Your thoughts on this spec.

[kanec]

Hi all,

Firstly I apologise for doing this with no track record here on the forums @ AnandTech, but I really would like some independant advice.

I'm not new to setting up pcs, no prob. I just haven't been paying heaps of attention lately (other than just skimming over this site on occassion) to what's going on in the market and want this next pc to kick a bit of butt.

Here's what I'm thinking of getting:

Case: Cooler Master ACTS 201
PSU: Enermax 350Watt ATX
MB: Soyo K7VDragon+
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (best value vs performance? or go higher?)
Memory: Corsair 512Mb PC 2100
SCSI: Adaptec 29160N Ultra160 SCSI Adaptor
DVD: Pioneer DVD-U04S (SCSI)
HD: IBM 60GXP 61.5GB (IDE)
Heatsink/Fan: ??

My main concerns are stability and noise level, however performance is also important.

Any advice you may have is appreciated.

Many thanks

Kane

 

[bigshooter]

I don't normally comment on these, but I'm bored so here goes. If you aren't planning on overclocking you might be able to save a few bucks going crucial instead of corsair. I thought their pc2100 was cas 2.5 too, but if it's 2 then forget what I said there. Why are you getting an Ultra160 SCSI card and scsi dvd just for dvd? Do you already have scsi hard drives? I noticed that you only listed an IBM 60GXP ide drive, so why the scsi? If you have plenty of money go for it, but I wouldn't bother unless you have some need like video editing or any application that needs good disk access. Also for your processor if you are looking value/performance the 1700 is much better than the 1800. 1700 is $139 at newegg while 1800 is $179 or $189. Not really worth it for 67mhz. The 1900 is even higher at $239 so I'd go 1700 or 1800. Don't really have any other comments other than that. Do you already have a vid card and sound card?

 

[MCS]

Welcome to the Forums

Why have SCSI for the CD and an IDE HD? Or did you already have that lying around?

 

[kanec]

thanks for the replies (and to the welcome).

The reason for the SCSI DVD is that I've always had shocking performance from IDE DVDs/CDs and well I'm sick of it being so slow. I was hoping the SCSI DVD would allow me to better play DVD movies and access the normal CDs better/faster. I've never gone SCSI at home b4... would absolutely love to with the HDs, but it just seems like so much compared to the IDEs.

K the 1700 it is.

Yeah I have a Geforce 2, and a GameTheaterXP.

Anyone using that case?

 

[MCS]

I see no reason to have poor DVD performance from an IDE drive...I would save on the SCSI and out the money somewhere else in the system. Get that 1800+ after all

 

[kanec]

k, you're most likely right. I'll give another IDE DVD-ROM a bash.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[Jen]

I got the same pioneer dvdrom here.......hacked it over to region free. that was a fun job

1800 xp is best for the price but you may consider the MP as a possible choice cause i heard it is multiplier unlocked. something to consider

for memory go with Pc2400 or Pc2700 for that matter........


motherboard i have heard good things about ........especially built in sound.


heatsink...........alpha 8045 .........with panaflo for low noise........or sunon for better cooling..... use studs instead of the mounting setup it comes with. thats what i did on my server

i use water cooling myself..........and soon the server will be as well.

the scsi card will be a nice addition for future upgradeing to U160 scsi drive........but if your not planning on going for a scsi hard drive in the future. then consider just a UW as it will do what you need it to do.

Antec for a computer case.............cools very well.........good case flow.........lots of fans

Powersupply I prefer Sparkle myself............although i use a Pcpower & Cooling powersupply for my computer......more money yes but well built. and a great warrantty to go with it.


Jen

 

[kanec]

Damn now I'm keen on the SCSI all round.

What do you think about SCSI as the main drive and adding a large IDE for backup purposes (quick and easy)?

This would seem to make alot of sense but would I negate any performance improvements doing this? I'll also have to check if there will be boot issues I guess.

Hmmm, I'm now regretting the PlexWriter 12/10/32A (IDE) purchase a few months ago. :frown:

Yeah, the audio on the motherboard does look v. interesting. I read on one review that the optical out can only go to two speakers which seems a bit odd. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

 

[Jen]

<< What do you think about SCSI as the main drive and adding a large IDE for backup purposes (quick and easy)? >>




thats how i would do it.......something like 18 GB can be found on the forums for around 125 to 150. seen the 36GB for about 200 used on the forums also. make sure the drive is U160 to make good use of your 29160 card.



<< This would seem to make alot of sense but would I negate any performance improvements doing this? I'll also have to check if there will be boot issues I guess. >>



no performance decrease as long as scsi is your main system drive.........set it up in bios as scsi as first boot device . have scsi drive without any jumpers for the ID address so it will automatically go to ID 0 which what you want.



<< Hmmm, I'm now regretting the PlexWriter 12/10/32A (IDE) purchase a few months ago. :frown:

Yeah, the audio on the motherboard does look v. interesting. I read on one review that the optical out can only go to two speakers which seems a bit odd. I'm looking forward to checking it out. >>



i have 6 devices now on scsi.............going to be a 7th real soon

Jen

 

[bearmeat]

I have 7 devices on SCSI and it is great. CPU overhead is very low.
cdrom,dvd,cdrw,4 scsi hds

 

[kanec]

Yep I'm going it, after reading a little more it's just to tempting.

Maxtor Atlas 10K III 18.4GB w/ the Adaptec 29160N.

Thankyou all for your help.

 

[tcrosson]

<<SCSI: Adaptec 29160N Ultra160 SCSI Adaptor>>
<<DVD: Pioneer DVD-U04S (SCSI)>>

If you only plan on having one device on the SCSI card then you're wasting money. You'll only see a performance boost if you're using multiple drives on a SCSI chain.
Just go with the EIDE version of the drive and make sure you put both IDE drives on their own channel. They'll be plenty fast.

 

[kanec]

Trocsson,

I'm going to go the Maxtor Atlas 10K III 18.4GB (U160) as well now.

For some reason I expected the Antec to be much more expensive than what they actually are. I didn't even look to be honest . Maybe got a bit hooked on the aluminium models. But the money I'll save on the case (SX1030) makes the SCSI HD viable.

 

[Breaker78]

<< If you only plan on having one device on the SCSI card then you're wasting money. You'll only see a performance boost if you're using multiple drives on a SCSI chain.
Just go with the EIDE version of the drive and make sure you put both IDE drives on their own channel. They'll be plenty fast. >>



I haven't used a newer IDE drive that fully utilizes ATA100, but even aside from that SCSI drives ARE faster. It is true that some of the newer IDE drives have transfer rates that approach scsi rates, but at the expense of CPU time. Also scsi drives have average seek times that are about half what ide drives are.

I've been using 9.1 seagates for a while, and they cruise! What tcrosson is talking about having hard drives on a chain, is that scsi devices share one channel, so all drives share the same 160 M/B transfer rate. A single drive can't reach those speeds, but multiple drives can.