Athlon 1ghz - Is this gonna kick some a$s?

[Over Clocked]

Hey guys whats going on? I am about to build my first computer from scratch. You'll tell me if this sound like a good setup and if I'm leaving anything out. Thanks

1ghz Thunderbird Athlon
Athlon Approved heatsink and Fan
Abit KT7-Raid MoBo
Plextor 12x10x32 Atapi CD-RW
Pioneer 16x DVD - White box (Does this come with a software decoder?)
4 (yes 4) 30 gig 7200 ATA-100 HDs (For use w/ raid)
AT901 Toolless case (from pccase.com)
Athlon aproved power supply (how much wattage do you'll think I need?)
56k Modem (I can't get cabel where I am!!)
1.44 Floppy Drive (Duh)
2 256meg PC-133 unbuffered non-Ecc Ram
1 128meg PC-133 unbuffered non-Ecc ram
Windoze Me (should I stick with 98?)
Ups Power Supply
Fire Wire Card
Netgear 10/100
Speakers (Waiting for Soundblaster to release the DTT3500... Or if they’re no good Klipsch (Which do you'll think is better)
Video Card (Waiting for Voodoo 5 6000... Is this ever coming out? for the mean time my old banshee.

I have a question about ram – what is the difference between 32x64 32x72 ram (what do these numbers mean)

Do you'll think I should get a hardware decodeer for my DVD?

What do you’ll think about my raid setup (4 30gigs), am I going to need some massive hd cooling or what? Also what kind of cabels (and how many) do I need for this setup?

Well thanks a lot guys for your help, I appreciate it!

[Szech]

Looks good. A few things I would change, however:

1) Get an aftermarket heatsink/fan. An alpha or a golden orb cool much better than the stock cooling. Also be sure to use thermal grease.

2) Get a Geforce 2 GTS instead of that Voodoo. The Geforce 2 costs less, is a lot smaller and is a better performer.

As for the DVD, white-box generally has the drive and nothing else. You probably won't need the software decoder, unless you plan on doing other stuff while watching movies. And the power supply should be at least 300 watts, but looking at how many drives you're going to have, I'd go for 350+.

[seti]

A fine display of excess...have fun!

[Solidus]

How much is all that stuff gonna cost? don't you thing 640 MB of ram is overkill? What are you gonna do with 120 GB of hdd space? And, if you are spending that much, just get a good dvd decoder card. Makes your performance while watching movies a lot better.

[phx]

that's sounds almost exactly what i'm looking for as soon as i can afford to. only difference is i'm gonna make my own case, and if your serious about all those drives you're talking a lot of heat and if you custom built one you could have the ultimate cooling system

just my 2 cents

[voogru]

What did you do? Rob a bank?

very nice setup tho!
and are you gonna be installing games on the memory? do you need THAT much? I Think 256MB of ram will work just fine.

Very nice tho i wish i had that much money to burn.

Athlon aproved power supply (how much wattage do you'll think I need?)

At least 300Watts.

-voogru

[This message has been edited by voogru (edited 10-23-2000).]

[AuraEdge]

You WILL need a software or a hardware decoder to watch a DVD.
However, you dont need a hardware one, as the Ghz processor is more than plenty to power the decoding of a DVD.
Software decoders usually come with video cards, and not the drive.

I would get a 3Com 905C NIC instead of that Netgear, basically cuz its brand name (few bucks more)

Take a look at the Enlight 7327 Case - It is also toolless and it's side panels are removable through the front...great case in my opinion.
I would second the motion of Geforce2 GTS instead of Voodoo6000, because its much cheaper. If you want something better, theres the Geforce2 Ultra, which costs about the same as the Voodoo6000, is out NOW, and also rocks everything else on the market.
For the Modem, I would look at the 3Com 2976 v.90 PCI (Think thats the right model).
I would also sugest not getting firewire til you find a device to use it with, as when you do, the prices will go down.
Looks a heckuva lot like my setup, which hasnt failed me.
Thunderbird 750@1Ghz
KT7-RAID
Plex 101232a
Pioneer 16/40
1x30gb, 1x20gb (no raid action here..cant afford it)
Enlight 7237 300w (12v@12A)
3Com 2976 56k PCI
Floppy
1 128 PC100 non ECC
1 64 PC133 ECC (Runs 100Mhz non ECC)
WinME/Win2k dualboot (WinME primary, Win2k Backup)
No UPS, just surge.
3Com 905C 10/100 NIC
some $100 speakers that my dad got overcharged for.
Geforce2 GTS (came with Software Decoder)
SB Live! (You need one of those for your setup dontcha?)
17" Sylvania Monitor (my next upgrade target...need a monitor too dontcha?)

