PC build suggestions

[MADe]

RAID 1 is not the only backup contingent to be sure. I suggested it in case of actual hardware failure.  ie the OS drive craps out. Then he could just reset bios and quickly access and continue to work. Point being was to provide a contingency plan for the just in cases. A kid in school may be having exams tomorrow, if the OS HDD hardware breaks tonight, he would have minimal downtime and can keep working. Fixing overall system when time permits.
I myself would get a personal cloud HDD. Separate, easially unplugable, convienant, close at hand when you want to backup certain files as well as OS drive, more cost. Western Digital, 1 TB cloud, $130.00
I myself would never use a super large drive for OS drive, but that's me.
I use a 900w psu in my game computer, listed in sig. It is true that modern components use less power, multi vid card systems need a little something something tho. If system does not need it, it will not hurt anything but wallet. System will draw whats necessary and that's it. Cannot hurt. Just makes for beefier PSU guts. Afterall its about the amps and heat. Certain things can be used over long periods of time if they are quality, a PSU is one of these. Like a good case, it can be used for new builds in future. I fully expect to never buy a new case or PSU again, I bought quality now for life time service, my life time that is.
You never know, he might let a friend convince him to push the system, they are kids. Plus you gotta know he will play games on it.

[BoilerDown]

Wait until June 2nd when the new Intel i5 and i7 CPUs come out.  Even if you get the old (current) models, they'll cost less then.

I would say get the i7.  Hyperthreading is important to things other than games.  And even for games, with the new consoles using up to 8 cores natively, the speculation is that many games being ported to both PC and the console platforms will expect to have a lot more cores than they do now.  The cost differential of ~ $100 is insignificant compared to the cost waiting for programs to run in pursuit of an Aero degree that costs many 10s of thousands.

[Bizman]

RAID 1 is not the only backup contingent to be sure. I suggested it in case of actual hardware failure.  ie the OS drive craps out. Then he could just reset bios and quickly access and continue to work. Point being was to provide a contingency plan for the just in cases. A kid in school may be having exams tomorrow, if the OS HDD hardware breaks tonight, he would have minimal downtime and can keep working. Fixing overall system when time permits.

That sure is the worst scenario! Again, as has been said here, the need for backing up varies from flash drives to raid systems and each one has to determine his needs all by himself.

Regarding power supplies, I believe that Skyzzy knows something about what he wrote some time ago:

Switching power supplies deliver the best (cleanest) power when they are between 75 and 80 percent load.

Under reduced loads power supplies cannot come close to their efficiency rating.  They run hotter.  The produce far dirtier power which also causes other analog components (hard drives, burners,...) to die sooner.  They cause fans to run noisier.  All motors run hotter.  This is due to the power having spikes in it which are not converted to motive power, but simply cause more heat to be generated in the copper windings.

If the motherboard does not have sufficient filtering for the power, then the components on the motherboard will also run hotter and premature failures can result.


If the loads on the power supply exceed 85% to 90%, the same problem occurs, but with with accelerated results as the supply cannot generate enough internal power to filter the output well enough.


If your computer is suffering from stability issues, and/or component failures, then you probably need to look no further than your power supply as the cause.


Right now, Seasonic is making the best power supplies available.  They also make all the best supplies available from Corsair, Thermaltake, and many other companies.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

If you really want to keep backups of your data, a dvd, bluray or tape backup is the best. Then the backup needs to be stored somewhere away from your house.

If the house burns down all your backups will burn with it. Something to think of.

[katanaso]

RAID 1 is not for backup or to deal with OS corruption.  It's simply there to handle a single drive failure.  I use it as a cheaply priced precaution at home.

Backup is entirely different.  And like MrRipley stated, the media used for a backup would need to be stored at another location.

Ideally, if you have data that can't be replaced or has high sentimental value, back it up on multiple devices and keep them in separate locations.

[Butcher]

Ideally, if you have data that can't be replaced or has high sentimental value, back it up on multiple devices and keep them in separate locations.

What I did was bought three different backups - I have a one terabyte western digital book - Its not collected to my PC but it is on my desk, disconnected - I will connect it when I need it.

In my fireproof safe I keep a 1.5TB terabyte backup - it only comes out when I absolutely need to update it - otherwise it stays in my safe and never comes out.
I also have a 32GB Solid state drive which I use for a third backup - it basically has my absolutely most needed backup - passwords and tax information and such and most of my emails/game downloads.
On top of that I bought a Battery backup (for gaming PCs) for $125 when I built this PC while back - over all I spent around $350 for everything.
I've been through a house fire, dropping a backup drive and having it not run anymore - harddrive failure, Raid 0 failure - ever since the previous backup drive that failed and I lost everything - I keep three now.

