The (new) Official PC building thread!

Any two drives in RAID0 are fast, but the access times suffer. Plus of course, the faiure rate of 150GB Raptors is quite high (the smaller versions are very reliable, but not the big ones). Using them in RAID0 would double the already high chance of failure.
I support the use of Raptors as OS drives, but if you're going to spend a lot, have some redundancy. Either put a pair in RAID1 or four of them in RAID5.

 

Why is that? I had the 800 speed ram just laying around, I figured I would just throw it in there. Wouldn't the system benefit from an extra gig of ram even though there will be a little of a bottleneck because of its slower speeds? Or will the bottleneck give a performance hit that makes the extra gig not worth it?

As for the two Raptors, I forgot to mention that I already have them both from my current computer and they are getting
moved into the new one. I've had them for 3+ years now, and I do not understand how you could own a pair and say they give no noticeable performance boost. Vista is more responsive and snappy, boot up and game load times are also reduced to the point where I notice the difference. Maybe you could say the performance boost isn't worth the extra $, but to say no boost, no way.

I also should have mentioned there are two of the 35gb drives in a RAID 0, giving the drive 70gb total. My Vista install with many, not all, of my programs installed takes about 32gb. I realize that RAID 0 with the Raptors may not be the most reliable, but I am going for performance from that setup, not storage reliability. If worse comes to worse and they get corrupted somehow, all I have to do is reinstall the OS and programs, or just pick a clean Vista disk image and load it up.

Thanks for your input.

 

Off topic....but holy crap, I just opened the box for my CM Stacker 830...and its f-in HUGE.

Same thing with the Tuniq Tower, sometimes it's hard to tell how big the parts are from the retail pics. I hope everything will fit ok, I can't imagine a case getting much bigger.

While I'm posting, anybody know their keyboard and mice inside and out? I picked up the Logitech MX Revolution for my new desktop. I've had the VX Revolution for my laptop, and it really was THAT nice, so I spent the $ for the MX.

But keyboards I'm a little more undecided on. I would like something with backlit keys for the late night computing, wireless, and some media/internet keys. I'd prefer a Logitech because generally speaking I love their products, but I can't seem to find a solo keyboard offering from them that I like.

Even though I'm not a big PC gamer anymore, I was looking at the G15 gaming keyboard, I like the LCD screen on it (if it can display information other than game info), but it's not wireless and the backlight is orange (yuck, my PC's theme is black/blue).

I'm def willing to check out other companies if they make quality stuff.

Any thoughts?

 

The case is full tower, what'd ya expect? How much does it weigh? I think my case weighs in at about 50 lbs EMPTY.

 

Hydro: Me and a friend use 36.7GB raptors and they've proven very reliable. It's the 150GB versions we're moaning about.
As for the RAM, I always recommend two sticks over four.
On the keyboard, I don't like wireless peripherals of any kind, as a gamer I find the responsiveness of even the best unacceptable. I use a Saitek Eclipse 2, it doesn't have a snazzy display (but I use a Pertelian X2040 for that) but does light up in one of 3 different colours, red blue or purple. It's comfortable, quiet to type with, and pretty durable. If you want something a bit more subtle, I used to use a Logitech Media Keyboard Elite, which was quite nice. The software for the extra buttons was a bit rubbish, but I never really use those anyway.

 

Just to clarify, this build is to be the heart of my media center, which will perform the following:
HD satelite television, PVR, encode/backup.
Music player of which my music collection to date is @ 1.65TB (hence the 4TB of storage).
Internet surf/download 20mb BB (100mb trial on Virgin Media late 2008)
Online/Offline gaming.
Photo storage/viewer.
MS Office apps
and so on...


QUAD Extreme QX9650 3.2GHz 12MB 1333MHz (Sorry but I still want this)
Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi@N Intel X48 DDR3 Motherboard
Adaptec AAR-2420SA 4-Port Raid Controller
2 x HIS Radeon 3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIE DVI/HDMI
4 x 1024mb OCZ Platinum Edition Memory 1800MHz DDR3 PC3-14400
2 x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB S150 10,000rpm (For OS/Software)
4 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM 32MB S300 (Not let me down yet)
2 x LG Blu-Ray Re-Writer/HD DVD-ROM SATA
Hauppauge Win"HD"TV HVR 4000 DVB S2 DVB S DVB T Receiver
PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1000W 1KW-SR PSU
Thermaltake VE2000BWS Armour Super Tower + Liquid Cooling
Logitech Z-5500 Digital 500W RMS Dolby® Digital & DTS®

 

Again, ditch the uselessly expensive power supply, and go with a normal unit like a Corsair HX 620W. That will easily power that system at a fraction of the cost, and with half the noise.
As for the games, what games do you play? Unless it's top current titles, there's no need for the crossfire combination.

 

Hydro x86,

If you mix different speeds of memory, all the memory runs at the slowest rated speed so your 1066 memory would only run at 800MHz negating any advantage of the 1066 memory.

Best Regards,
theone

 

Not to mention your overclocking potential would be severely stunted...

 

sammorris

Current playlist: Fifa08, CoD Modern Warfare, NFS Pro Street, CM08, Empire Earth.

 

COD4 and Pro Street are quite demanding, but you could still run all those well on a single HD3870, or even an HD3850.

