Advice on Gfx Man., HDs for G1975X config.

[rcameron]

Gigabyte GA-G1975X Motherboard S775
Intel Pentium D805 2.666GHz Dual Core S775 (Overclocked to 3.3+ GHz)
2x Micron 1024MB (2GB) DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz
ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS (500GB, RAID 0)
Cooler Master Real Power 550 Watt
Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner
Lite-on 52x32x52 CD Burner

Would anyone suggest which manufacturers/model I should buy the X1800 from?

Is there a better option for my Hard Drives here? I want a large amount of storage for ISO, DVD, and music collections but should I be concerned about the performance of these drives?

In what ways might I want to change this paper system before buying parts?

Thank You!

 

[rcameron]

Lol, $900 is a little steep for a pair of drives for me.

I went for the ATI because I believed it had superior ability to output HDTV content, and seemed to just be more full-featured than the 7900GT. I could most definitely be wrong though if anyone cares to correct me.

Will the RAM be appropriate for overclocking the D805?

 

[1Tanker]

2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS (500GB, RAID 0)

Is there a better option for my Hard Drives here? I want a large amount of storage for ISO, DVD, and music collections but should I be concerned about the performance of these drives?

If you are putting ISO's, Music, and DVD's on the drives...do you want to risk

loosing all that, should one of the drives fail. In RAID O, if 1 drive dies, data

for both is history. Something as simple as an OS crash, or even in extreme

cases, a power-outage can kill the array. I would get a smaller, fast drive

for your OS, and apps, and get a big drive...or 2 for storage. There are

faster drives, but you won't really notice the difference. With today's

hard drives, it boils down to personal Brand preference, and price. A few

MB/s isn't going to make or break your system. Just something to

consider....even if everything on those disks is backed-up, it's STILL a

P I T A to have to reinstall, load stuff. With 7200 r.p.m, 16MB cache, and

SATA 3 interface, they'll be more than fast enough for multimedia.

GL

 

[rcameron]

1tanker, thanks a ton for the guidance. I was actually so hung up on RAID 0 it didn't cross my mind to get two of different types. I did realize the risk of RAID 0, but was/am willing to take it...though now i may configure it as JBOD.

As for the SATA300 drives, I previously thought that the SATA busses on the motherboard run at SATA150 speeds, negating the drives' faster speed....I was wrong, the board runs at SATA300.

So now my question is: Is there any reason I would want to go with a different GFX manufacturer than Sapphire?

 

[linux_0]

Gigabyte GA-G1975X Motherboard S775
Intel Pentium D805 2.666GHz Dual Core S775 (Overclocked to 3.3+ GHz)
2x Micron 1024MB (2GB) DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz
ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS (500GB, RAID 0)
Cooler Master Real Power 550 Watt
Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner
Lite-on 52x32x52 CD Burner

Would anyone suggest which manufacturers/model I should buy the X1800 from?

Is there a better option for my Hard Drives here? I want a large amount of storage for ISO, DVD, and music collections but should I be concerned about the performance of these drives?

In what ways might I want to change this paper system before buying parts?

Thank You!

ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS (500GB, RAID 0)
Cooler Master Real Power 550 Watt
Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner
Lite-on 52x32x52 CD Burner

These parts are great! :-D Two thumbs up!


The rest of the parts I don't know... it depends on what you are planning to do with it and what you budget is.

I have to say the GA-G1975X is super expensive at $237 delivered from newegg and is backordered.

The 805 also consumes a lot of energy and generates a ton of heat so I wouldn't recommend it.

If you must go Intel at least wait for con-roe [TM] and see if it performs. It should be out in about 2 months.

Another option is to go AMD.

You can build an AMD with the same performance as the OC'ed 805 without the power consumption or the heat and for about the same amount of $.


$237 Gigabyte GA-G1975X Motherboard S775
$126 Intel Pentium D805 2.666GHz Dual Core S775 (Overclocked to 3.3+ GHz)
$230 2x Micron 1024MB (2GB) DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz
$53 ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan with Heatsink

$646 TOTAL for the board + CPU + RAM + HSF

$306 SAPPHIRE 100134L Radeon X1800XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
$179 2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS (500GB, RAID 0)
$131 Cooler Master Real Power 550 Watt
$110 Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner
$27 Lite-on 52x32x52 CD Burner

$1399 Combined total



$306 SAPPHIRE 100134L Radeon X1800XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
$179 2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS (500GB, RAID 0)
$131 Cooler Master Real Power 550 Watt
$110 Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner
$27 Lite-on 52x32x52 CD Burner

$120 DFI nF4 SLI Infinity Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
$205 Crucial Technology 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400
$297 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz

$1375 Combined total

For about $25 more you can upgrade to an Opteron 165 which usually OC's very well :-D


Another option is to buy a low end S939 or AM2 and then upgrade to 65nm CPUs when they are released.

If you do opt for Intel 775+975XBX or AM2 buy the best RAM you can afford PC2-4200 sucks! Go for at least PC2-6400, PC2-8000 or PC2-8500 with the lowest possible latency!

 

[1Tanker]

So now my question is: Is there any reason I would want to go with a different GFX manufacturer than Sapphire?

Again, for a video card, most top tier manufacturers are all fine. Buy

according to overclock, bundles, and price/availability. Sapphire is a

well-established vendor, so ...go for it. XFX and BFG are getting very

popular now because they are selling overclocked parts, with decent

cooling to back it up(which means you can still O/C some more if you

want). GL