Quote from MarketMafia:
1) Why do you want the Opteron 146. Actually, I dont understand why AMD make Opteron 1xx. The only advanatage Opteron 1xx can have over the AMD consumer line is ECC memory (greater stability).
2) The opteron will not fit in that ASUS board (socket 939) since Opteron use socket 940.
3) I dont like on-board video for workstation. It's only good for server or low cost computer.
4) Just the up front cost, I dont think you can ever build a system cheaper than Dell (after promotion). Now thinking about total cost of ownership, most computer components have one year warranty. If later something fails, it would be much easier to deal with one reputation manufacturer like Dell.
5) The labor cost of assemblying a computer is cheap. Most of the time it is between 20-50 bucks
When you build a system, you should at least have a clear answer to these questions:
1) What is the purpose of the system?
2) How big is your budget?
3) How important is time to you?
Good luck building your system. By the way www.2cpu.com was the place I used to hang out.
Hi MM
Thanks for the info.
There are several discussions going on here about which mobo is best for the Opteron 146 Socket 939 chips - I am going back there now to make sure I have this straight - maybe I've made a mistake!?
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1728830&enterthread=y
also
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1711047&enterthread=y
The main reason I wanted to go with an Opteron is the 1 MB cache vs. 512 for the Athlon - thought it would be better for multi-tasking. What do you think?
Yes, your points about how much time it will take to maintain the system and warranty are very well taken - I will not be able to troubleshoot it by myself, and using forums like AnandTech works but it takes a lot of time, which I don't have.
When you say you don't like on-board video cards for workstations... lol, I am such a raw newb, I am not sure if a home desktop PC like the one I want would be considered a 'workstation' - is that what you mean?
I seem to be hijacking this thread - maybe I should start another one. I hope the OP can get something out of checking the forums at anandtech - there are a lot of helpful people over there.
www.anandtech.com
I wish you best luck.