 

jazmanuk

We'll just have to take you out and beat you! LOL!!

Seriously, just build whatever you like and enjoy what you are able to do with it. I once built an Intel D-940 when everyone else was building AMD 64x2s and answered all sorts of questions as to why I didn't go AMD for about the same money. Today that answer is simple. I had no experience with the 64x2 or 939 motherboards and I was fairly new to overclocking, so I stuck with what I knew best! The whole thing didn't cost me that much, I learned a lot and wound up with a good, reasonably fast computer which is still in daily use by my roommate!

Build what you want from the components you choose and enjoy it. The advice you've gotten is good advice, but the ultimate choice of what you do build is up to you!

Best Regards,
theone

 

@jazmanuk

Exactly...You answered your own question...

@phill2000

No one said they were not Fast...everyone said they would be Faster...but they still have there drawbacks...Noise...Heat...Power Consumption...Dependability...and Price...those drawbacks...for very little gain in performance in my opinion make them completely unnecessary for what he is trying to accomplish...If this was just an OC'ing and Gaming only rig...then they are fine...he is talking about a Media Server...which runs 24/7...I would not recommend a Raptor in any computer that runs 24/7...We are not trying to Rain on anyone's Parade...we are just trying to help someone make sound decisions...on component choices...

 

sammorris,

I have to say you must have been very lucky, as the #1 complaint since the inception of the small Raptors has always been noise, with far too many complaints published about it to just be ignored!

Lp531 wrote:

These comments are for the 150s and the failure rate on them has been reported to be extremely high (reportedly around 50%). Everyone I know (6) that has owned one, has experienced problems requiring an RMA! Based on that, I have to agree with Lp531!

As you pointed out, with a fresh install of XP-Pro, they are quite fast! However it doesn't take too awful long for most of that speed to disappear, negating much of the speed advantage. My boot-up time is only 20 seconds longer than the 1:10 you mentioned, yet my XP-Pro on this particular hard drive is extremely old, dating back to when I first built the E4300 last April. The computer averages about 14 hours or so a day 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I have no problems with the OS, so I'm not about to wipe the drive and replace the OS just so it boots up twice as fast.

Respectfully,
Russ

 

I mean I was expecting a large case, my other computer is a full tower too, but the Stacker seems even bigger than that one. Its pretty heavy, at least 20-25 lbs empty, no where near 50 though, jeez. Haha, your case made outta solid steel or what?

If anybody is around, I have a pretty stupid question that I just can't find a solution for. I don't wanna screw anything up.

I'm in mid-build on the system I listed yesterday, my first time building from the ground up. I got the heat sink and CPU installed on the mobo and everything is good to go, except one thing. The Tuniq Tower 120's fan wire has a 3-pin connector on the end, but the CPU_FAN lead on the motherboard is a 4-pin, and I can't seem to attach it no matter how I position it.

Am I missing something easy?

 

@sam
Don't you have yours in a...internal H/D Cooler Chassis...to help with Noise...and Cooling...I know someone in here did...and they said it helped tremendously...

The (4) pin connector...should have a cutaway so a (3) pin can attach...and attach only one way...
Repost your parts list so we do not have to go searching...

 

Hydro x86,

There should be a notch on the fan plug that matches the little "tongue" that sticks up from the CPU fan header. Just match the tongue to the notch and it should work fine. I've never seen a fan with one that wouldn't work!

Best Regards,
theone

 

Hey Russ, thanks for the response.

I see the little tounge tabs that stick up off all the fan headers on the mobo. I have CPU_FAN which has 4 pins, with the little tounge in front of 3 out of 4 of them. My mobo manual says that the 4th pin is for speed control. The Tuniq has a 3-pin female connector that will fit over the 3 "tounged" pins on the CPU_FAN header, but leaves the 4th speed controller pin uncovered.

Now, the Tuniq also came with a fan controller that can be installed in the back of the system, but this fan controller has a male (pins, not holes) 2-pin connector on it. The Tuniq also came with no instructions when it comes to connecting the fan controller.

How are fan controllers usually hooked up? I can't come up with a configuration that would let me use the fan controller and have the Tuniq fan hooked up to the CPU_FAN header.

**EDIT**

Nevermind Russ, I think I got it. Turns out theres a little 2-pin connector that was hidden inside the fan, which is hidden inside the Tuniq. I'm hooking the controller up to that, then just leaving the 4th controller pin uncovered on the CPU_FAN header.

But thank you again for your help, sometimes when you get thrown for a loop, it just takes triple and quadruple checking for things to make sense.

 

but for any of the GOTY, aka UT3, COD4 and crysis, the scaling of Xfire has been over 65% (with the newer patches)

and if he wants to game at 2560 x 1920 (IICR the 30" resolution) and wants FULL eye candy and no jaggies (full AA) then he will need a Xfire 3870.

Id say its a damned good build, and probably one of the best in the world. if we wants to 3dmark it, hell deffo be in the top 100. and for the stuff he wants to do, he wont have to upgrade for a good few years, which noramlly alot of enthusiasts go every year, or two, spending 1-2k to last the the couple of years. i think hell do fine if he keeps it under 4K.

in the end one cannot tell anyone what to do with their monies, only advice.

If he want the best of the best, then good on him.

i would love to see the final build of this, and would love to see your 3dmark ,a nd super PI scores.