^his current mobo does raid 5 out of the box (very few don't now days) and you really don't need raid 6 if all you are doing is backing up ISO's... If I was Duncan, I'd grab two more 2TB drives and run a simple raid 5, then just image the 500 GB drive on the raid. Probably be a good idea to have an external hdd to backup important files that you don't want to loose.

6/28/2010 11:21:44 PM

^ Thats also a valid option. I only suggested the raid card to be able to migrate the 2+Tb worth of data in the future in the time it takes to swap a pci-e card. On a side note, that is a new mobo so maybe a rebuild is 3+ years out so the mobo raid would have more merrit. Also I am not sure if you can add disk space to a mobo raid 5 with out losing data or if only the pci-e cards do that. I cant find if the GA-P55-UD4P can do OCE otherwise formatting to add storage in my opinion is unacceptable. (OCE - Online Capacity Expansion, the acronym for the ability to expand a live RAID array)

Also unraid is an option the htpc guys are using alot lately. It is software based but will support up to 16 drives (1 parity drive plus 15 data drives). The parity drive has to be equal to the biggest hdd in your setup but the best part about unRAID is that you can mix and match drives of different sizes and type (i.e., you can use both IDE and SATA drives together) and you can recover lost data if one drive fails. If two fail you only lose the data on one drive if my info is correct, unlike any normal raid 5 or 6 setup.

ahh too much typing...

6/29/2010 7:36:35 AM

I usually shun away from software raid mainly because I haven't dealt with them and under the impression that they aren't as reliable as hardware varients. While it's a nice feature to mix and match hard drive sizes, but come on, it's silly to match a 500gb drive with 2tb drives specially when you see 1TB+ drives on sale every weekend. Shit, newegg has hdd sales for July 4th weekened with $50 TB drives. If you need storage, 2TB drives is where it's at.

Anyhow, getting a dedicated raid card right now is stupid until they fix the address limitation issue since the current system can't have more than 2TB memory addresses on a single drive; reason why everyone is dreading 3TB drives and it would probably require a new mobo. Although some say it could be as simple as a bios flash; but all speculation last I heard. 3TB drives slated for the end of the year.

Also, paying for the added 'live' raid array feature is useless if all you are building is an HTPC; it'll be fine to take the system offline for a few hours to rebuild the raid. So what if you can't watch a movie right away. Worthless feature for home use, very nice for commercial though.

[Edited on July 1, 2010 at 9:36 PM. Reason : ]

7/1/2010 9:35:27 PM

bad ass gaming mouse (arguably one of the best) on sale... Logitech MX518, i love this mouse and almost never on sale:
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/36364

7/6/2010 12:20:25 AM

^ That is by far the best mouse EVER.

7/6/2010 12:54:00 AM

Problem

I just built up my htpc and when I plug it in, the LED's on the motherboard light up, the fans give a quick spin, and then everything shuts down. Shuts down after about 2 seconds. What could be my problem?

I pulled one of the sticks of ram, unplugged the keyboard, unplugged my HDMI cable to my monitor...still shuts down after 1 second.

I pulled the CMOS battery to reset, and tried it. It ran for about 5 seconds this time and then shut down.

Components I used:

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320&cm_re=caviar_black-_-22-136-320-_-Product

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033

A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211364

nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 5000B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204035

Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115222

GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2H LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128420&cm_re=GIGABYTE_GA-H55M-S2H-_-13-128-420-_-Product

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 12:14 AM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 12:00:34 AM

Run with only CPU/Motherboard/RAM plug into monitor to see results, post back.

If the motherboard beeps, report back the pattern of beeps.

Did you check the power cables? (reset/power/hdd/led) sometimes if those are crossed it won't boot.

7/9/2010 12:19:29 AM

Soooo, I'm almost positive it's the power switch on the case......

The power switch is just a momentary switch (right?)...when I plug everything up the correct way and hit the power button, nothing happens at all.

When I unplug the Power Switch (yellow and white) wires from the motherboard and touch the two prongs together with a jumper, it turns on and stays on...it posts...and just gives me an error that no drives are attached, etc.

I guess I need to RMA this htpc case back to Newegg and get them to send me another.

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 1:25 AM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 1:24:29 AM

I just priced out a sweet machine

$1116

I better start saving now...

7/9/2010 12:09:13 PM

^^ i had something like that happen once when i had left a spacer or screw or something in the case when i put the motherboard in. it was shorting something out

although it sounds like that isn't your problem

-----------------------------------------------

also, I'm trying to get work to buy me a nice desktop computer since i haven't had a new computer in like 3 years and i just made them a shit ton of money. what would you guys recommend for around $1500? i mainly do a ton of multi-tasking and a good bit of work in SolidWorks..

