dream machine based on 875P chip - opinions?

[okietex]

Ok - here goes ... I'm outlining this for a new system and seeing what you all think of it. Opinions are very much appreciated!
I have narrowed these down ... but still have multiple choices on some of them.

-- MOBO: Asus P4C800 Deluxe or Abit IC7-G Max2 Advance
-- CPU: Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz 800 mhz OR Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz 800 mhz
-- CASE: Thermaltake Xaser III v2000a
-- PS: CoolMax 550W aluminum or Antec True550
-- HDD: Serial ATA Seagate 120 GB
-- Sound: M-Audio Revolution 7.1 or Audigy2
-- VIDEO: Radeon 9700 PRO
-- Memory: Corsair XMS PC3200(twinpack) - 512mb each(1gb)
-- OS: WinXP Pro
-- CD: Not sure yet - either CD/RW-DVD Combo or DVD-RW

That's basically it -- I have other cases that I'm looking at too but I really like the Thermatake. The ABIT board seems to be just a little more $$s than the ASUS but I'm still reading more about each of those. The CPU -- they say they are shipping the 2.8 and it's about $110 less than a 3.0 -- so, I'm just wainting to see on those.
The memory - I had looked at the 3500 but it's double the cost and I'm not sure if that is worth it. Anyway, if you all have thoughts about this I'd appreciate hearing what you think. I'm showing this system based on pricing from NewEgg to run around $2200 ...

thanks. -ot

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by okietex on 05/06/03 02:43 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Prof133]

* You may need a floppy drive to load SATA drivers. Probably already have one though.

* User feedback on CD-RW/DVD combo drives has not been positive.

 

[elzt]

Go for DVD-RW if it's within your budget.

 

[okietex]

Hey Prof & Elzt --

I actually haven't given much though to the CD/DVD portion of this yet ... probably will go with a CD-RW drive plus a DVD or DVD-RW and then a floppy. My main focus has been on the MOBO and which selection I should make in regards to that and then I guess the case and video card and of course which cpu.

thanks - dvd-rw might put me up a little too much ... and i have a dvd-r already (but, that's on my stinkin' imac!! don't shoot me).

thanks for the info ... peace, -ot

 

[Prof133]

* I'm still hearing about problems mixing twinx and the canterwood. I would get two Corsair XMS PC3200 CAS2 memory modules instead of the TWINX just to be on the safe side. Not the Low-Latency stuff.

* It's hard to tell which is the best canterwood board at this point. My best suggestion is to purchase the board that has the features you need and a motherboard manuf. you trust.

 

[Darkmatterx]

Wouldn't you want 2 HDD's so you can run them in RAID 0 Stripping? Why not go with the 9800 pro now that its out? Why go all out and NOT get the 3500 ram? Go big or go home.

 

[Zoron]

What sort of feedback have you been hearing on those drives?

I have a LG GCC-4480B and have had great experience with it so far. (16X DVD and 48X24X48 CD-RW)

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

 

[Prof133]

Many of the combo drives I've (and my clients) come in contact with have been of poor quality - different brands. Took them back and went with a DVD drive and CD-Burner instead. The LG model seems to be of good quality. I just checked newEgg's feedback and the users seem happy with the drive. Perhaps I should look at this LG model as an alternative to buying two drives.

 

[sjonnie]

What's a dream machine doing without a RAID0 setup. Swap that 120GB drive for a pair of RAPTORS in RAID0 and get rockin'

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/myanandtech.html?member=114979" target="_new">My PCs</A>

 

[okietex]

hey sjonnie,

actually, i have it planned for either RAID0 with the 120gb SATA drives OR in a RAID0+1 config (but i haven't figured that one out yet). The Raptors look great but I want more storage than the 36gb even though the 10,000 rpm would probably blaze.

so, planning on the RAID0 or RAID0+1 ... but as I understand RAID0+1, I'll have to have 4 hdds right? Not quite sure how I that will work yet.

 

[okietex]

Darkmatter - I checked out the 3500 ram and it was a little pricey; however, I'll check that out again.

As for the 9800 -- I have it down too ... It will either be the 9800 PRO or the 9700 PRO. It's just a little more $s but you are probably right - it's probably worth it.

thanks -ot

 

[Prof133]

I'm still hearing about problems related to mixing canterwood motheboards and twinx memory. I would get two Corsair XMS CAS2 memory modules.
No twinx and no low latency stuff.

