building a new system & have questions

[anths]

Alright, well I am working this summer and am going to have a good amount of cash coming in. SO I am investing some and building a computer with the rest . I do have a few questions though.
First, What card do I need to RAID 0, 2 10000 RPM or 15000 RPM SCSI drives? Yes it is expensive, very expensive, I am just looking at my options. I want to build a monster
What Sound card should I go with? I am thinking the SB w/ external panel.
And finally, Which motherboard for a P4? I was contemplating the AMD 1.4 GHz, and actually might go with that after all.
These are just for reference. I wont buy most of these components until the end of summer, so any info on these questions would be awsome. I have the rest of the system planned out, I just need to figure out the processor/mobo and sound card.

[David]

To be honest Anthony, I would wait on any big decisions until money is in your hand to make the purchase. Many though the P4 was to be the shot in the arm to pull Intel over AMD.... It was not. Who knows what neat things the next few monthes have in store.

Also, decide what you REALLY what to do with this machine. Superfast drives are important for servers and desktop video. You will quick reach diminishing returns to RAID 0 a pair of 15Krpm SCSI drives.

shant,
david

[smaier69]

and a side-note on the SCSI RAID thing.

unless you plan on spending mucho bucks on an actual server or workstation mainboard, you will not have access to a 64bit PCI slot (to run at U160/Ultra 3 i mean. consumer-grade boards only employ 32bit PCI. in other words you will be robbing yourself of roughly 50% throughput).

but, to answer your question.........

you would most likely want an Adaptec SCSI RAID adapter. here's the online vendor i usually shop with (cued up to the adapter page. the Adaptec 2100S, 3200S, and 3400S are the adapters in question)................... http://www.aberdeeninc.com/abcatg/control.htm .

you can go much higher in terms of price/attributes. Adaptec makes a RAID host with 128MB of RAM onboard. you dont even want to know what the sticker price on that is.

so anyways, if i had the actual "fun money" to cover a rig like that would i do it? in a frickin' new york minute! however, all things considered, i would not suggest it. it will depreciate in value/comparative performance as fast as any other bus technology.

if i were you, i would take that money and go ATA/100 RAID 0+1 with 4 of the most humongous IDE drives ou there (because a: you would have a ton of storage space compared to what you would get with SCSI dollar-for-dollar, and b: mirroring is highly suggested because whether IDE or SCSI, the drives will fail..... IDE before SCSI, but either way it one drive will take a poop, irreprably ruining everything you had. ask Hell_Yes, he can attest to that). oh, and of course the price. you could go ultra-top tier towards a videocard with the savings (as an example).

or just go with a pure SCSI rig (CD-ROM & RW, and a SCSI drive or two in single-drive config. you will still not see burst speeds over 1/2 of U160 (re: 64bit PCI), but SCSI has some very attractive features besides sheer throughput.

[colour]

has those new micro transistors, cant wait to see what comes out of intel.

although intel will probably license the tech out to amd for some damn reason or another.

[JawZ]

Hi, anths!

My advice is only for the sound card.

If you are just a gamer/power user and want to delve into sound recording/editing as a hobby than the SB Live Platinum with the Live Drive II is the way to go. I have it and I'm a musician and it works great for the money.

[anths]

Alright, I am not going to go with the Pentium, I will (for the first time in my life) try the AMD. I am doing this for 2 reasons. Cost and upgradablity. I have heard that the AMD proccessors are much easier to upgrade down the line, and not to mention are a whole lot less than the P4.
Also, I checked out the scsi situation... 15k are nice, but expensive. I think i will go with 4 ATA-100 IDE drives in raid 0 (not too big into mirroring cause I back my important stuff up constantly anyway). anyone have a suggestion on which drive to go with? It doesnt have to have a huge amount of capacity, cause there will be 4 of them! A good, very reliable, decent capacity drive is what im looking for here.
And i still need some more input on a soundcard. i am going to take uod2001's opinion into consideration. I do mild sound editing (live concert recordings) but I mostly want a good surround sound card.

Thanks for the opinions everyone, You just saved me a lot of cash and headache .