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 12:15 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/9/2010 12:13:36 PM

^Just put together an i7 920 build. Make sure to get a good bit of ram (8+) and Windows 7 64 bit (depends on how big the assemblies in solidworks are and if you're using 64 bit solidworks).

I had a 4 gB assembly once and it was remarkably faster using 64 bit os/solidworks w/ 8 gigs of ram. The program could cache the entire thing in ram instead of the HDD.

I'm pretty sure Solidworks has GPU acceleration. Might as well get a nice video card if your budget is that high.

7/9/2010 12:21:19 PM

k, that was about what i was thinking but i haven't really kept up with the latest and greatest lately

any suggestions on the video card?

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 12:33 PM. Reason : and yes, I am using the 64 bit version of SolidWorks / win 7]

7/9/2010 12:32:53 PM

at $1500 i'd suggest RAID 0 or a 10k rpm hard drive as well.

7/9/2010 12:34:33 PM

thoughts on a small SSD for the OS? or am i better off just going with a raid 0 setup and being done w it?

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 12:39 PM. Reason : i haven't even checked prices on SSD's lately, should probably do that first lol]

7/9/2010 12:39:09 PM

maybe like a 60GB SSD, 50GB for OS, 10GB partition for swap that would be nice.

7/9/2010 12:58:06 PM

cool. any suggestions on video cards? i'm pretty ignorant on those

7/9/2010 1:22:58 PM

ATI Radeon 5850

7/9/2010 1:29:45 PM

something like this:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11201454

gets you to $1520 AR plus ~$18 shipping, a little high, but it's pretty much high end everything and future proof w/ SATA6 & USB3, includes 64GB SSD, and SATA6 HDD, this setup is of course assuming you have all peripherals & OS already

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 1:46 PM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 1:44:24 PM

niiice. i don't think i've ever spent even half of that much on motherboard before

and yeah i have everything else already.. only have one monitor though so haven't decided if i want to just add one of a similar size or try to get two that are the same and give mine to someone else

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 1:53 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/9/2010 1:52:06 PM

lend me $1000

7/9/2010 1:54:23 PM

lol oh it's not my money

7/9/2010 1:56:41 PM

Why not go for the i7 930, it's $5 cheaper. I've heard 930's don't clock as high, but it doesn't sound like he's gonna OC and he might as well get the slightly faster stock speed.

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 2:39 PM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 2:38:40 PM

Yeah I won't be doing any OC'ing unless it's stupid easy and completely reliable.

7/9/2010 2:52:00 PM

it's stupid easy and completely reliable now.

7/9/2010 2:55:27 PM

Asus ARES Limited Edition Dual Radeon HD 5870 4GB
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Asus-ARES-Dual-Radeon-HD-5870-4GB-Review/

7/9/2010 3:09:39 PM

yea, go with the 930, even OC'd you should be able to do 4.0Ghz on stock cooler, i think the dies were better on the 920, but stock to stock, you might as well get the 930, it's identical but a 21x multiplier instead of 20x multiplier.

7/9/2010 3:14:07 PM

Quote :

"it's stupid easy and completely reliable now. "

oh.

welllll, in that case, sure. lol

7/9/2010 3:14:24 PM

Work just gave me some really nice Dell D620 computers. I want to put a Solid State Drive in one. Any recommendations?

7/9/2010 11:00:28 PM

Selling my desktop/HTPC if anyone's interested:

message_topic.aspx?topic=598870

7/19/2010 11:28:47 AM

I built a system about 2 1/2 years ago to replace one P4, now I figure it's getting close to the time to build another to replace the other P4 that's given us a good 7 years or so of service.

I'm looking to build a gaming system, nothing bleeding edge, I want to keep it under a fairly tight budget. The last build was about $700, but I already had a hard drive I could use. So I guess I'm looking to keep this build in the sub $800 realm.

GFX card:
I understand that ATI has overtaken nVidia as far as what you can get for your money, though I've owned more nVidia cards over the years and the only card to have ever died on me was ATI. I've heard murmurings in the past about their drivers. Has ATI resolved the driver issues? Any nVidia cards worth getting?

Processor:
i3, i5, i7? Again, looking for a decent budgeted system. An Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield is currently sitting in my wish list, but I haven't reviewed it in some time. Of course the i3s or i5s would be cheaper, but I'd be willing to spend an extra $20-$40 to get a processor that shows significant performance increase.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

Power supply:
I don't typically try to cut corners and get a bargain bin power supply. I was looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Motherboard:
Don't know enough about them to have an opinion. I wouldn't be doing crossfire or SLI.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412

Monitor (not included in build target price):
I'd love to upgrade to a wide-screen, unfortunately I don't know what brands to get and which to avoid. My current 4:3s are both "Dell" - and about 7 years old. I'm debating on whether it's worth it to have a monitor with an HDMI connector. If the PC is the only thing I'd ever connect it to I'm not sure why I'd need the HDMI connection. It seems like a DVI connection would be enough. A built in TV tuner sounds enticing, but obviously adds to the price.

