I think this is what I have decided on so far. Anyone here want to give me tips/ideas?

I don't want to spend over 1400, and im just below that right now.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600
$223.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115003

GIGABYTE GA-N650SLI-DS4 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard -
$134.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128044

Leadtek PX8800 GTS TDH 320MB Extreme GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
$284.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814122022

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ - Retail
$109.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231065

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Black) EPS12V 750W Continuous
$199.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817703009

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model
$39.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106057

LIAN LI PC-60BPLUSII W Black Aluminum ATX
$139.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811112116

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
$159.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136033

ZALMAN 9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
$59.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835118019

awesome set up i think, other than I go AMD, I just got a 1GB G.Skill from newegg a few weeks ago, it has ran great, the reviews on it were really good and so far I back them up

the only other thing I was going to say was more cooling but after looking at the case I see thats covered

good luck with it :thumbup

I agree with Joe on the AMD processor also. I prefer them and use them in all computers I build. Unless asked for intel and no matter what I say they wont budge...cheaper processor usually too.

I like MSI AMD compatible boards.

never used Leadtek, but I have used EVGA and BFG Tech, both i am quite happy with.

Well I went ahead and ordered it. The G.Skill has the D9 chips, so I am glad I switched that.

Joe - ya that G.Skill is great I hear, has the D9 chips in em'. I think I should be good on cooling, 2 120mm and 2 80mm fans, plus an aftermarket heatsink. I am hoping I can get a good OC out of this thing.

Sgt. Tex - I switched the 8800 to an EVGA brand, had better reviews too.

dude all that is just crap.

I'll do you a favor, once it gets to your house, leave it boxed and just send it to me, i will get rid of it for you.

dude all that is just crap.

I'll do you a favor, once it gets to your house, leave it boxed and just send it to me, i will get rid of it for you.

Gimme a call if you need any help gettin that POS trashed.

Raptor drives are way overhyped and overpriced. Better to go with two 500GB drives in RAID0.

Raptor drives are way overhyped and overpriced. Better to go with two 500GB drives in RAID0.

Beat me to it. RAID 0 with two standard drives will give you better speed then 1 raptor. Plus the raptors don't have the reliability of 7200 rpm drives.

Stick with Intel, Core 2 Duo rapes AMD.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/172215/fullsize/hijacked.gif

So how bout some real world RAID info. I don't really game (not serious games anyway) have a lot of music and movies on my pc and am looking for reliable storage/recovery.

Was thinkin of adding another HD on RAID 1 with a large capacity external HD to back up to say weekly. Keep the ext. seperate except when backin it up.

Is it necessary to have identical drives in a RAID?

Any thoughts?

My current setup is Raid 0, two 150 gig seagate 7200 rpms. I wanted to buy a single raptor just to play with, might order another one.

Joe and Rob you guys crack me up.

It's not absolutely necessary to have identical drives for RAID0/1, but it'd be like putting Rancho's on one side of the Bronco, then some crappy-ass Gabriels on the other. You may also run into controller issues, in which case reliability issues may arise. If your data needs to be more secure than fast, then RAID1 is your way to go. If you have the $$$, then RAID0+1 or RAID5 is your cup o' tea.

I had a 36GB Raptor, and I was initially impressed by the speed. The noise got to be irritating, and it got progressively slower as it filled (quickly!). I moved up to two Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax 10's in RAID0, and have never looked back. It's FAST, quiet, and boots in about 18 seconds from cold. Sure, there's no redundancy, but I'm not keeping CIA/FBI files, and I keep backups of everything regularly.

I can't believe anyone is asking $150 for a 74G drive, no matter how thick the gold plating is. I saw 300-500G SATAs in the sale papers last weekend for less than $100. If I didn't already have 2, I might have bought some.

I can't believe anyone is asking $150 for a 74G drive, no matter how thick the gold plating is. I saw 300-500G SATAs in the sale papers last weekend for less than $100. If I didn't already have 2, I might have bought some.

I didnt even notice that. you can get a 500g WD 7200rpm Sata 3.0 at newegg for about 150.

Bob, good choice on switching to EVGA, you will be happy with that card.

Oh noez...I missed one of my favorite kinds of posts!

Yeah, Raptors are overrated. More for E-penis size increase then anything else.

On the 8800's...they're all basically following the nVidia reference designs, but I went with Evga for my latest video card purchase simply for the Step Up program and great warranty/RMA service. Which, speaking of that I think I might be artifacting at only 56C so I need to run a tester and see if it is so I can perform a return if needed. Good thing I bought a 7025 based board with dual outputs for my dual monitors in case I do have to return the card.

Core 2 Duo owns AMD. Yes. Except for where the consumer is looking - mainstream. AMD Athlon 3600+ 1.9Ghz Dual core for 59 dollars? I did it. I build an entire new computer internally (except drives and case) for under 400 bucks. Only reason an average user like most of us needs C2D is if they're running compression/video editing software alot. Then, the advantages of the C2D/Intel platform show themselves. Otherwise, AMD rocks the...well, you know.

Oh yeah, I hate MSI. :toothless. I will say I've never had an MSI board that wasn't 100% stable, otherwise they don't offer alot of power for the punch. Gigabyte, Asus, and Biostar are really tearing it up these days.

Oh yeah, I hate MSI. :toothless. I will say I've never had an MSI board that wasn't 100% stable, otherwise they don't offer alot of power for the punch. Gigabyte, Asus, and Biostar are really tearing it up these days.

