Viper GTS: the 2100s, 3200s, 3400s series are very new, but adaptec had another hardware RAID series available before that (Ultra2-LVD, not Ultra160), and they also recently purchased DPT, which had their own Ultra160 RAID line, which the new adaptec series is based on.
fir3wir3, here're my recommendations:
Motherboard: Supermicro makes some excellent dual proc motherboards, I have a PIIIDME that I'm very happy with, but they also have a serverworks chipset board which has socket 370, vs. the PIIIDME w/ the i840 chipset, and slot 1.
Processors: I've got dual 650Es cB0 running at 866 rock stable, at default voltage, running at like 35-40 degrees each. If you were dead set on the choices you brought up though, I would go with the 933s. Dual PIIIs are unquestionably faster (at least where SMP is supported) than either an T-bird 1.2G or a P4 1.5G, not to mention more available than the T-bird, and cheaper than the P4.
RAM: 512 MBs would be good, not sure if the PC143 in your post was a typo, or faster RAM, no need to get anything faster than PC133 though, since you will not be overclocking it. If you go with the 840 chipset, the memory bus runs at 100MHz, but interleaves for performance, so it's not as slow as PC100, but you will need to install RAM in pairs. You should go with Cas-222 ram with a 6 layer PCB.
Hard drives: the Cheetah x15 is the fastest, but is only available in 18GB. The cheetah 73 is also very fast, and has 73 GB, but is 1.6" high.
You'd probably be best off w/ dual X15s in RAID 0 for booting, and dual Cheetah 36LP or Quantum Atlas 10K II 36 GB drives in RAID 0 for data.
CD-RW: this should be between the yamaha 16x/10x/40x SCSI and the Plextor 12/10/32S I'm considering this upgrade as well, and I'm not sure which is better. I'd probably go with the yamaha if I knew it was compatible with clonecd, as it is faster, and the 8MB buffer on it probably offsets the lack of burn proof.
CD-ROM: Plextor 40x Max, I wouldn't get the ultra-wide version because the 40x max has a newer hardware revision that reads faster than spec (Paritcularly with CD-Rs, and DAE), and the ultra reads at the same speed as the original 40x max. Any new one you buy should have the new hardware rev., but check on plextor's website, and you'll see that they have two different firmware tracks, the latest ones only work on the new hardware.
DVD-ROM: not sure if you want one or not, but I have the pioneer 304S 10x/40x SCSI dvd, which is an excellent drive. I have the plextor 40x max also for clonecd compatibility.
SCSI card: the Adaptec 29160 is an excellent card, but offers no hardware RAID. I'm really only familiar with the Adaptec RAID line, so if someone disagrees with me on this, please let me know, as I'm in the market for a RAID card as well. With 4 drives, you'd be best off with either the Adaptec 2100S, or 3200S, they both come with 32MB stock, and are upgradeable to 128MB. The 2100S is single channel, the 3200S is dual channel, the 3200S also allows for a backup battery add-on module. From the pictures I've seen (I can't find any proof though), it appears as though the 2100S takes 168 pin DIMMS, and the 3200S takes 144 pin SO-DIMMs. The big differences between this case would be that the 2100S is a 32-bit/33MHz PCI card, and the 3200S is a 64-bit/66MHz PCI card, and the single vs. dual channel. With 2 X15s, and 2 10K IIs or 36LPs in that system, you'd probably be able to max out the Ultra 160 interface. The 133 MB/sec 33MHz PCI bandwidth might bottleneck you. Additionally, if you put the data drives on a seperate channel from the boot drives, you'd squeeze more performance out of it due to having 320MB/sec from dual U160 channels. Keep in mind that neither of these RAID cards have 50 pin connectors on them, so you will need another scsi card such as the Adaptec 2940U or better to run your CD drives. I would stay away from onboard SCSI, since it seems to cost more than a card, and is not as flexible.
Case/Powersupply:
This depends mostly on what space you're sticking it in, whether you want rackmount, wheels, etc. but the Supermicro SC760A is an excellent case, which would have more than enough drive bays, fan mounts, and space for good airflow in the case. It also includes a 300 watt or 400 watt Redundant cooling power supply, which has dual fans in it, and senses when one of them fails, lights up an alarm light, and initiates the second one. I'm using an SC750A case right now, with a Pioneer 304S, a Plextor 40x max, a Plextor 8/20, and 4 10k rpm hard drives in it. I still have space for 3 more hard drives. The 750A case is built exactly like the 760A case.
Last notes:
You might want to consider getting 80 pin SCA-2 hard drives, and buying an SCA backplane for this system. Supermicro, and chieftec both have good SCA backplane/cages available. I have a Chieftec CT-1034 backplane in my system.
This would give you cooling for your hard drives, additional breathing room in the case, and would allow you to hot swap the hard drives, or easily switch in new drives. If you go with the 760A case, and the chieftec backplane though, you'll need to modify your case slightly. (the case has drive rails in between every 2 drives, and the chieftec backplane takes up 3 bays)
I hope this helps, good luck with your system, and let me know if you have any questions regarding these recommendations.
