Advice for computer buyers

The standard workstation

Of course, the computer market moves quickly, so the details of the standard workstation are constantly changing. I occasionally update this page with details of the most recent standard workstation.

If you build a machine along these lines, send email to djb-hardware a few weeks later reporting the hardware details and the results.

The 2005.08.23 standard workstation

Warning 2: The 2005.08.23 standard workstation requires dri to be turned off in Linux; otherwise it freezes in dual-core AMD64 mode. This means removing the Load "dri" line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. The same change is required in the corresponding file for FreeBSD, and presumably for other UNIX systems. It took me a while to track down this problem, and for a few weeks I assumed that there was a hardware problem (which is what a shared Linux/FreeBSD freeze normally indicates), but at this point it's clear that the hardware is fine and that the freezes were caused by dri bugs.

The 2005.08.23 standard workstation costs $911. (On 2005.11.16 it costs just $822: most importantly, the CPU has dropped to $322 and the hard drive has dropped to $106.) Notes on the price:

• This price includes shipping within the United States.
• This price does not include assembly. The components of the computer will be shipped to you separately. I have a separate page explaining how to assemble the components into a working computer. If you don't want to assemble the computer yourself, give someone a generous $50 to assemble it for you. An alternative is to buy a computer from a warehouse that also assembles computers, such as Envision, although in this case you won't be able to put together exactly the standard workstation.
• This price does not include sales tax. The warehouses listed below will charge sales tax to residents of certain states. Of course, there are also warehouses in other states.

The following tables show the components of the standard workstation in detail. You can visit these warehouses online, select these components from the warehouse catalogs, and have the components shipped to you in a few days. Prices can change at any moment; use Price Grabber to find the latest and greatest prices.

The following components are available from ZipZoomFly:

Price	Component	Warranty	Watts
$380	AMD ADA3800BVBOX: 2000MHz L2-1MB Socket-939 Athlon 64 X2 CPU with a fan	3 years from AMD	92? (89 CPU; 3? fan) at +12V2
$95	Asus A8V: Socket-939 UATA/SATA 305mmx245mm motherboard with audio and Ethernet; includes 2 SATA cables, UATA cable, ATA cable, floppy cable	3 years from Asus	20? at +3.3V, 20? at +5V, 10? at +12V1
$61	Kingston KVR400X72C3A/512: 512MB DDR400 ECC memory in one DIMM	lifetime from Kingston	5 at +3.3V
$61	Kingston KVR400X72C3A/512: 512MB DDR400 ECC memory in one DIMM	lifetime from Kingston	5 at +3.3V
$120	Seagate ST3250823AS: 250GB SATA hard drive with NCQ	5 years from Seagate	34 at +12V1 (max for spinup), 5 at +5V
$36	PowerColor RV6DL-B3: 64MB AGP 4X video card using ATI Radeon VE (7000) chip with VGA, TV, DVI outputs	3 years from PowerColor	10? at +3.3V
$52	LG GSA-4163B: UATA DVD-ROM CD-ROM DVD+-R DVD+-RW DVD-RAM CD-R CD-RW drive (black)	1 year from ZipZoomFly	20? at +12V1, 8? at +5V
$19	Antec TRICOOL 120 DBB: 120mm 1200RPM 39CFM 25dB fan, adjustable to higher speed	3 years from Antec	2? at +12V1
$0	FedEx 2-day shipping

The following components are available from ebuyer:

Price	Component	Warranty	Watts
$74	Antec SLK3800B: 10.7kg case (black); one 1200RPM 38.94CFM 25dB case fan; 2.3kg SP400 power supply (max output watts: 390 at +5V, +3.3V, +12V1, +12V2 combined; 130 at +5V, +3.3V combined; 105 at +5V; 168 at +12V1; 180 at +12V2; 72 at +3.3V); two power-supply fans	3 years from Antec	10? for fans at +12V1
$13	UPS 2-day shipping

Antec says that the SLK3800 is 18.3inx8.25inx18.6in (i.e., 464mmx209mmx472mm).

You may want to check local computer stores for cases and power supplies.

Variant: different low-end components

The video card was selected almost entirely on the basis of price, but with the extra constraints of (1) DVI output, for sharper display on screens with DVI input, and (2) UNIX compatibility. The Radeon VE (ATI R100 chip) has been around for a while and is widely reported to work under UNIX without trouble.

If you're building a home computer, you may want to add a modem. Beware that most internal modems (and a few external modems) are "WinModems" requiring OS support. Linux and FreeBSD can both use the Lucent LT modem chipset.

The standard workstation no longer includes a floppy drive. You can add a floppy drive if you have any use for one.

Variant: more memory

I have a separate page discussing the importance of ECC memory.

Variant: single-core CPU

Variant: larger drives

Make sure you have enough cables for your drives. The A8V can support four UATA drives (two per cable) and two SATA drives (one per cable). The SLK3800B case has room for eleven drives.

