Media computer and home server?

2000MHz RAM is overkill...the memory controller in AMD cpu's doesn't like to go very far over 1600, though Thuban's is a bit better. Standard 1600MHz RAM would be good.

The mobo has a 7.1 audio chip already in it...no need for an external one.

I'll throw a build together, but I've got a question first. Would you rather go for a decent PSU that'll get the job done, or go for a top quality one? The latter will be more efficient and likely last longer, but will probably cost $30-$40 more.
 
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I'll throw a build together, but I've got a question first. Would you rather go for a decent PSU that'll get the job done, or go for a top quality one? The latter will be more efficient and likely last longer, but will probably cost $30-$40 more.

I want a good PSU that will support my system when I upgrade parts. More HDD or RAM
 
Thanks Drenlin Could you include the price so I can have a guideline of how much it will cost up front?
 
Alrighty, let's see what you think of this. Prices include shipping:

Mobo + OS: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H+Win7HP x64- $225
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.534209 (combo with pro instead -here-)

CPU- Phenom II 1090T- $245
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849

RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws 2x4GB - $202 (7-8-7@[email protected]))
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231401

GPU- Gigabyte GTS-450 OC'd- $158
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125344

PSU- NZXT Hale90 550W- $116 (only 550W, but 80Plus Gold...will save on the power bill)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817116009

HDD- Caviar Black 2TB- $190 + shipping
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136456(out of stock)
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=42775&vpn=WD2001FASS&manufacture=Western Digital WD

DVD- Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS- $27
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Case- Cooler Master 690-II- $87
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215

Total- $1250 shipped (plus shipping on the hard drive and tax)

Things that could be changed:

PSU- Doesn't have particularly high wattage for the price, but the Hale90 series is amazingly stable, which helps with longevity, and the high efficiency(80plus gold) will save on the power bill. It should power your rig fine, but some people would want more power. You could also save some $$$ by going with a cheaper 550W unit. (this build would struggle to break 325W peak, even after you add the rest of the hard drives)

RAM- Expensive compared to other 8GB 1600 kits, but the low timings (cas7)make it nearly as fast as a Cas9 DDR3-2000 kit. It also has lower-than-normal voltage. You could knock ~$30 off by going with a standard kit, though.

GPU- That one is significantly more expensive than a standard 450, but it's clocked ~17% higher than a standard one, is built better, and has a better cooler.

Case- You could go with a cheaper case and be fine, but it'd be a serious downgrade in build quality. This is a really good case for the price. (I originally recommended the HAF-912, but shipping is $35 on it now...)

OS- That mobo has a combo with both Win7 home premium and Win7 pro. If you think you'd use some of the extra features in pro, that might be a good investment. (features chart)
 
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Alrighty, let's see what you think of this. Prices include shipping:



Things that could be changed:

PSU- Doesn't have particularly high wattage for the price, but the Hale90 series is amazingly stable, which helps with longevity, and the high efficiency(80plus gold) will save on the power bill. It should power your rig fine, but some people would want more power. You could also save some $$$ by going with a cheaper 550W unit. (this build would struggle to break 325W peak, even after you add the rest of the hard drives)

RAM- Expensive compared to other 8GB 1600 kits, but the low timings (cas7)make it nearly as fast as a Cas9 DDR3-2000 kit. It also has lower-than-normal voltage. You could knock ~$30 off by going with a standard kit, though.

GPU- That one is significantly more expensive than a standard 450, but it's clocked ~17% higher than a standard one, is built better, and has a better cooler.

Case- You could go with a cheaper case and be fine, but it'd be a serious downgrade in build quality. This is a really good case for the price. (I originally recommended the HAF-912, but shipping is $35 on it now...)

OS- That mobo has a combo with both Win7 home premium and Win7 pro. If you think you'd use some of the extra features in pro, that might be a good investment. (features chart)

PSU: you think that after I have 6 HDD in there and the rest, my build wont exceed 325W?

RAM: what is cas7 or cas9?

MOBO:I already have windows 7 pro with a key I won't need the bundle so I can probably get the mobo for cheaper.
GPU: Would I really benefit from the overclocked GPU? Should I go for a GPU with 3D support? Any displays are typically supported with a GPU


PS: In several cases the parts are a lot cheaper in stores in my area. Might as well buy local. For instance, the same RAM you recommended is 129.99$ in stores.
 
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PSU: you think that after I have 6 HDD in there and the rest, my build wont exceed 325W?
Maybe once you've got all the hard drives in, but it still won't be anywhere near that PSU's limits. The only time HDD's use a lot of wattage is during spin up, where they can use as much as 25W each. the rest of the time, it's usually between 8-12 watts each, depending on what's happening. During that spin-up time, the rest of the rig isn't going to be maxed out...not even close. So let's do the math once it gets up and running:

6x HDD = ~70-75W if they're all reading/writing...which is unlikely.

GTX 460 1GB = 108W, more for the overclocked one...we'll say 125W, when it's maxed out. Again, unlikely unless you're really crunching on something.

1090T = 125W, maxed out. Again, unlikely unless you're doing some hardcore editing.

