My Future (Buying bit by bit) Gaming Rig

[staffsMike]

This review
Western Digital Raptor WD360GD | HARD DISKS | Hard disks / storage | Labs Tests | Custom PC

and a fair few others just nag at me about the raptor.

Besides the noise they really won't give you a noticable boost in performance and in certain areas you will get loss!

[Gobbob]

Thanks, I now see what you mean, I thought it was the amount of space was the problem but obviously not, and thanks for the cooler advice.

Yes, I know it's not under V3 but I figured it'd just take up too much room.

-Gobbob

[master811]

On using the 5000AAKS drives, with that motherboard, you could also just use the Intel Matrix Raid as well using Raid 0 and 1 on both, and 2 of these will cost about the same as 4x 160s (if not a bit less) but you'll get a lot more space for your money. Just a thought. Should be faster as well.

[Dreaming]

the 5000AAKS drives are very fast. I'm comparing it between:

a raid0 setup designed for fast performance
a raid1 setup on the slowest part of the 1600YS (note how all the drives tail off towards the end - do a search for 'Zak's partitioning theory' - it's brilliant)
a hitatchi T7K500 drive (used to be the fastest when I bought it 12 months ago, excluding raptors)
and a western digital AAKS5000

Doing a comparison on the same system:

Raid0 2xWD1600YS (250gb in total, leftovers used for raid1 mirror for documents)


Raid1 2xWD1600YS (30GB)


Hitatchi T7K500 (250GB)


WD5000AAKS (500GB)


Two WD5000AAKS with a raid0 stripe towards the beginning of the drives would be very fast indeed. Unfortunately I don't have a raptor to compare to, I expect their random access times would be faster (8/9ms?). However, constant reads are probably slower, because the data isn't as densely packed as the new drives.

[Gobbob]

Added a Monitor and the drive partitions.

-Gobbob

EDIT: changed Motherboard to a very similar PCI Express 2.0 Compatible Board.

[Bhuvsta]

Dont buy your pc bit by bit, you should buy all the components at the same time. Otherwise you might buy something thats out of date / cheaper when you buy the rest of your parts.

[moogle]

Originally Posted by Bhuvsta

Dont buy your pc bit by bit, you should buy all the components at the same time. Otherwise you might buy something thats out of date / cheaper when you buy the rest of your parts.

at this rate the first parts he bought will be at bargain prices when hes done, but hey hes already started. i think.

[Buzzsaw]

I'm also buying my PC bit by bit. So long as you don't take too long, it should all be fine.
So far I've bought:
November, Optical drive and 4 x 1 Gb DDR2 PC6400 RAM.
December, Intel E6750 CPU, LG 194wt 19" widescreen TFT.

I plan to have my new PC running in time for my xmas presents to be loaded and played on xmas day.

[Gobbob]

The main reason I'm buying my PC bit by bit, this is going to sound really shallow, is so I don't spend when I'm meant to be saving. Also, my pay comes in fortnightly so it's convenient to buy stuff every fortnight especially since I only have 13 more post until I get free SCAN delivery.

-Gobbob

[Buzzsaw]

I get paid monthly, which is why I've broken down my spending by month. I agree with you, buying acording to what you can afford is the only way most people can do it.
Especially so at this time of year.

Also, just ordered an Antec 900, Enermax Liberty 500W PSU, and Scythe Mine CPU cooler.

[SiM]

IMO, I reckon its better to save up and buy it all in one go...
What if the Antec 901 comes out in a month (and is cheaper) before you have even used you 900!

[moogle]

Originally Posted by SiM

IMO, I reckon its better to save up and buy it all in one go...
What if the Antec 901 comes out in a month (and is cheaper) before you have even used you 900!

true true, lets say you buy a mobo, then a cpu 2 weeks later, then ram another 2 weeks later and such. if it all don't work, you got to rma it all and wait quite a long while. also if you buy parts from different retailers. say the psu is the last item you buy, you got everything and it took you 3 months, if that psu faults and blows all your stuff, you could lie your way into getting an rma for every item but idk for the cpu if they send it to amd or intel they could probably see its been blown etc. it's always a worry when buying a new psu for parts which aren't new, if the psu blows your parts with it, your really stuffed.

Originally Posted by SiM

What if the Antec 901 comes out in a month (and is cheaper) before you have even used you 900!

antec 1200 is on it's way. its gonna come out in 2008 iirc.

[SiM]

Originally Posted by moogle

true true, lets say you buy a mobo, then a cpu 2 weeks later, then ram another 2 weeks later and such. if it all don't work, you got to rma it all and wait quite a long while. also if you buy parts from different retailers. say the psu is the last item you buy, you got everything and it took you 3 months, if that psu faults and blows all your stuff, you could lie your way into getting an rma for every item but idk for the cpu if they send it to amd or intel they could probably see its been blown etc. it's always a worry when buying a new psu for parts which aren't new, if the psu blows your parts with it, your really stuffed.



antec 1200 is on it's way. its gonna come out in 2008 iirc.

Good point about rmaing stuff... Its good to let the retailer know asap if something doesn't work.

antec 1200, cool! any links? and when in 2008? I'll probably get my new rig in January now that I have my joining bonus from work

[moogle]

Originally Posted by SiM

Good point about rmaing stuff... Its good to let the retailer know asap if something doesn't work.

antec 1200, cool! any links? and when in 2008? I'll probably get my new rig in January now that I have my joining bonus from work

bit-tech.net | Antec makes new cases, PSUs

you can see the 1200 in there
still searching for more info. i think maybe march just not 100% sure

[staffsMike]

HEXUS.net - Article :: Antec set to unleash four 'new' chassis this winter : Page - 1/4

hexus did a bit on it.

Looks a bit ugly but amazingly functional

[moogle]

Originally Posted by staffsMike

Looks a bit ugly but amazingly functional

oi!
lol oh well everyone has a preference