[Will938]

Ok, I used the search function and found information on buffered vs unbuffered and such. But I couldn't find anything on like Kingston valueselect vs Kingston HyperX. Is it that much faster? Is it anywhere near as stable? I don't want my memory holding my setup back.

What do you guys think, would it be wise to opt for the faster stuff or should I stick with valueselect? Any recommendations as to brands or packages? This will likely be on a lanparty board or the A8N-e.

 

[crazijoe]

This depends on what you are going to do with it. Give us the specs on your system and what kind of performance you expect. Also what games and/or apps.

 

[Will938]

This depends on what you are going to do with it. Give us the specs on your system and what kind of performance you expect. Also what games and/or apps.

Ok, this is a gaming system that needs to last about 3.5 years.

Right off the bat I'm expecting to run BF2 at full blast and new games pretty quickly as they come out. Here's my list, I'd like some help deciding all that too if you don't mind.

My post in another forum:

Man, I've got a lot of questions

Ok, for a gaming platform...I don't usually overclock and am looking for this to last about 3.5 years, I can upgrade along the way if need be. My absolute limit is $1,800 TURN KEY, and my target is around $1,500 clean cut.

AMD 64 3800+ – 342.00 http://store.yahoo.com/directron/ada3800awbox.html
OR
AMD 64 X2 3800 - 352 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819103562
(I guess its worth it, would I have to add a cooling system for dual core?)

4x512 kingston ddr400 valueselect – 182.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820141423
OR
2x512 kingston ddr400 HyperX - 192.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820144161
(I've got questions here, stability vs speed vs quantity vs quality)

Asus A8N-e mobo – 110 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813131530
OR
DFI Lanparty - 118 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813136159

6600GT – 169.00 minus 20 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814122201
OR
7800GT - 359.00 minus 30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814170088
(I dunno here, should I get the 6600GT and just upgrade later or what?)

2x250 GB WD harddrives RAID – 226.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822144417

19"CRT monitor – 219.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16824116282

Case and power supply - help me!

Keyboard, mouse, surgeprotector, floppy, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, Windows XP/Office, Sound system are all taken care of.

What does everyone think, any obvious mistakes or mismatches? I've built one computer before and I suspect that it still works through dumb luck. What does everyone recommend, as a point I'd like to run BF2 on the highest settings off the bat. Any recommendations?

 

[Raggedtoad]

Definately go for the HyperX RAM. I have a gaming system currently and I bought so-called value-select, which worked fine for a while. But after 6 months when my CPU started to get out of date, I overclocked the computer and a few months later one of my 512 sticks of RAM was fried. If I were you, I'd save yourself the trouble and go with the good stuff.

 

[Will938]

What about something like this:

GeIL Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144322

 

[crazijoe]

I think you should just get the cheaper video card. Video cards are way overpriced. You can tell because the one you buy for $300+ will sell for under $100 the next year. Don't waste the money on the card. It's kinda pointless to pay top dollar for bleeding edge when the product becomes outdated in a couple months.

You might want to put more money into your HDD set up. Get a couple of smaller drives in a RAID 0 for your OS and apps. Then get a larger drive for your data. This way if you RAID goes belly up, you won't loose your data. Good expample, get a couple WD Raptor 36GB or 74GB drives for your OS and apps then get the 250GB or even a 400GB drive for your data.

For memory, just get a single 2GB kit of OCZ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146970
I have used OCZ and very impressed with the performance. I have used Kingston and was turned off buy them because I had gotten hold of a couple sticks that came from a bad batch the had put out. It's hard for me to go back.

 

[JamesO]

Good memory site Memory Ten

Run the "Check My Computer" and compare what they offer to others. They typically have good prices.

JamesO

 

[Will938]

I think you should just get the cheaper video card. Video cards are way overpriced. You can tell because the one you buy for $300+ will sell for under $100 the next year. Don't waste the money on the card. It's kinda pointless to pay top dollar for bleeding edge when the product becomes outdated in a couple months.

You might want to put more money into your HDD set up. Get a couple of smaller drives in a RAID 0 for your OS and apps. Then get a larger drive for your data. This way if you RAID goes belly up, you won't loose your data. Good expample, get a couple WD Raptor 36GB or 74GB drives for your OS and apps then get the 250GB or even a 400GB drive for your data.

For memory, just get a single 2GB kit of OCZ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146970
I have used OCZ and very impressed with the performance. I have used Kingston and was turned off buy them because I had gotten hold of a couple sticks that came from a bad batch the had put out. It's hard for me to go back.

Hmm, so as for the first part I'm trying to crunch numbers, and if I buy the 6600GT for like $150 and get the 7800GT for like $170 when the next generation comes out it would come out about even if I just got the 7800GT now. Man its getting complicated, lol.

For the hard drives...so it is a nono to put all my stuff on harddrives in a RAID setup, if I did stick with that is there any means of recovery? Or should I just have a 60 gig added where I'll backup everything I care about?

 

[Raggedtoad]

I would recommend going with a nice videocard, but not a bleeding edge one. With the 6600GT right now you should have no problems running BF2, especially with enough RAM (It's a RAM dependent game, mostly). I like the idea of a smaller (60-80gig) hard drive to back up important data. It's cheap, reliable, and you can still have another RAID setup in the same machine. I have an old 80gig right now as my primary and a 120gig as a space for my movies, music, and other large files, and I haven't had any problems.

 

[Will938]

I would recommend going with a nice videocard, but not a bleeding edge one. With the 6600GT right now you should have no problems running BF2, especially with enough RAM (It's a RAM dependent game, mostly). I like the idea of a smaller (60-80gig) hard drive to back up important data. It's cheap, reliable, and you can still have another RAID setup in the same machine. I have an old 80gig right now as my primary and a 120gig as a space for my movies, music, and other large files, and I haven't had any problems.

Cool then, I guess I'll go with OCZ Performance 2GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400. And do the two 250 GB harddrives in RAID, with another 60 GB drive for pictures and important documents. Would it be wise to put the OS on the RAID drives or the single 60 GB?

How about this, could someone explain the difference between raid 1 and 0? A brief explaination of how to set it up? Just so I get a rough idea of whats going on.

 

[crazijoe]

RAID 0 is a striped array. Data is split and written to and read from both drives. Fast but no redundancy. If you loose a drive, you loose all data on the array. There are no hopes of recovery. (been there, done that) The size of the array is the total of both drives.

RAID 1 mirroring. The data is written to both drives however one drive is a mirror (clone) of the other. If one drive fails work can continue because the other drive is a clone. The size of the array is the size of a single drive.

More about RAID here.
http://www.acnc.com/04_00.html

You shoulld setup both the OS and your apps on the RAID array for the best performance.

 

[Will938]

RAID 0 is a striped array. Data is split and written to and read from both drives. Fast but no redundancy. If you loose a drive, you loose all data on the array. There are no hopes of recovery. (been there, done that) The size of the array is the total of both drives.

RAID 1 mirroring. The data is written to both drives however one drive is a mirror (clone) of the other. If one drive fails work can continue because the other drive is a clone. The size of the array is the size of a single drive.

More about RAID here.
http://www.acnc.com/04_00.html

You shoulld setup both the OS and your apps on the RAID array for the best performance.

Sounds like a plan, just get a backup and put unreplacable stuff on that.