Need help to complete Skybuck's 2005 (dream) PC design ;)

OK.. Whoa.. Thats quite a system....
lets take a smaller summary look shall we?
AMD64x2 4800+
MB - Undetermined, needs SLI... (Abit Fatal1ty-Sli looks good to me)
4Gb Ram DDR400
2Tbs (500Gbx4) SATA Hds..
CD-RW (Ide)
DVD+/-RW (DL) (SATA)

Well for starters you got a problem in your setup
5 SATA Drives.. only 4 SATA ports... I have YET to see a board with 5
or 6 SATA ports.. Either keep the DVD and lose 1-2 Hds as SATA.. or
just get an IDE DVDburner..

I see this is a dream machine.. but realistically.. 50% of this will be
obsolete in about 3 years.. granted you can upgrade some things.. but
in time.. you'll be close to this point again.. And i hate to burst
your bubble.. but No matter how "High Quality" the part may be.. they
can and do still fail..

oh and you say your probally gonna have up to 3 network cards?!?!? this
gonna be a server or a toy? server.. thats fine and dandy... Toy...
Ditch them all and stick to one thats built into a MB...

ok.. now to answer your questions..
1. Box Vs OEM.. Box is as you would buy from a store, has a heatsink
and fan with it and already has a thermal compound on it. OEM No
Heatsink or fan.. just the CPU.. you'll have to buy your own Heatsink.
In either case, most power users, and seasoned computer builders dont
trust that pre-installed compound and take it off to apply something
alot better.. like Artic silver 5..

2. 1GB Lan cards will only attain the speed if ALL the cards in the
network are 1GB.. Your Cable will come in at 5MB Tops.. rather
pointless unless in a corporate enviroment.

3. There are Cheaper low end and "hybrid" SLI Graphic cards that would
use that..

4. and 7. - externally.. no you cannot plug a usb cable into a Firewire
port.. unless you really force it.. internally.. they are the same
shape connector.. How can it damage.. easy.. power goes both ways..
take 12V and pop it into your 5v line.. look at it fry...mmmm Crispy..

5. In a system like yours.. Get a name brand Antec, Enermax, or Sparkle
PSU and get 500W with a HIGH 12v+ Amp rails..

6. if your using an add on card, then its possibly refering to inputs
for non-standard sources.. you should be fine in that case of a CD
playing..

8. The power supply has an on/off switch on it as well now.. pluging in
while on "CAN" cause a surge.. espcially with a big PSU Like you gonna
need.. you may see the lights flicker when you power on..

9. Unfortuatly, if you press the button on the front you computer will
NOT just pop and go right off.. the OS will stop it from doing so to
prevent damag and data loss.. you must hold for 5+ seconds to just make
it pop off, but dont do it if you can avoid it.. you have a reset
button for a reason.. use it sparingly though..

10. Yes or no... Yes you can have ONLY SATA Hard Drives in the
computer.. BUT.. I've had problems using Pre-SP2 XP install disks to
install the OS as XP pre-SP1 or SP2 didn't have native installer
support for SATA drives, and needed a floppy drive to install it.. (get
a floppy drive just in case.. I've not installed using an SP2 Disk yet)

Now for Recommendations..
Cables - Most of the parts you will buy will have its cables with it..
you will have left over cables.
Screws - See Cables

Cases and Power Supplies - Goto www.newegg.com, Antec, Enermax,
Sparkle, Thermaltake, Coolermaster, and a few others are really good..
read the reviews.

Networking devices.. if splitting Broadband internet (cable/dsl or
better) then get a router from either Linksys, D-link, or Netgear. and
split it all that way.. if you were gonna split the internet through
this computer.. save your money on all those extra network cards.. the
router is a better, faster, safer and more secure idea...

That looks like it answered the most of your questions..

"Sparex" wrote in message
oups.com...
OK.. Whoa.. Thats quite a system....
lets take a smaller summary look shall we?
AMD64x2 4800+
MB - Undetermined, needs SLI... (Abit Fatal1ty-Sli looks good to me)

Ok I'll look into it.

4Gb Ram DDR400
2Tbs (500Gbx4) SATA Hds..
CD-RW (Ide)
DVD+/-RW (DL) (SATA)
Well for starters you got a problem in your setup
5 SATA Drives.. only 4 SATA ports... I have YET to see a board with 5
or 6 SATA ports.. Either keep the DVD and lose 1-2 Hds as SATA.. or
just get an IDE DVDburner..

I have seen manuals of asus or gigabyte motherboards (can't remember which
maybe both) which have 8 sata connectors.

4 "normal" sata connectors and 4 "raid" sata connectors.

These motherboards have build in raid support so it seems they are trying to
promote raid "as the way to go lol".

So for me there are 3 possibilities:

1. Four seperate logical harddisks.
2. One big logical harddisk (just a bunch of disks combined opposite of
raid)
3. One big raid harddisk.

