OT: New computer

[SnakeEye85]

OT: New computer

heya everyone!
Ordered this computer today. What do you think about it?

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra 4DDR-DIMM 4PCI 3PCIe SATA Raid Audio
2xGB-LAN Firewire Socket939 ATX


AMD Athlon64 "Winchester" 90nm 3200+ 2000MHz/2.0GHz 512kb Boxed (with
cpu-cooler!) Socket939


1024 RAM

Hightech Excalibur ATI Radeon X800XL Turbo ICE-Q 256Mb DDR3 TV-out DVI
RETAIL PCI Express


Antec SLK3700AMB Super Midi Tower Metallic Bronze 350W ATX


36gig raptor sata disk 10k rpm, dvd burner.

Wasnt sure if i was going with the ati X800LE or a nivida 6800GT but since i probarbly wont be using SLI i thought this was more priceworthy.


*happy* :clap:

 

[Chimaira]

That's a seriously nice computer..makes me very jealous but on the other hand 95% of my playing time consists of Diablo II so an upgrade isn't really necessary...Sorry I have to say this so I can pretend I don't want a sweet computer like yours. I've heard the 6800GT is better than the x800 but I'm kind of a newb..Shouldn't matter too much anyway.

Congratulations...how much did it cost?

Ps: Isn't 36GB Hard drive a bit small?

 

[Toppo]

Who cares about comp specs*? Stop lurking, post more, n00beyes

@Chimaira: I think SnakeEye meant 360 GeeBees...


*I feel so inferior right now

Edit: I have been corrected... SnakeEye is even more nubby now :lol:

 

[pantera]

@Chimaira: I think SnakeEye meant 360 GeeBees...

No, the Raptor series are only 36 and 74 GB. But are the fastest SATA Hard disks...

 

[AndiDi]

heya everyone!
36gig raptor sata disk 10k rpm, dvd burner.

Why did you order such a fast turning HDD? It must be noisy as hell.

Isn't it possible to be faster with two 7.2k RPM HDD joined together to a RAID 0 (Stripe)? The 10k RPM is faster when it comes to seek times, but everything else?

Other than that. Very nice computer setup.

Please keep us posted when it arrives. I'm especially interested how loud it is.

 

[Stargaze]

Why did you order such a fast turning HDD? It must be noisy as hell.
[...]
I'm especially interested how loud it is.

1st, you can simply put the drive in a silencing/cooling cabinet. The good ones block ~95% of the noise. I use a Silentmaxx HDD drive silencer, and the only time I hear the drive is when it powers up (admittedly with a 7.200 rpm drive).

2nd, with the graphics card and CPU premounted fans, you usually don't have to think about HDD noise much. As long as you don't use big, low-frequency fans for CPU and chassis and possibly a passive cooler for the GPU, those minifans usually produce more noise than the rest of the machine.

 

[Masas]

Nice PC. But the new PCs don't have something that old ones do. I still remeber my first PC
Pentium1 166Mhz
32MB RAM
2MB VRAM (Cirrus logic)
1.5GB HD
~40x CD-ROM (was the PWNAGE in those days)
Oh memories...

 

[DeathMaster]

Isn't it possible to be faster with two 7.2k RPM HDD joined together to a RAID 0 (Stripe)?

Yes, but no one in his/her right mind would use this setup only. RAID 0 is very risky, one drive gone, all data gone. the more drives you have, the higher the risk.

RAID 0 is good for temp storage only (eg. Video editing, you use RAID 0 doing the work, for its speed, and save the result on DVD/other HDD once the work is done. Then you clean it out, start new work ...).

@S_E85: great machine, but is it too good for D2? it is waste of power, you know.

 

[SnakeEye85]

Chimaira - Thankyou Im paying 10602 swedish KR for this toy. That seems to be 1 481,45 US$. But then i get more than i listed. Ms Intellimouse Explorer4.0, Headset, 160GB seagate IDE, delivery....

6800GT is slightly better than X800XL but would cost me about 140 US$ more. If i wanted to clock my computer then i would have bought the 6800gt but i probarbly wont, in a long time. And the ATI card is still better in some games.

36 is kinda small but today im not using up all my 80GB. With this new computer i get 160 new (makes it 240) + the 36gb raptor. Would be enough for me.
As someone already said, raptor is fast.

Toppo - yeah maybe i should hehe But im not playing d2 anymore. Just visit this forum from time to time to se that you are doing ok.
nupe no 360 geebees

AndiDi - its not that noicy at all. To be honest i dont know much about Raid and wont go into that.

about the rest of the computer, i dont think it will be that noicy. Antec make good stuff!

Masas - thats one ubar computer but i think ill stick with this one

DeathMaster - yeah i know. But i´ll probarbly play HL2, farcry, CS:S, WoW etc etc. And some D2 just to se how it runs. I have never played d2 without tons of lagg, never

 

[AndiDi]

Yes, but no one in his/her right mind would use this setup only. RAID 0 is very risky, one drive gone, all data gone. the more drives you have, the higher the risk.

