Need help on building a copmuter

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NoComputerWizard

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I'm going to start this off by saying i am no where close to being a computer expert. I know very little. I am trying to build i gaming computer for myself because my other computer is terrible. My budget is around 700 dollars.
Please if you see anything wrong, I'm forgetting something or if you have a suggestion for something else please tell me, it will help a lot. Thanks

Case:NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


CPU:Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor


MotherBoard:GIGABYTE GA-H67MA-USB3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard


Video Card:MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card



Power Supply:hec X-Power Pro 600 600W Continuous @ 40°C ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply


Ram:G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM


Hard Drive:Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive



I'm buying all the parts from newegg.com
 
Well if I were you, I would get more than 1 HDD. The more the merrier, but at least 2. Reason ? What happens if your HDD fails, and you only have 1 ?
 
JHM - If you have 2 hardrives, and one dies, the other one is still useless unless you had windows installed on it as well... and all the data on the first HDD is gone, so whats the point of getting 2 drives for then?

If you are trying to get him to set up redundancy, than run a RAID 1 -Mirror. That way, if the one drive dies, the other continues to boot windows and once the dead drive is replaced, the redundancy is present again.

So back to the Topic at hand. I looked at your list of parts, and I have made a few changes.

First of all, for this budget, I suggest switching camps. I priced out an AMD 1090T X6 @3.2Ghz and an Gigabyte motherboard with USB 3.0 and Sata 6GB.

Swapped out the much dated (and overpriced) Nvidia 460 and replaced it with a HD 6850 - which is superior in every aspect including price.

The PSU you had is ah...not very well trusted. I upgraded that to a Corsair 600WATT PSU.

Your hard drive was lacking as well. I added a 1TB SATA 6GB Western Digital BLACK drive - higher performance than regular drives.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490
Video: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Stayed within your budget and kept the same Case and Ram that you picked.
 
Well gee, if you only have 1 HDD and it dies, thats it ! You have lost everything ! - But if you have 2 HDDs you can have copies of the stuff you value on both of them, so If one dies, you still have copies of your more important files.

Re "Raid", don't recommend it. Why not ? Because it SIGNIFICANTLY increases the chance of both drives dying silmultaneously.
 
Definition of RAID from Wiki:

"RAID, an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks"

I think you need to do your research before giving advice.

Please back up your claim of "Because it SIGNIFICANTLY increases the chance of both drives dying silmultaneously."

You might have RAID 0 confused with RAID 1. In RAID 0, which is designed for SPEED, if one drive dies, then your SOL.
 
I have done my research on this subject; and I think you are the one who needs to do some more. I don't want to get in an argument here, it's a waste of time. Suffice it to say that it is almost always the "C" partition that goes bad, and for that reason I recommend partitioning drives, and keeping a backup of "C"; and backups of important files on a separate HDD. That way if the drive with the "C" partition on it fails, you need only replace the drive, reload "Windopes", then restore from backup to get back where you were. I keep as little as possible on my "C" partition and recommend others do the same.

hdds1.png
 
JHM - You are simply talking about software failures. IF windows fails, yes, its usually the C drive that fails. However, you can make all the partitions you want, at the end of the day, if your HDD goes capoots, all your PARTITIONS ARE GONE!!!!!

Your Logic - which isnt wrong - is backup your data or back-up image on a separate drive, if the main one dies, restore from backup. How long is this process?? Hours??

With a RAID 1 Setup - regardless of how many partitions, if your HDD DIES, the other one is an EXACT CLONE of the dead drive. So, there is no down time whatsoever. Replace the dead drive, and the RAID controller will rebuild it in the background as you continue to go about your business in windows.

You just dont seem to understand RAID.
 
Yes that bit about Raid being an exact clone is true. But it is also true that whatever the one drive does the second one does also. And whatever caused the first drive to fail, is likely to cause the second drive to fail also. DO YOUR RESEARCH !! Re software, quite often the "Boot Sector" of the ""C" drive gets damaged because of "Windopes" screwups. So it is smart really to use a relatively small HDD for the "C" drive, and keep everything BUT "Windopes" elsewhere. Re how long to get back up and running, it takes about a half hour to load XP, (which is what I use), and about 15 minutes to restore from backup. My "C" drive however resides in a "Hot Swap Tray", and I have a spare to use in the event of problems. I also am running a "Dualboot", wherein "D" XP-Backup is another XP boot on a separate HDD.
 
