Advice on my setup

[Platyply]

After days of deliberation, I've finalized my setup. Just wanted to know if there is any advice as to what to change or add:

AMD Thunderbird 1200Mhz
Alpha PAL6035 H/F
Mushkin 384MB MUSHKIN w/SIEMENS Infineon PC133
Microstar k7T Pro 2-A
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB
Quantum Atlas 10k QM318200TN-LW 18GB
Tekram DC-390U3W Ultra160 SCSI Controller
AOpen DVD-1640 Pro DVD-ROM
TEAC 1.44MB
Plextor PlexWriter 12/10/32A
Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS PRO 64MB DDR
Thermaltake Blue Orb
ATi ATI-TV Wonder
Creative SoundBlaster Live! DE 5.1
3DCool Tornado 1000 w/300watt
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
Microsoft Windows 98SE

 

[schdaddy]

after reading your sig
you more than deserve it

 

[pdo]

[drool][/drool]
For HD I would use the Quantum to boot the OS and get a slower rpm drive for storage since slower rpm drive will run quieter and cooler. Get SCSI Plextor and Pioneer DVD since you've already got a SCSI controller.

 

[Daniel]

Sound amazing, way overkill for almost anything but I'm broke so what do I know. But 384 megs of ram in win98se, with that much I would go win2k pro where it can at least use it more.

 

[Rand]

Dual boot with Win2k!!

 

[Howard]

Or just stick with Win2k by itself. Why did you mix IDE and SCSI?

 

[Shooters]

Sweet mother of God! What are you going to be using this system for? 256MB of RAM will be more than enough unless you're going to be running apps like Photoshop or doing lots of video stuff. As paldo said I would go with the Pioneer 115 16X DVD. Try to grab the slot load one. If you don't have your heart set on SCSI then I would go with two IBM Deskstars in a RAID 0. In that configuration with the right RAID controller they will beat out even the fastest SCSI drives. Also, if you're going to drop that kind of cash on a system you might as well shell out the extra bucks for a Geforce Ultra. I don't know that much about power supplies, but I have a feeling you might want to go with a beefier power supply for a system of that magnitude.....maybe 400 watts. And yes, go with Win2k instead of 98SE.

 

[Pyro]

First of all, excellent setup, except for two things:

I would forgo the Buggy Piece of Worthless Sh!t (AKA windows98/me) and go with Win2k. I mean, really, win2k is the first decent OS M$ has made, andyou cant appreciate it fully until you've used it. At least dual boot if you dont want to use it full time.

second:
Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS PRO 64MB DDR

of course, this card will give you a lot more framerates than the Radeon, but dont count it out. The radeon has better image quality more multimedia and is better for DX8 games. Of course, that is my opinion, i like playing many different types of games. if You live for quake3, then i guess the Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS PRO 64MB DDR wouldnt be a bad choice.

 

[Lightingguy]

Add a soundproof room!

Nice specs. Bigger PS?

 

[Noriaki]

<< IBM Deskstars in a RAID 0. In that configuration with the right RAID controller they will beat out even the fastest SCSI drives >>

Yeah...in STR...but STR means nothing that Atlas 10k will mutilate a single 75GXP in Seek Time, much less a RAID0 of them. Seek time is far more important in normal use than STR. IDE RAID0 also uses about 10x as much CPU time as a SCSI drive. IDE RAID0 is kind of a neat fad, but in practice it sucks, unless you have a very specific circumstance where STR is very important. But that's rare.


Anyhow, suggestions for you Platyply:

I'd look into a different TV-Tuner...I have a TV-Wonder and I friggin hate it...it works well in Win98SE, but they still don't have decent Win2k drivers and with Whistler just around the corner win98SE drivers won't mean jack. And I don't trust ATi's driver development team.

Keep the 384MB of RAM, Win98SE doesn't really need it, but you'll upgrade to Whistler in the life of this system and NT kernel OSes love RAM. And with RAM this cheap you can't go wrong. I have 384MB on Win98SE...kinda useless but I'll use it eventually.

You might want to look into the Tornado 2000...I've heard the 1000 is a really low quality case...like the actual metal part I mean..they just took a really cheap crappy case and added a few fans apperntly. The 2000 starts with a good case. I can't confirm this, I've never seen it...but you might want to look into that some more.

And go for a SCSI CDRW. Personally I'd get the DVDRom in SCSI to, but that's not that big of a deal, but you definately want the CDRW SCSI.

I'd probably toss in a plextor 40x SCSI CDRom because they do DAE at about 30X and then you can use plextor CD to CD copy bit by bit software.