Nothing on my PC is worth keeping, but the time that would take me to get everything back is the pain in the bellybutton part, my passwords to emails - and my downloaded games - having to redo all this is just a waste of time, I keep them on my drive even my aces high folder.
I made it so if something goes wrong (well it is windows operating system) I can just wipe everythign and be back up and running in half a day.

[gyrene81]

i keep my backups in a sentrysafe fire/waterproof safe. used to have 2 safes, 1 in a self storage unit and the other at the house, but since i trimmed my lifestyle down a lot, don't need a self storage unit.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

i keep my backups in a sentrysafe fire/waterproof safe. used to have 2 safes, 1 in a self storage unit and the other at the house, but since i trimmed my lifestyle down a lot, don't need a self storage unit.

Storage unit + backups + forgotten payment = nudies of wife in Storage Wars 

[gyrene81]

Storage unit + backups + forgotten payment = nudies of wife in Storage Wars 

                now that's seriously funny. i can see it happening to someone...

[MADe]

Backups.
Remember were talking about a kid and his school work. If the OS drive fails at an inopertune moment, whats gonna get him up fast so he can continue quickly, without losing the work. He will be in a dorm or off campus house. He will have numbnut friends possibly playing with machine as well. This is not a business where he will want a wide variety of back up methods on saved data.
Whats gonna keep computer running for him.

Power
I have never heard of using minimal power from a power supply device causing issues. Amperage draw causes heat, dirt and bad fan cooling cause heat. The power usage needs to be balanced, but not using all that's available should not cause heat. I use UPS's that condition the power entering my psu's, so I have never had an issue with them and I do under use there potential. Not an engineer but I deal with electricity a lot.

http://ask-leo.com/is_it_safe_to_install_a_higher_wattage_power_supply_in_my_computer.html
perused the net a mo, most seem to think that too much cannot hurt, just less efficient.???????????????????

[Skuzzy]

Switching power supplies do not provide clean power, until they are under a load.  Most of the better supplies simply do not turn on if he load is not high enough.  How much of a load will depend on the supply.

Generally speaking, a switching supply provides its cleanest power at about 75 to 80 percent load.  The lower the load, the noisier the power is.  One of the side effects of that is all the DC motors, in a computer, will run hotter than normal.  Get enough noise, and MOSFETS will eventually fail taking out many more circuits.  It is a slow death for a computer.  None of this happens over night.

That link is full of bad advice.

[MADe]

The link was just the only one I put up. I found many that stated the same info tho.
Again I have never heard having to much wattage available is bad. The machine will draw what it draws. The psu you does not jamb volts into the puter. The components draw it out as needed. Not trying to argue with anyone, just think its a moot point.
I advise anyone building there own box to research, research, research before leaping, saves headaches with build. Saves a few bucks as well.

[Skuzzy]

The link was just the only one I put up. I found many that stated the same info tho.
Again I have never heard having to much wattage available is bad. The machine will draw what it draws. The psu you does not jamb volts into the puter. The components draw it out as needed. Not trying to argue with anyone, just think its a moot point.
I advise anyone building there own box to research, research, research before leaping, saves headaches with build. Saves a few bucks as well.

You are not familiar with switching power supplies.  If it was a linear power supply, then it would not make any difference.  The nature of a switching power supply requires a load for them to output power and a high load to output clean power.

Too small of a switcher is a bad idea.  Too big of a switcher is not as bad as too small, but it will lead to long term stability problems with any of the current high end systems today.

I am an electrical engineer.  I do have a very good handle on how these work.

[BoilerDown]

Here you can find the best power supply reviews anywhere on the internet IMO:  http://hardocp.com/reviews/psu_power_supplies

And with regards to the recent debate in this thread and the other one, they test them at 25%, 50%, and 75%, in addition to 100% of rated load, to see how they behave.  Pick one of the ones they rated highly and you're good.

[Bizman]

Here you can find the best power supply reviews anywhere on the internet IMO:  http://hardocp.com/reviews/psu_power_supplies

And with regards to the recent debate in this thread and the other one, they test them at 25%, 50%, and 75%, in addition to 100% of rated load, to see how they behave.  Pick one of the ones they rated highly and you're good.

Yet I'd like to remind that no reviews test the longevity of any PSU. An electrician friend of mine has many times told me how poor components are being used in many of the test winners, making the PSU's fail even in a year or less. He even has renamed many brands, such as An-crap and Ener-boom... Lately he got himself a well-designed PSU and immediately changed all the capacitors to quality ones before installing it into his computer. I don't know if the warranty repair companies have to make an agreement not to tell which brands or models fail most often, at least such information about current devices seems to be very hard to find.