[dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation

Additionally seriously consider moving up to the AMD Athlon64.  The 64 bit
processors (AMD or Intel) have the No Execute flag which completely disables
all of the buffer under/overrun viruses (using XP SP2).  The 2800 MHz
processor is about $140 vs. about $80 for the similar Athlon XPs but the MB
is no more expensive.  Additionally look at the NVIDIA nforce3 250GB (make
sure it is the GB) chipset.  This is currently the best out there and again
is no more expensive than anything else, but provides a built-in gbit nic
and a hardware firewall right in the chipset (plus SATA controllers n
stuff).  The NIC and disk interfaces come in directly to the chipset as
opposed to using the PCI interface as all the other chipsets do.  This
allows very high speed network traffic and disk IO without saturating the
PCI bus.  A system like this should last a few years.

Of course if you do happen to be rolling in dough, just go buy an IBM.  And
a BMW come to think of it.  ;-)

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com 

Contribute your unused CPU cycles to a good cause:
http://folding.stanford.edu/

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jon Tydda
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 12:11 PM
To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation


Good advice Mark, but I've found that if you upgrade the motherboard, you
nearly always have to upgrade the processor and RAM at the same time, due to
speed or compatibility issues (it it doesn't fit the slots or something)...
I'd take it on the chin and do it all at once if possible, then you only
have to open it up once, and won't be putting it off while you do something
else, then something else comes along... you know how it is.


Jon