Hello All,

I've given in, and I'm building another slave. I need to do this *tomorrow* or my mind will be lost to endless babbling, drooling, sitting in the corner in my own filth, muttering in Latin (which I can't speak), etc.

So, I would really appreciate any and all quick suggestions for what hardware to buy, without breaking the bank. I'd like to keep this thing under $1000 US. I want to go ASUS with the mobo, because they generally seem good and solid. I'm fine with drives as well. The big questions for me are:

1) core 2 duo, or just a reasonably speedy P4 -- this is basically asking how multi-core aware are the VIs, and will a dual-core processor matter on a slave machine running *nothing* but VIs?

2) RAM speeds. Do I need a mobo with 667+ RAM or can I save a few $$$ and bump it down to 533? (This, of course, impacts on processor choice as well.)

so... I suppose I'm mostly asking for suggestions on CPU and mobo.

Please pop up your recommendations and experiences. As I say, I'm doing this tomorrow afternoon (UK time), and I'd like to make as informed a decision as possible. I'll be installing 4 GB RAM, btw, and applying the 3 GB switch and just going with xp pro for now.

thanks in advance,

J.

Yes, thanks Peregrine. I was hoping this would be the case. I have an old P4 2.8 that actually does fine as a slave, so I figured I could go with an older model. Thanks for the input.

J.

Hej J
I'm building a slave right now - here's what I went for
(and some comments)

Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 Mobo
( Has 4 DDRII slots, VGA and is cheap - And Gigabyte is as good as Asus )

Core2Duo E6300 CPU
( More power-lower consumption than P4 = less heat = less noise )

4 Gb Ram : GeIL 2GB ULTRA kit / DDR2-5300

ANTEC SOLUTION SERIES NSK1300 Cabinet
( Looks like a great little cube with more space than usual cubes )

HD's: Seagate is my favorite ( Here I'm using my old ones )
1 System disk
2 Datadisks