Sir VG's Computer Project 2006
 

I'm looking to build up a new computer, but I'm not sure exactly what I need, so I'm gonna call on the experts to help out.

Goal: To have a computer with plenty of room for HDs. I'm using HD coolers in everything, so I need mostly 5-1/4" bays, unless another method is found.

Subgoals: Upgrade to a 64-bit processor, use Water Cooling, start using SATA drives (I do have a ton of IDE, so we need to take that into account).

I don't need much for HD suggestions, I know where I'm going there. But I do need a motherboard/CPU/cooling suggestion and I can possibly start working from there.

Cooling? Well, the large Lian Li cases are pretty good with that, plus they have a ton of 5-1/4" bays, and the Cooler Master Stacker 830 is loaded with bays too. IIRC, it also has an insane amount of spaces for fans. Since I've never set up a water-cooled machine, I'll leave that for someone else.

If you really want to see a performance boost rather than going from IDE to SATA 1.5gbs, go up to SATA 3.0gbs but you need a MB compliant with that. SATA drives are far simpler to install and except for making one your boot drive (like my soon to arrive 74GB Raptor), they take 1 or 2 minutes to install.

That way you get faster data transfers without having to resort to a 10k drive. Do you sleep in the same room as this machine? Because a load of drives, even water cooloed will make a bunch of noise.

Seeing how the price is below $300, I'd suggest picking up an Athlon X2 3800+. It's great for multitasking, encoding and future use on the Vista OS (if you decide to upgrade). Also the Corsair Value RAM is great for the price. You can snag 1GB (2x512MB PC-3200 DDR) for ~$70 last time I checked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440

this is a great deal as sega.co.jp said; cas of 2.5 even.

if you're wanting some video card performance but don't want to spend much, i'd recommend a X800 GTO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102691

100 bucks for a 12-pipe card... not bad.

For the ultra cheap (but still able to run Quake 4) video card, go with a 7300GS or an ATI Radeon x1300. Both are under $100 and can give you 40fps on Quake 4 under the right conditions (the biggest condition being 800x600 resolution). I recommended the Corsair Value RAM becuase it's $68.99 and has five stars out of nearly 1200 (!) reviews.
It can be found and bought here.
Just think 2GB for only $138!

I'd say go with the x1300, as the 7300GS is too pricey for what you're getting when compared to ATI's solution. Either one is fine, especially if you don't like ATI's driver support.

Luckily I'm not playing Quake 4. The biggest concern is data transfer, storage, and temperature (for reliability). Most of my gaming is emulation at this point, so usually my most intense gaming is on ePSXe. I might go back to Neverwinter Nights sometime or Unreal Tournament, but I also want to check out the new hardware, as this is my business.

Go SCSI and you will NEVER turn back. :D

The Radeon x1300 would do fine for you (or a x1600) both ATI cards offer H.264 accelerated decoing for the new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. The x1300 runs a lot more quietly and cooler than the faster video cards too. Your money would be better spent on a good CPU, emulation depends much more on CPU speed than Video Card performance (even on newer emulators).
SCSI (and ATA) is a dying format. SATA and SAS (SAS is the heir to SCSI) are much better choices in the long run and most motherboards still have a few ATA ports anyways.

If you're going to use this computer to see Blu-Ray or HD-DVDs, I suggest you wait. Videocards need a certain physical HDCP cheap on them, and as of yet, none have it. You wouldn't be able to watch copyrighted flicks.

BTW, you would also need a compliant monitor.

I'm not gonna be dealing with Blue Ray or HD-DVD other than the PS3 (and Revolution if it's gonna use it). I mean, I finally just replaced my 20 year old Sears model TV with one that my parents gave me... >_>;;

It's not just Blu-Ray and HD-DVD that will use H.264, eventually both legal and illegal downloadable videos will use H.264 instead of the standard DivX or Xvid to produce DVD quality video at a much smaller size. Currently without H.264 acceleration, a top of the line system can barely decode high definition H.264, it wastes CPU cycles and power to decode H.264 the old fashined way when your video card can help (it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect to have H.264 decoding on a video card lighten the load by well over half of what your CPU normally takes on).

Oh, I know this already. The benefits that it brings are great, and it allows less capable systems the ability to play HD videos without whoring system resources. The thing is, even if it's encoded with H.264 without the HDCP chip on the video card and in the monitor, you won't be able to watch copyrighted HD streams since they'll be downgraded to 480p automatically.

Not a problem if you don't intend on watching them in the first place, but it's something to keep in mind.

VG, don't worry about the consoles. When they come around, just use component since you only need the HDCP crap for the BR movies.

So what have we got so far?

well if your gaming is just emulation right now, they're right, the 7300GS / X1300 should be fine.

did you think about getting the newest western digital raptor drives? only 150GB (and expensive), but they're fast.

If you want to get into watercooling, you can send me a PM. I've been doing it for 5 years. Oh yeah, and I have a SILVER waterblock for sale, for Athlon cores. Actually I have a BlackIce radiator, a car heatercore (works great as a radiator for your rig). Dye-lite UV colouring, quick disconnects, clamps, fans... pretty much anything you might need, for sale.

150GB is gonna weaken the system. All my drives in my systems save the OS drives are all 200GB. I don't want to go lower.

When I finalize a plan, I'll contact you for cooling stuff.

VG, why don't you just get 2 500GB 3.0 Gb/s drives? Not only would you get an insane speed boost to your transfer/read/write rates but you'd reduce the amount of physical space the drives take up.

And the heat output from those babies is pretty minimal.

Actually from what I've heard it will be downgraded to 540p in the case of Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs, which is 960x540 (1/4 the size of 1920x1080). That's better than DVD and will be much smaller than the full 1080p. Unlike with DVDs transcoding H.264 won't work well, because simply there isn't a format better than H.264 right now.

540p sound highly unlikely considering that they'd likely adopt one resolution that can be displayed across the board should the player find that the TV isn't HDCP compliant, or vice versa. It's as simple as this:

HDCP on both ends of the copyrighted data? It'll be output in whatever HD resolution it was set to be.

Lack of HDCP compliance on either the player end or monitor will cause it to default to standard DVD resolution. Throwing in 540p would just complicate things.

I've heard that from CPU Magazine, a very reliable source with tech industry professionals who know what they're talking about. Check this article for a 2nd opionion. Of course who even uses the full 720x480 resolution on DVD rips anyways? I'm lucky to find a DivX/XviD rip that looks good at 640x480.
Bottom line, though the x1300 is good for gaming and great for multimedia. Just don't expect to play every game at 1600x1200 and you'll be happy.

This case is one i've had an eye on myself for a while, since my current system struggles for cooling at the moment. This thing has a ton of bays and they're cooled with 120mm fans so I don't think you'd even need to use HD coolers if you went with this. The only drawback for this level of quality is the price it seems.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-tj07.htm

Actually, he'd save quite a bit by buying an Antec P180. It's a midtower, but it's a tad taller than typical cases in that range. It's got a similar setup, costs less, it's interior is made of steel which reduces the amount of vibration noise from drives within the case. Throw in the noise reducing aluminum panels (with sound dampening plastic in between) on the sides, speed controlled 120mm fans all around, isolated PSU wind tunnel, rubber grommets for reduced drive vibration in all HDD bays and a copious amount of rails and you've got one hell of a case.

Here's the official site:

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81800

SilentPCReview did an extensive review of the case, and even recorded several setups, first in another case and then in the P180. The difference is amazing and this is with stock fans, not Nexus ones. Oh and it runs pretty damn cool, thanks to the large, silent fans and excellent airflow throughout the case.