are also trying to get a unit for review, so check back for more updates!

Links: Dell.com – Latitude E4200