Start/2005-05-27/1

Can you recommend a good workstation vendor?

I need a new workstation, and I want an Athlon-64 system with a ton of memory. I started by checking out XiComputer's offerings. Unfortunately, it seems that they do not offer configurations of their XiMTower 64 SLI workstation with 4-GB ECC RAM; 512 MB is the max for ECC RAM. Here's what they do offer:

• 512MB DDR 400MHz PC3200 Interleave [add $0]
• 512MB DDR 400MHz PC3200 Registered ECC [add $19.00]
• 1024MB DDR 400MHz PC3200 Interleave [add $99.00]
• 2048MB DDR 400MHz PC3200 2x1024MB Interleave [add $219.00]
• 4096MB DDR 400MHz PC3200 4x1024MB Interleave [add $539.00]

Why they offer 4 GB of non-ECC RAM is a mystery to me. Who wants that much RAM without ECC?

I figured that something was wrong with their on-line configurator (especially since I had spec'ed out a 2-GB ECC workstation last month) and asked their sales department to give me quotes on 2-GB and 4-GB ECC RAM configurations. Their response: "Unfortunately, we don't offer it any more."

Looks like it's time to go shopping.

Help me out: Can you recommend a reliable system builder?

Who do you turn to when you buy workstations? Post below or send me email: tom @ moertel dot com.

Thanks for your help!