Author Topic: Building my 1st PC... (Read 2631 times)

Kev367th · « **Reply #15 on:** July 27, 2006, 07:07:47 AM »

With that board you can hard drives in a RAID 5.

RAID 5 - Minimum of 3 disks, provides good speed and redundancy.

Actual space for a 3x250Gb setup = 500Gb - one drive is used for parity.
You can lose any one drive and still have intact data.

Performance - Writes are slower than RAID 1 or 0, reads are fast.

Advantage over RAID 1 - Adding another drive gets you the FULL capacity e.g 4x250 actaul space = 750Gb.

Really starts to show its worth with the bigger number of drives use.

For e.g. I have a RAID 5 SCSI array I use for data storage -
5 x 36Gb U160 SCSI = 144Gb (4x36) of safe data backup, one 36Gb drive being used for parity.

Funnily enough just snagged a brand new Dell Perc 3/DC RAID controller with a battery backup and 128mb cache for $85 (cost from Dell well over $250), to replace the Mylex170 RAID controller I use at the moment.

Main reason was support - Dell Perc/3 (LSI MegaiRAID 1600) is supported by Win XP64, Mylex 170 isn't.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #16 on:** July 27, 2006, 07:27:55 AM »

New Turtle Beach sound cards are just repackaged cheap kits. Turtle Beach stopped designing and building thier own sound cards a while back. Just FYI.

On Windows systems, I think it is a good approach for the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). Onboard RAID controllers are generally more trouble than they are worth.

Kev367th · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2006, 07:38:10 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
New Turtle Beach sound cards are just repackaged cheap kits. Turtle Beach stopped designing and building thier own sound cards a while back. Just FYI.

On Windows systems, I think it is a good approach for the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). Onboard RAID controllers are generally more trouble than they are worth.

Yes they are.
Thats why I use an add-in SCSI card.

U160 is becoming a very viable option for home users.
It's also faster than SATA, more reliable, and usually has a longer warranty period.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2006, 09:15:32 AM »

1) SCSI drives do cost more, but are generally more reliable and longer lasting then SATA/IDE drives. If you opt for Seagate Cheetah's, then you may get much better performance.
2) SCSI host adapters add cost to the computer, and if it is a RAID controller, it will cost even more.
3) Windows XP has a bug which inhibits performance of SCSI drives. Windows 2K is fine with them though.

Those are the negatives. That said, I use nothing but SCSI drives in my home systems, except for the Wife's computer as she had to use Windows XP for an application they use at her place of business. It will not run on Windows 2K.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 27, 2006, 09:28:14 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by SuperDud
Will this fill both my CD and DVD needs?

Yup. It will both read and write to all CD and DVD media.

Might wanna look at the new blu-ray and whatever the heck the other one is technologies too, but probably not.

They're in the "VHS vs Beta" phase right now and nobody knows if either one will catch on, they're really expensive, but hell, Sony's using them for the PS3 and some other thing.

Kev367th · « **Reply #20 on:** July 27, 2006, 01:20:32 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
1) SCSI drives do cost more, but are generally more reliable and longer lasting then SATA/IDE drives. If you opt for Seagate Cheetah's, then you may get much better performance.
2) SCSI host adapters add cost to the computer, and if it is a RAID controller, it will cost even more.
3) Windows XP has a bug which inhibits performance of SCSI drives. Windows 2K is fine with them though.

Those are the negatives. That said, I use nothing but SCSI drives in my home systems, except for the Wife's computer as she had to use Windows XP for an application they use at her place of business. It will not run on Windows 2K.

Checked out the 'bug' in XP.
It actually exists in Win 2000 also, but as XP, it depends what SP level you are at.
Strictly speaking its not a bug, it was a fix to fix a bug.

More here
http://faq.storagereview.com/tiki-index.php?page=XpScsiProblems

MS explanation here
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;332023

True about cost, but U160 is coming way down in price.
Picked up a new dual channel U160 Perc3/DC RAID with BBU and 128mb cache yesterday for $80, need it for move to XP 64, current Mylex U160 RAID not supported in XP64 and no drivers planned.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #21 on:** July 27, 2006, 01:28:32 PM »

isnt there a "rule violation in here"

Superdud dont worrie about scsi or raid configs unless your after a server . there more pain then its worth unless your experienced with it .

Kev367th · « **Reply #22 on:** July 27, 2006, 01:29:29 PM »

Yup, apologies, we now return you to your scheduled programming.

SuperDud · « **Reply #23 on:** July 27, 2006, 03:44:11 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
New Turtle Beach sound cards are just repackaged cheap kits. Turtle Beach stopped designing and building thier own sound cards a while back. Just FYI.

Thanks for the heads up Skuzzy. Everything is getting ordered as we speak. Now I just gotta put the darn thing together:confused:

Rolex · « **Reply #24 on:** July 28, 2006, 08:55:20 AM »

Shame on you guys for even mentioning RAID to a first time builder... whose goes by the name "Superdud."

Balsy · « **Reply #25 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:00:57 AM »

Skuzzy recommending SCSI drives....who woulda Thunk it?

Balsy

eagl · « **Reply #26 on:** July 28, 2006, 10:53:32 AM »

I can't believe you're going for a pentium 4... AMD cpus with the price cuts totally kill the P4 in price/performance. The P4 is dead dead dead. If you're going to go intel, go for conroe. If you have to buy NOW and don't want to pay huge premiums for the newest stuff, get an amd AM2 setup with an A64 X2 cpu. The X2 3800 is going for as low as $150.

If I had to buy now, I'd either get conroe or a cut price AMD X2.

Krusty · « **Reply #27 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:16:47 PM »

P4s are not dead, actually. With conroe still being new (is it even out yet???) people can buy a compatible mobo and a P4 CPU. This gives very good performance and the promise of future upgradability to Conroe (assuming they chose the right mobo)

eagl · « **Reply #28 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:49:00 PM »

Yea, conroe cpus will drop right into P4 sockets... right. Hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it will really happen this time either.

Waste of money IMHO. Wait for conroe or get a bargain on an A64 X2 dual core cpu. The X2 3800s are really CHEAP now, and the AM2 ones use DDR2 so you won't get left behind buying obsolete memory either. I've seen A64 2 cpu/mobo combos for about $200, and that would be a pretty good deal for a heck of a lot of performance NOW.

If you can wait, get conroe...

Krusty · « **Reply #29 on:** July 28, 2006, 01:49:33 PM »

Actually, Eagl, the conroe WILL fit in socket775 (LGA775). Motherboards are being made that will support conroe or the standard Pentium D chips. Like I said, get the right motherboard, and later on you just swap out the CPU.

I'm just hoping ASUS releases a BIOS update to support conroe on my mobo. Then again by the time I can get one I might just get an entirely new PC