need some info...

[frankie385]

Hello people, I am putting a new system together for the first time in years, since the 486. I was doing some research on the new technology, wow how things have changed!!!:confused: Anyway I found this page, and I love it! I have learn so much! Now for my question...
what is the diff. between SCSI and SATA HDD?
wich do you recommend for someone who plays lots of vido games?

[glc]

SATA is plenty good. It gives near-SCSI performance without the expense. It's becoming the standard - conventional IDE (PATA) will be around for quite a while longer though and today's drives are very fast. SCSI is still the best choice for servers and high end workstations but not really worth it for a gaming box.

[frankie385]

Thanks for the info GLC. Perhaps the SATA it the way to go for me! What kind of wardware do I need?
cables, cards, rpms, cache. I want a 120gb +

[sdkfz]

Other than the motherboard having the support for SATA and the drives themselves there is no 'hardware' requirements. You mght be able to find an expansion board that goes in a PCI slot to give a non SATA board the capability, but if you are going with a new build why jury rig it when you can get the support native in the motherboard?

Many peoiple (myself included) really like the vendor www.newegg.com If you shop 'By Category" (it is up on the top left under the Computer hardware tab) there is usually a selection drop down list inside the category you pick so you can specify what you want/need.

If you get a retail motherboard you are pretty much guaranteed to get all the cables you need (OEM motherboards just check to see what comes with them but they usually do too)

Video cards are a bit more of an question. I would make sure you get a DX-9 capable card and pretty much be willing to spend 150 USD and up. Personally I'd argue against the 500 dollar cards as overkill, but that is just me. ATI has a reputation for a little slower speed but better quality picture while Nvidia has the opposite. A lot of it is either only 'testable' results and personal prefernce. Some of this also depends on 1) what is a lot of gaming and 2) what are the games? If the games are older and you have little interest in the newer stuff more of a compromise can be made on the video.

[frankie385]

sdkfz, you have a good point about the mobo, I completly overlooked that part! but as you said I could always use a expansion board! I still haven't bought the hdd yet! I do play lots of RPG, and some online games like final fantasy XI and CS

[sdkfz]

Here is a good company for the add in if you go that route

http://www.promise.com/product/product_list_eng.asp?familyId=3. Many people here have recommended them, I do not have any experience with them myself. The one draw back is that they take up a PCI slot that you might need for something else. This is more important when you take into account that the first slot is best left empty for the video card to have more room for air flow (or as with some video cards that actually physically take up that space)

I looked up the specs on the final fantasy game (I'm not a RPG gamer) and this link http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/beginners/win/ seems to indicate that a pretty old card will work, BUT cutting this corner will limit you for new stuff so I'd stick with my first recomendation and get a card that is Direcct X 9 compliant, so the GeForce 3 and 4 are out.

Have a look at the Radeon 9600 Pro, GeForce FX5200 Ultra or the Geforce FX5600 Ultra as the low end of the good cards. They run about 150 each.

[frankie385]

well the GeForce 5600 AGP 265 MB DDR sound very good to me!

[sdkfz]

256 MB of ram might be overkill, but not knowing a lot about the RPG's I will defer for another members input ....

[frankie385]

you might be right, but consider this...new games are coming out that will require more powerfull cards, if I buy this one now I won't have to upgrade for a very long time. besides the rpg have a lot of cinematic and those tax out your card very much. perhaps if we get more input from other friends!!!

[glc]

Addin SATA cards really aren't worth it - if you don't buy a motherboard with integrated SATA just buy a 7200 rpm 8mb cache IDE drive.

If money isn't really an object, the Radeon 9800 Pro is the video card of choice right now. The Nvidia FX cards have some issues. I'd personally just get a 9600 Pro with the idea of upgrading next year to keep up with the new games.

[frankie385]

Hey glc, what ya think??? SCSI or IDE? can you recomend a good hdd? for both scsi and ide? I've being doing some research and the SATA don't look so good after all!

[glc]

SATA is *the* way to go if you buy a motherboard with SATA controllers, most top line boards these days have them. 7200 rpm models are very little more expensive than standard IDE, easier to install, and noticeably faster. 10K rpm models are rockets but cost almost as much as SCSI. WD, Maxtor, or Seagate, take your pick - I personally prefer WD.