RAID 0 is good for temp storage only (eg. Video editing, you use RAID 0 doing the work, for its speed, and save the result on DVD/other HDD once the work is done. Then you clean it out, start new work ...).

If you use RAID 0 for anything besides temporary storage, you have to do backups very often (like once a week) and save your daily work onto another machine.

In all the time that I use computers (~15 years) I have only seen a couple of drives fail. Mostly after they were older than 3 years (when warranty is void). The most defects could be detected before they died.

@SnakeEye85: What are you using this 36GB HDD for?

 

[NSXdreamer]

- thats one ubar computer but i think ill stick with this one

DeathMaster - yeah i know. But i´ll probarbly play HL2, farcry, CS:S, WoW etc etc. And some D2 just to se how it runs. I have never played d2 without tons of lagg, never

As long as you are not running d2 in d3d mode you won't notice a difference. If you do however, god have mercy on your video card...

Even my 6800GT get smacked down to as low as 10ish fps in wsk runs if multiple casters are present while running in d3d mode. Ddraw on the other hand 75 fps always, no sweat. Shame on you blizzard for the crappy programming.

 

[Shagsbeard]

Nice machine... It'll be about 5-7 years before you'll want a replacement. If you stretch it, you might even make 10.

I'm getting sick of noise from mine. Reading above about the "hard drive silencer"... is that something I can add on to my existing machine?

 

[Stargaze]

I'm getting sick of noise from mine. Reading above about the "hard drive silencer"... is that something I can add on to my existing machine?

Sure, but you have to have an internal 5.25" slot free. You simply build the HDD into the silencer module and then the module into the 5.25" slot instead of the usual HDD slot.

This is how it looks like.

 

[SnakeEye85]

@SnakeEye85: What are you using this 36GB HDD for?

Will use it for Windows and couple of programs/games i will be running alot.

 

[DeathMaster]

If you use RAID 0 for anything besides temporary storage, you have to do backups very often (like once a week) and save your daily work onto another machine.

In all the time that I use computers (~15 years) I have only seen a couple of drives fail. Mostly after they were older than 3 years (when warranty is void). The most defects could be detected before they died.

@SnakeEye85: What are you using this 36GB HDD for?

I had worked for years to see how things fail. So I know RAID 0 should be avoid at all cost. The fact is, the more drives you have, the "faster" you have a RAID 0, but the most likely you will lose everything on it, just because one drive decided to die.

In the time I do hand-on work to computers (and alike), I have seen too many failed hard drives, one of my friend (a really good techo) lost 4 drives at once (extreme bad luck), believe it or not (RAID 0+1 didn't save him).

RAID 0 is commonly agreed to be used:

1) whom don't care about data security, speed is everything
2) whom want speed and backup everything (at least daily), and not affarid to start over & lost data
3) need fast storage for temp project (video editing most likely), the final result will be saved else where, and no OS, Apps will be ever run on RAID 0. The best example is to setup a RAID 0, and use it as working folder/drive, the programs... etc are all on different drives (eg boot drive).

There are many more options to back up, like external hard drive, blank DVD (cheap, yet the best for home user).

 

[SnakeEye85]

Nice machine... It'll be about 5-7 years before you'll want a replacement. If you stretch it, you might even make 10.

I'm getting sick of noise from mine. Reading above about the "hard drive silencer"... is that something I can add on to my existing machine?

Yeah ill probarbly have it for a long time. Just need to upgrade it from time to time. Maybe ill play around and try to clock it later when it starts to get slow.
I have heard other people buying similar system and they have had no problem with noise from it. But once i get everything up and running, ill se how it sounds. Might change some stuff and make it more quiet if needed.

 

[DeathMaster]

I have heard other people buying similar system and they have had no problem with noise from it. But once i get everything up and running, ill se how it sounds. Might change some stuff and make it more quiet if needed.

I can confirm it is not noisy, but you can still hear it at close range. You should not need to quiet.

Only problem is that 36G won't last you too long (you know it is really only 33G), you will need to buy more. ever considered 400G drive yet

 

[Toppo]

Only problem is that 36G won't last you too long (you know it is really only 33G), you will need to buy more. ever considered 400G drive yet

WTF? How much porn can one have?

(I'm using 'bout 5 of 40GBs hd - and there's porn )

 

[SnakeEye85]

I can confirm it is not noisy, but you can still hear it at close range. You should not need to quiet.

Only problem is that 36G won't last you too long (you know it is really only 33G), you will need to buy more. ever considered 400G drive yet

Yeah thats true, its not really 36G and 33G ain´t much. But i still have my old 80G, and i ordered another 160G. Thats more than enough for me.

And its great to hear that its not noisy. Is that when its under pressure?

 

[DeathMaster]

Yeah thats true, its not really 36G and 33G ain´t much. But i still have my old 80G, and i ordered another 160G. Thats more than enough for me.

And its great to hear that its not noisy. Is that when its under pressure?

So, you can have a lot of pr0n?

As I said, you will be able to hear it, but not noisy by my book.