Specs for a Development Computer

[CheapScotsman]

I am currently doing my development on the same system (P4, 2.6Ghz, 1GB memory, etc) as my “office” apps and would like to separate the two.

Here are the requirements for a new development box:

1. basic system for doing software development (PHP, MySQL, C++, etc).
2. Development tools (PHP/HTML/CSS editors, lightweight web graphic tools, subversion client, maybe Visual Studio, etc)
3. Web browser or two
4. Maybe XP or maybe Linux or maybe even dual boot
5. I have two (more) 21” CRTs to use for this system.

Here are the negative requirements for this dev box:

1. Not going to be compiling 100,000 lines of source code too often
2. I have a bunch of other machines for doing office stuff (email, documentation, etc). for file serving (500GB), test, staging, etc. This is strictly a dev box.
3. I don't usually upgrade my machines; I turn them over to friends/family and buy new every 4-6 years.

While I would like to keep the cost down (hey, I am a cheapScotsman), I will purchase what is required. here is what I am thinking

1. Biostar Tforce 550 ATX AM2
2. AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Windsor 2.0GHZ 2X512KB 89W 90NM Retail Box
3. Corsair Value Select PC2-5300 2X1GB DDR2-667 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
4. Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 11MS NCQ
5. Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro 128MB 128-BIT PCI-E Vga DVI-I Tv Out Video Card Lite Retail ($65)
   
6. Sparkle Power SPI ATX-400PN
7. LG 16X DVD-ROM
8. I have all the other sundry stuff (case, monitors, etc)

Its running about $580 which is the ballpark I was hoping to be in. My questions are:

1. Am I missing something fundamental here (its been a 1/2 dozen years since code development).
2. Am I really going to get any better performance out of a E4300 when doing development?
3. Is there a better graphics card for the money (dual monitor support). I would rather have something fanless but I can’t find anything that seems to offer this level of performance for this price.
4. Am I going to save (or lose) anything substantial going with a MB with onboard video then adding another video card (keeping in mind I already have an nice ATX case)

[magical]

I am currently doing my development on the same system (P4, 2.6Ghz, 1GB memory, etc) as my “office” apps and would like to separate the two.

Here are the requirements for a new development box:

1. basic system for doing software development (PHP, MySQL, C++, etc).
2. Development tools (PHP/HTML/CSS editors, lightweight web graphic tools, subversion client, maybe Visual Studio, etc)
3. Web browser or two
4. Maybe XP or maybe Linux or maybe even dual boot
5. I have two (more) 21” CRTs to use for this system.

Here are the negative requirements for this dev box:

1. Not going to be compiling 100,000 lines of source code too often
2. I have a bunch of other machines for doing office stuff (email, documentation, etc). for file serving (500GB), test, staging, etc. This is strictly a dev box.
3. I don't usually upgrade my machines; I turn them over to friends/family and buy new every 4-6 years.

While I would like to keep the cost down (hey, I am a cheapScotsman), I will purchase what is required. here is what I am thinking

1. Biostar Tforce 550 ATX AM2
2. AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Windsor 2.0GHZ 2X512KB 89W 90NM Retail Box
3. Corsair Value Select PC2-5300 2X1GB DDR2-667 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
4. Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 11MS NCQ
5. Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro 128MB 128-BIT PCI-E Vga DVI-I Tv Out Video Card Lite Retail ($65)
   
6. Sparkle Power SPI ATX-400PN
7. LG 16X DVD-ROM
8. I have all the other sundry stuff (case, monitors, etc)

Its running about $580 which is the ballpark I was hoping to be in. My questions are:

1. Am I missing something fundamental here (its been a 1/2 dozen years since code development).
2. Am I really going to get any better performance out of a E4300 when doing development?
3. Is there a better graphics card for the money (dual monitor support). I would rather have something fanless but I can’t find anything that seems to offer this level of performance for this price.
4. Am I going to save (or lose) anything substantial going with a MB with onboard video then adding another video card (keeping in mind I already have an nice ATX case)

Personally I would skip AMD and go with Intel Core 2 Technology as it is much faster and stable if you ask me. 2nd.. skip the LG reader, for the extra $10 you might aswell have a burner... pioneer 112D is best for the money and under $40, third, since you need two monitors then you might aswell go for a video card other than onboard.....

The power supply choice is great, I've had nothing but great success from those supplys...

[Daijoubu]

You can just get away with on board graphics, having a discrete 3D accelerator adds to the heat, noise and power consumption

Just make sure you can hook up 2 VGA units to it, alot have one VGA and a DVI-D which only support digital panel (ie: can't use DVI-I to VGA adaptor)

Edit: The ASUS M2NPV-VM (106$ at DirectCanada), MSI K9NGM2 have such features

[evanx]

You don't need such a good graphic card for dual monitor purposes since you are actually developing code. Any cheap dual head output card would do.

[hytong]

consider the advantage of a big monitor