DVD-R / Hardrives
Yo, I came across thsi forum while looking for computer stuff, so i thought id see what you guys thought, For Christmas, I was thinking about treating myself to a DVD-r drive and a new Hardrive. I was wondering cause I dont stay up to date with these things, What you guys think I should ge tintersm of brand, speed, good reviews etc. Im thinking about 200ish for the DVD-r, I dont know how good of one I can find. and for the HD, I was planning on getting at least a giginator size HD, a good 200gig western Digital, what do you guys think?
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200GB Western Digital drive is an excellent choice.
I have the Pioneer and a pair of WD JB's.
NS
However, I believe that the Maxtor Diamond Max 9 drives are faster than the WD JBs, they have fluid dynamic bearing motors (as opposed to ball bearings) which should translate to longer life, quieter operation, and cooler running drives.
I've got 8 of them...
- 4 160GB DMax 9 ATA-133 7200RPM/8MB in 2 SATA RAID 0 arrays in my dual 2500 system (I use PATA --> SATA converters)
- 2 80GB DMax 9 ATA-133 7200RPM/8MB on the SATA controller in my 1800+/2.4GHz system (again, with PATA --> SATA converters)
- 1 80GB DMax 9 ATA-133 7200RPM/8MB in my print server (no SATA converter on this one)
- 1 60GB DMax 9 ATA-133 7200RPM/8MB in an external firewire enclosure for my laptop
...and I can't complain about any of them. They're fast (the RAID arrays in my dually do over 100MB/s), quiet, cool-running, and cheap (I bought them all when they had mail-in rebates for them).
Ditto.
Make sure that HDD is SATA (if your computer can support it)
good choices.....
just too bad the 74gb Raptors arent out yet.
lol o well
NewEgg prices on the WD2000JB (IDE) and WD2000JD (SATA)
WD2000JB: $181.00 USD
WD2000JD: $190.00 USD
Is $9 more on a large purchase like this going to hurt the bank, especially since the SATA drive offers marginally better performance, not to mention eliminating the need for those ass-ugly grey IDE cables?
Both drives offer 7200 RPM rotational rates, 8 MB cache and the same aureal density. The only thing different between them is that the JB uses the outdated IDE connection interface, while the JD uses the newer SATA-150 connection interface.
But... whatever floats your boat I guess.
I dont know what do you guys think i should do, upgrade my Motherboard, or just aget a SATA card?
-drasnor
Also Maxtor 160gb 8MB Cache drives are on sale for $80 after Rebate on Black Friday @ Staples (80GB 8MB Cache are $40 AR). I have two comps running them (160gb) in my 2 bedroom computers with no complaints from the missus. (One is watercooled, the other a SLK900 w Sunon 80mm 50cfm)
I was thinking...?!?!?!?
-- Abit NF7-S v2.0
-- I was wondering, is the Athlon 64 3200 an option or is it not compatible? or should i get somethign smaller. like the 3200/400?.. 64bit sounds fun ^_^
-- two - Serial ATA 250GB Western Digital
-- I have a spare 9700 pro Radeon i will use.
-- 3 PC3200 DDR 512meg ram chips (HyperX, or corsair)
-- Gigabit Eithernet Card (im on a 1.5meg line)(Not sure what I should get brand wise or not havent looked into it enough.)
-- hp dvd writer 300i
what do you guys think?
Athlon64 is not compatible, but a viable option. It's one of the fastest chips. If you want Athlon64 3200+, I suggest an Abit K8V-MAX3 board.
Good choice on HDDS.
Good choice on video.
I would suggest Corsair be firmed up as your option for memory.
I would suggest an Intel gigabit eithernet card, although you don't even need it, even on a hyper-fast college LAN.
That DVD writer is rated as one of the worst. I still suggest a Pioneer DVR-A06 which dutifully serves members of this community, and has been ranked, with its predecessors, in the top 3 time and time again.
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but SiS has released a brand new Athlon 64 Chipset that currently offers the BEST performance, faster than the NForce 3 150 Pro and the Via K8T800. While the NForce 3 150 runs the HyperTransport links at less then the required speed, the new SiS755 chipset runs it at 800 MHz, offering better speed and stability compared to the NForce3. Yes, the VIA K8T800 runs the HyperTransport link at 800 MHz, but does not offer locked AGP/PCI divisors.
As well, the new SiS755 chipset is the FIRST Athlon 64 chipset to introduce locked AGP/PCI divisors while operating at 800 Mhz HyperTransport. In Anandtech's benchmarking of the SiS755, it provided the FASTEST TO DATE performance out of the Athlon 64. Memory latency was the lowest ever seen and content creation & general usage benchmarks offered the highest performance.
http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1922
The only downside? Because of the increased speed of the HyperTransport link, the SiS755 based boards won't overclock as well.
Other than that, the Dual WD2500JD drives, Radeon 9700 Pro, Corsair XMS memory, an Intel 1000/MT gigabit ethernet card and Pioneer DVR-A06 DVD-Burner will suit you well.
Think about it, only networking is 10Mb, normal is 100Mb and Gigabit suprisingly is 1000Mb, meaning your 1.5Mb net is only going to, under super max situations, ever use 1.5 of the 10/100/1000.
So the Gigabit card really isn't necessary unless you are buying a Gigabit switch and hub too (unless you are going to do a crossover to another machine).
NS
Well... I suppose it depends on if you will be overclocking. The newest Athlon XP Barton CPU's can no longer be multiplier unlocked (ie, when running 166x10, that 10 can't be changed, only the 166 can).
Personally, the Barton 2600's look nice and perform well and are a decent price. However, if you want a little more performance out of your CPU without overclocking, go for the 2800 or 3000. I wouldn't spend the amount of money for the 3200 yet, but it's getting down to a more reasonable price level.
ABIT IC7-MAX3 1.0
It's the fastest performing i875P board available, offering the fastest performance for the 800 MHz FSB P4 CPU's.
6 SATA Ports, with possibility of RAID across all of them, IDE RAID, IDE-133, Outside Thermal Exhaust System (OTES) to help contain MOSFET heat, integrated Intel CSA Gigabit Ethernet, the most customizable BIOS available and Optical In/Out 6-Channel Integrated Sound.
The only things I have a quam with this board are the fact that it won't deliver the advertised 3.2V of VDIMM. The max I've been able to get up to is 2.9V. Any higher than that and the voltage fluctuates wildly, causing severe instability.
Second, because of the OTES system, certain heatsinks will NOT fit on this board, mainly the SLK-900, SLK-800 and Swiftech MCX478. The Zalman's fit without a problem, and ThermalRight's SP94 works like a charm (it's what I use).
Really, other than that, I'm insanely impressed with this board, considering I've always been an Asus motherboard user. This was my first ABIT board ever purchased (as a replacement for my Asus P4C800-E Deluxe which suffered from an MCH failure) and I'll definately be considering ABIT boards from now on.
For the Pentium 4 "C's", you simply cannot get a motherboard that offers more features or better performance than the IC7-MAX3.
One thing though is that this board is pricey as hell. NewEgg carries it for $179.99 USD, which is substantially cheaper than the price I paid a month ago ($314.99 CDN).