| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Bedpan-OMO |
Posted - Jan 27 2007 : 08:54:19
Well, tax time will enable Panman’s upgrade process:
Keep AMD 64 x2 4800
Keep 2GB Corsair
Replace mobo with ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD
ADD Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
Replace worn out Pioneer DVD with Liteon 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe
Replace 7600 with “company not yet picked” GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Do all this as I install Vista 64 bit from scratch! (Oh the headaches)
That should hold me for another year when I’ll have to upgrade CPU/Mem/Mobo to a quad core !
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| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Bedpan-OMO |
Posted - Jan 30 2007 : 15:53:34
Ok I'll bite.
Why are you sticking with the 939 socket instead of AM2 and DDR2 memory?
Money! $1000 CPU and $200-$400 for new memory! |
| FuddyDud-OMO |
Posted - Jan 30 2007 : 10:27:11
Good point Speccy. Those 939's are going obsolete. However, there are lots of really powerfull 939 socket processors out there to keep a good system going at least until the next upgrade. |
| Specimen-OMO |
Posted - Jan 30 2007 : 09:16:27
Ok I'll bite.
Why are you sticking with the 939 socket instead of AM2 and DDR2 memory? |
| FuddyDud-OMO |
Posted - Jan 30 2007 : 08:54:23
I'll endorse the raptors Bedpan. Baggy and I use them. They are great drives.
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| Bedpan-OMO |
Posted - Jan 30 2007 : 07:35:04
Alright Older, since you are in the disk biz I'll take your recommendation.
I'll swap out the Cavier SE for a Raptor but I'm going
for the 76GB for cost reasons. Thx
So:
Keep AMD 64 x2 4800
Keep 2GB Corsair
Replace mobo with ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD
ADD Western Digital Raptor 76GB SATA 1.5Gb/s
Replace worn out Pioneer DVD with Liteon 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe
Replace 7600 with EVGA 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
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| Older- OMO |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 17:08:42
The Caviars also vary by model year with slightly faster performance with the most current firmware and mechanics. Also note the 2 letter designator as to whether it's the basic, RAID, special edition, etc. because that will have a big factor in performance as well. The higher end SE is the fastest with NCQ turned off (should never be on for most desktops).
Between the Raptor and the Caviar, the performance difference is huge. BTW, SATA I and SATA II is a load of guano. Companies aren't even supposed to market SATA II as an interface speed since it's only part of a spec, not anything close to the performance. Besides, for the most part, technology hasn't even saturated an ATA 100 interface. Remember ATA 100 implies 100 MB/s vs SATA at 1.5 or 3 Gb/s. A 1.5 Gb/s is really only a about 180 MB/s, so it really isn't much different than PATA 100/133. Besides, even the fastest SATA disks don't come close to the theroretical maximum of the 1.5, so 3 Gb/sec means absolutely nothing. As a general rule, the only advantage of SATA over PATA is smaller cables and hot plug. However, SATA drives are going to perform better because they have the latest areal density and mechanics.
Here's a head to head between your selection and the Raptor. For the most part, the Raptors are only slower than the fastest SCSI drives that cost a lot more. If 50% performance difference isn't interesting than, go with the basic. Granted you aren't going to notice it all the time, but when you system goes to the disk for data (boot, map loads, music or movie files, reading/writing large files), you will notice it. I would only upgrade if you are happy with CPU and GPU. Those are bigger bottlenecks and should be addressed first.
http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark/suite_v4.php?typeID=10&testbedID=4&osID=6&raidconfigID=1&numDrives=1&devID_0=311&devID_1=281&devCnt=2
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| Bedpan-OMO |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 13:24:24
Will do Specimen!
I do not have a PCI 16 mobo.
I'll dual partition Vista so I don't get caught in driver hell.
The Raptor is faster by a few micros, but it is 3x more money. It's also SATA 1 not SATA 2 which doesn't seem to hurt it at all. Do I really want to pay $230 vs $70 for a few seconds of time?????????? |
| Petrified-OMO |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 12:57:57
Well, one of the main issues with Vista right now is in the area of drivers. I would wait on Vista till service pack 1 comes out. You already are buying it off the shelf, so there is no point in not waiting. |
| BackPainOMO |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 10:27:11
I'd wait on Vista simply because MS doesn't know how to develop a operating system that isn't buggy as hell and full of security holes. Besides, I doubt it will make a hoot of difference on most games for at least a year.
If you buy it now, do it with the understanding you're a Beta Tester for MS. |
| Stingray |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 08:59:08
Do you already have a PCI 16 mobo?
I'm also going with a Raptor for my next upgrade. 10000 rpm vs 7200, you'll notice quicker load times. Once in game, you probably won't notice much difference though. Probably wouldn't hurt to have a faster HD with Vista as well, I hear it's big momma.
You can always add a second larger HD for storage if needed.
I was going to install Vista as well but have decided to wait. From what I've read it's gonna to take a nice chuck of your 2 gigs of ram, at least a lot more the what XP takes. Next system will probably need 4 gigs if your a gamer. |
| Specimen-OMO |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 05:30:53
I think thats the nVidia chipset for the northbridge and southbridge. There is the 570, 590 and 680 chipsets. From what I've read there is virtually no performance difference between the 570 and 590.
Pan check out the EVGA for the vid card, especially the warrantee.
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| Older- OMO |
Posted - Jan 27 2007 : 20:16:51
Lots of game loading from your drive. When I switched from a Caviar, the load times decreased a lot. 150 GB is small? I only have my O/S, apps and random files loaded on a 80GB. All my media files are on a second disk.
The only reason I thought it had onboard graphics is it had nVdia listed in the name. |
| Bedpan-OMO |
Posted - Jan 27 2007 : 18:29:36
I can't see where the Raptor buys me much and it's so small. Convince me that the Raptor's performance will make a difference. And the mobo does not have on-board video. |
| Older- OMO |
Posted - Jan 27 2007 : 11:31:02
Change to a 150GB WD Raptor X from New Egg. Way better than th Caviar. I don't know the MOBO, but the description makes it look like it has onboard graphics. I would go with a standard board combined with your Vcard. |