I do have a question about option 2.

Is it possible to expand the size of the logical disk by simply adding more
harddisks ?

Suppose I go for option 2 one big disks. Then I could use the special 4 raid
sata connectors. However first I would like to use just one special sata
connector
hopefully that's possible

So that leaves the other 4 sata connectors and 2 ide connectors free to be
used for what ever purpose


I see this is a dream machine.. but realistically.. 50% of this will be
obsolete in about 3 years.. granted you can upgrade some things.. but

Yes I agree with you upon this point. That's why my strategy/tactic is to
stuff it full with the best of best at the moment so that I don't need to
upgrade.

The socket 939 seems to be at the end of it's road. So future AMD processors
will probably use a new socket.

So this would prevent me from upgrading to a different processor in the
future which is a real bitch limitation

Also the DDR I memory architecture is supposed to be replaced by the
somewhat slower DDRII access memory.

So in the future these DDR I modules might become more expensive because
they not produced anymore.

All motherboards which I have seen so far only have 4 memory slots ? with
current supported memory modules this allows 4 GB as a maximum which for a
maximum is not a lot.

Though memory requirements are under 1 GB mostly today so maybe 4 GB will be
enough for the coming years

in time.. you'll be close to this point again.. And i hate to burst
your bubble.. but No matter how "High Quality" the part may be.. they
can and do still fail..

No I think 3 to 5 years is a good estimate. And yes they could fail but I
hope not

oh and you say your probally gonna have up to 3 network cards?!?!? this
gonna be a server or a toy? server.. thats fine and dandy... Toy...
Ditch them all and stick to one thats built into a MB...

Depends... I like having at least 2 network cards in them.

One for the internet and one for the local network.

However as you pointed out below getting/using a switch only requires one
network card.

But still... what if I want a private network

So whatever the case might be having 2 network cards in the PC is the way to
go

With utp cross over cable it's always easy to connect two pc's quickly
togather to transfer
some files for example while the other network card can still be used to
surf the net

The reason to get seperate network cards is too unload the CPU a bit.

The onboard network chips etc probably use some CPU etc... and maybe the
onboard network chips dont achieve full throughput ?

Seperate network cards might also have other nice features like
"scatter/gather" or other stuff which onboard chips might not have.

ok.. now to answer your questions..
1. Box Vs OEM.. Box is as you would buy from a store, has a heatsink
and fan with it and already has a thermal compound on it. OEM No

Weird, you mean the paste is already applied, won't that dry up like that ?

Why don't they completely mount it, or leave it completely seperate with a
paste tube ?

Heatsink or fan.. just the CPU.. you'll have to buy your own Heatsink.
In either case, most power users, and seasoned computer builders dont
trust that pre-installed compound and take it off to apply something
alot better.. like Artic silver 5..

Hmm ok good tip.

I can always get some extra paste stuff like that... however I do hope the
manufacturer tested it's own "compound" while the artic silver 5 might be
less well tested ??? or maybe even more by all the builders ?

2. 1GB Lan cards will only attain the speed if ALL the cards in the
network are 1GB.. Your Cable will come in at 5MB Tops.. rather
pointless unless in a corporate enviroment.

Yes I understand that, though it would be cool if my private network was 1
GB lan.

Suppose I dont have a private lan and an internet lan but just one big lan.

Suppose I connect my cable modem to a switch and all other computers to this
switch as well.

Surely it's still possible for the computers to communicate at 1 GB speeds
through the switch like a local lan ?


3. There are Cheaper low end and "hybrid" SLI Graphic cards that would
use that..

Hmm ok... euhm SLI ? I saw only one black small slot

So the other card would have to go in an pci express slot ?


4. and 7. - externally.. no you cannot plug a usb cable into a Firewire
port.. unless you really force it.. internally.. they are the same
shape connector.. How can it damage.. easy.. power goes both ways..
take 12V and pop it into your 5v line.. look at it fry...mmmm Crispy..

Ok, so while connecting the usb and firewire stuff internally it can screw
up.

I haven't looked at firewire... I think I dont really need it... but it
might be nice to have just in case
me or somebody else has like a digital camera or something

Do I need to get a seperate fireware card or thingy or is it included with
the case or motherboard ?


5. In a system like yours.. Get a name brand Antec, Enermax, or Sparkle
PSU and get 500W with a HIGH 12v+ Amp rails..

Rails ?


6. if your using an add on card, then its possibly refering to inputs
for non-standard sources.. you should be fine in that case of a CD
playing..

No that was from the motherboard manual... about the internal audio
connectors being disabled when playing sound in 8 channel audio mode.

That could mean cd's can't be played while using 8 channel audio mode.


8. The power supply has an on/off switch on it as well now.. pluging in
while on "CAN" cause a surge.. espcially with a big PSU Like you gonna
need.. you may see the lights flicker when you power on..

