[Anton1382]

Hello, my friend is wanting to build a new gaming computer for himself. He already has a motherboard, RAM, hard drive, disc drives, moniter, and speakers. He has chosen everything he would like, but wanted my opinion on the system. I think it is fine but I wanted some more opinions.
Projected System specs.
Intel Pentium D @ 3GHz
Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition
2gigs of DDR2 memory @ 533MHz
500GB hard drive (2x 250GB) Raid 0 (data performance)
DVD-RW, and a CD-RW
Nvidia GeForce 256MB 7900GT Superclocked graphics card
Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty sound card
Dell 5.1 Surround sound speaker system

System accessories
RAZER Diamondback Salamander Red High Precision gaming mouse,
Ideazon MERC Gaming keyboard
NZXT Guardian Gaming case-Black
450-Watt PowMax w/white LED lights
Green Lazer LED light kit
19" Dell Ultrasharp

Please, give me your opinion!
THANKS

Edited by Anton1382, 08 July 2006 - 10:40 PM.

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dont rely on only a raid 0 setup if one drive goes bad then your stuffed.

try to get another hard drive for the os and save any importantt files on that and then have your raid 0 set-up for game files and "temp" folders foir dvd editing programs or the like.

if not maybe try a raid 5 setup its similar to a raid 0 but has compleate redundancy. if one drive fails then you can replace it with another one of the same specs and it will rebuild itself. so you wont loose any information.

the thing with raid 0 is that if its your only drive setup then you could loose everything if one drive goes bad.
and you will never be able to restore it. you would have to reformat the wholething and loose everything.


troppo

[troppo]

dont rely on only a raid 0 setup if one drive goes bad then your stuffed.

try to get another hard drive for the os and save any importantt files on that and then have your raid 0 set-up for game files and "temp" folders foir dvd editing programs or the like.

if not maybe try a raid 5 setup its similar to a raid 0 but has compleate redundancy. if one drive fails then you can replace it with another one of the same specs and it will rebuild itself. so you wont loose any information.

the thing with raid 0 is that if its your only drive setup then you could loose everything if one drive goes bad.
and you will never be able to restore it. you would have to reformat the wholething and loose everything.


troppo

[Anton1382]

Thanks for the tip. Is there anything I should tell him to change in his new gaming computer?

Edited by Anton1382, 09 July 2006 - 08:17 AM.

[warriorscot]

Just dont bother with RAID at all its not a application designed for or reccomended to home or small scal users, RAID is for big arrays you dont see an advatage over small home based scale.

I wouldnt go pentium D its old tech get core 2 Duo its out on the 24th or AM2 at least. Dont get a high end card dx10 releases are this year its pointless to spend alot now, maybe get some faster memory if hes spending all that money, monitor maybe would look into something better than a dell make sure he gets a better PSU than a Powmax something Antec or enermax would be preferable or just something good quality, looking at about 500 to 600W on the PSU.

Get XP home over media center, pretty much everything on media center can be added to home or pro or done with a better 3rd party app.

On the keyboard i prefer the standard zboard can be annoying switching keysets but the availabilty of the custom jobs makes it better, although unless he plays so much games he is having problems with his fingers just get a normal keyboard the zboard is really nice but as often as not i dont put the gaming keyset on and just use it normally, and the normal zboard is cheap enough that if you never use the gaming keyset its not a waste as its still a high spec keyboard if a little plain.

Dont bother with X-fi fatality either way to much cash just get the extreme music one much better value for money.

[jrm20]

Yeah Powmax is definately not a good idea to put into your $1500 + machine... Like warriorscot said.

Powmax make the most flimsy cases I have ever seen in my life and their powersupplies are no good. It would be okay in a cheap $500 machine maybe but Dont put in a powmax psu In a pc $1000 or more...

There are so many better powersupplies..

Antec, enermax, OCZ, Thermaltake, Forton Force, Nzxt, Ultra all make good powersupplies..

Look at the Antec or Enermax like scot said..

[Anton1382]

Thanks for the advice. I told my friend about the power supply and he looked at them at Xoxide.com. He liked the Ultra 550Watt X-2 connect-Titanium w/Blue UV. Is that a good power supply?

[jrm20]

Thanks for the advice. I told my friend about the power supply and he looked at them at Xoxide.com. He liked the Ultra 550Watt X-2 connect-Titanium w/Blue UV. Is that a good power supply?

The ultra would be alright its a nice modular psu.. If he wants a modular psu thats about the best price you can get one for.

This antec truepower 550watt is $89.99 it doesnt have all the colors and stuff like the ultra does but it has alittle better amps on the rails and its cheaper and is a solid psu..

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817103931


Enermax also has one for a good price..

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817194003

The enermax has the best amps on the 12volt rails.