[mcsmc]

I'm planning a new system that I will be building shortly. I want to make sure I have everything I need/want before I start and want to make sure everything is compatible before I actually buy it. However, while I've done quite a bit of upgrading on my current system, I've never built a system from scratch before so I would appreciate some help, specifically since this is the first time I've ever expored RAID options.

I specifically am wondering if anyone can assure me that the RAID controller and hard drives will be compatible with each other.

Here's the current list of hardware I want to purchase:

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-K8NS Ultra-939

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 3800+

RAM:
1GBx2 DDR PC3200

RAID Controller:
3ware 80062LPKIT PCI SATA Controller Card

Hard Drives:
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B250R0 250GB

I already have a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 graphics card, and a Creative Soundblaster Live! audio card which I will incorporate into the new system. Case, cooling fans, and etc. are still in the works. Any advice would be much appreciated.

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Looks like a wonderful system, just make sure you have sufficent cooling and a good powersupply... you should be very happy with this system, i would get a 450W minimum for this system if not more...you should be fine with the raid i think, still checking up on that...very impressed with this configuration, do you plan to overclock?

[Hemal]

Looks like a wonderful system, just make sure you have sufficent cooling and a good powersupply... you should be very happy with this system, i would get a 450W minimum for this system if not more...you should be fine with the raid i think, still checking up on that...very impressed with this configuration, do you plan to overclock?

[warriorscot]

Why are you spending all that money on a top of the range cpu and getting an old board and gfx card. If you are going to play games or do 3d rendering etc, you might want something a bit better. Also the upgrade potential is lowered by the nf3 board agp graphics are on the way out you might think of getting a pci-x gfx card cheap a 6600 isnt to pricey. Also nf4s come with onboard sata controller so a card isnt needed. Overclocking potential on nf4s is also very good.

My point is basically your mobo and gfx card arent inline with the way your gearing your new system in my opinion, cut back on cpu and invest else where to give you a more balanced system that can be upgraded later.

[mcsmc]

Why are you spending all that money on a top of the range cpu and getting an old board and gfx card. If you are going to play games or do 3d rendering etc, you might want something a bit better. Also the upgrade potential is lowered by the nf3 board agp graphics are on the way out you might think of getting a pci-x gfx card cheap a 6600 isnt to pricey. Also nf4s come with onboard sata controller so a card isnt needed. Overclocking potential on nf4s is also very good.

My point is basically your mobo and gfx card arent inline with the way your gearing your new system in my opinion, cut back on cpu and invest else where to give you a more balanced system that can be upgraded later.

As far as a motherboard is concerned, how about this one... slightly more expensive, but that wouldn't be too much of a problem.
As to graphics cards... does this one look like a good run for the money? And... I'm new to the PCI Express thing... I can run two of these video cards? If so, am I okay only running one?

(Thank you for both replies, by the way)

Edited by mcsmc, 12 June 2005 - 11:59 AM.

[mcsmc]

Looks like a wonderful system, just make sure you have sufficent cooling and a good powersupply... you should be very happy with this system, i would get a 450W minimum for this system if not more...you should be fine with the raid i think, still checking up on that...very impressed with this configuration, do you plan to overclock?

I'm personally planning to get a 500W power supply, thanks for checking on the RAID for me... the other motherboard option in my above reply includes a RAID controller but I'm not sure if it's fully hardware RAID or half-hardware half-software... if I can't find out for sure I still want to get the RAID controller card (I can't use a RAID system that uses any software because I'll be running dual boot Linux/Windows on the system). As to overclocking, I definitely want to overclock the CPU and hopefully the RAM if possible, but I'll wait to figure all of that out once I actually have my final system configuration figured out.

Edited by mcsmc, 12 June 2005 - 11:45 AM.

[mcsmc]

Also, any advice as to how many cooling fans I should have for this system?