Re: Building my own PC -- hardware advice needed

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From: John Blaustein (no_at_spam.com)
Date: 06/13/04 

Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 20:53:29 -0700

SSDD,

Thanks for the comments.

I'm leaning towards an ASUS vs. Intel MoBo because my current ASUS PIII MoBo
has worked so well. In addition, I read a comment on either ExtremeTech.com
or Tomshardware.com suggesting that ASUS boards are better than Intel's. I
have to confess that basing my decision on one negative comment is pretty
lame! I'll look at the board you mention on the Intel site. In either
case, I will stick with the 875 chipset.

Regarding the hard drives -- to be honest, I don't know what RAID is! I've
seen that mentioned repeatedly, but I'm not sure what it means. Can my
WD1200JB drives be connected to the MoBo via RAID, or would I need new
drives? I know that there is either EIDE or SATA, but I'm not clear whether
RAID only works with SATA drives? Perhaps you can explain this.

I do understand that my current drives may not be the fastest, but for the
moment at least, I want to use them on my new system since I already have
them. I certainly agree with you that my EIDE drives won't load and save
large Photoshop files as fast as the SATA drives, but the main improvement
I'm looking for is how the PC processes Photoshop files once they are open.

By the way, can you comment on my questions about how much I should spend on
RAM?

Again, thanks for your time and comments.

John

"SSDD" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1bde101c450f5$644cc960$a001280a@phx.gbl...
> Building your own PC is fun and you'll be better off in
> the long run. Good luck!
>
> As far as hardware goes, you've got a pretty decent
> selection going. ASUS is a good Motherboard.
>
> However...(my favorite word) Intel makes their own
> motherboard, supporting their own chipsets, supporting
> their own processors. You don't get any more rock-solid
> stability than that. Also cheaper. TigerDirect is selling
> the Intel DB875PBZLK for 139 I believe. That MoBo is
> actually on my wishlist. It also has applications built
> into BIOS to improve throughput of data. All for cheaper
> than your ASUS selections. The 875 Chipset is an
> improvement over the 865 and well worth the money. I
> can't list everything to you right now, but go to
> Intel.com and you can find all sorts of info on it.
>
> You've picked a good processor, have your own video card.
> The only other suggestion I'd make are your hard drives.
> You have 2, do you use them for RAID?
>
> The Motherboard I described above also has it's own RAID
> controller and S-ATA interface.
>
> S-ATA with it's 1.5 GB/s interface set up on RAID 0 would
> give you an incredible boost in performance when loading
> pictures. Western Digital makes some great S-ATA drives.
> I have 2 WD Raptors (74 gig S-ATA) on the way as I write
> this. A note: if you make this your choice, buy directly
> from Western Digital. Buying from newegg or tigerdirect
> will be considerably more expensive.
>
> Other than that, you've got yourself a good system plan.
> Good luck to you putting this together. It's exciting
> building your own system. Especially when you fire it up
> the first time.
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Hi,
> >
> >I'm not sure this is the right place to be asking about
> hardware selection,
> >but if it isn't, perhaps someone will point me in the
> right direction. If
> >it is the right place to ask, I'll appreciate any
> comments anyone is willing
> >to share.
> >
> >I am going to build my own PC -- first time I've done
> this. My main use of
> >the PC that requires power and speed is Photoshop CS. I
> will not do any
> >gaming or anything else that requires 3D graphics.
> >
> >Having had two PCs with ASUS motherboards that worked
> very well, I will
> >stick with ASUS.
> >
> >Here's what I'm planning:
> >
> >Intel P4 3.0 Ghz CPU
> >Matrox G450 graphic card (perfect for Photoshop)
> >2 -- Western Digital WD1200JB EIDE drives (I have these
> already)
> >1 -- Plextor CD/DVD burner (I have this already)
> >Floppy drive
> >Faxmodem
> >LAN and Audio built into MB
> >USB and Firewire ports
> >Antec case w/350w power supply
> >
> >My questions concern choice of motherboard and RAM.
> >
> >The motherboards I'm considering are:
> >
> >ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe -- 875C chipset -- $169 (at
> newegg.com)
> >ASUS P4C800 Deluxe -- 875C chipset -- $163
> >ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe -- 865PE chipset -- $116
> >
> >The specs of these three MBs seem almost identical, so
> I'm wondering if
> >anyone has experience with these boards who could give
> me a reason to select
> >one versus another. I'm not clear on what I'd get with
> the $169 board that
> >the $116 board wouldn't give me. In other words, is the
> extra money worth
> >spending? (I don't need WiFi which the P4P800-E Deluxe
> has included.) I am
> >not clear about the differences between the 875C and
> 865PE chipsets, and
> >what those differences, if any, will mean to me as the
> end user. Also, I
> >can't tell the difference between the P4C800-E Deluxe
> and the P4C800 Deluxe.
> >
> >RAM:
> >I will buy PC3200 RAM, 1GB or 2GB of RAM -- all of the
> MBs above will hold 4
> >DIMMS. Checking Kingston RAM prices on newegg.com,
> there are several
> >choices of 1GB (2x512) packages, ranging from ValueRAM
> at $194 to HyperX at
> >$282. I know I need to buy matched pairs of DIMMS. I'm
> not clear on the
> >difference between the ValueRAM and the HyperX, other
> than the price. Both
> >have very similar specs. I want good, fast, stable RAM,
> but I don't want to
> >spend any more than I need to. Any help or
> recommendations?? (I used
> >Kingston as my example, but Crucial and Corsair have the
> same range. These
> >three brands have been recommended to me.)
> >
> >Thanks for any help, recommendations and comments.
> >
> >John
> >
> >
> >.
> >

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