Building/Upgrading a PC for TS2
witch:
Same, as far as the Raptor drives go, personally I like to hear the chatter of the HDDs.
Hegelian:
Just to provide some perspective, there probably isn't an IDE or SATA drive on the market as loud as your typical SCSI server drive, and I've got three 10K RPM SCSI drives in my PC. They run warm (I have a drive-bay fan) and they are comparatively loud, even at idle, but they are fast, faster than any IDE drive and, even though they are older models, faster than most if not all SATA drives. The speed advantage is more clear when more than one drive is being accessed at the same time, as the SCSI bus was designed for concurrent I/O, which the IDE/ATA bus was not.
That said, the next machine will use SATA drives, which eliminate most of the deficiencies of IDE and incorporate most of the advantages of SCSI but with lower power consumption, heat, and noise, and significantly lower prices per gigabyte. I built the core of this current machine in 1999, but while there is not a single original part other than the IBM keyboard, its transformation over time was such that sticking with the SCSI was the most cost-effective solution at those points where decisions had to be made.
For what it's worth, if I were building a new machine today, I would still opt for three hard drives. Assuming money wasn't an issue, I would choose a 10K Raptor for the boot drive and a couple mid-sized (~200-300 gig) 7200-RPM drives for apps and storage. This has to do with my particular needs. I like to keep the Windows paging file on a physical drive different from the boot drive for the small performance gain this provides. I also like to keep my applications on a separate drive from the OS for housekeeping purposes, and so that nuking the boot drive doesn't wipe all the app data (even though the apps need to be reinstalled after a clean OS install); also, there may be a slight (if imperceptible) performance gain by loading apps from a separate drive, because most apps also access files on the Windows drive when starting up. Finally, Photoshop prefers its "scratch file" to be on a physical drive different from the one that holds the Windows paging file.
I generally use the D: drive for apps and the Photoshop scratch file, and the E: drive for the paging file and file storage (docs, images, email and temp directories, download archives, etc.). I wouldn't fool around with RAID configurations—the real-world performance gains provided by some configurations aren't significant enough to offset the potential downsides (i.e., a single drive failure takes out your installation and all your data).
For most everything you may want to know about hard drives, check out The Storage Review.
Mirelly:
OK I'm looking at a long overdue hardware upgrade on a limited budget.
Currently using:
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
GeForce FX 5600 256MB
1GB DDR400
XP Pro
The FX 5600 is on its last legs (I replaced its crappy fan with a passive heatsink, last year and -- along with an upgrade to the case cooling, cut noise and improved (reduced) gpu overheating, but I am getting tired of the crap performance and want to upgrade without spending a fortune I don't have.
After a long look I figure my money is best invested in something like the ATI X 1950 Pro (I like to double all the numbers when I upgrade and the ATI chipset gives me double of everything the 5600 offered). So I am looking at something like:
* Gigabyte M55-S S3
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (Brisbane)
* 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM
* Zalman 480 watt PSU
* Sapphire x1950 Pro 512MB PCIe
Which I can get from techeads.co.uk for under £350. Or can I do even better with my money? (It's a lot better than getting an AGP version of the 1950 + a wattier PSU and a gig of DDR, which would cost almost £200 and be obsolete before it was even upacked!)
B:
You definitely need the upgrade to PCI-E. I have a couple of thoughts about each of the other components, which need to be taken with a grain of salt since I am a huge hardware snob:
MoBo: It has 4 PCI-E x1 slots (for which not many components are currently available), but only 1 x16. Personally, I prefer a board that offers SLI or Crossfire capabilities, since it maximizes upgrade potential. Of course, you can't find anything cheap that can manage both slots at x16, so if money is a real issue you might do well settling for less. Apart from that, Gigabyte is a great brand, and tend to do well with the BIOS revisions.Processor: I prefer Intel chips, but I also recognize they tend to be a bit pricier. If you want to stick with AMD, you might do a bit better with the 2.6GHz Windsor alternative (which is only about $15 more in the US), but again, that's entirely dependent on your budget. RAM: Without knowing the latency and brand, I can't really say anything about this choice. If it's a good brand, I'm sure you'll be fine.PSU: If it's an option, give some serious consideration to the Silverstone ST50EF Plus. It's 500 watts continuous, and actually costs less than the Zalman where I live. Plus, it's often recommended as the budget builder's PSU, due to it's price, reliability, and efficiency.GPU: At this point in time, I'm not sure avoiding DX10 cards is wise. The midrange 8000s and x2000s have come down in price considerably, and will give you similar performance to the 1950pro. Plus, with the new NVidias due to launch in a couple of months, you're brand new system will be two generations behind. Again, it's up to you, but I'd be a little wary throwing $125 (US) at a card that will be going obselete in the next couple of years, especially if you're on a budget.
Overall, I think your setup looks pretty good on the performance front. The price tag seems a bit high, since over here I could get a comparable system for just over $500 (about 250 pounds if I'm not mistaken). Looking at NewEgg (which, sadly, does not deliver overseas) the Processor is $109, the PSU is right around $100, the MoBo is not carried (but other boards with similar specs are under $100), value RAM is going for just over $100, and the GPU can be found as low as $125. Could you give me the breakdown for your components?
Mirelly:
Hey, thanks for the input; on the mobo especially. I'll look again at that. It's the motherboard I am most concerned with. It must have upgradabilty, so a second X16 PCIe slot seems like excellent advice. I aim to upgrade every 2-3 years and aim to use the best of the "older" technology that has emerged since my last upgrade.
As for prices I don't think that direct exchange rates are the best way of comparing prices country to country. In the US a buck is viewed by the shopper in the same was a pound is in the UK. There are certain barriers, the breaching of which cause the consumer is apt to respond negavitely. Examples are the price of a cup of coffee or a gallon of petrol.
I'll probably shop around more aggressively for the components, especially the graphics card. I've seen the X1950 as low as £67 ... but there's always the trustability of the seller. A bargain's no good if it doesn't work and the seller's after sales service is poor.
Prices:
Motherboard: £48
CPU and fan: £69
RAM: £67
PSU: £52
x1950: £100
Like I said, prices are annoying. I often notice that US sites' prices convert to UK prices at bargain rates, but the only time I ever tried it I got badly stung with the import tax. OK it was only 17.5% but it virtually eliminated the saving after allowing for the extra shipping cost.
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