All in all that looks pretty damn sweet

Edit: oh yeah and a 450 Watt power supply couldn't hurt

 

[Platyply]

<< For HD I would use the Quantum to boot the OS >>



That's what I had planned. I mixed SCSI w/ IDE, because I needed a fast drive for the OS, boot, and frequently used programs. The IDE for huge storage. Mixing the SCSI with IDE made sense. With Win2k I am hypothesizing a driver nightmare. Wouldn't I have to install two drivers for each component, then there is compatibility. Some programs will only run in Win98SE. I'm hoping the Tornado 1000 will take care of the HD heat problem.



<< Sound amazing, way overkill for almost anything >>



LOL! The salesman told me that when I got this Pentium Screamer in '96. &quot;3.1GB will last you a lifetime&quot; Sure, that explains why only two of the three AoE: Collector's Edition CDs fit on my HD. Let's see if my 63GB storage capacity will last a lifetime . . .



<< What are you going to be using this system for? >>



Basically this is my gaming rig, but I plan to get into video editing thanks to the VIVO port (home movies). Again, if I go Win2k all the way, will be compatible with all 95/98/ME software, will I encounter a driver nightmare? If RAID is as fast as you claim it is, I would gladly drop the SCSI. RAID O is &quot;stripping mode&quot;, right? What does that mode do exactly?

 

[Noriaki]

no no NO NO NO NO!!!
You don't want to drop SCSI in favour of IDE RAID0
that would be just plain stupid (no offense).

BTW just so you know a Quantum 10k II isn't really that hot....
first generation 10k RPM were pretty hot...but newer ones aren't.

Anyways back to RAID0...it stripes data. You have two 30 gig 75GXPs say...you set them in RAID0 stripe with a stripe size of 4k (for example) then you copy a file that's 4MB onto the RAID array. It will write 4k to the first drive, then 4k to the second, then 4k to the first, then 4k to the second, and so on. It doubles the sustained transfer rate. Also these two 30gigs will make a 60gig array.

But the problem is it does nothing for seek time...if anything it worsenes (I don't know how to spell..) it a bit because now you have two drives that have to find the sector you want...but that shouldn't be a big deal because since they are in RAID0 they should be near the same sector all the time...so best case with RAID0 your seek is the same as a single drive.

Compare a Quantum Fireball Plus LM to an IBM 75GXP. The LM has about 2/3s of the transfer rate but it still wins many comparisions because it has a near SCSI class actuator (controls seek time). The 10kRPM will shave a bit more off seek time and have a higher STR. The 10k RPM will tie an IDE RAID0 down and rape it for weeks. IDE is SCSIs bitch, RAID0 or no.

Not to mention IDE RAID0 is all software based so it uses a pile of CPU time to calculate where each stripe will go. SCSI on the other hand has much lower CPU time than a single IDE drive, much less a RAID.

IDE RAID1 is somewhat useful, if you have two 30gigs you get a 30gig array but all data is duplicated so if a drive dies you don't lose any data. It has the other disadvantages of IDE RAID0, and it doesn't increase STR...but it adds data safety so that might be worth it to you. But IDE RAID0 is crap.

Edit: IDE is by no means useless, and your 18gig 10k SCSI + 45gig 75GXP is a great setup in my mind, and if you can't afford SCSI the 75GXP is a great drive (I can't afford SCSI yet ) but if you can get a 10k RPM SCSI drive in there go for it. But keep the 45gig for mp3s and games and stuff that don't need the faster drive. But OSes and Vmem will love you for feeding them SCSI.

 

[Shooters]

Ahh yes, I forgot about the TV-Wonder with Win2k issue. I ran into that problem not too long ago. If you plan on ever using Win2k then definitely DO NOT get the ATI tv card. Other than that you should be okay with the other components and Win2k. The best thing to do is to check the box specs to make sure that Win2k is supported and to do some resarch with the manufacturers. Okay, here's the abridged version of RAID 0, striping.....not stripping (hahaha, I would want to see that). Imagine that you want to write down the numbers 1 through 10 on a sheet of paper. If you use only one hand then you would only be able to write one number at a time. However, imagine that you could use both hands.....one to write the odd numbers and the other to write the evens. You could get it done in half the time. That's essentially what your computer does in a RAID 0. It breaks data down into &quot;stripes&quot; and writes half of the data onto one drive and the other half onto the other, which results in faster write times. And since your computer is reading data from two drives at the same time, your average read speed will increase as well. If you decide to go the IDE RAID route then get the Promise FastTrack 100 IDE RAID controller and two identical ATA100 IDE hard drives. You might also want to talk to Noriaki about what he was saying. It might influence your decision.

 

[Renob]

It sounds like someone it ringing their own bell..............

 

[TimeKeeper]

Good selections!

Someone realize that true bottle neck of High performance PC is &quot;DATA transfer rate&quot;!!!!!!!!

I love Tekram 390U3W, at least LSI chip is better under my definition.
BTW, don't forget be nice to your eyes! Good monitor, that is!

 

[nickburns]

nice system......i like your current computer in you sig.
it looks like you dont upgrade often, but when you do at least you do it right