Moderator: Thanas
Shuttle XPC Spacewalker SN27P2 Socket AM2 - AMD64
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 90nm (AM2) - Retail with Fan
OCZ 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel Kit
Pioneer DVR-111D 16x DVD ±R/±RW/RAM Dual Layer Black - OEM
Maxtor DiamondMax +10 7200RPM SATA II/300 250GB 16MB Cache - OEM
Sony 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive Black - OEM
Microsoft® Windows XP Professional Edition w/ Service Pack 2 OEM
Club 3D ATI Radeon X1300 PRO 256MB DDR2 Dual DVI/TV (PCI-E)
Because I've been using them for so many years without any trouble at all, and I'm very familiar with their product range.Uraniun235 wrote:why are you buying amd
It's for the parents - the most graphically intensive thing the PC will have to do is potentially run Vista, but it will have to deal with a lot of applications being run at once, by several users, and will also need to store a lot of important data - hence the fast processor, large ammounts of memory, and two hard drives (RAID-1).Nevermind that, why such a system..then that graphics card?
If you want it to run Vista, atleast get an X700 or something, the X1300 is seriously underpowered.Pezzoni wrote:Because I've been using them for so many years without any trouble at all, and I'm very familiar with their product range.Uraniun235 wrote:why are you buying amd
It's for the parents - the most graphically intensive thing the PC will have to do is potentially run Vista, but it will have to deal with a lot of applications being run at once, by several users, and will also need to store a lot of important data - hence the fast processor, large ammounts of memory, and two hard drives (RAID-1).Nevermind that, why such a system..then that graphics card?
I've decided to up it to a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1600XT 256MB, which I'd have thought would do the job?Ace Pace wrote:If you want it to run Vista, atleast get an X700 or something, the X1300 is seriously underpowered.
What do you mean? RAID-1 keeps identical copies of every file on the other drive, so if one fails, then there will still be a working copy avaliable - this all being done without any irritating software intervention that automatic backups to an external drive would entail.RAID-1 isn't very usful, no backups, so you might consider investing in an external hard drive with automatic backups.
That's fine enough, the only card not to touch from mid range ATi is the X600, just stay away from it.Pezzoni wrote:I've decided to up it to a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1600XT 256MB, which I'd have thought would do the job?Ace Pace wrote:If you want it to run Vista, atleast get an X700 or something, the X1300 is seriously underpowered.
What do you mean? RAID-1 keeps identical copies of every file on the other drive, so if one fails, then there will still be a working copy avaliable - this all being done without any irritating software intervention that automatic backups to an external drive would entail.
Mixed up RAID0 and RAID 1. Shoot me. Intel's Core 2 processors are typically faster and cooler than their AMD counterparts, though - something to consider in a SFF box.Because I've been using them for so many years without any trouble at all, and I'm very familiar with their product range.
Or he could spring about for the energy efficient X2s, if he can find them.phongn wrote:I wouldn't bother doing RAID-5 without a hardware controller, which will run a pretty good amount of money.
Intel's Core 2 processors are typically faster and cooler than their AMD counterparts, though - something to consider in a SFF box.Because I've been using them for so many years without any trouble at all, and I'm very familiar with their product range.
I normally buy OEM but the place I was purchasing from didn't have any unfortunately. The saving I'd make from buying the processor somewhere else wouldn't be more or less wiped out by the postage.... Having spares around never hurts eitherBeowulf wrote:Should check if a OEM proc is cheaper. You can't fit the retail heatsink in that case anyway.
The Maxtor's come with 3, and I'm not worried about the reliability: I've had one of the above drives in my file server running 24/7 for two years, or close to by now with no problems... Indeed, I just ordered another so I can RAID-1 it for extra security (shoddy that I haven't done as such so far, I know...)Barracuda .9s are nice, and have a 5 year warranty. Combined with the RAID-1, you'll have fairly good protection against hard-drive failure.
XP Pro is going on an old PC so it can run as a Windows server most likely, so all the media baggage is unwanted.Also, check to see if Media Center Edition is cheaper. It has all the features of XP Pro, IIRC.
I could shoot back with "oh well my brand new computer had a Maxtor in it and it died after a few months, fukc Maxtor." (This didn't happen to me.) But that would be foolish.Pezzoni wrote:Again, Maxtor is a brand I trust and am very familiar with, that being my primary reason to stay with them. Thanks for the advice though - I shall have a browse round some other drives.
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The Maxtor's come with 3, and I'm not worried about the reliability: I've had one of the above drives in my file server running 24/7 for two years, or close to by now with no problems...
I could shoot back with: my friend's lost two Maxtor HDDs since he bought his computer earlier this year. (Yay for RAID-1!)Uraniun235 wrote:I could shoot back with "oh well my brand new computer had a Maxtor in it and it died after a few months, fukc Maxtor." (This didn't happen to me.) But that would be foolish.Pezzoni wrote:Again, Maxtor is a brand I trust and am very familiar with, that being my primary reason to stay with them. Thanks for the advice though - I shall have a browse round some other drives.
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The Maxtor's come with 3, and I'm not worried about the reliability: I've had one of the above drives in my file server running 24/7 for two years, or close to by now with no problems...
Your anecdotal experience with hard drive reliability is next to worthless and your loyalty to the Maxtor brand is irrational. Just, FYI.
If its for his parents, and not for gaming, theres likely no real need for any DX10 toys.Elaro wrote:Note about the graphics card: If you're planning to upgrade to Vista, I suggest getting a cheap card (like the X1300) and waiting for DirectX 10-compatible cards and buying one of those when come out on the market. That way, you'll have a card with some staying power and you won't have spent too much money on the going-to-be-obsolete card. That's what I'm planning to do.
Absolutely - there are horror / wonder stories for every manufacturer; people who's drives have died in weeks, and people who have had them for years with no problems. I've heard bad things about Seagate, Barracuda, Maxtor, Hitachi, and good things about them, in equal measure. Whilst the four Maxtor drives I've owned in the last few years (which are all still going) are hardly enough to provide a representative sample of the quality of Maxtor drives, it's more experience than I've had with any other manufacturer.Uraniun235 wrote:Your anecdotal experience with hard drive reliability is next to worthless and your loyalty to the Maxtor brand is irrational. Just, FYI.
The parents are not going to be doing any gaming, and so will be happy with the graphical grunt required to run Vista properly.Note about the graphics card: If you're planning to upgrade to Vista, I suggest getting a cheap card (like the X1300) and waiting for DirectX 10-compatible cards and buying one of those when come out on the market. That way, you'll have a card with some staying power and you won't have spent too much money on the going-to-be-obsolete card. That's what I'm planning to do.
) and positioning the DVD drive in the wrong place so that the eject button didn't work. Miraculously I manage to avoid getting thermal transfer compound on the motherboard, as I've done on my last two builds, being the fool I am. I then got the SATA drivers loaded (with the floppy drive over which there was doubt ), and began installation. 
