first-time builder

[kewlbeanz]

Looking at a machine to work with batch processing ~5 meg RAW image files with some photoshop work along with some mild video editing/compression. Will play a game or two as well, but that is secondary to the photo editing. Want the price between $1000-$1300, and I've come up with the following.

Looking for any suggestions...how common is RAID 1 nowadays? Debating if I should give it a shot or just do what I have been doing and back up key data on external hardrive.

COMPUCASE, 6C28 White Mid-Tower Case, 400W PSU, ATX

ASUS, P5B, LGA775, Intel P965, DDR2-800 8GB/4, PCIe x16, SATA 3Gb/s /5, Audio, GbLAN, ATX, Retail

INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E6300 Dual-Core, 1.86GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache, 65nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT, Retail

OCZ, 2GB (2 x 1GB) Gold GX XTC PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL 5-5-5-12 SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

SAPPHIRE, Radeon X1900 GT, 256MB DDR3, PCIe x16, 2x DVI, VIVO, Retail

SEAGATE, 400GB Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II 300MB/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache

SONY, CRX320EE Beige 52x32x52x16 DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive

SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMaster SH-S182M Black 18x DVD±R/RW Dual Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, IDE/ATAPI, OEM

 

[AdamBomb42]

RAID 1 is very common. My favored setup is RAID 0 for windows/programs and RAID 1 for data storage (porn). I suggest the Giga-byte GA-965-DS3 for your mobo (better overclocker) and don't use that bundled PSU that comes with that case. Spend a little money on a decent PSU that can put out more watts.

 

[kewlbeanz]

Thanks for the advice... here are the latest tweaks in terms of power supply and a CPU cooler. Will probably be tempted to moderately overclock (up to around 2.8 mhz), probably come summer when the newness has worn off and the higher ambient temps. can offer worse-case scenarios. Confused about RAM though, everybody seems to have had trouble with at least one brand at somepoint. The RAM below is just the regular ol' Corsair.

COMPUCASE, 6C28
OCZ, GameXStream 600W Power Supply
INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E6300 Dual-Core
ZALMAN, CNPS9500 Copper CPU Cooler
CORSAIR, 2GB (2 x 1GB) XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-12)
SAPPHIRE, Radeon X1900 GT, 256MB DDR3
SEAGATE, 400GB Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II 300MB/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache
LITE-ON, SOHC-5236K Black CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive, 52x32x52x16
SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMaster SH-S182M Black 18x DVD±R/RW Dual Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, IDE/ATAPI, OEM
MITSUMI, Black Internal 1.44MB Floppy + 6-in-1 Card Reader Drive

 

[akhilles]

lol. Agreed with Adamboob. I mean bomb.

kewlbeanz, your current specs are decent. Regarding incompatible ram, they are not, techically. The thing is a lot of mobos default to 1.8/1.9v for memory & a lot of memory have a 2.1/2.2v rating. Once the bios is set up right with a small stick of compatible ram, any ddr2 can be installed.

 

[kewlbeanz]

Computer arrives today, up-to-speed with the basics of overclocking...so it begins!