If you know me, you know that I love ridiculously powerful computers. In the process of poking around online, I discovered Intel’s Clovertown CPU. Clovertown is a quad core Xeon based on the Core 2 series of processors. Now, it is a “fake” quad core. That is, it’s two dual cores stuck into a single physical CPU, but it’s still impressive. What suprised me about the Clovertown CPUs was the price. The entry level Clovertown, at 1.6GHz, was only $350. With a quad core processor for that cheap, you can build a pretty exciting system. So, I started to do some research.

Eventually, I wound up with the system you will see detailed below. Including peripherals, this system totals to about $3500. Now, that’s a lot, I realize, but if you try to configure a similar system from an OEM, it will cost you a lot more. Originally, my plan was going to be to build this computer, or something close to it, when I did my co-op this Fall. However, due to a class I need not being offered in the Summer, my co-op has been pushed back until next Spring. As Intel is releasing it’s Nehalem processor next year, I’ll likely wait for it before I build my new workstation. I’ll discuss Nehalem more later, but for now, here’s “The Ocho”:

For the motherboard, I chose a TYAN S2696 SAS board. This board can support up to 14 SATA devices, which was the main point that drew me to it. It’s based off the Intel 5000X chipset, and should provide very good Linux support.

For processors, I selected two Xeon E5310 CPUs. That’s the 1.6GHz quad core I mentioned earlier.

For memory, I went with 4GB of Kingston DDR2-533, as I wanted enough RAM that I could dedicate some of it to virtual machines without hindering my system.

I didn’t need a ridiculous video card, so I found an XFX Geforce 7600GS on Newegg. The 7600GS had 512MB of graphics memory, and also featured passive cooling, so it seemed like a good pick.

For storage, I selected a 74GB Raptor drive as my system disk, with two 500GB Seagates providing storage space. I also added two Sony SATA DVD+RW burners for the optical drives.

All of this would sit in a Lian-Li PC-V2100B case, which oddly enough I couldn’t find on Newegg. For monitors, I chose two Samsung 20″ 1600×1200 LCDs, and then found a nice keyboard, mouse, and set of speakers online.

Sadly, I won’t be able to get this computer, but I look forward to building something even better when Nehalem comes out next year. In the immediate future, however, I plan on (re)building my old gaming computer so I at least have a little bit of power to work with.

A much more detailed explanation of this computer, and links to the individual parts, can be found in this post on the HardOCP Forums. Also, the Newegg Wishlist is viewable here.

Finally, here’s a summary of the computer that’s a bit easier to read:

“The Ocho”

• TYAN S2696 SAS Systemboard
  • Dual Socket 771
  • Intel 5000X chipset
• 2x Intel Xeon E5310
  • Quad Core
  • 1.6GHz
  • 8MB (2x4MB) Cache
  • 65nm
• 4GB Kingston Memory
  • 4x 1GB DIMMs
  • DDR2-533
• XFX Geforce 7600GS
  • 512MB video memory
• 2x SONY DVD+RW DL
  • SATA interface
• Western Digital Raptor
  • 75 GB
  • 10,000RPM
  • SATA150
• 1TB Seagate Barracuda
  • 2x500GB
  • 7,200 RPM
  • SATA2
• 500W Power Supply
• Lian-Li LC-V2100B
• Enermax Aurora Keyboard
• Logitech MX Revolution
• Logitech 2.1 Speakers