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RAPTOR DRIVE

I note the comments about solid state, but way too expensive for a desktop. Worth it in a laptop though IMO.

A 30GB primary would suffice for your needs and it would boot like a god.

 

SEAGATE 1 TB DRIVE

Nobody likes Seagate it seems. Some suggestions have been to switch to 2 smaller drives rather than 1 large TB drive. Is this a sumb question - can my computer handle 3 drives? The raptor and 2 other storage drives? Other brands suggested are Western Digital,

You can use as many HDD/ODD drives as youre motherboard/PSU have support for.

 

ATI GFX CARDS

Perhaps... this would be something to nerf. But I don't want too! :)

Stick with one. Tying two of these together will not give you enough of a boost for the money. It's a complete waste of your money for Crossfire if you're not doing any rendering.

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My turn.

 

WINXP

Everyone thinks I should wait for vista 7. This comp will be used in a small network environment with user level restrictions to certain files. The tech guy therefore reccomends I stick with xp for the business environment. Win7 should be be fine to switch after the first service pack.

 

That's fine. I'd hit Windows 7 right on release, personally, but if you want to wait until SP1, that's OK.

 

OVERCLOCKING

I don't plan too, stability over performance is the official line. Unofficial comment is I am a Hardward noob.

 

Given your choice in motherboard, that'll work out great.

 

INTEL CORE I7

So this new technology, is it going to be worth the jump? Should I take a generation back for economy of scale? For multi-tasking will I benefit from this 'quad-core' thingy! :)

 

Definitely if you can afford it. Once you get into CPU-intensive applications, Core i7 completely trenches EVERY other processor on the market (except a heavily-overclocked Phenom II X4 940, those things can get really speed-nasty if you put them under a water loop; then again overclocking a Core i7 on a water loop puts it back on top).

 

CORSAIR

Other reccomendations are G.Skill, PNY Tech and Kingston. And actually to increase to 4 or 6 GB Ram.

But I note the concerns about voltage...

 

1.65v is the safe limit, that and all lower voltages are perfectly good. Anything over 1.65v is your own business and your own fault. ;) If you're fishing for RAM recommendations, then always follow:

 

  • Corsair
  • OCZ
  • Crucial
  • Kingston
  • PNY
  • G.Skill
  • Mushkin
  • Patriot
  • GeIL

 

RAPTOR DRIVE

I note the comments about solid state, but way too expensive for a desktop. Worth it in a laptop though IMO.

 

A 30GB OCZ Vertex is the best you can get for a plain old boot + apps drive; bump it to 60 if you want games on it. For hard storage, well, hard drives.

 

SEAGATE 1 TB DRIVE

Nobody likes Seagate it seems. Some suggestions have been to switch to 2 smaller drives rather than 1 large TB drive. Is this a sumb question - can my computer handle 3 drives? The raptor and 2 other storage drives? Other brands suggested are Western Digital,

 

Seagates are just as safe and reliable as Western Digital now that the firmware has been worked out. You're only limited drive number-wise to the number of SATA ports on the motherboard, which on new ones is always between 6 and 12 (spare 1 or 2 of them for your optical drive).

 

DVD BURNER

I'm actually interested in a BluRay burner now that I think of it, for the storage capacity. But I think DVD is fine compared to the prices...

 

Whatever you want. That sort of thing comes down to personal preference.

 

56IN1 READER

Hmm I didn't actually request this. It doesn't cost much, but I note the comment about internal space. A Firewire connection is useful for downloading video. Perhaps this is what it was for. We have one of these readers on the file-server so it's not a big issue. I can take it or leave it.

 

Go ahead and leave it, as said before most new cases have a Firewire port anyway, and the motherboard has one on the back (some of them have 2 Firewire ports on the back, even).

 

ATI GFX CARDS

Perhaps... this would be something to nerf. But I don't want too! :)

 

For that I'd just get a GeForce GTX 275. Performance is close to the 285 (and better than a single Radeon HD4870) but the price is a lot lower.

 

BENQ MONITORS

This is perhaps the one item here that I wouldn't mind spending a little bit more on for a better product. Everything else I will probably end up reducing to save money. So your suggestions here are helpful...

 

Any monitor from Viewsonic, Samsung, NEC, and LG will be better than BenQ, period. Go for one of those, instead.

 

The vibe I'm getting is that I should give up on the i7 for price considerations.

In terms of cpu, mobo and ram what is the a better alternative?

 

The best alternative is a Phenom II X4 setup, but if you really want raw power, then stick to Core i7.

 

Stick with one. Tying two of these together will not give you enough of a boost for the money. It's a complete waste of your money for Crossfire if you're not doing any rendering.

 

The 4870X2 is a single card with 2 GPUs on it, using internal Crossfire on a PLX PCI-e bridge. It's recognized as a single card in Windows and is the second-fastest graphics card on the market; the fastest being the GTX295 (which should get a single-PCB revision soon). You'd be amazed at how well ATI's 4830s, 4850s, 4870s, and 4890s scale in Crossfire, it's almost actually worth it. Same with the GeForce 9600GT and 9800GTX+/GTS250, those cards in SLI will beat a Radeon 4850 and 4870 respectively.

Edited by Fiesta

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Stick with one. Tying two of these together will not give you enough of a boost for the money. It's a complete waste of your money for Crossfire if you're not doing any rendering.

 

Actually Crossfire/SLI really improves performance in gaming. Of course it will not apply for games like minesweeper. :lol:

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