I've switched from UATA to SATA, now that operating systems generally support SATA. Like UATA, SATA has ECC on data signals; unlike UATA, SATA has ECC on instruction signals, so a low-quality cable won't destroy data written to disk.

I generally opt for lower-RPM drives. Lower-RPM drives are less expensive; lower RPMs are less stressful, and therefore likely to last longer; and history suggests that lower-RPM models are much less likely to be badly manufactured than higher-RPM models. The performance difference (most importantly, the reduction in average seek time) is irrelevant: modern workstations have enough memory, so they rarely access their disks.

The Seagate ST3250823AS doesn't have quite the lowest price for its size, but less expensive drives have only a 3-year warranty.

Extra disks are a much better choice than tapes for backups. Disks used to be substantially more expensive than tapes, but they're now less expensive per gigabyte than almost all tapes. The only exceptions (Super DLT I tapes, about $0.40/gigabyte; LTO Ultrium tapes, about $0.30/gigabyte) require tape drives that cost over $1000. Even if you have so much data that you don't mind the cost of a tape drive, investing in tapes is silly: tapes wear out much more quickly than disks (a heavy-duty tape is rated for, at best, writing a few million gigabytes, which is equivalent to only about two years of disk use), and the replacement cost of disks is dropping much more quickly than the replacement cost of tapes. Of course, disks are also much faster than tapes.

Add-ons: video

15" LCDs from various warehouses reached the magical price points of $299 in 2001 and $249 in 2003. For comparison, typical 17" CRT prices remained stable between $100 and $200. A typical 17" LCD with DVI input now costs slightly over $200. 17" LCDs are easier to read than 19" CRTs, are easier to move around, take less desk space, use less power, and will probably last a lot longer.

If you plan to do a lot of graphics work, you will want a larger monitor and perhaps a fancier video card.

Add-ons: audio

• a green 3.5mm line-out jack for sending stereo sound;
• a red 3.5mm microphone jack for receiving low-power mono sound; and
• a blue 3.5mm line-in jack for receiving stereo sound.

You will probably want a pair of earphones (headphones or earbuds) for private sound; you may also want a pair of loudspeakers for public sound. I find earbuds much more comfortable than headphones for extended use. Don't bother with earphones that use ceramic (ceramic strontium ferrite) or alnico (aluminum nickel cobalt) magnets; neodymium (neodymium iron boron) magnets provide several times more energy product (BHmax), typically 30 MGOe rather than 5 MGOe, without making a big difference in overall cost. A tiny $10 pair of earphones with neodymium magnets, such as the Sony MDR-E828LP earbuds that I'm using right now, can reach extremely painful volume levels without noticeable sound distortion.

(Actually, the standard workstation includes a small internal speaker on the motherboard. It's possible to use the internal speaker for 5-bit mono 22KHz sound. However, this requires support that most operating systems don't provide. In practice, the internal speaker is used only for occasional beeps.)

Alternative: prebuilt computers

Prebuilt computers have several differences from the standard workstation described above:

• Prebuilt computers often include speakers, modems, floppy drives, printers, webcams, etc., and are correspondingly more expensive.
• Prebuilt computers include Windows and a selection of Windows software. Of course, this isn't helpful if you want a UNIX workstation.
• Prebuilt computers generally don't correct memory errors. I tend to reject prebuilt computers for this reason alone.
• Prebuilt computers usually skimp on crucial components such as the motherboard, DIMM, power supply, and hard drive. It's reasonable to assume that a prebuilt computer won't last as long as the standard workstation.
• The builders generally don't reveal details of their system components. It's difficult to assess quality before purchase. It's also difficult to find out whether the video card and network card are UNIX-compatible.
• Prebuilt computers usually come with a one-year warranty. The standard workstation has warranties on each component, often longer than a year, but if the standard workstation malfunctions then you have to figure out which component is at fault.

If you do buy a prebuilt computer, I recommend buying one with a 3-year warranty.

Alternative: non-x86 processors

Apple's 2005.04.27 university price list (Collegiate Purchase Program Price List) shows a $1799 Power Mac G5 with two 2000MHz processors, 512MB non-ECC DDR400 memory, a 160GB hard drive, a video card, a DVD/CD-RW drive, a 10/100/1000 Ethernet card, a modem, a keyboard, and a mouse. (Apple's 2004.09.18 list showed a $1799 Power Mac G5 with two 1800MHz processors, 256MB non-ECC DDR400 memory, and an 80GB hard drive. Apple's 2003.07.19, 2003.12.13, and 2004.03.13 lists showed an $1199 Power Mac G4 with one 1250MHz processor and 256MB of slower memory.)

This Mac costs twice as much as the standard workstation and isn't anywhere near twice as fast. Hint to Apple: You'd sell a lot more of your software if you stopped trying to use it as a tool to sell your overpriced hardware.

I used to include UltraSPARC prices here as another example, but Sun seems to have given up on the UltraSPARC workstation market.