 

[okietex]

Ok Prof - it seems that is what I keep seeing posted in the boards too. I don't know what it all means totally ... but I will believe it and guess won't go that route.

 

[shadus]

If you look at the last few alphanumeric characters in the serial number for corsair ram you will see one of a couple things... you do NOT want the ones labeled "LL". You want the ones labeled "C2".

Eg:
CMX256-3200C2 - Yay.
CMX256A-3200C2 - Yay.
CMX256A-3200C2PT - Yay.
CMX256A-3200LLPT - Nay.
TWINX512-3200LLPT - Nay.
TWINX512-3200LL - Nay.

K?

Shadus

 

[okietex]

Shadus .. right! That's great. When I was looking at the pricing for Corsair, i did notice the LL but that was before I knew to stay away from it. thanks for the list -- will work perfectly.

btw - I have followed your "cheap" thread over on the cpu board -- I'm copying on some of that too... good info over there as well.

-ot

 

[Mephistopheles]

This might sound as a stupid question, but wouldn´t RAID0 with two 36GB SATA Raptor Drives make for a 72GB logical volume?... They would be fast, that´s for sure...

 

[okietex]

Yeah, that would work ... but if I could go SATA w/ RAID 0 ... then, i'd be at 240 gb (using the 2 120gb). I would lose the rpm speed of 10,000 vs 7,200.

I'm just wondering if I do go the RAID 0+1 route if that loses a lot of speed having to go to the mirrored drives or would I notice. And, I wonder if those 2 mirrored drives would have to be SATA or could be used on the ATA?? Hmmmm - I have to look at this more and see. I want the speed but I also would like redundancy too.

 

[bob_dn]

-- MOBO: Asus P4C800 Deluxe or Abit IC7-G Max2 Advance

IMHO choose the Abit IC7-G. For some reason Asus didn't implement the CSA feature on the 875 chipset. I found a recent review from <A HREF="http://www.ocaddiction.com/reviews/mobos/abit_ic7g/" target="_new">OC Addiction</A> on the IC7-G.

I'm just wondering if I do go the RAID 0+1 route if that loses a lot of speed having to go to the mirrored drives or would I notice. And, I wonder if those 2 mirrored drives would have to be SATA or could be used on the ATA?? Hmmmm - I have to look at this more and see. I want the speed but I also would like redundancy too.

There is no speed penalty you'll notice between RAID 0 and RAID 0+1 (or 1+0).

You can run your PATA drives on the ICH5R SATA channel by using <b>Abit Serillel 2</b> parallel to SATA converters. If you plan on running PATA drives on the Silicon Image controller I've read standard converters will work.

So, if you decide on the Abit IC7-G you'll need to purchase a second Abit Serillel 2 converter to run your PATA drives on the ICH5R SATA channel. The IC7-G comes with one. Other parallel to SATA converters are incompatible on ICH5R SATA channel.

I've been reading posts on several forums of the second drive "disappearing" when using other converters. So with an IC7-G and two Abit Serillel 2 converters you can run your PATA drives in RAID on the ICH5R SATA channel.

<A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com/news/2003/20030411.php" target="_new">http://www.abit-usa.com/news/2003/20030411.php</A>
----------
"IC7-G Max2 Advance: adds 3 Firewire, 8 USB 2.0, Intel PRO Gigabit LAN, AGP8X PRO and Optical SPDIF In

ABIT Engineering brings you Dual Serial ATA RAID 0/1, 4 Phase Power, FanEQ and the GigaSystem Overclock"
----------

Sounds like you can configure a RAID 0 or 1 on each of the SATA channels.

I'm not clear if you can combine them in RAID 0+1. Can anyone clear this up?

*edit*

Prof133 organized a JBOR (just a bunch of reviews ) on Canterwood boards <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=541047#541047" target="_new">here</A>.

Thanks Prof.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by bob_dn on 05/08/03 02:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[bob_dn]

<A HREF="http://www.cryohold.com/upgrade/" target="_new">Here</A> is one end user's OC numbers with the Abit IC7-G.

Not too shabby.

 

[okietex]

bob - great info on that ... much appreciated. i've never done any OC'ing but thought this would be a good opportunity to try.

thanks. -ot