32x64 is non ECC RAM (because theres 8 bits per byte,
32x64bits = 32x8bytes = 256MB non-ECC RAM
In ECC theres any Extra bit per byte for Error checking, so
32x72bits = 32x64bits+ECC = 256MB ECC RAM

[Over Clocked]

Hey guys thanks for all the responses, keep um coming!

So where do I buy an orb fan? I have looked around a little for them but didn't find anything. I also read somewhere that a chrome orb is even better than a gold orb, is this true? Also where can I get thermal grease and how exactly do I apply it.

Does anybody actually know when the voodoo 5 6000 is coming out and how much it will cost?? Also does anybody have any idea when SB is coming out with their DTT-3500, I called them but they told me to check the press releases.

I already have a DV camera that I plan to do video editing on. I have a fire wire port on my VAIO laptop that has an 18 gig hd. Do you'll have any idea how much DV video takes up? It is unbelievable, for just 30 minutes = over 6 gigs of space! That’s one reason I need that huge HD, I might be able to put together a whole movie (with 120 gig)! So do any of you'll think one brand of a fire wire card is better of another?

As for the netgear card, I have used many many netgear cards on professional networks and found that they are very reliable and inexpensive.

I forgot to tell you’ll that I have a SB Live Platinum 5.1 card and Live Drive to go with it. I see that one of you’ll have suggested building my own case. How would I go about doing that? I don’t want to spend a huge amount time and then end of with an ugly piece of junk. Well if I don’t build my own case, what kind of additional fans am I going to need? I also am going to get a TV card so my MoBo is going to be completely filled up! I don’t plan on doing any over clocking with this system. I think it’s just not worth taking the chance of destroying hardware and/or losing stability.

Do you'll have a favorite on modems? Is the $50 modem going to be better than the $10? Am I going to get anything faster than this snails crawl that I am experiencing now?

Well thanks for everything, you’ll are a great help to me!


[This message has been edited by Over Clocked (edited 10-23-2000).]

[ThiemeMD]

Just a note...

Quote:

I already have a DV camera that I plan to do video editing on. I have a fire wire port on my VAIO laptop that has an 18 gig hd. Do you'll have any idea how much DV video takes up? It is unbelievable, for just 30 minutes = over 6 gigs of space! That’s one reason I need that huge HD, I might be able to put together a whole movie (with 120 gig)! So do any of you'll think one brand of a fire wire card is better of another?

I've done a fair amout of video editing, so, just for your info.. a problem I've ran into...

The FAT32 file system used by Win95b., Win98, WinME, is limited to a maximum size of 4gb per file. (approx 20 minutes using DV format).
Is this a gaming system? If not, consider Win2K or WinNT using NTFS. There is no practicle file size limit, But keep in mind, the AVI file format IS limited to 4gb..

Good Luck!

Mark


[This message has been edited by ThiemeMD (edited 10-23-2000).]

[ThiemeMD]

Ohh... and the FireWire port and the fast RAID setup are almost mandatory for high quality video editing without dropping frames....

Mark

[Over Clocked]

I didn't know that about the 4gb file size, my DV program was by default spliting the file in 2 gig segments - i was woundering why it was doing that. To the gaming question, yes this is going to be a gaming computer. I'll probley put win 2000 on this system but keep the file system in FAT32.

You said the AVI file format is limited to 4 gigs, are you saying that there are other file types that you can use to exceed 4 gig?