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JHM said:
Yes that bit about Raid being an exact clone is true.
Click to expand...

No. RAID 1 is exact clone. Theres a difference.

Im talking about hardware failures, software errors can be recovered.

In my opinion, your setup is too "messy".

All you need is 2 Drives, setup in RAID 1, and forget about it.

We are argueing Oranges to Apples. Our understanding of technologies are on different levels of application - very common. No big deal.

Cheers!
 
Well sorry, but I don't think much of "RAID". Those who arrange their drives in a "RAID", (Rotten, Attrocious, Idiotic, Dumb), configuration, gain the folllowing "Advantages" :

1) They have SIGNIFICANTLY increased the chance of silmultaneous failure of both drives in the array.
2) Any viruses that land on their primary Windows boot are immediately copied onto the secondary Windows boot.
3) Any file unintentionally deleted or damaged on the primary Windows boot, will immediately become deleted or damaged on the secondary Windows boot.

This sort of idiocy makes it pointless to have a secondary Windows boot; because you will never be able to repair damage to the primary, by copying files from the secondary, and nor will you be able to use the secondary to clean viruses off the primary. NO THANKS.
 
I used to run raid 1 and it saved me at least twice from losing all my data. And your reasoning that whatever happens to one drive will happen to the other drive is just absolutely wrong. Very seldom will 2 drives go out at the same time. And if malware attacks, its just like having only one drive anyway it can be cleaned for the most part. There are only 2 major infections that shouldn't be cleaned, virut and ramnit.
 
JHM said:
Well sorry, but I don't think much of "RAID". Those who arrange their drives in a "RAID", (Rotten, Attrocious, Idiotic, Dumb),
Click to expand...

Really? It sounds to me like you read a few articles or posts about how people lost their data off their Raid and based your opinion on that.

Ever Download a file off a file server somewhere? say...Microsoft updates? Where do you think that file sits? On the "C" drive of HDD 1 and a backup of it is on HDD 2, on a server somewhere? No.

That file probably sits on a File Server somewhere on the RAID controller. What happens to the file if 1 or 2 of those drives die? NOTHING! RAID allows for scaleable performance, as well as redunancy. Thats why just about EVERY FILE resides on a file server somewhere on a RAID configuration.

On your computer. IF you are watching a movie, and your primary drive where your "C" partition is located, dies. You are offline until you configure your secondary drive as primary boot and turn your computer back on.

You know what happens on my computer if that happens? NOTHING!!! I simply get a notification that one of my drives have dropped off the RAID and that i need to replace soon. Down time? ZERO!

Another thing is performance.

IT looks like you have 3 or 4 drives attached to your computer. Most likely SATA or SATA 2. Assuming you walked into the store or went online and bought your "high perfirmance drives" that will allow you about 40-50mb/s write and 60-80mb/s read.

I get 160mb/s Read and 135mb/s Write with my RAID 10 setup. Downtime? only when i purposely screw up windows. Hardware downtime? Probably 20 minutes in the last 3 years since i set it up.

You are confusing RAID with your simple multiple partitions.
 
Then go to the "Poker Room" and get yourself infected with the ""Windows Recovery Virus". Good luck disinfecting your machine if both your boots are infected! I had to put Gloria's drive in my machine as a secondary to get rid of most of it, and there are still some elements that arn't working right.

But on my machine, with its multiple partitions, and independant boots, - i.e. if "C" become badly infected, I just go into the bios and set the boot drive to "D", then use "D" to disinfect "C"; or in the worst case, take the Hotswap Tray that "C" resides in out of the machine and put in my spare.

Re "RAID" SIGNIFICANTLY increases the chance of silmultaneous failure of both drives in the array"; - that info is available online, and it isn't in a post but rather in research articles.
 
