PearOfAnguish wrote: Outclass me, why don't you!  I was actually wondering about 4GB rather than two, but from all I've read it doesn't really make much difference yet (at least in games). As for the hard-drives - how useful is it to buy two, with one being a Raptor? Gimmicky or really useful? |
New PC advice, pretty please • Page 2
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Whizzo 44,810 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 20 years agoUnless you use a 64bit OS you won't have all 4gig usable.
Not much point going over 3gig for 32bit XP/Vista. -
PearOfAnguish 7,573 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 17 years agoI find it very useful - but not as a RAID. I have a Raptor 150 as my primary drive and a couple of high capacity drives (250 Hitachi and 120 Samsung) for storage, with Vista on a 74GB Raptor. I install newer games on the Raptors, and use the other drives for storing downloads and older games that don't need super-speedy disks for loading.
I know you can get huge 750GB disks now, but I don't like the idea of losing that amount of data should it fail, prefer to have multiple smaller drives.
It's also useful to keep the Windows Swap File on a separate hard disk, that can give you a small performance boost. I have some spare Compact Flash cards so I'm going to experiment putting them in RAID 0 with IDE adapters and use it as a scratch disk for the swap.
Edited by PearOfAnguish at 13:58:43 18-04-2007 -
Mike_Hunt 23,524 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 19 years agoWhizzo wrote:
Says Mr £3000 PC!
Mike's obviously stealing money from cashpoints.
[MH] -
Mike_Hunt 23,524 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 19 years agorichardiox wrote:
Yeah, not pushed it completely, just had a play about using the Asus software. It's very easy to do.
Have you overclocked the E4300 mike?
[MH] -
What specs does Whizzo have again? Can't buy a PC later and have anything worse! 
Managed to avoid the glowing "order" button so far, btw.
/wibble -
silentbob 29,527 posts
Seen 1 year ago
Registered 19 years agoPearOfAnguish wrote:
This is what I'd recommend. It does make me laugh when I see piles of awesome specs, and then someone'll just sling whatever hard drive in there too. Nothign like having skynet sitting waiting for your 40MB Maxtor to trundle data of it's platters.
I find it very useful - but not as a RAID. I have a Raptor 150 as my primary drive and a couple of high capacity drives (250 Hitachi and 120 Samsung) for storage, with Vista on a 74GB Raptor. I install newer games on the Raptors, and use the other drives for storing downloads and older games that don't need super-speedy disks for loading.
I know you can get huge 750GB disks now, but I don't like the idea of losing that amount of data should it fail, prefer to have multiple smaller drives.
It's also useful to keep the Windows Swap File on a separate hard disk, that can give you a small performance boost. I have some spare Compact Flash cards so I'm going to experiment putting them in RAID 0 with IDE adapters and use it as a scratch disk for the swap.
Edited by PearOfAnguish at 13:58:43 18-04-2007
Fastest possible disk as a system disk, and I would never advocate RAID0 for performance benefits. The risk is simply too high, and wiht a good controller with a decent HDD (high cache supporting NCQ) you should be fine.
By the way - Hitachi have released their 1TB disks with Seagate soon to follow. Not as pricey as you'd think either.
Anyway, it's good all of you are upgrading now. It means in 4 months time when I get around to it MINE WILL PWN ALL!!!! -
PearOfAnguish 7,573 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 17 years agoI would never advocate RAID0 for performance benefits.
No, RAID 0 is pointless. Yet a large number of retail systems come pre-configured with a RAID, as though the average Dell customer is going to need or want it. -
silentbob 29,527 posts
Seen 1 year ago
Registered 19 years agoIt's a worrying trend. Thank fuck I'm not in the PC repair business any more.
Boom time for data recovery specialists though! -
silentbob 29,527 posts
Seen 1 year ago
Registered 19 years agoblizeH wrote:
That's two uses yes.
I don't even really know what Raid does, is it not something like you can either mirror drives as a backup, or combine them into one big drive?