We'll make a conservative number and say 60W to run the fans and chipset and whatnot. That's a high estimate.

So, in the very unlikely scenario that all of that is running maxed out, using conservative numbers, that's still only 385 watts, or around 325 with just the single hard drive. :)

If you want room to add a monster GPU or something in later on, you may want to go with a ~650W model instead. Otherwise this one is great, I think. There are some good quality 500W units for lower prices, but none as good as this.

If you want a more powerful and still very good unit, this would be a good choice...still an excellent performer, and actually a bit cheaper:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021
Review on the 750W version (the 650w is the same platform)

RAM: what is cas7 or cas9?
CAS latency is the number of clock cycles it takes the RAM to return information to the CPU after it has been requested. When you see numbers relating to RAM like, for exampple, 7-8-7-24, CAS latency is the first one, and the most important. Basically, it's how efficient the RAM is. Thus, DDR3-2000 Cas9 is 25% faster at returning results than DDR3-1600 Cas9, while DDR3-1600 Cas7 is roughly 20% faster. Only 5% difference. (That's oversimplifying things a bit, but you get the idea)

With AMD chips, lower latency is preferable to high clock speed, since the CPU's memory controller has issues with high speeds. (The highest official DDR3 spec is 1333, haha)

If you want a cheaper kit, this should do well and is a good $75 cheaper :
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

MOBO:I already have windows 7 pro with a key I won't need the bundle so I can probably get the mobo for cheaper.
Ah..yep, you can.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435

GPU: Would I really benefit from the overclocked GPU?
Unless you have some epic plugins for photoshop, probably not a whole lot, unless premiere finally allows 460's to run. However, the build quality on that card is excellent, and the cooler is significantly quieter.

If you want a regular one, $25 cheaper, this is a good choice:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125342

PS: In several cases the parts are cheaper in stores around me
That'll definitely help.
 
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This is great! thanks guys. Is there an order in which it is best to buy my parts as I will not buy everything at once? Also should I be doing any type of raid on this machine?
 
If you have rather important material, like something for a customer or something you've put a lot of time into, I'd put it in a RAID 1 array. That's two(or more) drives that mirror each other, so if one dies, you don't lose any data. All you have to do is replace the old drive, and the controller will rebuild the new drive to mirror the other one.

As far as ordering the parts, no particular order. however if you have some spare nonessential parts like a case or DVD drive, you could go ahead and get the rig running before you buy the new ones. That's what I did...I was using an old laptop hard drive for about a month after I got my rig. I also had a case with just a PSU and DVD drive in it sitting in my room for a good three weeks.
 
At this time I can't do that because my main computer is my laptop which I use in school everyday and the old desktop I have is useless it's probably 15 years old.
 
If you have rather important material, like something for a customer or something you've put a lot of time into, I'd put it in a RAID 1 array. That's two(or more) drives that mirror each other, so if one dies, you don't lose any data. All you have to do is replace the old drive, and the controller will rebuild the new drive to mirror the other one.

Why not buy enough drives for RAID 10?
 
Which is the best RAID system and for which use? Do you need identical drives to do RAID? How do you setup RAID? I heard you had to change a pin or something but this was for an external drive.

Edit: As I start to shop around for parts. What would I have to change in my build to make it greener and save money on the power bill. I know I probably would have to change the caviar blue HDD to a caviar green. What else? I still want to have the same level of performance.
 
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Mobo + OS: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H+Win7HP x64- $225
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDe...t=Combo.534209 (combo with pro instead -here-)

CPU- Phenom II 1090T- $245
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819103849

RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws 2x4GB - $202 (7-8-7@[email protected]))
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820231401

GPU- Gigabyte GTS-450 OC'd- $158
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814125344

PSU- NZXT Hale90 550W- $116 (only 550W, but 80Plus Gold...will save on the power bill)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16817116009

HDD- Caviar Black 2TB- $190 + shipping
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16822136456(out of stock)
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=42775&...20Digital WD

DVD- Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS- $27
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16827135204

Case- Cooler Master HAF 912
 
The biggest power draw in your system is the GPU, followed by the CPU. You're not going to drop power usage on the CPU by a lot(95W is the lowest for a quad), but a weaker GPU would use significantly less power. However, they both downclock when they're not loaded, so they don't use a ton of power at idle anyway.

Hard drives don't use a particularly large amount of power, bit if you want a more efficient one, Samsung's Spinpoint F3 drives are roughly equal to the 32MB WD Black drives(a bit faster), and use less power than the green drives. The biggest one is 1TB, though, as far as I know. Anything bigger and they drop to 5400RPM drives like the WD Green.


For the OS, you could use a more power-efficient solid state drive. This would take the load(and thus the extra power usage) away from the magnetic drives, which you'd only need to store excess data on like pictures, project files, and other media. This would also make your system dramatically faster at bootup/shutdown and loading programs, since SSD's are much faster than traditional drives. The downside is that they're fairly expensive. 60GB models are barely enough to fit the OS and programs on, and they go for ~$130 at the cheapest. Anything bigger and you're looking at a $180+ drive. 100GB models go for as much as $500.
 
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