You are referring to 1 specific RAID configuration. Which is RAID 0 (Stripe) and is designed for speed, people who run Stripes, know better and back up their data, but they stripe for the added performance. IF 1 drive drops off the array, regardless of software fault or hardware failure, both drives are rendered useless in terms of data. However, both drives arent dead. They simply failed out of the RAID. RAID 0 often fail in home configurations because the drives used are not designed for RAID, and more often then not, they use software RAID as opposed to hardware.

I can understand that for your purposes, RAID isnt required as your computing needs seem basic. I can be wrong, I dont see your computer specs. But those who require performance and 0 down time, go for a RAID config. Everything that you mention, can be done on a RAID.

In my configuration, I have 2 hardrives that are Striped to get performance, and each of those drives are then mirror'd for redundancy. All software aside. My RAID 10 setup can allow for up to 2 hardrives to be faulted off the array - assuming they are only one drive from each mirror.

So I can continue using my computer if the drive dropps off while im using it. I simply open up the RAID utility and fix the array without down time - this is assuming the drive simply dropped off the array and didnt actually die.

In a prodcution environment, any down time means loss of income/profit. If servers go down even for 10 minutes just to switch over to a primary drive, thats 10 minutes multiplied by the number of users affected.

So...RAID, until you understand it, please dont go spreading false facts.
 
Wrong again. I am not referring to "STRIPE" configurations, which in the event of "SOFTWARE" failure will leave both drives inaccessable; but NOT DESTROYED. I am referring to "MIRROR" configurations, which are SIGNIFICANTLY more likely to suffer simultaneous "HARDWARE" failure than independant drives. i.e. BOTH DRIVES DESTROYED.

Suppose the guy who started this thread decided to get 2 HDDs for his new machine; and on your advice decided to MIRROR RAID them. Suppose also that he didn't get an "UNINTERUPTED POWER SUPPLY", and that while he was running his machine, a power failure caused his primary drive to have a "HEAD CRASH" on the boot track, thereby rendering it permanently inoperable. What would happen to his other drive, hey genius ? It would be MIRRORING the Primary, working on the boot track, and it would have a head crash there too wouldn't it ? And that is just one example of the sort of thing that can cause simultaneous HARDWARE failure of MIRRORED DRIVES.

MIRRORED DRIVES are fine, if you are MICROSOFT, and have 300 servers with the identical crap loaded on them, and if one of them bites the dust, you just replace the HDDs, and reload it from another server. BUT, I don't recommend them for people with 1 Machine.

I will try to find the articles on the subject that I have previously seen.
 
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Couldnt have said something so meaningful in less words, thank you XD

damn that made my night lol

-i have a RAID 1 running on a clients machine for the reason that if the one of the two drives fail...im not SOL, i can simply let the dead drive be rmaed, get back the drive, pop it in...and whee...i DONT HAVE TO REINSTALL XP AND LOSE 3 HOURS OF MY LIFE AFTER UPDATES c.c

and wow, did this train get off the tracks...we were talking about a guys build right? all i would have suggested he do is change the psu out to a better more well known unit honestly, but im pretty laid back on most stuff.
 
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Sometimes it just needs said :P

Anyway to the OP-

Get the 2500k instead of just the regular 2500.

Get a P67 board instead of an H67 board. The H67 board you mentioned is Micro ATX, but the case can handle a full ATX board just fine.

HEC is a crap brand for a power supply, get a corsair,silverstone, Antec, or seasonic

Get a ddr3-1600 kit, and I'd recommend going 8gb on a new build to be more futureproof.


Here's links to parts I'd recommend-

CPU-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072&cm_re=2500k-_-19-115-072-_-Product

Mobo-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...57230&cm_re=P67_asrock-_-13-157-230-_-Product

Ram-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=rip_jaws_1600_8gb-_-20-231-445-_-Product

Power supply-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044



You can save a few bucks on the ram and get a 4gb kit, but I really recommend 8gb for new builds.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231443
 
If I am an "Idiot", what does that make you ?

idiotsheet001.jpg


And that isn't the best one I have gotten, just the best I still have a copy of. My platoon commander in the army informed me I had the highest IQ, (the army tested me at 162), of anyone who had ever joined under the "Apprentice training program".
 
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