Upgrading my Computer, tell me what you think

[Sigmestgi]

Ok after taking in alot of info and advice from many diffient forums and reviews, here is what I got so far

Processor - Duo Core E6600 $315

Graphic Cards - two 7900 GS in SLI $200 each
seems like a good deal $400 for two cards with lower noise/power and abit lower then the highend $500-600 cards http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/geforce-7900gs/index.x?pg=8 10 page review and charts of it.

Hard Drive - I believe two Seagate Barracuda hard drives would be good $80 each
Capacity 250GB
RPM 7200 RPM
Cache 16MB
Average Latency 4.16ms

Heatsink - Will go with the Scythe for heatsink since its recommended so highly, $40

Memory Same thing still corsair 2 GB $240 after $40 rebate.

Motherboard - I am thinking of Asus P5B since I'v recommended it, but reading reviews of it if I want it to work with a duo core E6600 I need to change the bios for it to reconize the duo core... so if I want that motherboard I need to learn how to change the bios, $200

Computer Case - Still going to go with the Lian Li I think ($180), but been reading reviews saying how good wood computer cases are, and you could build a entire desk to fit the computer inside or just a case, costs $300-400 to buy one but if you make it yourself can do it for $100-150 and extra for tools... I think in a couple of years I might try building a wooden case but for now a normal case will do.

http://www.voidedwarranty.com/PC_Case_Reviews/p2_articleid/46 some screenshots of a wooden case

Heat Pipe - Thermaltake CL-P0200 Silent 939 K8 - AMD K8 solution w/ Heatpipe Cooling Tech $30 seems useful and cheap to help keep temps down.

Power Supply - The top two am trying to decide between this OCZ PSU 700W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341002

This Seasonic M12 700W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151031

And this PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703006


All recommended as good power supplys and good for gaming got good reviews and seen a review for one in a magazine, mainly aiming for something strong, silent and that will last me for a long time. $150-200

DvD/DvD Burner/CD/Zip Drives
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16827134013 Asus Brand CD drive, just $11

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?
item=N82E16827131016 $50 Sony DVD/DVD Burner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16840107123
Zip Drive, haven't done any research about it

I haven't done much research on the CD/DVD drives, tell me if you think they will work or if you got a model you would recommend.

Total of ALL that $2115 without shipping or extras.



I -think- thats everything I should need, am going to use the monitor/speakers from my old computer.
Tell me if I missed anything or if there is anything you would recommend as a improvement over anything there.

Appreciate the help.

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

First off what configuration are you planning on having the hard drives in? If you do RAID 0 like most people do with two identical drives, do remeber if one drive goes, both hard drives fail.

Also, why are you getting a zip drive ???

 

[LambOfGod]

What is this PC going to be used for mostly?

what are your goals?

 

[Sigmestgi]

I heard that both hard drives failing at the same time in RAID wasn't true and if one goes the second doesn't, but I have no experience with it.

And the computer is going to be for gaming, tell me if there is anything you would improve on it.

First time building my own computer.

 

[lhuser]

This:
Heat Pipe - Thermaltake CL-P0200 Silent 939 K8 - AMD K8 solution w/ Heatpipe Cooling Tech $30 seems useful and cheap to help keep temps down.

Isn't compatible with your PC. The PC you will use needs a socket 775 for the Core 2 Duo. This is for the Socket 939.


Also, IMO, I would never use RAID 0. I just don't want both drives making one.

Another thing: You might want to drop the Zip drive. zip diskettes are 250MB of storage, sure, but they're had to find these days. It's like my tape drive. I have a 5GB tape and the interface is FDD...old stuff.

 

[LambOfGod]

I heard that both hard drives failing at the same time in RAID wasn't true and if one goes the second doesn't, but I have no experience with it.

And the computer is going to be for gaming, tell me if there is anything you would improve on it.

First time building my own computer.

Well there are differnt types of RAID, and it depends on what type.

Most gamers use raid 0, which in in a nutshell uses 2 drives, cuts your total diskspace in half, and read and writes files to both drives, thus is faster. downside to that is if one drive goes bad you will loose your data (both drives) it dosent mean both drives are bad, but since the data is written across each of them, you wont be able to recover you data if one goes down.

More info here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks#RAID_100_.28RAID_10.2B0.29


The System looks real nice man. (other than the sockets being incompatable)

I am a big fan of WD raptors though, and if you could afford one i would try them out in Raid 0 or Just have one as your primary drive and a nice fat drive for storage.

good luck

 

[Sigmestgi]

Yeah was originally planning on using the second hard drive for storage but heard good things about raid, might go with my original plan and use the second for storage unless you think raid -really- faster

For Hard Drive I think this might be better then the last one I posted
one-two Seagate Barracuda hard drives would be good $95 each I could buy the second if I run out of room on the first maybe
Capacity 320GB
RPM 7200 RPM
Cache 16MB
Average Latency 4.16ms

For graphic cards I want it to last me for awhile after DX10 is released so they can work out the bugs before getting it.
And so far my choices for cards are two 7900 GS $200 each or two 7600 GTX $120 each 7600 is cheaper and uses less power but is noiser and the 7900 is stronger but more expensive/power

For processor I been fixed on getting a E6600 duo core from intel, but I'v heard this is stronger and more futureproof MD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor $100 more but if is really faster and would last longer thats fine, what do you think? or are quad cores really that great that when there out in half a year that there worth buying (I assume they would be expensive)

Thanks for helping a newbie out with his first computer build by the way.

 

[Sigmestgi]

I also don't think I will be buying Windows Vista or Directx10 right away, waiting 1-2 years at least