Building New PC (please help)

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-25-2002, 12:35 PM

Ok, Anyone want to point out the error of my ways?

I am going to be ordering some new parts for my computer...

Asus model TUSL2-C Motherboard
Pentium 3 1133 MHZ TUALATIN 512K L2 cache Processor
Corsair 256 Meg PC150 Memory
Dual Western Digital Caviar 7200 rmp 40Gig hd's
PCI Raid Controller
ATI All in wonder Radeon 7500 (Already have)

Any suggustions? (no intel vs amd arguments please)

Thanks,

Mike

CrazyLittle · 04-25-2002, 01:11 PM

Wait - are you building this for home use or car use? Cause if you're building this for your car, then you just backed over a kitten

All of this hardware is too valuable to make building a car-PC worthwhile. You'd be better off spending $100 combined for a Celly 650, mobo & 256mb PC133 RAM. Plus running RAID in your car is a frivilous idea - you'll just break 2 drives instead of only one.

As for home PC - well hell, anything goes these days. My only posing to you is this: What do you need a RAID for? What information do you need to keep on hand immediately that's too important for you to backup onto CD? (mind you, RAID won't stop an mp3-killing virus... only regular backups will)

If you're using RAID for performance, then you might be better off getting more RAM first. However that really raises bigger problems (using RAID for performance) because then I'd have to ask why you're not going with a DDR SDRAM mobo or RDRAM mobo, and a P4 1.4 or greater.

And on that note, Why not go for a P4 1.4 & mobo? Fry's has been having a P4 1.4 & mobo bundle for $150 every weekend for the past month. Ordering online would be even cheaper (sic)

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-25-2002, 01:33 PM

This is for my house

I dont know, I guess I was just scared of the P4 because I had a bad experience once... Maybe I will just get a p4?

As for the raid array, I was was going to use striping so it will be faster access...

I guess I should just get a P4...

I didnt get much sleep last night..

MP3DUB · 04-25-2002, 01:42 PM

RAID0 is nice, but as im sure you know, one drive dies, you loose evertyhing, but really getting 512+ ram will be a better investment first if you're going to be doing intensive things. And why not get a p4 northwood and a rd/ddr setup (or an axp

).

Callahan · 04-25-2002, 02:03 PM

My vote goes towards the Athlon XP.. Cheaper and faster... Also, why are you using a regular SDRAM system? DDR is the way to go (if you decided to go with a P4 or an XP).

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-25-2002, 02:44 PM

OK, You guys talked me into it.... I bought an Asus A7V333 motherboard with onboard Raid/USB2.0/Firewire, athalon XP1600+ processor, 512 K (megs, whoops) of PC2700 memory (333 MHz), and dual Western Digital 40 Gig 7200 rpm hard drives...

I think this system should be pretty sweet.. Thanks for the opinions...

Mike

MP3DUB · 04-25-2002, 03:43 PM

Heh, 512K eh?

And this is just friendly advice, but while the concept of onboard raid is nice, if you ever want to upgrade your motherboard/processor while still keeping the data on the raid array, i would suggest a pci raid adapter (moving motherboards using onboard raid would most likely require you to destroy and rebuild the array, causing you to loose the data).

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-25-2002, 03:53 PM

Great advise... Question, if you disconnect the hdd's, you will lose all raid info? or is it stored on the mobo?

Thanks

MP3DUB · 04-25-2002, 08:36 PM

you can disconnect the raid arrays, and depending on the controller, its stored either on the drives, on the bios of the raid controller, or a combination of the two.

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-25-2002, 10:36 PM

Ok, then what about getting this?

http://64.4.8.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_la...yaccount%2easp

MP3DUB · 04-26-2002, 12:46 AM

The link didn't work, but I'm assuming you were trying to link one of the silicon image raid controllers? I looked into one a while back and couldn't really come up with anything beside the fact that a number of oems (samsung i believe was the bigest name i found) used them. they're also a part of maxtors big drive and fast drive technology groups, so they should work, but i've never had any experience with them. I've got promise and highpoint controllers in my machines right now, and im getting ready to setup a 3ware, all of which have served me well. Newegg sells some promise? oem controllers on the cheap if you want to go that route.

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-26-2002, 08:36 AM

Whoops, Here is the one... Doesnt say what manufacturer it is...

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp...d=PCIATA133-NB

MP3DUB · 04-26-2002, 10:48 AM

Yeah, that's the one I was assuming that you wer refering to, the chip it uses it made by silicon image.

mikeinsanmarcos · 04-26-2002, 12:31 PM

So it will work fast? I am really just thinking that a raid stripe will speed up my computer when trying to record and play video...

mikeinsanmarcos · 05-02-2002, 09:21 AM

Ok, I went out on a limb and got the Athlon XP 1600+, ASUS A7V333-R Motherboard and 512Megs of Corsair PC2700 333MHz ddr ram.... Thanks for the help everyone, Seems as though AMD has improved since the last time I tried em'!

Mike