[JawZ]

that is a 5.1 surround certified card...you just need the speakers!

here are the specs:
Features and Performance

Experience full 5.1 surround sound in either digital or analog output! Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 provides surround sound on your PC with built in support for two-, four-, or six- speaker configurations. You’ll get superior Dolby Digital 5.1 sound quality by connecting a Cambridge SoundWorks DeskTop Theater DTT3500 Digital speaker solution to the digital-out connector on Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1. Or connect the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 to analog devices such as the Cambridge SoundWorks DeskTop Theater DTT2200 speaker solution or any Dolby Digital-ready home stereo system to experience crystal-clear audio.
Live!Drive IR with Wireless Remote
The innovative Live!Drive IR allows you to simultaneously connect both digital and analog devices such as MIDI instruments, MiniDisc, external digital audio devices, and headphones — all from the front of your PC instead of the back. The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 also comes with an easy to use wireless remote control for simple navigation of audio playback and entertainment. This hardware and software solution allows you to convert your PC into an entertainment system ideal for a home theater environment.

Quality Digital Signal Processor
The revolutionary EMU10K1 Digital Signal Processor gives you all the power you need to create crystal-clear audio files. Because processing and playback remains entirely digital, your files maintain the highest level of audio quality with settings optimized for headphones, two, four, or 5.1 speakers and home stereo systems.

The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 provides hardware acceleration for EAX, Microsoft DirectSound® 3D, and DirectSound® gaming and it produces up to 32 3D hardware-accelerated channels, up to 64 hardware-accelerated channels, or up to 1024 voices. With support for real time digital effects like reverb, chorus, echo, flanger, pitch shifting, vocal morpher, ring modulator, auto-wah or distortion, the power provides an overwhelming audio experience.

EAX
EAX is a collection of powerful, innovative audio technologies. Developed by Creative’s world class audio scientists and built into groundbreaking Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) Solutions, EAX is changing the way audio is experienced.

EAX adds interactive, high-definition audio to the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 with 3D audio technology and 5.1 analog and digital sound, to enjoy a premium audio experience in music, movies, and games. Customize your favorite MP3 songs with “Concert hall”, “Jazz club” or other environment effects to add an extra dimension to your Internet Audio files. And in Creative Multi-Speaker Surround (CMSS) mode, you can upmix stereo sources into 5.1 output.

Complete Internet Entertainment Solution
The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 is the ultimate audio entertainment solution for Digital Music and Internet Entertainment. Creative PlayCenter 2 provides a full 320 kbps encoder with up to 9x digital audio acceleration to allow you to create high quality, compact digital audio files. It allows you to rip and organize your entire music CD collection into either MP3 or WMA formats, transforming your PC into a massive digital music jukebox. Also included is Creative MediaRing Talk which allows you to make free PC-to-PC calls and PixMaker (Creative Edition), allows you to create 360 degree interactive webpages in 3 simple steps - Snap, Stitch and Publish!

Live!Ware
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 is fully supported by the Live!Ware upgrade program. This program is your direct vehicle to future product features and enhancements. Simply visit [url]http://www.soundblaster.com,[/url] download the latest Live!Ware software upgrade and re-programmable EMU10K1 processor to continuously enhance your audio experiences.

[anths]

well, I found my soundcard, thanks a lot man!
Also, i need to find a DDR AMD board, any suggestions???

[JawZ]

I have an Asus mobo for my classic Athlon 800. No probs whatsoever.

http://www.asus.com/index.html

you may also want to consider their new dual processor mobo! if you really want to go for it! dual athlons....wow!

[anths]

I have heard Asus are nice, but which model? I heard they had a nice Athlon DDR board. I am not goin for the dual chip because there isn't really a use for it.
Also, I need a raid controller card that can put 4 hd's in raid 0.

[smaier69]

i would go with a Promise Fastrack ATA/100 RAID host adapter. or you may bve able to find a mainboard with an onboard controller.

any controller will have support for at least 4 drives (4 in RAID 0 or 2x2 0+1).

[smaier69]

oh, and as far as the drives, i would go with either IBM or Maxtor for performance. i have a 2x RAID 0 array of IBM 60GXPs in my workstation. i know a couple people who have had these brand's drives crap out, but then again i think i know at least one person who has had a hdd go out on them... regardless of brand. hdds will fail eventually.

i get 74MB/sec sustained reads and 90+MB/sec burst. the controller is a Highpoint unit onboard my mobo (Abit KT7A-RAID).