Computer Help

[MjTalon]

Alright, I'm in the process of receiving a AMD 64 X2 6000 processor incased in a Xion case thats coming with everything except a HD/ & Video Card. I'm curious to what are your recommendations on a Video card and HD?

Squaddie Recommended a SATA HD to place in it but i'm not to familiar with HD purchases ( going to college atm for computer engineering and Programming. )

My old computer i'm currently using now has a 18GB total HD and a Nvidia geforce 5500. I'm really strapped for funds atm due to my college application process, fees, etc so I'm on a tight, tight budget. Would you guys recommend putting my old HD/Vid card into the new tower untill i get the funds to upgrade em both or get another HD with about 50 GB? Thanks in advance! 

[TilDeath]

SATA Drive Western Digital 640GB Part Number: WD6401AALS  This drive benches almost as well as the Raptors at 1/3 the cost.  For video card any 9800GTX or 9800GTX+  I prefer EVGA for the lifetime warranty.

[Getback]

You could go with an ATI radeon 3850 or 3870 for a reasonable price.

[MjTalon]

SATA Drive Western Digital 640GB Part Number: WD6401AALS  This drive benches almost as well as the Raptors at 1/3 the cost.  For video card any 9800GTX or 9800GTX+  I prefer EVGA for the lifetime warranty.

You mind linking me the info to that HD Death?

& i really don't like ATI cards. Donno why but I've always been a nvidia guy. 

[humble]

1st thing is to make sure you have your OS media (you can pull license from current machine). Problem #1 is if your current machine didnt provide actual media...just a recovery disk...some doent even have that anymore. So you may or may not need an OS. As for HD no doubt that TD's recommendation is excellent...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives-_-Western+Digital-_-22136319

For $80 thats a great drive. As for VC you haven't mentioned PS, the number of @'s for the 12V rail will determine what you can install.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-EVGA-_-14130339

Again a great choice at a reasonable $$$. The real key is your budget. If you can afford TD's items and the PS will handle the card then I'd certainly second them. If $$$ are an issue you need to give an amount...

[Fulmar]

500gb HD's are becoming very standard now, and they're quite cheap.

Tomshardware.com just did a review on crop of 500gb HD's.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/500gb-hdd-disk,2150.html
You can view the benchmarks there.

Here's the conclusion
Conclusion

None of the drives is a real loser; each has strengths and weaknesses. Looking at the test results from drives such as the Samsung Spinpoint F HD502IJ or the WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS, you can tell that these drives have been around for a while. Seagate’s Barracuda 7200.11, and the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B in particular, offer much better throughput and have lower power requirements.

WD, Samsung: New Drives, Please!

The WD Caviar Blue is very strong at providing quick access time and high I/O performance, making it a nice application drive. However, its power consumption and efficiency are unbalanced, and the throughput could be faster. If you ask us, it’s time for WD to update the mainstream drive family—renaming the existing drives from “Caviar” to “Caviar Blue” doesn’t help in the long run.

The situation is similar with Samsung’s Spinpoint F: it still holds up in some of the benchmarks, but it doesn’t dominate anywhere. Unfortunately, the 500 GB drive isn’t as quick as its terabyte brother, but it requires a similarly high amount of power, which results in under-average efficiency and a surface temperature that is higher than the results we measured on the other drives. Once again here, it’s time for a new Spinpoint.

Seagate, Hitachi: Fast, with Glitches

None of the drives is perfect, which we could see when looking at the final two. Seagate provides nice access times and the best application benchmark results, but power consumption, surface temperature and efficiency are just a bit above average. As a system drive, the Barracuda 7200.11*** is probably the best choice, but I can imagine that many people might hesitate to get one due to the firmware issues that have circulated the Web, even if serious trouble is very unlikely at this point.

The Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B was not designed to be a fast application drive, but it offers the fastest throughput, paired with the lowest surface temperature, lowest power requirements and nice efficiency. To us it is obvious that this must be the newest drive out of these four, as it offers the most balanced results, and it is thus the one we currently recommend.

***Not sure why in the test they did the 7200.11 models.  The non-glitch 7200.12's are also $60.  I have a 7200.10 500gb and its nice and quick and runs pretty cool.  My other HD's are 2x250gb Maxtor's in RAID 0.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I will never buy another Deskstar in my life. They had a nickname 'Deathstar' for a reason.

[Bino]

...
***Not sure why in the test they did the 7200.11 models.  The non-glitch 7200.12's are also $60.  I have a 7200.10 500gb and its nice and quick and runs pretty cool.  My other HD's are 2x250gb Maxtor's in RAID 0.
...

I have a pair of Barracuda 7200.11 500GB drives in RAID1 (mirror) with a third one as a Casper-ghosted backup. Never had even a minor glitch, ever.  My next build will likely use either Barracuda 7200.12 or 7200.ES2 drives.

As for video, both EVGA and BFG stand behind their products, which works for me.

[Fulmar]

I will never buy another Deskstar in my life. They had a nickname 'Deathstar' for a reason.

Yeah I found an old Deathstar in an old computer I was putting together.  40gb'er IIRC.  Of course it was dead.