Core 2 Quad Speed Test
john posted in technologies on November 8th, 2007
I just built a new PC for my office desktop, and the performance is quite good for the price, so I thought I’d post up a recipe.
Note: I use Newegg, but all this stuff is available elsewhere.
Spec
My spec: light use of 3D graphics; 1600×1200 21″ LCD. Simultaneous: OpenOffice with 4 300 page documents, 10 Firefox windows, Thunderbird, 20 Xterminals, Reader with 2 300 page documents, two instances of my code editor. I run Linux, but you could buy XP or Vista for this too.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
about $280.
Motherboard: Intel BOXDQ35JOE LGA 775 Intel Q35 Micro ATX
a basic Intel-made mobo with the Intel GMA3100 video about $115 (good capacitors, usual Intel high quality)
case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
a basic case $50 before rebate. good external connections.
power supply: SPARKLE SPI350PFB2 ATX12V 350W
a medium-sized power supply $53
RAM: Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
NOTE: you must get the 1.8V memory for this mobo! $70
Optical: re-used a dvd writer
HD: had a 400 gig Hitachi SATA drive already
Keyboard and mouse: will have to buy a USB keyboard, have USB trackball already
Price
Total price: with a DVDwriter and HD about $800. For comparison, a Dell Optiplex 755 of similar spec was on sale for $1200 with XP, monitor, keyboard and mouse, which is not a bad deal.
Speed Test
10X improvement!
Building a Linux kernel my old PIII 1 ghz with 500 megs RAM took 112 minutes. My new box took 12 minutes, and I don’t believe much was gained by having four processors.
Ubuntu Notes
This is my initial use of Ubuntu on my desktop, I have been using Fedora Core 6. So far, Ubuntu is the easiest install I have ever done, and I must have done hundreds over the years - MSDOS, Win95, NT 3.0-3.5-4.0, Win2000, Solaris, Unix, Irix, CentOS, Fedora, Debian on Sparc, MIPS, X86, and PPC machines.
Ubuntu 7.10 ( from the Debian family) installed quickly with a sensible set of standard applications, and the Gnome desktop as default. I was able to install 200 or so extra libraries and applications using the GUI without a hitch. It discovered our network printer, which just uses an ethernet card without the HP software app, and recognized my screen and setup automatically for the native resolution. Finally, the administrative GUI tools actually work to make Samba connections, ssh connections, and setup the network. Ubuntu, unlike the more restrictive Fedora, uses non-free libraries and applications, so sound and video worked after the initial install. KDE apps are easy to install on top of Gnome.
arstechnica extensive review ( readable by non-geeks)
7.10 includes a box-full of desktop interface visual gimmicks, similar to OS X Leopard on the Mac. Things like rotating cubes, wobbly windows, transparency, reflection and on and on. I tried a few of them for one day and then turned them off, as they were distracting or downright annoying.
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