While im out of the current circle when it comes to motherboards....in the past I've managed to have one of almost every name brand manufacturer motherboard fail on me. The first being a pricey epox back in the day...then i think and Asus, Biostar, and MSI. also some others i repaired for friends/clients. Don't think i ever got ahold of a gigabyte, but always heard good things about them.

Just some food for thought...

Here's a tip. That tray that pops out with a hole in it: It's not a cup holder.












I stick with Intel only. Almost every buggy machine I've worked on had an AMD Inside. It's not the CPU but the mix of motherboards don't seem to have very good quality control.

I moved up to two Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax 10's in RAID0, and have never looked back.


i love maxtor drives, its all i will buy now, although I have had a few awesome seagates too

FullSizeBronco.com = Powered by AMD :thumbup :rockon

I use to like Maxtor but I've had bad luck witht he last couple drives. Western Digital all the way for me now. I just ordered 2 500g WD 7200rpm Sata 3.0GB/s for $230 or somewhere around there. Set them up in Raid 1 for my music/movies/tv shows. Works awesome and was stupid easy to set up. Hell, I tossed it the old drive letter for my previous storage drive and nothing knows anything changed. I was psyched about that cause iTunes can be a bitch.

Anyhow, far as the raptors go I got sucked into thinking it'd be a lot faster. I got a 74 gig for $80 (like 8 months ago) thinking it'd make a good OS drive but it isn't all that fast and is kind of loud. Whenever I switch to vista I'm going to go Raid 0 and the raptor will get thrown in my server in a closet somewhere as the OS drive.

Maxtor is actually a "value" brand now. I won't be buying their drives anymore. I cannot remember if it is Seagate or WD (believe Seagate) that bought them out. Either way, the Maxtor's are not getting the higher quality parts. I will stick to the Samsung Spinpoint series. The quietest drives on the market (overall) while still being just as fast, not getting as hot.

Gigabyte is really on a roll lately. Especially with their S/DS system. They're overclocking demons, offering lots of features for the price point, and if you buy a "DS" model then it's been build with all solid capacitors for long term reliability (and more stable voltages). Biostar's T-series has been on a tear as of late, too. The T-Force 550 is the best budget overclocking board for the AM2 socket. I personally grabbed the T-Force 7025 as I can later use the board in a HTPC build when I wanna get jiggy wit it. Asus had apparently been having quality control issues for a little bit, but has since straightened themselves back out.

The old issue with AMD having trouble with chipsets is over. Since the nForce4 chipset range, AMD has had a stable partner, and with AMD buying ATI, they now have an in-house chipset maker just as Intel does. Speaking of Intel, the P965 series has been an utter letdown. No IDE support forcing consumers to put up with Jmicron IDE controllers that blow royally. Ultra picky about ram - if your ram needs 1.9v or more to boot, it wouldn't boot and you'd have to spend the money on cheap-ass 1.8v slow ram in order to boot the computer and set it to operate on 1.9v (or more) on the DIMM slots. And this was during the time that DDR2 was outrageous, not bargain basement as it is today. I just read that OEM suppliers are getting ram for 14 dollars per 512/28 dollars per gigabyte today. 4 months ago....way different story.

Wow, a bit of a rant. Lol my mistake. Now if I could fix my fawkin router...

Yeah, Raptors are overrated. More for E-penis size increase then anything else.

I run a single Raptor in my PC and love it. I have set up a few systems using Raptors set up in raid 0 and must admit, I did see a penis size increase but it went away after a couple days :toothless

I love the Raptor and have no problems running them in any configuration....
mmmmmmmm....... 10k............

I can't say I'm very impressed with that CPU fan, either. Let us know how it works compared to a normal cheapo cooler, if you have the chance to test them both.

I run a single Raptor in my PC and love it. I have set up a few systems using Raptors set up in raid 0 and must admit, I did see a penis size increase but it went away after a couple days :toothless

I love the Raptor and have no problems running them in any configuration....
mmmmmmmm....... 10k............

Sounds like your squirrel has Raptor's then. :rofl:

I acutally want to just mirror my stuff. I hate the thought of losing all my hard-pirated data! Need twin 750's mirror...

For cooling, I went with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64, it's pretty pimp. Especially since i plan on creating a tunnel in my computer when I get my new case. Put a Scythe Kama in - basically a stealthed slot for a 120mm fan in 3 front 5.25 bay's pushing cool outside air into the fan of my cpu hsf which then pushes the air through the heatsink which then has the air sucked out the otherside by my rear chassis fan. Ought to be great. :)

Parts will be arriving tomorrow, should be overclocked tomorrow evening late or Friday and I will let you guys know how it came out.

You don't overclock immediately. You have to let your thermal compound cure, unless you're using a liquid metal type of intermediate. Arctic Silver 5, Ceramique, Zalman Grease, etc all are supposed to be allowed to cure and take a couple of heat/cool cycles before overclocked. Of course with that combo you can overclock immediately, but don't try pushing it for the max.

I dislike the way my bios is setup, it makes it difficult to see things the way I want to.

That case looks trick, but a bit pricey and you could get a metal case and mod it to your likings, would make a cool project

Lian cases are badass. My buddy has one that is all compartmentalized. Each section is sealed off from the others and has fans and ducting that run out. Was really spendy tho.

I got my aluminum case from newegg on sale for like $40.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/246860/fullsize/11-156-148-01.jpg

Yeah Lian-Li cases are the Porsche of cases. Me? I'm going to go with either a Coolermaster Elite, or Enermax Chakra. Eh, we'll see.