A few questions regarding a new system build

[aqil]

Hi, Planning a new build and just need some information/clarification on the RAM and power supply and any other compatibility issues.

Decided on:

Intel E6850
Asus P5K Deluxe
ATI HD2900 XT
WD Raptor 36GB
2 500Gb WD's in RAID 1
M Audio Revolution 5.1
2 SATA DVD drives

With regards to RAM I am a little confused, am I limited to 6400 or can I go higher?. Keeping in mind I am not a heavy gamer (apart from a little Counterstrike 1.6) more video editing, Flash design and multi tasking would I benefit with 4GB as opposed to 2.

I am also unsure as to the wattage of the power supply needed to power all these parts?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

[awm]

A few thoughts:

For your level of gaming the video card seems excessive. I'd get a cheaper video card, but 4GB(especially if you plan to use Vista) of memory. You are not limited to DDR2 6400, however you would need to pay more and manually change BIOS settings to get the higher speed. Unless you are looking to overclock or waste money slower memory should be fine.

Power supply wattage really depends on the exact choice of components, Google for a wattage calculator. It won't be that high. I'd hazard a guess that a high quality supply in the 500W range would work and allow for upgrades.

The 36GB raptors are from an old generation. Not sure if you knew that, though if you can get a good price the 500GB should work well.

[staffsMike]

If you are doing multi tasking why bother with dual core when you can get quad core for the same price
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=643237

Get a 520w corsair HX Whisper..fantastic PSU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=446788

Raptors are very noisey if you are dead set on one look into a drive silencer like this
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=533399

[craigtrap]

If you are doing multi tasking why bother with dual core when you can get quad core for the same price
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=643237

I agree with that idea, i recently bought a new system and i was thinking Dual Core...Got persuaded to go Quad Core, and i am so glad i did, runs like a Dream!

[Fraz]

Why bother with the 36 gig raptor at all? Waste of money in my opinion - A large capacity 7200 rpm drive is going to be similar if not better performance, apart from maybe the seek time not being quite as good.

I agree with the comments on the Corsair HW 520 PSU. Awesome PSU, and whisper quiet.

I also agree with the Q6600 instead of the E6850. Just buy a decent cooler and overclock the Q6600 by 25% if you want the raw single-threaded equivalent speed. It's very simple to reach 3GHz with a 1333 MHz FSB with a Q6600. Even if you don't overclock it, it's still a better choice IMO.

[craigtrap]

Just buy a decent cooler

I havent got round to overclocking my Q6600 as of yet...only got it last week

But the cooler i got was the Scythe Miné!
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=383006
Runs at nice cool temps

[aqil]

Thank you all for your helpful replies.

Just curious about the comments on the Raptor drive. Would it not be ideal as a C: drive. I know the size to money ratio is not great but I am more concerned about speed.

I will definitely consider the Q6600 over the E6850. Thanks for enlightening me.

[Fraz]

Just curious about the comments on the Raptor drive. Would it not be ideal as a C: drive. I know the size to money ratio is not great but I am more concerned about speed.

The raptor has a single platter with 36 GBs on. A 500 GB disk might have 2 or 3 platters (or whatever) with 150-250 GBs on. That's a massive increase in data density, even though it's spinning at 7200 RPM instead of 10,000.

Take a look at these benchmarks:

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/sho...spx?i=2949&p=6

The 1000 GB disk actually outperforms the 150GB raptor in some cases. Admittedly, that is a REALLY HUGE disk, but the 74 GB raptor only outperforms decent 500 GB disks by a few percent. I doubt that the 36 GB one does at all in most situations. For the £65 you're spending on that Raptor, you could have a 500 GB disk that is almost - if not as - fast as the Raptor 36GB. Is it worth the premium you're paying for such a small amount of disk? Even if it does turn out to be faster, it'll be barely noticeable. We're talking <5% here.

[aqil]

Thanks Fraz for the advice. That benchmark was very helpful. Maybe it would be wiser to have 2 larger 16MB cache drives in a RAID 1 setup for redundancy as it would be my C: drive.

Sorry to be so picky but after researching RAID 1 how noticeable is the decrease in write performance over a single disk?