A question for the computer Guys

[garboui]

Im currently looking at upgrading my desktop. being a student money is always a concern and i am wondering how much i can get for my system that i am replacing. the system itself has been very stable and reliable rarley ever hanging up and with a second hard drive handles video editing well. the specs are as follows:

Pentium 4 2.6GHz
ASUS P4S-800 motherboard
1 gig ram
160GB Western Digital HD (fairly new, was upgraded not too long ago)
LG DVD drive
floppy drive
ATI Radeon 9200 SE agp
ATI TV wonder
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card
PCI firewire card

The case is black with a windowed side with a fan and a silver door that covers the drive bays with a blue illuminated power button.


The setup im looking at replacing that system with is:
-Asus M2N-E SLI NVIDIA Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard
-AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 2.80GHz Socket AM2 OEM Processor
-XFX GeForce 8500 GT Ultra Silent / 256MB DDR2 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / (Dual Link) DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card
-3gigs PC-6400 DDR2
-600 to 800gigs worth of 2 or 3 western digital driver in raid 0
-Ultra eTorque Black Mid-Tower ATX Case with Front USB, FireWire and Clear Side

my only hang ups on this system are weather or not its worth going 3 drives for the raid or just stick with two and if i could save more money on the video card. my main uses are almost every thing with lots of multitasking with 3d cad software which lags a bit now with the cvurrent rig allthough games run decent.

if anyone can tell me how much i can get for my old system or suggestions on the new one while staying in the budget of the current parts it would help emmensly.


thanks

[bluntman]

What about putting two 500GB drives in a RAID (your work drives) and then getting a single 10k RPM 150GB drive for your OS and other programs? You can use your current 160GB drive for your OS although it may not be as fast as a 10k RPM drive.

Don't forget to make room in your budget for a power supply.

[dredd2099]

What about putting two 500GB drives in a RAID (your work drives) and then getting a single 10k RPM 150GB drive for your OS and other programs? You can use your current 160GB drive for your OS although it may not be as fast as a 10k RPM drive.

Don't forget to make room in your budget for a power supply.

+1 on budgeting for power supply
so just thought id throw this in
> tada!

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3118955

agree w/ mr blunt as well on getting the WD raptor for your OS (unless thats the one you already have of which you said u just upgraded, u didnt specify)
may I suggest a hitachi 7k1000 drive for storage (might be out of price range tho)

and since ur getting an oem cpu, budget for a nice cooler as well

[garboui]

hahahaha, thats the barebones kit that i was looking at and thus my parts list. going to be getting it from tigerdirect.com though as its only 499 there and i got a us address to ship to.

i wouldnt be using the 160gig that i upgraded to cause its only 7400rpm ide and im afaraid it would be slow link holding thinks back

the raptors were what i was looking at originally because of the 10k but for the storage that im wanting im thinking two of these
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3179250&CatId=139
in a raid 0 and hoping that them together in r0 will offer similar performance to one of the 10k raptors.

as for cpu coolers i was hoping that the barebones would come with some generic oem like the intel did when i built my last rig but i guess not. im not planning on overclocking but just want a nice stable system that will run in ambient temps of up to 30*C as where i am staying right now isnt always air con'd. and also im assuming itll be a serious cooler as the chip is rated at 125W hope i can find one thats reasonably priced and quieter than my stock whiney intel pos.

[fini]

I'm just curious what you plan on doing with your new system?
Is it school related?
It seems like you are willing to spend a lot of money on upgrading from something that already satisfies running 99% of whatever is on the market right now be it games or software.

[bluntman]

Get an iMac! ;)

[dredd2099]

I'm just curious what you plan on doing with your new system?
Is it school related?
It seems like you are willing to spend a lot of money on upgrading from something that already satisfies running 99% of whatever is on the market right now be it games or software.


my main uses are almost every thing with lots of multitasking with 3d cad software which lags a bit now with the cvurrent rig allthough games run decent.


...lots of multitasking...
ie
surf and watch multiple pron vids at same time while burning dvd backups for earlier downloaded ones and keeping torrents open to share more of the stuff. have a window of word processing open for effect. and of course, the 3d cad program.

thats most probly the scenario right there
hehehehehehe

[asif9t9]

Not sure you'll need more than 2GB of RAM, even running AutoCAD.

[SABIO]

Not sure you'll need more than 2GB of RAM, even running AutoCAD.

Memory is cheap...might as well buy more than enough.

[garboui]

...lots of multitasking...
ie
surf and watch multiple pron vids at same time while burning dvd backups for earlier downloaded ones and keeping torrents open to share more of the stuff. have a window of word processing open for effect. and of course, the 3d cad program.

thats most probly the scenario right there
hehehehehehe

lol something liek that. not nessarially all ther time but im im encoding a movie right now it usually takes about an hour or so with either from a file or shrink and just that right there esentially ties up the computer a fair bit, and just with one web page, and itunes going things start lagging pretty good.

And porno, i would never, lol.



Not sure you'll need more than 2GB of RAM, even running AutoCAD.

Running Auto CAD no, autocad is pretty flexible to the platform that its run on even with some 3d untill you get into alot of the animated rendering bits which i dont. I use mostly solid works which afetr 15-20 or so more parts in an assembly things tend to get a bit laggy when changing views, moving and modifying bits. this may be my vid card or ram im thinking.

also things like messenger and itunes are open ALL the time. and when modeling i usually have a few web pages open for whatever for reference of one thing or another.



wow, just checked my task manager and i only have 256megs ram sparing right now with just messenger, itunes, webpage and a bt client open. mabye more ram and a fast sata raid setup is all i need?

[fini]

Can you hook it up to your brain and synchronize your thoughts with it? That would be cool!

Haha... The computer I use now (for about 2.5 years now) is almost the same as the one as you are trying to replace. It has held up well for everything I had to do for throughout my schoolin'!

I'm a poor bum so no new computer for me :bana2

I'll give you "fi dolla fi dolla" for your old system?

[garboui]

lol, sorry about the random thoughts, im in the middle of my exams right now so any organized thinking has gone out the door for me.

ive been dooing some reasearching between studying though and came up with some interesting info. i can do a fast raid0 with a 4hitachi 80gb and be cheaper and faster than a comparable sized raptor. downside though, my motherboard does not support sata2 or raid meing i would need a pci raid card. since running off the pci bus i am only limited to about 150mb/s and im my case even less cause almost all my pci ports are allready stuffed with something.

this has lead me to the conclusion now that another gig or ram and a cheap ide drive for bulk storage will be a good temporary fix to my wants right now and hopfully keep me from the upgrade bug till i finish school... hopfully.



fini, sorry i cant do fi dolla, ten dolla or i wok away.

[fini]

fini, sorry i cant do fi dolla, ten dolla or i wok away.

Hahaha... classic!
Little off topic, but what are you studying? I mean your major in school.
Sounds Engineering-ish!

[garboui]

Process automation its almost as close as i can get to being an engineer w.o antually being ine lol. right now i got a chem and a fourier math exam left to worry about.

[fini]

Process automation its almost as close as i can get to being an engineer w.o antually being ine lol. right now i got a chem and a fourier math exam left to worry about.

You can have my iron ring if you'd like. :bana
It gives you spirit +10, stamina +15, and bling +45!

[garboui]

It gives you spirit +10, stamina +15, and bling +45!

lol, the chem is settling good right now and i will have 4 days to prep for math so im not deeling too bad.

well, unless the ring that gives focus and concentration? it seems like all i do is study for 5-10 then take an hour break, lol