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[Tigersfan]

I am buiding a new home computer that I will want to run some major programs, but also act as a media center. This is what I'm looking at:

CASE
COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

MOTHERBOARD
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

PROCESSOR
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750

MEMORY
CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 G

HARDDRIVES
2X Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
(Debating whether to do RAID 0, 1 or none or move up to 3X Hardrive to do RAID 5)

POWER SUPPLY
FSP Group Blue Storm II ATX 2.2 500W Power Supply

DVD DRIVES
1x LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05
1x LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner included extra White bezel, with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DH-20A3P-08

VIDEO CARD
ATI 100-505136 FireGL V3400 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

OPPERATING SYSTEM
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B

Any suggestions would be fantastic.

[Masaki 7-11]

Most of the parts will work well with their intended uses, but you'll need to take a look at a different motherboard since the one you picked out is not compatible with the processor. Take a look at an Asus motherboard with a P35 chipset, most likely from the P5K line.

[Cricket]

Your parts selection looks fine but you might want to stay away from the 320GB Seagate HDDs...see the first post of this thread.

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 Most of the parts will work well with their intended uses, but you'll need to take a look at a different motherboard since the one you picked out is not compatible with the processor.

According to the ASUS CPU support page the E6750 is supported by the P5W DH Deluxe with BIOS 2104 or newer. Since the newest BIOS is 2504 there's a good chance that a ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP bought now will have a BIOS higher than 2104.

Cricket

[Tigersfan]

I'm confused as to why the processor isn't compatible with the MoBoard. The page said that it fits the CPU Socket Type: LGA 775, which is the same as processor, what else am I missing?

Thanks for the help

[Tigersfan]

Does this work better or should I be looking at 250 GB?

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

[Masaki 7-11]

Although the socket is compatible with the processor, the motherboard only works with CPUs with an FSB up to 1066MHz whereas your processor works at 1333MHz FSB. The Intel platform is quite confusing when it comes to processor support.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Tigersfan Does this work better or should I be looking at 250 GB? Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

I think any other Seagate 7200.10 or 7200.11 HDD would be fine. That Western Digital HDD is fine too.

I actually have a Seagate 320GB 7200.10 HDD in this computer and haven't had a problem with it since I installed it last summer. I've actually installed 6 of these very same Seagate HDDs in several computers since last summer and no one has called to say they're having problems with it yet. Maybe the problem 320GB 7200.10s were from a particular batch. I've been using Seagate HDDs since 2002 or 2003 and haven't had a problem with any...yet.

Cricket

[Tigersfan]

thanks for the help on MoBoard and HDD issues. Does anyone have any suggestions on RAID.


just forthose currios...
I think ill go with WD hard dives, as they are cheaper anyway.

I've changed my Mother Board to ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

[Masaki 7-11]

I've also had problems with that particular hard drive (320GB Seagate), exactly the same as mentioned in the linked thread.

[Masaki 7-11]

I wouldn't bother with RAID, most hard drives are fast enough, and if you do backups in a timely matter, there is no reason to go with RAID.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Tigersfan Does anyone have any suggestions on RAID.

Don't do RAID 0 if the computer is used for work...if one of the drives goes bad you lose all your data (unless you make backups constantly). There are RAID setups that are used to do real time backups (mirroring) but I don't use RAID at all so I can't really recommend any particular array to use.

Originally Posted by Tigersfan just for those currios... I think ill go with WD hard dives, as they are cheaper anyway.

This is just for your information...I used to use Western Digital HDDs almost exclusively from 2000 to 2002 (or 2003) until a bunch of them went bad (mostly the 80GB and 120GB SE 8MB cache IDE models) so I decided to give Seagate a try and have been using them every since. Prior to the Western Digitals I was using IBM (now Hitachi) almost exclusively until the infamous GXP click of death problem that took out 10 IBMs I installed. Oddly enough I know there are two 40GB GXPs that are still working in a computer I built almost 7 years ago (I just worked on that computer recently and the hard drives were fine).

Originally Posted by Tigersfan I've changed my Mother Board to ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Good choice.

Cricket

[Tigersfan]

if I don't do RAID, what are the advantages and disadvantages of going with 2 or 3 drives versus one larger one. I'm looking at some 500 GB drives, and they tend to be much cheaper per GB.

Thanks again

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Tigersfan if I don't do RAID, what are the advantages and disadvantages of going with 2 or 3 drives versus one larger one. I'm looking at some 500 GB drives, and they tend to be much cheaper per GB.

All my own computers have more than one hard drive in them...my computer and my wife's computer have 2 hard drives in them and the spare net surfer/digital photo editor computer has 4 hard drives in it. I keep all the important data on the second hard drive (and backed up to an external hard drive) and just leave the operating system and programs on the main hard drive. The advantage of this is if the OS installation on the main hard drive gets hosed all I have to do is disconnect the second hard drive and then do a nuke and pave (format and reinstall the OS to the main hard drive), reinstall all my programs on the main hard drive, reconnect the second hard drive and I'm good to go.

The disadvantage of multiple hard drives is higher cost, power concerns (make sure your power supply is up to the task), more cables to manage and heat concerns.

The advantage of one large hard drive is mostly lower cost, less cable mess, less power worries and less heat.

The disadvantage of only using one hard drive for everything is it could suddenly die and you might not be able to recover your data (unless you go to an expensive data recovery service)...of course you should always make backups of your important data to an off-computer source (burned to CDs or DVDs or copied to an external hard drive).

Cricket