Proposed Gaming/Workstation Setup....

[kmfdmk]

I'm always running out of HDD space, and can never seem to keep up with the gaming arena. So I've decided I need to build a new rig that'll let me upgrade incrementally.

I use my PC for a little bit of everything from regular net use, gaming, video/audio editing, video compression, and watching video. In the past I've tried to save money and went with the lower end stuff, like the Duron's & the Semprons (which my Sempron 3100+ does alright).

My Proposed gaming / workstation.

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 2.6Ghz Sckt 939
2GB PC3200 (2x1GB Corsair modules)
ECS KN1 Extreme (non SLI) Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9250 PCI (I've already got this card)

http://i2.neoseeker.com/neo_image/143908/article/board2_thumb.jpg

I like the ECS board, I don't mind that it's noisy due to onboard cooling (southbridge & otherwise). I like the fact I can have 3 IDE channels all in RAID, and 6 SATA drives (all in RAID). This is a big deal for me as I've currently got 458GB between 3 80GB internal drives, and a 250 GB external. All that & I've only got 21% / 97GB free. All that damn Anime :D

Anyways, anyone have some insight as to some ideal configurations for the raid setup?

I was thinking 2x SATA 74GBWD Raptors in Raid 0 (striping for speed) for the OS/Game installs (Approx 125GB). Additionally for storage I was thinking 4x SATA 250GB drives in Raid 1 (mirroring) for the data (Approx 450GB). And then hooking in my 3x IDE 80GB drives on the PATA (Approx 215GB) , w/ DVD-RW on PATA, and then 2x IDE 300GB in Raid 1 (Approx 270GB). For a whopping grand total of... around 1300GB, or 1.3TB. Anyone out there running TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php)? Tips suggestions etc?

Any thoughts or suggestions? I know that's 11 drives, so I'll need a full tower case, and I'll need @ least a 750W power supply from someone that's NOT crap. Any suggestions on a good PCI-X video card?

For the case I was thinking of this one from Directron

I-Star S-1000S
12 drive bay case
5x 5.25" ( External ) , 2x 3.5" ( External ) 5x3.5 (internal)

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/directron_1923_87314920.gif
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/directron/s10000s01.gif
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/directron/s10000s04.gif


For the PSU I was thinking
Thermaltake toughpower W0117RU 750W
1 x Main connector (20+4 pin)
1 x 12V (P4)
1 x 12V (8pin)
8 x peripheral
6 x SATA
2 x Floppy
2 x PCI-E

[C_Note]

What about the new Duo Core stuff with 1GB FSB? I've been all mobile the last few years but was thinking about putting together a PC since I have a little more time on my hands these days (I game on all my laptops but they still can't touch a well tuned PC in performance, aesthetics, or comfort) and was wondering about this stuff (the Duo Core).

[Racerx300zx]

Few issues, for the future, the 64 bit processor should be fine, but, make sure you have a windows 32 bit option on boot, some of the games out in the last few months were never even tested in winxp 64. The biggest issue you will have is your video card, the 9000 series is no longer supported, and anything made from Oblivion on really doesn't like the 9000 series, if you have a few months wait before you build, or if you wanna put the pci card in for now, the DirectX 10 cards will be out mid-winter. Aside from that, your build looks pretty solid, do a little research on DVD drives, the Pioneer DVD drives are highly reccomended both from a working and compatability viewpoint. Most everything else seems to solid, I know some people have had issues running multiple SATA and PATA configs, but there have also been many more who had no issues, so it seems to be luck of the draw. Good luck and may god have mercy on your bank account, ;)

[kmfdmk]

Hmm, well the Duo/Dual Core chips are pretty expensive. Right now I'm trying to see what I can conceivably build in the next month or so. All that on a somewhat limited budget too. So I'll initially get the CPU & Mobo, then upgrade the drives, and maybe later on to a FX-67, or switch to a Asus AM2 mobo & a Dual Core cpu.

When I get the good job I'll post pictures, receipts, and benchmarks :D Of course I plan on doing the same with the Supra (It's getting gutted, a cage, and a 7M-GTE).