I7 compatibility issues

Thanks for the info on the mobo. I have 2 hdtv's each with vga and hdmi. could i use the hdmi off the 5870 for one tv, to include audio. the other tv use the dvi with a vga adapter and the computer speakers. and will this stream 2 seperate videos(windows) 1 to each tv with the sound as described. I have looked into the SSD and it seems the way to go. Down the line I'm going to put a CAD program on here. Is it possible to run the OS off the SSD and have 2- 150gb raptors in raid 1 for the rest.

Good points from gkay09.

Why the raid1?
The value of raid-1 and it's variants like raid-5 for protecting data is that you can recover from a hard drive failure quickly.
It is for servers that can't afford any down time.
Recovery from a hard drive failure is just moments.
Fortunately hard drives do not fail often.
Mean time to failure is claimed to be on the order of 1,000,000 hours.(100 years)
Raid-1 does not protect you from other types of losses such as viruses,
software errors,raid controller failure, operator error, or fire...etc.
For that, you need EXTERNAL backup.
If you have external backup, and can afford some recovery time, then you don't need raid-1.

Does anyone agree that he could easily get by (without any worries) with a lesser power supply ??? Maybe a premium quality 650W-850w Silver Rated ??

I would kind of like to know this, myself. I don't need another space heater and all the SLI reqs I've seen usually recommend 750W (sometimes less).

Taking a poll, here, if you would please chime in (if you are sure you know).

= Al =

@Alvin Smith

You should not hijack somebody's post to ask your own question. You need to start your own thread.

The OP should just remove the word "Raptor" from his dictionary. Those are yesterday's technology. The new 7200RPM 500GB platter drives are faster than Raptors for a fraction of the price. There is absolutely no reason to get Raptor drives unless you don't like your money and want average performance. Here's a couple low-cost drives that outperform Raptors:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $54.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $94.99

I agree with gkay09 on getting a single 5850 or 5870 instead of Crossfire 5770's. Going with Crossfire right off the bat doesn't make any sense. It completely removes your upgrade path. There are also a lot of games that don't scale well with multiple cards. You're much better off getting the best single card you can afford. That leaves the option open to adding another GPU later if needed.

I also agree with gkay09's suggestion on the CPU cooler. The V8 is overpriced and really doesn't cool all that well.

Why are you slapping me down? That was a totally legitimate question and is entirely ON TOPIC. Hijack? Because you are an "addict" member, I won't go and tell you to KMA, but I will quite humbly ask the question, again, because I *think* I know, and I do not just want to come right out and say, "Hey!, you don't need a PSU that is that large! ... 'Cause I am not entirely certain so, since you are clearly THE Auth-or-it-tay (South Park Kenny),
Why not just answer the question, quickly, and simply, rather than berate me? This kind of back-n-forth is far less efficient and I do not see any agregious harm in sliding that consideration ino this thread. If anybody is hijacking this threaqd (for his own edification) it is ...


Hey ... I know you know what you are talking about, more than I (bow/scrape) so have a little pity on the noobs ... would it really be more efficient to start an entire thread, just for that? Do you not thing this PSU rating is a valid part of balancing cost/performance/efficiency? Wassup wit u?

= Respectfully, I assure You =

Yes, a quality 750W PSU will power any two current 57xx or 58xx series cards. The word "quality" is key. The 750HX the OP picked is a good choice for a quality 80+ Silver rated modular PSU. Antec also has a very nice 750W 80+ Bronze certified PSU for a good price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

There are even quality 80+ Gold certified PSU's that are coming down to reasonable prices.

SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $179.99

I think that the OP's choice is good. There's no reason to change it IMO.

@Alvin Smith - I guess using the word "poll" in another person's thread is what doesn't seem right. If you just asked for somebody to confirm your thoughts that would make more sense.

Thanks that helps. I was worried about data loss, but a cheap 500gb external would back up most of the important stuff. Are you also saying that configuration with the ssd and 2 hard drive IN RAID 0 would work

I thought when it came to hard drives it all about the read and write times. doesn't the raptor smoke the cuda. Second question, is the bigger 32mb cache that important compared 16mb

Nope, the Raptor drives certainly don't smoke any current 500GB platter drives. In fact the only thing they're really better at is strictly server loads.

No, the cache isn't really all that important. Higher data density is more important than cache size.

*************************************************************************

Ahhhh! I, now, *do* see why you went "off" on me ! "POLL" requests invite a sharp turn down a rat-hole ... gotcha! ... I *do* see yer point, there ...

Sorry, U (& All).

I also need to learn how to read ! Gosh, I hate screwing up!

I saw Antec 1200 ... and thought ... Why?!

you would reccomend seagate over any wd. reviews are not that good on newegg for seagate. got anything on the tv situation.

I would not bother with raid-0 either.
There is generally no real world(vs. synthetic transfer rate benchmarks) performance advantage to raid of any kind.
Go to www.storagereview.com at this link: http://faq.storagereview.com/tiki-index.php?page=Single...
There are some specific applications that will benefit, but
gaming is not one of them. Even if you have an application which reads one input file sequentially, and writes
it out, you will perform about as well by putting the input on one drive, and the output on the other.

The raptor is a good performer for an OS because the 10k rpm reduces latency time, a prime ingredient in short read/write times which the OS needs. The maximum data transfer rate of a raptor is about the same as large(1tb) drives, or perhaps even less.
The cache sizes do not seem to make much difference, except for matketing.
Still, a good SSD(Intel X25-M G2 for instance) Will trump any conventional drive for OS purposes. Larger SSD's perform better, get the largest you can afford.
Cheap SSD's without trim support have poor controllers that lose performance as the drive gets filled

Pair a good SSD with a suitable storage drive and you are good to go.

Even though everyone on here said go with the seagate I'm leaning towards WD. I have read a lot of reviews between the 2 and WD seems to have less problems. So if i get a 1TB drive for storage, what is a moderate (minimum) size for an SSD with the rest of the system. And what brand. Obviously Intel x25-m comes highly recommended but it has slower write times then the comparable OCZ's. Then there is Patriot and Crucial. Thanks for your help. Got any ideas for the TV situation.

Windows 7 will take about 15gb. You will want to add in space for frequently used programs. On top of that, it is best not to fill up the SSD past about 80% for performance and durability reasons.
I would think 64gb or 80gb would be a minimum.

Here is a link to different comparative benchmarks of several ssd's:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?b=65&c=2

^+1
SSD -
OCZ Agility 60GB - It offers better value for money and also has TRIM support
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

or this one is also a good option - It also has TRIM support
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HDD - Samsung F3 1TB - It is faster than any other 7200 RPM drives out there and I dont think this one has much reliablility issues...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Product...
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-HD103SJ&src=FR&p...

Good show! That AnandTech site is great. Intel dominates. SLC is crazy, to much though. Thank for all the info. Back to the research.

Best answer selected by trapnasty.