This would only be my second build. Any recommendations?

[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 10:44 AM. Reason : -]

7/22/2010 10:38:11 AM

I am in the EXACT same boat as you... I vote we buy the same rigs and build em together since I'm not 100% sure how to do the build. The last comp I built, I had some help from a friend...

I'm looking for the same type of rig as you. For gaming and under $1k. My friend put this together for me (GFX card is shit): http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel_X58_Core_i7_Configurator

My question is: I do not want to buy a full version of Win 7 OS (I have the student update). If I get a new HDD, should I keep my OS on my current HDD and put everythign else on the new one? Or just keep the old one for good. The old one is pretty MEH.

[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 11:26 AM. Reason : .]

7/22/2010 11:23:13 AM

i need a new (to me) machine

the only thing i need it to do is run solidworks.

i dont need or want the latest and greatest whizbang box out there, and im not planning on running the full version. i just need to get started learning the software.

anyone have anything they are looking to get rid of? or would build on the cheapcheap?

7/22/2010 8:51:05 PM

Found a coupon, so I settled on a Samsung TV/Monitor P2370.

Still need to work out the PC parts.

7/24/2010 6:34:50 PM

Ugh.

TWW convince me to either buy an SS HDD or not to. =\

7/26/2010 12:50:35 AM

How big and for what?

OS boot, and some gaming (as you wont get a lot of games on it due to size) then yes. General storage no.

Bigger means the price goes through the roof as well. A 60gb or so isnt a bad size however.

Also as you are trying to improve your system overall, make sure your system can handle it. Eg dont stick it in a 4 year old dell box or something.

7/26/2010 11:01:37 AM

Personally, the latest generation 2TB drives are plenty fast for me. I like the idea of the hybrid drives coming out, which only has about 4GB of flash paired to a normal drive, but it puts all of your most used files on it, instead of just getting an SSD and installing all your programs and shit on it. 60GB for your main drive really isn't a lot, specially if you do a full install and have content apps installed on it, unless you offload your apps to a storage drive and just use the SSD as a working platform for any of your edited files.

I'd probably wait another 1-3 years before I'll grab an SSD as a main drive. I'm more interested in USB 3.0 external drives. Would be nice if USB 3.0 would integrate on some cheap notebooks or netbooks in the near future.

7/26/2010 11:32:13 PM

^^Oh, my computer can handle it, 8GB DDR3 1666 RAM, ATI HD 5870 GPU, one of the newer Intel chipsets, et cetera it's in this thread somewhere.

But the HDD is a 1TB 5400RPM and I really don't feel like it's doing the system justice. I'd put the OS and some games on an SDD if I ever got one.

^Yea, I have heard a lot of people saying to just hold out, since they're dropping in price every month it seems.

7/26/2010 11:38:28 PM

why the hell would you get a 5400rpm drive? fuck saving $5, get the 7200rpm drives. I'm getting sick of all this "green" hdd marketing shit, which is just trying to sell 5400-5900rpm slow drives to the masses who don't know shit about drives. It's ok for storage, but jesus, we aren't in 1994 anymore. It's not like a max of 10 watts for a drive will kill your electric bill.

Love the 5870, been impressed with it. Running 3x 24" displays right now and was thinking about getting a 2nd one for crossfire when building, but one is fast enough for me. Would love to upgrade to 30" 2450x1600 displays, but don't have the dough.

7/27/2010 1:25:52 AM

Looks like it may be time to start working on a new rig with SC2 out and such so I may be all up in this thread soon

7/27/2010 5:47:31 PM

my list still applies for SC2:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11201454

cpu - core i7
SSD
gfx - 5850

another option is to go core i5 OC, WD Black hdd, and two 5850s

[Edited on July 27, 2010 at 6:09 PM. Reason : .]

7/27/2010 6:08:05 PM

OKAY FOLKS

The last time I built a PC was 2002. I then began college, quit gaming, and have been on laptops ever since. My current Thinkpad is roughly 2.5 years old. Intel Core Duo 2.4 GHz, 3 GB RAM, Quadro FX 570M.

Got StarCraft 2. Runs okay with settings at low, but the 'top still overheats and shuts off after ~15 minutes of play. Not acceptable.

I have no idea what the standards are these days. Apparently PCI has made a comeback in the video card realm?? ...yep. That's how far out of the loop I am.

Let's say my budget is $1000. I want to build a box that will run StarCraft 2 "admirably," because I'm going to go ahead and assume that $1000 will not build an SC2 killer.

I have a copy of Windows 7, and I have a display. Thus, my entire budget can go into the comp itself. Please flame me, and then help me.

