System overview

[stano]

This is my first attempt at building a system and just wanted to run it across everyone to get your ideas on what I'm getting. I'm not sure where I should have posted it.
This system will ONLY be used for gamming!

Motherboard Asus A7V333
Processor AMD Athlon XP2000
Memory Corsair XMS 3000 512mb
Power Supply Enermax EG465P-VE(FCA) 431w
Modem US Robotics USR5686D 56K V.92 external
Floppy Drive Mitsumi D359M3
DVD Drive Pioneer 106S/2
Fan/cooling CPU Vantec CCK-6027D
Case Lian-LI PC 60 USB B
Vidio ATI Radeon 8500 128mb DDR
Mouse Microsoft Inteli-Mouse Exploreer 3.0
OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional
CPU ThermalPaste Arctic Silver 3
Controller Adaptec 19160 SCSI LVD Ultra 160

I've already got a IBM DMVD-36D 10,000 hard drive.
Since I'm getting the control card do you think I should change any of the items I'm getting to SCSI?

Any input is appreciated.

18r
Stano

 

[Crashman]

Did you consider RAID?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[stano]

SCSI Raid?
Which one and how much? I like the seek time that SCSI has.

18r
stano

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by stano on 06/08/02 06:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

I'll sell you a three channel SCSI RAID card with 64MB of cache for only $100.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[upec]

That is a great system.

 

[stano]

Is it Ultra 160, does it support LVD;.....am I asking the right questions....

18r
stano

 

[johnp]

this system is just for game?!?
it seems like a server.

 

[stano]

What I'm after is a system that will play, say Morrowind, with out the slow downs. Like loading a exterior when your traveling through the land, I don't want to be able to pull back the chair, light a cig..?(ok whatever), AND waite. Is that asking too much, i mean even the 4600 Gel's are having their troubles with this. It be great if Morrowind could run (something) like Dungeon Siege. I'm hopeing the 5.4 seek and oc the memory will help.

I'm getting Windows XP Pro for the extra addresses, what do you call them...icp's? AS I'm probably sticking my foot in my mouth and believe me I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to computer science...I'll check on this before ordering. Hea that's why I made this post.

I'm going to remove the ATI 128 vid card because I've already got a Radeon 64ddr and I don't think I'll see enough improvement with the 128 ram. In one of the shows this year didn't a new player(Matrox???) win best of show with their viedo card? Nvida and Ati move over because there's a 3rd player now. Anyway I think I can wait and see how this plays out.

I'm also rethinking the Lian-Li case. Since I'm planing to oc things, I don't want a case that hovers off the floor. The Asetek VapoChill caught my eye(yes it seems like something from Flash Gordon).Its a new model and I'd like to see some reveiws on that fridge!

I don't mind spending the money(around $1,350) if I can be
staisfied with what I get.?.

18r
Stano

 

[Crashman]

Good enough. OK, now to begin with, a standard PCI slot is 32 bits x 33MHz = 133MB/s
It's a three channel card, Ultra II 80MB/s LVD, BUT if use two or more channels you can increase the transfer rate to exceed the limits of the PCI bus, where the PCI bus becomes the bottleneck. High end drives are running about 40MB/s constant and 160MB/s burst, but since your PCI slot is limited to 133MB/s, using 2 drives x 2 chanels will provide optimal results. Cheaper still, you could put 1 drive x 2 channels and still get the same RAID performance as you would with 2 drives x 1 Ultra 160 channel.

This card supports up to 45 drives. It's a server card.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[stano]

Sounds good to me Crashman. Just E me through my name porfile and tell me how you want to do it.
Since I'll be using the Raid card will I still need the Adaptec 19160?

 

[Crashman]

I can't see why you would need two SCSI cards when this one has 3 channels.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?