9. Unfortuatly, if you press the button on the front you computer will
NOT just pop and go right off.. the OS will stop it from doing so to
prevent damag and data loss.. you must hold for 5+ seconds to just make
it pop off, but dont do it if you can avoid it.. you have a reset
button for a reason.. use it sparingly though..

The motherboard bios should have an option to turn off the computer while
simply pressing the power button for one second or so.

My current motherboard/bios can do this

No need to hold the button for 5 seconds what's so ever.

What would happen if it's only held for 1 second... probably sleep mode or
**** like that... that's how I wrecked a motherboard once, it's a stupid
invention etc.

People expect the power to be turned off by just pressing once.

Suppose somebody comes into my room wants to turn off the computer and
pressess the button once... it goes to sleep mode
lights keep burning, guy/girl panicks presses the button again and again and
again, thereby wrecking the computer - nasty problem

Ofcourse it won't be a problem since I'll make damn sure it's configured
right in the first place =D


10. Yes or no... Yes you can have ONLY SATA Hard Drives in the
computer.. BUT.. I've had problems using Pre-SP2 XP install disks to
install the OS as XP pre-SP1 or SP2 didn't have native installer
support for SATA drives, and needed a floppy drive to install it.. (get
a floppy drive just in case.. I've not installed using an SP2 Disk yet)

Hmm as long as their is a bootable CD ide drive I dont think floppy drives
should be necessary.

The necessary drives or extra files could be supplied on a CD.

Though this is a good point.

Windows xp 32 bit is kinda old for this new stuff.

The question is if windows xp 64 bit edition has support for these newer
sata drives.

Though in case I want a windows xp 32 bit boot partition this problem is
definetly worth looking into some more
to see if a floppy disk is really needed or if it can be done via CD's only


Ofcourse this would require a IDE CD drive... otherwise "we" sata only users
would be screwed lol.

Now for Recommendations..
Cables - Most of the parts you will buy will have its cables with it..
you will have left over cables.

Screws - See Cables

This is what I am most worried about... the little things like screws.

Last time I bought a harddisk.. it didn't come with matching screws.

How do I make sure I have all the necessary little things like matching
screws etc ????

I would prefer not having to go to my local store again for these little
things...

Maybe a screw pack can be bought somewhere... though it would be best
if it came with the harddisk in the first place etc =D


Cases and Power Supplies - Goto www.newegg.com, Antec, Enermax,
Sparkle, Thermaltake, Coolermaster, and a few others are really good..
read the reviews.

Networking devices.. if splitting Broadband internet (cable/dsl or
better) then get a router from either Linksys, D-link, or Netgear. and
split it all that way.. if you were gonna split the internet through
this computer.. save your money on all those extra network cards.. the
router is a better, faster, safer and more secure idea...

That looks like it answered the most of your questions..

Not really, it had some good points.

Though it's too general... I need details and clear instructions.

Where to get the screws ? What kind of screws ? What about mounting devices
are those needed for these harddisks ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Sparex" wrote in message
oups.com...
OK.. Whoa.. Thats quite a system....
lets take a smaller summary look shall we?
AMD64x2 4800+
MB - Undetermined, needs SLI... (Abit Fatal1ty-Sli looks good to me)

Actually I just noticed something else.

This fatality motherboard does not have a parallel printer port ???

I am from an ancient era when they still used parallel printer ports I still
have such a printer

an NEC P20 lol.

My parents have a modern printer though... I think it uses USB or
something... needed special cable
for it as well which probably wasn't develired with the printer... Can't
remember though... I think I had to go buy it oh well.

The P20 nec printer sometimes produces some weird characters when drawing a
diagram

The damn thing never printed well in dos... specially not with chain paper
lol... but with manual feeded lose papers and windows drivers it prints
quite well for such an old shabby printer lol.

Though I should get a really cheap new printer just to print something in
black once half a year or so =D

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Sparex" wrote in message
oups.com...
OK.. Whoa.. Thats quite a system....
lets take a smaller summary look shall we?
AMD64x2 4800+
MB - Undetermined, needs SLI... (Abit Fatal1ty-Sli looks good to me)
4Gb Ram DDR400
2Tbs (500Gbx4) SATA Hds..
CD-RW (Ide)
DVD+/-RW (DL) (SATA)

Well for starters you got a problem in your setup
5 SATA Drives.. only 4 SATA ports... I have YET to see a board with 5
or 6 SATA ports.. Either keep the DVD and lose 1-2 Hds as SATA.. or
just get an IDE DVDburner..

It seems this IDE DVD Rewriter can also read/write CD's etc...

So it's not even necessary to have a special CD Rewriter ?

Also I like this IDE version better, it's faster at re-writing and it's
cheaper

DVD Rewriter: Plextor PX-740A 16 x, 4 x, 16 x, White, Retail

Bye,
Skybuck.