<$2000 Business Computer

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M

Mr Bob

Golden Member
Sep 6, 2004
1,757
12
81
So hard to make a decision when there are just some many freaking options.

Googer, the 74GB raptor is going to be what the main apps are run on. Then there is a 2nd 160 GB SATA that will be used mainly for storage.

I was also thinking about getting a one touch backup drive, but I am not quite sure about it.

I notice that 74gb raptor is a lot faster than a regular sata drive. I just used it in place of my 120GB, and I do see a big difference in the speed. This is why I think spending some extra money on this, would be a good idea.

If I go with one of the bundles, which would you reccomend? And should I add another 512MB of ram to it?

And about the hard drives, if we did the 74gb raptor and a 160gb, the only option for a backup would be an ata 133, or a one touch usb drive... What do you think?
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: Mr Bob
This is how I see it, but my lack of hardware knowledge should be pretty easily shown :)

Less ram, but faster ram = better.

The ram I use now, seems to be perfect. I think if I down graded the ram, but doubled the amount of it, that would actually slow things down... The only time I would see better results, would be when I need more than 1 GB of ram... which I don't see happening.

Am I wrong?


Thanks for your help with this :)
Click to expand...


It depends on what you are doing, that will determine if more is better RAM than faster RAM . That is why many server boards support pc333 up to 16gb.


I am a CompTIA Member
 
C

Corporate Thug

Lifer
Apr 17, 2003
37,622
0
76
Originally posted by: Mr Bob
So hard to make a decision when there are just some many freaking options.

Googer, the 74GB raptor is going to be what the main apps are run on. Then there is a 2nd 160 GB SATA that will be used mainly for storage.

I was also thinking about getting a one touch backup drive, but I am not quite sure about it.

I notice that 74gb raptor is a lot faster than a regular sata drive. I just used it in place of my 120GB, and I do see a big difference in the speed. This is why I think spending some extra money on this, would be a good idea.

If I go with one of the bundles, which would you reccomend? And should I add another 512MB of ram to it?

And about the hard drives, if we did the 74gb raptor and a 160gb, the only option for a backup would be an ata 133, or a one touch usb drive... What do you think?
Click to expand...

though call on the bundle, i personally would take the gigabyte

i would definately add another 512 of ram though

to be honest, i think those one touch HDDs are a little to pricey. get a nice large ATA133 HDD
 
M

Mr Bob

Golden Member
Sep 6, 2004
1,757
12
81
1GB of ram is actually quite a bit of ram. I run multiple photoshop templates (around 5-15MB per file), macromedia flash mx 04, frontpage 2002, dreamweaver mx 04, outlook express, msn, aim, norton AV, without any problems at all. I have never had a slow down on my machine (one in my sig). It seems like a machine like that would be a perfect business computer, other than the AIW card.

I am really here trying to get some ideas about what to buy. I might try to put it together myself, and when I find out that it is too complicated for me, I will just pay someone here to do it for $50.


-----
Those one touch drives are pretty expensive still. Maybe it is a good idea just to do a large ata133.

I don't see a difference between those two bundles.. just a personal preference?
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Get a PAIR of Raptors they have a better than a 1 Million MTBF so that should mean that they are very reliable against mechanical failure, but it does not mean that you could'nt get errors that could corrupt or destroy the data stored on them. My advise is to get a PAIR Raptors in RAID 5 (redundancy) and an internal HDD greater than 200gb for backups and additional storage in place of the Maxtor One touch. The only advantage the one touch has
is that it comes bundled with Dantz Retrospect for automated backups. But you can purchase that separatly for backups to the internal 200gb drive.
 
C

Corporate Thug

Lifer
Apr 17, 2003
37,622
0
76
Originally posted by: Googer
Get a PAIR of Raptors they have a better than a 1 Million MTBF so that should mean that they are very reliable against mechanical failure, but it does not mean that you could'nt get errors that could corrupt or destroy the data stored on them. My advise is to get a PAIR Raptors in RAID 5 (redundancy) and an internal HDD greater than 200gb for backups and additional storage in place of the Maxtor One touch. The only advantage the one touch has
is that it comes bundled with Dantz Retrospect for automated backups. But you can purchase that separatly for backups to the internal 200gb drive.
Click to expand...

i've been meaning to ask: how good is Dantz Retrospect?
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: shady06
Originally posted by: Mr Bob
So hard to make a decision when there are just some many freaking options.

Googer, the 74GB raptor is going to be what the main apps are run on. Then there is a 2nd 160 GB SATA that will be used mainly for storage.

I was also thinking about getting a one touch backup drive, but I am not quite sure about it.

I notice that 74gb raptor is a lot faster than a regular sata drive. I just used it in place of my 120GB, and I do see a big difference in the speed. This is why I think spending some extra money on this, would be a good idea.

