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SpaceSpank -> RE: Any computer nerds here? (8/31/2012 5:40:52 AM)
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You need to be careful with this. Some consumer drives actually get REALLY flaky in RAID arrays. Some are so bad that the drives will literally kill themselves within a few months or less of use.
The vast majority of people are better off getting 1 good SSD (solid state) hard drive for the OS and main applications. You can then get a cheap but huge normal platter drive to toss whatever else onto. Can be internal or external or both.
For a more general sense. Any halfway decent computer with quality parts will last a decade easy in terms of just running. No computer will ever last more than a couple years and still be able to benchmark (performance) as good as a then current computer. Video cards and CPU's advance at least once a year with a major upgrade, sometimes even more than once.
So my checklist for a good pc:
1) Find a good case with enough room to work in. Make sure it has a drop down or removable motherboard tray. You will thank yourself later for this.
2) Motherboard. Decide if you want an AMD or Intel CPU. The intels will perform better but cost more. Once you look at those you can then look at other features. I find the gigabyte, asus, and intel boards to all be pretty solid performers. Many come with a build in soundcard that is good, as well as built in ethernet (network card). These both tend to be fine. If they do not have one/both of these realize you will need to get them separately. Some have a built in video card as well, but it's junk compared to a full featured card.
3) CPU. Regardless of if you went Intel or AMD there's some common things here. Within the Same CPU family there tend to be 3 factors that will impact performance the most. Clock Speed (like 2.4Ghz). Cache size (such as 4Mb cache), and number of cores and threads (such as 4 core hyper or multi threading). The higher/more of each of those the better the CPU generally is in relation to its peers. Depending just what you are looking to do, some of these will matter more than others. Many just look at the clock speed, but that is much less important than the other factors for a number of applications.
4) RAM. The motherboard you get will determine the type and form factor of the RAM. If you look at the motherboard specifications in detail they will generally list the speeds and timings it supports as well as their "validated" brands. This means they test with these brands so it's usually a safe bet to go with them. Micron, crucial, OCZ are all good brands, but there are others. You will want a minimum of 8GB of ram, but I'd go for ~16GB. Get the one with the fastest speeds your motherboard supports as well as the lowest timings (will usually be listed with numbers like 2-2-2 or 2-2-2-2 they often leave the last number off however).
5) Video card. ATI or Geforce, both are good, but I've had better luck with the Geforce cards the last couple of years. If you're not playing the latest and greatest games either will do fine. If you're doing some serious gaming you will probably want a multi Video card setup. You will then need to check which your motherboard supports (ATI crossfire, geforce SLI, or both). The "best" videocards and models at any given time changes a lot, and is honestly its own topic.
6) Power supply. Often overlooked greatly. Make sure it's a good powersupply. The wattage is important, but that's not the only factor to look at. There's plenty of really cheap high wattage PSU's out there that are garbage and prone to failure. There are reviews of current PSU's just like any other component out there. I would also look into one that is a modular PSU. All that means is that all the connectors are detachable, and it makes it far less cluttered since you only hook up what you need.
7)Cooling. If your CPU doesn't come with a cooling fan, or it sucks. Then you need one. There are some that are "clip on" that fit, but can be a royal pain in the ass to get on right. I've found the bracket types to work better. You just need to install them at the same time you are putting in the motherboard. But aside from that, they are much easier to install and replace (so long as the same bracket is reusable).
8) Hard drives. As mentioned. I'd go for 1 SSD drive, and one standard platter drive for data. Brands, pricing, and capacities all change frequently. Like video cards you basically need to look at reviews right as you're looking to buy to see which ones are the best. This isn't "as" true with the standard platter drives, but with SSD's they are relatively new and changing frequently.
9) Monitor. Wanting a touch screen monitor will narrow your choices greatly. Just look for one of the ones available when looking and then see which of them has the best reviews as well as the sizes you want. If you opt to not go the touchscreen route, there's a bunch of choices out there, and you would need to narrow down what you're looking for in a display.
10) Everything else. Mouse, keyboard, Optical drives, and other such items all fit in here. These don't matter as much as they are pretty easy to replace, and generally cheap. These will all fit into whatever needs you have. Wireless desktop, ergonomic keyboard, blu ray, or if DVD is fine, etc.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Tumblweed
Four drives in a stiped/split array. One T apiece and the four of them give you two terebytes that is TWICE AS FAST as a single drive. It takes four drives but they are getting cheaper every day.
RAM ? You can't have too much RAM with W7, which I will never use. With XP 4 gig is the max, but you can have a hundred gig if you want for all I care.
Then go spend a grand or two on software.
Go right ahead.
Weed
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