Comment on my upgrading decisions (+ some questions)

[jlivest]

I decided to go from:
- Asus A7V
- Duron 650@850
- Crucial 256 MB RAM + Value RAM 2x128 MB

To:
- Abit KR7A-RAID
- Athlon XP 1600+
- Crucial 512 MB PC2100 DDR CL2.5

What do you guys & gals think?

Also, I have some questions:
1. Will an Antec PP303X power supply be sufficient? It is 300W.
2. I'm not going to implement RAID at first, but will consider it for the future. What kind of performance boost will RAID 0 give me?
3. Does DDR RAM perform better in pairs, or should I just stick with one stick?
4. Any other comments, suggestions, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

-jlivest

 

[AndyHui]

1. Sufficient.
3. No difference in performance.

 

[jlivest]

Thanks for the help!

 

[metalac]

Well the new system should run at least twice as fast and maybe even cooler since overclocked Durons are hot little devils.

As for the other questions:

1. Should be good enough unless you're thinking of geting a SCSI card and 4 or more HDs
2. In theory RAID 0 should give you double the perfomrance, but in real life it's not quite like that. Although you would definitely go a bit above that 100mbps mark which btw is not what all those 100 go at, because of some physical limitations.
3. No difference.
4. Definitely get a CD-RW, DVD and a Cable or DSL line to really enjoy your new toy 🙂

 

[WhoDeeny]

I have a similar setup (K7RA_Raid) and would recommend the Maxtor D740X for its IDE 133 potential, that will work wonderful iwhen you dp decide to use the Raid. I have and love it! I want more of these fast ass, great priced drives, and when I can afford it I'm going to fill up all four channels on the Raid!