If I go with one of the bundles, which would you reccomend? And should I add another 512MB of ram to it?

And about the hard drives, if we did the 74gb raptor and a 160gb, the only option for a backup would be an ata 133, or a one touch usb drive... What do you think?
Click to expand...

though call on the bundle, i personally would take the gigabyte

i would definately add another 512 of ram though

to be honest, i think those one touch HDDs are a little to pricey. get a nice large ATA133 HDD
Click to expand...

Yes the one touch is over priced your best bet is raid 5 and a 250gb drive with Retrospect as your backup software.

Here is the differance between 1gb and 2gb is that windows will rely less on it's swapfile and more on system ram for its tasks. Just check the task manager and you will see some programs are paged to the disk, and that is not good. IF you want more performance from you hard drives get a 3rd party controller card, I highly recomend LSI for there excellant hardware and DRIVERS. Drvers are what seal the deal when buying hardware. Look for a hard drive controller card that has a dedicated processor and it's own ram.
 
C

Corporate Thug

Lifer
Apr 17, 2003
37,622
0
76
here is the problem with the one touch drives that prevented me from buying one: the seagate (i wouldnt buy anything else) only has a ONE YEAR warrenty

i would get a cheaper video card than that....maybe a ti4200 or something from FS/FT???
 
ZL1

ZL1

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2003
5,383
0
76
Originally posted by: shady06
Originally posted by: Googer
Get a PAIR of Raptors they have a better than a 1 Million MTBF so that should mean that they are very reliable against mechanical failure, but it does not mean that you could'nt get errors that could corrupt or destroy the data stored on them. My advise is to get a PAIR Raptors in RAID 5 (redundancy) and an internal HDD greater than 200gb for backups and additional storage in place of the Maxtor One touch. The only advantage the one touch has
is that it comes bundled with Dantz Retrospect for automated backups. But you can purchase that separatly for backups to the internal 200gb drive.
Click to expand...

i've been meaning to ask: how good is Dantz Retrospect?
Click to expand...

here and there, I have a max one touch and it came with it, well its highly automated, but its a bit messy and I dont know how well would it do in a recovery.
I guess you can say it does its job and you can configure it to do quite a bit of jobs


Id say ghost is best :) but thats a bit different I know



D

PS: noticed bashing of maxtor in later posts and I wanted to add that I for one am very happy with the max one touch and it wasnt overpriced, just gotta catch it at the right time.
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Ok, I see you have a need for some light 3d applicatons, am I correct? Just not games.
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
ZL1 He can use any software he sees fit, retrospect is great for the price. Ghost is great, but expensive and bulky for his tasks.
 
ZL1

ZL1

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2003
5,383
0
76
Originally posted by: Googer
ZL1 He can use any software he sees fit, retrospect is great for the price. Ghost is great, but expensive and bulky for his tasks.
Click to expand...

you seem lost
I was replying to shady06's question "i've been meaning to ask: how good is Dantz Retrospect?"



D
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: Mr Bob
Two raptors would be a bit expensive. But it is a business machine, and the data is rather important.

How about this for a video card: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...jsp?ProductCode=320582

I haven't been able to find much info about these all in one drives. Know of anything decent?
Click to expand...

Good Choice, but I think fot 79.99 we may be able to find somthing with better 3d performance, if 3d performance is needed for you situation. After all you are doing OpenGL or DX-? virtual tours, right?
 
M

Mr Bob

Golden Member
Sep 6, 2004
1,757
12
81
It would be DX. And I am just finishing up the last night shift at work. I'm off to bed, then I'll be back here in about 8 hours or so.

Thanks for your help. I will be back a bit later to continue this soon to be long thread.

3d performance is needed, but it doesn't have to be as powerful as the 9800 pro hehe.

When I get back I would like to discuss more about the hard drive situation and the backing up. I think I will settle with the 64 bit processor in the newegg bundle package.

Goodnight, and thanks again for your help.
 
D

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Originally posted by: Gigante
Googer, don't you use 3 drives for Raid5?
Click to expand...
Or more. For 2 drives RAID 1 is normally used for mirroring. Googer must be confusing 1 and 5.
 
G

Gigante

Member
Jan 5, 2005
38
0
0
Well, he talked about losing no data which would make sense when talking about 5, I just don't think he knew that you used 3+
 
M

Mr Bob

Golden Member
Sep 6, 2004
1,757
12
81
I think I would need another SATA card to do a raid 5...

Thanks for the link Dave. We will be purchasing one of those today.
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: Gigante
Googer, don't you use 3 drives for Raid5?
Click to expand...

You are correct, thanks for the reminder; the third drive is for pairity.
 
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