7/27/2010 9:36:11 PM

Quote :

"Let's say my budget is $1000. I want to build a box that will run StarCraft 2 "admirably," because I'm going to go ahead and assume that $1000 will not build an SC2 killer. "

Less than $1000 will get you a quad core processor, 8Gb ram and a HD5850 graphics card. Which will run anything you want with ease. Hopefully your Win7 is 64 bit, other wise its trash. Specs below.....
$54.99 - Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$279.99 with rebate - GIGABYTE GV-R585OC-1GD Radeon HD 5850 pci-express, PCI is still junk
$84.99 with rebate - OCZ Special Ops Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600
$0 bundled with ram - Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (DVD / WS / ENG / SPAN)
$219.98 combo with rebate - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-650HX 650W &
GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX
$269.97 combo - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 &
OCZ Special Ops Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3
$0 bundled with ram - Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (DVD / WS / ENG / SPAN)
1 Newegg Promotional Gift Card - $10.00
TOTAL $949.92
Shipping $18.70

After rebates and gift cards you will be around $900. You can use that extra $100 for an aftermarket cpu cooler, blue-ray burner and some 120mm fans for that case.

[Edited on July 27, 2010 at 11:01 PM. Reason : 8)]

7/27/2010 10:59:12 PM

^ I think he could get away with a cheaper PSU, like OCZ, and mobo combo. He could also save some green by going with the cheaper 6 core 1055T X6 processor. It's not as fast as the 956, but you get 6 cores for $200 and stays pretty much on par with the 956, maybe a few frames slower in some games, which I doubt a person coming the 2002 era would really care.

You also forgot an HDD in there...

7/28/2010 1:57:31 AM

^100% correct. And I feel like a tool for leaving the hdd out. I had a Samsung F1 1Tb for $60 which still fits his budget. I had a bigger power supply because I originally had a 5870 in the list but couldnt stay under the $1000 limit.


Also newegg has a nice deal for an XFX GTS 250 and XFX 650W powersupply for $100 after rebates. If wont be near as fast as the above system but It will play SC2 fine and save $300.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-SlickDeals&cm_mmc=AFC-SlickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&ItemList=Combo.454591

[Edited on July 28, 2010 at 8:02 AM. Reason : slickdeals]

7/28/2010 7:51:04 AM

Thanks.

Okay. Let's readjust.

I will need to buy Win 7 64. Also, if I can save any $ on the hard drive by going smaller, let's do that. I currently don't use anything close to 100GB, let alone 1 TB. I also don't need a Blu-Ray burner. And the case doesn't need to be anything fancy, just fully functional to support cooling the rig.

Also, suppose I bump up to $1200. And I'm willing to ride the high end of that figure. I want to shy away from this approach:

Quote :

"If wont be near as fast as the above system but It will play SC2 fine and save $300."

*click click click* Enhance.

[Edited on July 28, 2010 at 8:47 AM. Reason : ]

7/28/2010 8:43:45 AM

If you're bumping it up to $1200 or even $1000 get an i7 930/920.

7/28/2010 8:53:06 AM

Keep in mind I will need to include a purchase of Win 7 64 with this revised figure.

I heard that the bookstore sells it at a discount. Is this true?

7/28/2010 8:54:32 AM

Kinda hard for me to rationalize spending anything over a grand on a computer nowadays. Plus I wouldn't think that Starcraft would require a bleeding edge system.

Here's my current thoughts for an upcoming purchase:

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119047
Though I notice this one recently went from free shipping to $20 shipping. I'd definitely swap out because if this.

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412
No plans on SLI/crossfire. I don't know much about motherboards. I figure this will do.

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

GFX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490
I've heard ATI drivers are terrible. I really would rather go nVidia, but they seem to destroy nVidia on performance for similarly priced cards.

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231179
I'm considering going 8GB instead, though that will obviously increase the cost. I might do what I did for my last build. I started out with 2GB and then bought 2 more a year later for like $25.

Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

This comes out under $850. I still have to add an optical drive, but these days I used my optical drive only once... to install Windows. It may not be worth it right now. I can swap one in temporarily for the Windows install, then forget about it. I've got an MSDN subscription, so the OS price won't be a factor.

This will be replacing a P4 and will compliment a 8800GT/E6750 system. Thoughts? Any way to drive the cost down a bit more? I kinda feel like I've already cut some corners and cheaped out in a few areas I shouldn't have.

[Edited on July 28, 2010 at 9:14 AM. Reason : -]

7/28/2010 9:11:40 AM

^looks good!

I'd use Corsair instead of Antec, better PSU for the money, although not required, Antec is my #2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

[Edited on July 28, 2010 at 10:55 AM. Reason : .]

7/28/2010 10:55:35 AM

http://www.guru3d.com/article/starcraft-ii-wings-of-liberty-gpu-graphics-performance/1

I would seriously roll with a 768mb GTX460 instead of that 5770.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562

7/28/2010 11:28:26 AM