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks.
RAID0 = Striping
RAID1 = Mirroring
RAID5 = Striping with parity
RAID10 = Sripe of mirrors
..and not I'm not going to go into what that all means 'cos I'm too bone idle..gif)
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captain_cupcake 334 posts
Seen 12 years ago
Registered 15 years ago- RAID
(well I liked it)
PC sounds good Lou. Nearly as nice as mine, heh -
President_Weasel 12,355 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 17 years agoThe seasonic m12 700 is the best power supply.
All other units which supply power to PCs are not as good. -
silentbob 29,527 posts
Seen 1 year ago
Registered 19 years agoPresident Weasel wrote:
Yodafied!
Seasonic m12 700 the best power supply is.
All other units which supply power to PCs as good are not.
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Whizzo 44,810 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 20 years agoUncleLou wrote:
E6600, Asus P5N-E, Creative X-Fi Xtreme, 2 Gig RAM, Sapphire X1950XTX, 320gig HD, Sony DVD-ROM + Sony DVD-RW. Oh and a case.
What specs does Whizzo have again? Can't buy a PC later and have anything worse!
Running XP-MCE at the moment, my Home Premium Vista disc is on the way but I'll be dual booting.
Edited by Whizzo at 18:43:03 18-04-2007 -
Whizzo 44,810 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 20 years agoMike_Hunt wrote:Says Mr £3000 PC!
1K on IFC too! -
Scimarad 9,964 posts
Seen 22 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoI want to get a new PC but I haven't got the slightest idea what sort of MoBo to get 
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Clive Dunn wrote:
E6420's out next week if you want to save a bit of cash and invest in a slightly better GPU ?
Is speed the only difference between the E6420 and E6600 ? -
Freek 7,682 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 18 years agoJust got a new PC aswell, E6600, no complaints.
Still "only" an Asus 7900 GS, I'd like a DX10 card but diden't have the cash for it.
Still, the games run really nice and look great on my Iiyama prolite E19000WS.
It's amazing how fast you turn into a graphics whore once you get a new PC after having a slow one for years.
Dual booting is a smart move, still not quite used to Vista (in XP at the momment).
Coulden't even get bitt torrent working in it.
And Tiberium Wars is installed on it but has mystereriously dissapeared, no start up icons or short cutts anywhere.
The only way to play it is to either directly start it up from the game directory or putt in the disc. -
None of them has a graphics card I'd recommend at the moment - although I imagine something with the one on the bottom right must be wrong - a 7600 GT? And it's 150quid more expensive than the one next to it with a better card, but almost identical specs?
Wouldn't recommend AMD at the moment, either - the Intel Core2Duos are cheap anyway, and do a lot better at benchmarks.
edit:
Oops, missed the SLI bit - still, two 7600 GTS? Hm. I guess you'll be much better off with a 8800 GTS.
Edited by UncleLou at 10:37:24 14-05-2007 -
Mapster wrote:
Computers need to be rated out of 10, just like a game so I don't need to read all the guff to find out if it's any good or not
That's what MS are trying to do with Vista.
/kicks 3.8 rated machine -
I still don't get the link, Mappy. There's a 5 quid price difference between the two AMD models, but a 150 or so between the Intels. Why? I really think there's something seriously messed up. Or maybe I just need more coffee. -
Aga 2,148 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 18 years agoAsus card with a nvidia chipset Lou, and some matching memory like Corsair should do the trick. -
Aga wrote:
Asus card with a nvidia chipset Lou, and some matching memory like Corsair should do the trick.
Cheers - thread's a few weeks old now though, and I've so far succesfully resisted. Only a matter of time now though. -
Salaman 24,162 posts
Seen 6 days ago
Registered 17 years agoDon't do it Lou. The old beast will be fine for another year at least!
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DO YOU WANT THIS DVE OR WHAT YOU LAZY TWAT!?
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