Computer Build Advice

[Firefighter]

I was filling up a 1 TB SCSI RAID 10 years ago...

[Athanasius]

Hmm, I need a new HD. Anyone have experience with Western Digital Cavier Black? Or another recommendation? Not to hijack HisLeast's thread.

[HisLeast]

For HDD, 1 TB is now the new GB.

Remember when there would never be any use for more than 15 GB? When there was no way you could ever use 800 Mb? That 512kb was more than enough data storage for anyone?

Our first family computer was an 8086 DX (with the math co-processor... because thats just how we rolled). My uncle the engineer thought it was the height of excess that we got the 25 megabyte drive.
"You'll NEVER fill 25 Megabytes... NEVER!"

[HisLeast]

Hmm, I need a new HD. Anyone have experience with Western Digital Cavier Black? Or another recommendation? Not to hijack HisLeast's thread.

Toms Hardware (of the same name dot com) has the world's supply of hardware reviews and a huge knowledgeable community. I spent some time there later this afternoon and someone suggested that at my price point I should go down to i5 processors but get the top top top end ATI 2GB video card. Not sure how I feel about that, but he sounded pretty convincing.

[Clavicula_Nox]

Toms Hardware (of the same name dot com) has the world's supply of hardware reviews and a huge knowledgeable community. I spent some time there later this afternoon and someone suggested that at my price point I should go down to i5 processors but get the top top top end ATI 2GB video card. Not sure how I feel about that, but he sounded pretty convincing.

You can always upgrade mobo and cpu later.

[th1bill]

Would it be bad taste for me to ask for people's opinion on a computer I'm buying?
(people here, not people in general)

You can get a Bare Bones unit from Tigerdirect and add the pieces you want like the video card and so on and put an AMD quad core where all four processors actually communicate with each other (Intels don't and are slower) for way less that your target price and I promise you, a monkey can assemble one, just download the assy. instructions from Tiger and them and the Motherboard directions and you'll have your first home build up in less than a day.

[tango]

You can always upgrade mobo and cpu later.

You can but you will need new software licenses. When I upgraded my laptop's hard drive Microsoft said that the Windows license was valid for the motherboard - so I coudl change anything I wanted but a new motherboard needed a new Windoze license. Obviously if you're not using Windoze that won't be an issue.

[tango]

Hmm, I need a new HD. Anyone have experience with Western Digital Cavier Black? Or another recommendation? Not to hijack HisLeast's thread.

I use Western Digital drives pretty much exclusively. I wouldn't touch anything that says Maxtor on it - I've had too many Maxtor failures. Given the choice between a free Maxtor and a full price Western Digital I'd still go with the Western Digital (as indeed I did, after my third Maxtor failure in six months when I couldn't be bothered with a warranty replacement, and bought a WD instead)

[Athanasius]

Oh, and HisLeast. Here's an SSD vs. traditional HD vid.

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[Clavicula_Nox]

You can but you will need new software licenses. When I upgraded my laptop's hard drive Microsoft said that the Windows license was valid for the motherboard - so I coudl change anything I wanted but a new motherboard needed a new Windoze license. Obviously if you're not using Windoze that won't be an issue.

I didn't know that, and that is lame.

[Firefighter]

You can get a Bare Bones unit from Tigerdirect and add the pieces you want like the video card and so on and put an AMD quad core where all four processors actually communicate with each other (Intels don't and are slower) for way less that your target price and I promise you, a monkey can assemble one, just download the assy. instructions from Tiger and them and the Motherboard directions and you'll have your first home build up in less than a day.

...and then you can buy an Intel 6 months later when the processor melts down and fails.

[tango]

...and then you can buy an Intel 6 months later when the processor melts down and fails.

AMD melting? I've been using mine for over three years now and it hasn't missed a beat.

[Firefighter]

Having been in the computer field for over 12 years, and having personally worked on well over 10,000+ computers, I have only found 3 Intel processors that died... just three. On the AMD side of things, I have lost count, but I am sure it is in the hundreds. I have seen them get so hot that they melted the CPU fan brackets off and the fan was just hanging by the power cord. I have seen them turn purple because of the heat and melt themselves permanently into the socket. Have you ever wondered why any serious servers are always equipped with Intels? Have you ever wondered why almost every major computer manufacturer that has ever started carrying AMDs in their line up quit being a major contender within a couple of years??? IBM, Gateway, Compaq, Packard Bell... the list goes on and on. Dell recently made the mistake of adding AMD to their line, so we will have to see how that works out, although my account manager at dell refuses to sell them.

[tango]

Curious, I've never known an AMD chip to fail, but then I've only been using AMD specifically for the last 3-5 years or so.

That said I've had so many problems with Maxtor drives that I wouldn't use them even if they were given away free, but other people have nothing but praise for them.

[Athanasius]

Hmm... I'm going to poke my head in and say that I've melted three (overclocked) AMD cpu's (this was during the Athlon XP 2500+ish Socket A phase). I have yet to ruin an overclocked intel (and currently running with core i7 920). Mind you, I do think AMD is getting better, but with the whole tri-core / quad-core unlocking bit, I'm still weary.