Ohh guys I had one more question - I am looking at some other cases that don't have the 4 internal floppy bays that i need, but have extra 5 1/2 inch bays. Do you'll know where I can by the converter thing that will allow me to mount a 3 1/2 bay in a 5 1/2 bay?

[This message has been edited by Over Clocked (edited 10-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Over Clocked (edited 10-23-2000).]

[LittleKing]

First I have to say, DAM!!! That's a killer system.

Second I would have to recommend waiting until 3DFX's rampage chip comes out, or get the Geforce2 ultra. The Voodoo5 6000 I think is going to be overrated, and I wouldn't be surprised if 3DFX cans it. The rampage chip look promising and that's the card I'm waiting for, unless when it come out Nvidia kill its. I've always liked 3DFX and I think I will for some time to come. Although I do have to admit their latest offering was a little weak.

I think the amount of memory might be excessive but with video editing it might be useful. Couldn't tell you because I haven't done it. And finally, you definitely should get at least a 300 watt power supply if not more.

Also, about the 3.5 to 5.25 drive converters, I typed in Pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com) Hard Drive mounts and received several companies that sell them.

LK

[This message has been edited by LittleKing (edited 10-23-2000).]

[ThiemeMD]

Quote:

You said the AVI file format is limited to 4 gigs, are you saying that there are other file types that you can use to exceed 4 gig?

Sorry, I don't know enough about the MPEG (or other) formats to tell you for certain. But the 4gb limit is universal for FAT32.

ThiemeMD

[thekingofpain]

Super-orb will be released from Thermaltake next/this week, supposed to cool up to 1.5G chips, has 2 fans stacked and is quiet (30db) compared to the screaming FOP38 im using (46db)...actually I switched out the blazing 38cfm fan for a 32 and its MUCH better...still is pretty cool at 1133 ive YET to go over 40c even with the lessor fan...

[Over Clocked]

Thanks for all the replys guys (and gals!), you'll really are alsome.

keep um comming!

[Erap!]

What???? IDE hard disks???? If you've got that kind of cash go buy urself a couple of 50GB SCSI disks =)

[Ygor]

I didn't see anyone answer the modem question.
I recently went to cable (which you said is not available where you are). I think we'd have been satisfied with 56K if it worked here.
The point is the telephone line condition has a lot to do with that too. Check with any neighbors you have that go online about their speeds. Also, ask your phone co about DSL in your area.

[Over Clocked]

My modem speeds are not really that bad for 56k, but it is just a 56k connection and its to slow for me!

From what I have read, 4 ide drives would be much better than a couple of scsi hds. Is this true?

[reddog4629]

I've got that same DVD with a decoder. Wish I hadn't bought the decoder-don't need it with a PIII700e@980. I also have that same cdrw-it rocks!!! Also running dual IBM 20G
7200s in raid 0/striped through a modified fastrack controller-39MB/s read!!! I have a Elsa Gladiac GeForce 32MB-runs great. You don't need any more than 256MB of mem.IMHO.
Have fun. :-)

[This message has been edited by reddog4629 (edited 10-24-2000).]

[Erap!]

If you're gonna have 4 ide drives then you'd be forced to use them under a master/slave. I dont think it's a good idea.

[Over Clocked]

What do you mean by that? Isn't raid supposed to do just the opposite?

[Szech]

Using RAID under IDE should only be for data striping purposes... so four drives appear as one big drive, and performs four times as fast as the slowest drive. Unfortunately, even using the promise IDE controller won't give the protection of redundancy due to IDE's system of master/slave. If you do need redundant protection, go SCSI. Otherwise, if one drive goes out, all your data goes with it. So back up often.

[Over Clocked]

SO what exactly does redundant mean? Error correction? I see that word everwhere - redundant hds, redundant power supplys, redundant monkeys. What does a redundant power supply do so special, they are ALOT more $$$. Have you'll ever had a HD just fail on you? I have had a bad one from the begginging, but after i have one that worked, I've never had any problems at all. I'm still not clear on what you'll mean by I can't get the full potential b/c of the master slave thing, I don't see why that should affect it.