Help choosing case/power supply and SATA controller!

[Sam Lowry]

Which computer case/full tower it's best for me? If I need to store 10 or more Hard Disk Drives, along with this configuration? I don't know anything about cases.

And what is the best power supply in case I have almost 10 HDDs in the future?

- Q9450 Retail/box - Heatsink/FAN included
- Motherboard Abit IP35 Pro
- 2x 1 GB RAM
- Capture card Blackmagic Intensity Pro
- 8800 GTS 512 MB EVGA
- 2x Samsung Spinpoint 750 GB

- SATA 300 controller card on PCI-slot/storing 4 SATA-II HDDs (in the future I might take another 2 controllers, since the ABIT can have 3 PCI slots). I think I will choose this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816102062

Despite the fact that some people are telling me that I will have problems to edit/capture my videos using the Blackmagic since the PCI slot will make everything slower. Is that right? I don't want to use any PCI-E SATA controller because I will only have one slot and not 3 PCI-slots on my motherboard.

 

[groo]

a HDD doesn't draw that much power. I assume you'd want some sort of RAID, otherwise you will only be accessing a couple of HDDs at a time, and therfore not use much more power than if you only had 2.

Your Sata card doesn't look to be RAID controler.

The best Raid controler I saw while looking for one used a PCIe x4 slot, so you might want to consider a new motherboard if you realy plan on making the most out of multiple HDDs.

 

[groo]

you can do 6 HDD with your current board w/o adding more cards if you use IDE for optical. plus you have some eSATAs to.

 

[Sam Lowry]

I know but using PCI slots, I might add 12 aditional Hard Disk Drives. Total of 18 HDs.

I assume e-SATA means = external HD, I don't want one.

The problem using SATA controllers having PCI-E slots it's the fact that they are very expensive (this SATA controller using normal PCI slots is worth 50$ - a SATA controller having PCI-E is worth 200-300 $).

And if you find one SATA controller using PCI-E and capable of storing more than 4 SATA-II/300 drives, it should be worth 500-1000 dollars. A single HD is worth less than 200 $.

So, if I will use the Blackmagic capture card and a 8800 GTS 512 MB video card, I will only have one free PCI-E slot on the Abit IP35 Pro.

That's why I need to know if it's a good idea to use this cheap SATA controller, and 4 Hard Drives on her.

I might not use RAID. But one thing is certain - I will capture videos, not uncompressed I believe, but compressed without losses, this way I believe the image quality will be the same. Videos from my VHS tapes, analogic TV, camcorder and perhaps from the High-Definition TV, using a res. higher than 720x480.

I don't know if this SATA controller using PCI slots/4 HDs will cause me any problems when I start to do this... I will also store many videos, so much space is required (6 HDs will not be enough).

 

[groo]

Sata is hot swapable.

you can plug them in as needed. thats why eSata has come about.

I assume you are some sort of a meglomaniac who wants to store the world or an incredable cheapskate who wants to reuse a pile of 10 gig drives scalvaged from computer found on the curb on trashday. either way, I doubt I'll get through to you with reason.