buying computer for factoring, looking for advice

[jasong]

I'm looking to buy a computer a month from now. All I need is 1GB RAM(will be upgraded to 2GB), a motherboard and a cpu, and the spending limit is about $400-$600(unless a second deal that is, though more expensive, is much much better). It is mainly for factoring in general(NewPGen, ecm, p-1, JJSieve[Seventeen or Bust and Riesel Sieve] I don't believe I have the education for the other, more complex ones).

I don't pay for electricity, so it's ok if it's a power hog. It'll be a long time before I build enough computers for my dad to cry uncle on the electrical costs.

[S485122]

Originally Posted by jasong

I don't pay for electricity, so it's ok if it's a power hog.

With global warming and the depletion of fossil fuel I think it is not the bill alone that counts when building a system.

But for once the newest are also the most economical in terms of power consumption : the core 2 Duo.

The 965P chipset based motherboards are not as expensive as the 975 ones (Abit AB9, Asus P5B, Gygabyte GA-965P-S3 for instance.)
You can even go for a 965G based motherboard that come with integrated graphic controller : Asus P5B VM for instance.
The price will be around 130,00 USD (or 130,00 euros if you must buy in Europe :-(

For the processor you can go for the E6300 that costs around 200,00 USD.

For memory 2GB of 6400 DDR2 memory would cost you 280,00 USD.
I would not go for the gradual apporoach, I have tried it and the two pair of memory sticks did not go well together, resulting in a performance bottleneck.

610,00 USD, just above the 600,00 USD maximum. But you have 2GB of memory for this price

[jasong]

Originally Posted by Jacob Visser

With global warming and the depletion of fossil fuel I think it is not the bill alone that counts when building a system.

But for once the newest are also the most economical in terms of power consumption : the core 2 Duo.

Good point.

For memory 2GB of 6400 DDR2 memory would cost you 280,00 USD.
I would not go for the gradual apporoach, I have tried it and the two pair of memory sticks did not go well together, resulting in a performance bottleneck.

Hmmmmmm... You may be right. Do you think this problem is reasonably possible even if I get the exact same type, down to the model, about a month later? I know different batches can have different strengths and weaknesses, but I thought only overclockers needed to be overly concerned.

610,00 USD, just above the 600,00 USD maximum. But you have 2GB of memory for this price

The $400-$600 was only an approximation, loosely reached based on the idea of me saving for people's Christmas presents later.

[S485122]

Originally Posted by jasong

Hmmmmmm... You may be right. Do you think this problem is reasonably possible even if I get the exact same type, down to the model, about a month later? I know different batches can have different strengths and weaknesses, but I thought only overclockers needed to be overly concerned.

I bought 2 sets of 512MB pairs at some 6 month interval, they had the same part number. Yet the latencies where not identicall. I could not get them to work up to specifications and had to settle for speeds like 600MHz instead of 667MHz. It does not make a lot of difference, but it added a potential source of instability. I was not even dreaming of thinking about overclocking them :-)