New Computer -- Maybe?

[Jeff]

I was thinking of upgrading my computer this Christmas.

I'm considering running Raid 0 with 2 SATA hard drives. However, I just bought a 200GB IDE hard drive. Maybe I could buy another and run that in Raid 0. What are the benefits of both? What would you do?

How does dual channel memory work? I've seen kits on Newegg, or can it be 2 pieces of the same RAM? What about a good brand?

I am thinking of getting xp3000+ (Barton) pretested to overclock stabe at 2500mhz.
As for a motherboard...I thought the A78NX Deluxe from Asus would be nice. I really liked that board on my Dad's System.

Please give me all the advice you can.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Empty_5oul]

right,

i take it this is the mobo you are talking about http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=5180&GroupID=526

looks gd with some nice bits inc 6 USB 2.0 ports, firewire, ide and sata. on-board 6 channel sound is pretty gd and the gigabit lan also is kool.
i would reccomend using that :thumbleft:

with the raid, why do you want/ need this. I have recently upgraded from one 80gig IDE to two sata 160gig maxtors. I wanted to clone my c: form one to the other and after downloading a great program, i cloned my c: to an image so i now have a spare hard copy of my c:. this wa created in less than 30mins, persoanlly i think raid is overrated but if thats what you really want go for it.
Sata is actually faster than IDE though it uses only one cable rather than 16 on IDE. the speed of transfer being much faster (about 16 times) on sata - similarly this frees up much space in the case as the cables are literally 1cm wide.

[Keith75]

I have the A7N8X-E Deluxe in a system and it is rock solid stable. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it seemed to have some problems with certain types of RAM in Dual Channel mode when overclocking. In my opinion Dual Channel isn't really worth it on AMDs at the moment but that is just me. You might want to consider getting an n-Force 3 250 board with a 754 pin AMD 2800+. You can overclock it up to 2.3 GHz without any problems and it will run much cooler. They are also getting pretty cheap.

[Empty_5oul]

just thinking the one problem i had with sata was getting the cables on the site it doesnt say they are included and they cost about £5 for two. that was very annoying after the HD's arrived late lol, couldnt even plug them in.

your processor decision looks good but depending on your budget i would be tempted to go for the 3200+ the price difference being £15 - the 3200 being very responsive and i would definatley sya that increased my performance the most.

to be honest i know little about DDR2 but from what ive picked up its worth getting if you have the money. it takes less power than DDR does and it works at better speeds.
one thing i know for sure about memory is go for 2 smaller sitcks than one large stick eg 2*256 than 512 as the computer can write to each stick simultainously while one stick refreshes - no time is lost (contineous data flow). if only 1 stick is there is has to wait during this period the "idle time".

[Jeff]

I'm not really that concerned with temps, as the CPU will be watercooled.

[Empty_5oul]

k, overclocking is always a risk though so the CPU may die at some point :(.

anyway on the memory i found this site which is usually ver accurate and it doesnt recommend DDR2 atm:
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Articles/DDR_vs_DDR2/index.htm
-- its worth you looking at the results and tests etc, if you cant be bothered to read the lot just look at page 5 as thats the important one

[Keith75]

If you are watercooling you could easily take an A64 2800+ up to 2.5 GHz. Mine is using the stock cooler and running at stock voltages and I get 2.4 GHz out of it.

[vaughan]

This motherboard from MSI is also worth consideration:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=572

Here is a link to a review of the Neo2 version to suit 939 pin cpus:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=57&type=expert

[NVM]

If you are watercooling you could easily take an A64 2800+ up to 2.5 GHz. Mine is using the stock cooler and running at stock voltages and I get 2.4 GHz out of it.

nice. $300-$500 bucks for .1 Ghz :P

[Keith75]

You can get an MSI Neo board like I have with the 2800 A64 for less than $250.

[vaughan]

Here's a review done by Overclockers New Zealand of the Asus K8N-E Deluxe.

http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/review.php?id=04boardnf3250gbasus0000k8ndelux0105

[Jeff]

I'd have to do it one piece of a time. What model of MSI board should I get? and where?

[Keith75]

Well, the 754 pin MSI-K8N Neo Platinum is what I have and I think it has close to if not the same amount of stability and features as the ASUS. I have had alot of motherboards and all seemed to have wierd problems in one way or another. The ASUS and the MSI though haven't seem to have any problems except the dual channel ones being a little picky about memory when overclocking. That may be the fact that I wasn't using a matched pair of chips, or even the same brand for that matter. LOL Pricewatch is a great place to look if you are going to order the parts online. They show Newegg, which is very reputable, as having an MSI K8N Neo2 939 pin MB for $130. I also found an Asus 754 pin board, both with the n-Force3 250 chipset, for on $89. I would recommend the MSI just because you will have more upgrade potential, but both are really good deals.