New Computer

[Kayaker72]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, they have definitely been very helpful. [] I think we are targeting the $500 to $1000range.While it does look like I can get a PC that meets the above specs and had Office/etc for that range, I am curious about building it.So I'll try to take a look at newegg.


Thanks again.


Brant

[Kayaker72]

I have had a little time to research and watch videos. On Tuesday night I had found a HP tower at Best Buy for $480. It has an AMD Athlon II 3.1 Ghz Quad-Core, 1 TB 7200 rpm hard drive, 6 GB of memory, and Windows 7 x64. No SSD that I am aware of, but overall it seems like a big step up from what I have now.


But I am curious about building my own and I

[bob williams]

Well, I can

[HiFiGuy1]

I will only add an alternative to the three HDD backup plan, and that would be a RAID5 array in your main PC and a RAID5 backup system in a NAS drive enclosure. You can relatively inexpensively put together 4TB on the main PC with a 4TB backup in the NAS using six 2TB drives. The RAID5 system allows for a drive failure without losing data on the system. The likelihood of losing two of the three drives at once is very slim, and the likelihood of losing two of the three drives on each of the two machines (main computer and NAS) is almost non-existent. You are probably more likely to be struck by lightning while holding up the winning lottery ticket. Also, the suggestion to use a SSD as your boot drive is excellent. That will make much more difference in the day to day speed of your computer than even a dramatic processor upgrade in most instances.

[Daniel Browning]

a RAID5 backup system in a NAS drive enclosure.

This is a great idea, but only if you have at least two separate, disconnected NAS backups. The reason is that while your primary NAS backup is connected, a simple administration error could easily wipe out both your main data as well as your primary backup. (For example, several times I have copied the backup to the main drive, rather than the other way around).A friend of mine blogged about it recently:http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/database-soup/a-san-is-not-a-highavailability-solution-47644?rss=1


If you have a secondary backup that is not connected ("air gap") then you are protected from yourself. (I would argue that you need at least several miles of distance between backups, too.)



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[Dr Croubie]

I've just ordered my new computer last night, made a few compromises based on what was in stock, no monitor yet.


Just to give you an idea of what I reckon is worthwhile:


.


Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 $165 - Would have gotten the 990XA cheaper but not available yet. 970XA is a cheap deal too, as is Asus M5A97. AM3+ is upgradeable for a few years.


AMD Phenom II x6 1055T $159 - Cheapest x6 available, more cores &gt; more GHz. Other option is cheap 2/3/4x now for half the price and 8-core end of this year.


Corsair CMX 2x2GB 1600C9 $39 - No need for &gt;1600 or C8/C7 speeds, get 8GB only for winbloats machines


Gigabyte GT440 1GB $77 - Could have gotten GT210/420/430/520 cheaper, or a Radeon, but nVidia has always supported linux.


OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD $109 - linux only needs 20GB really. Consider 120/240GB+ for winbloats


Seagate 1TB HDD $55 - 7200rpm and 6GB/s link, watch out for slower like 5400 or 3GB/s. 64MB cache is nice but this one only has 32MB. No need for 2/3TB (yet)


Silverstone Strider 500W PSU $69 - Others are cheaper, but I like silverstone. 12cm fans on big side are quiter than 8cm fans on back. Can't reuse old one on new MB, dammit.


Samsung 22x DVDRW $24 - Who needs bluray?


Logitech MK260 wireless KB/mouse $29 - Because my last keyboard went to my parents.


2.5" - 3.5" drive bay adapter $9 - For the ssd, why not.


.


All up, $767 shipped, in Aussie$. Re-using my (very) old (12-13 years) case, but may reconsider later. Stock cooler with the CPU, unless i can re-jig my old home-made watercooler to fit.


.


And I went to get my Dell 27" Ultrasharp monitor last night, it's now $900, so i might hold off and hope it goes back to $800 any time soon. But that's the core of photo editing so i can't wait much more than a week after i've finished compiling and configuring my system...

[Kayaker72]

Dr. Croubie,


Thanks for the post. I am actually sitting at my desk trying to finalize my order. I'll review your order and maybe I'll change my mind on a few things, but as it stands (prices after rebates):

• ASUS M4A88TD-V EV Motherboard ($103)
• AMD Athlon II x4 3.1 GHz ($106)
• WD Caviar Black 2 TB, 7200 rpm, SATA III, 6.0 Gb/s ($150)
• G. Skill Ripjaw x Series 8 GB (yep, windows) DDR3 (1333) ($55)
• OCZ Technology Agility 3 120GB ($190)
• ASUS CD/DVD burner ($20)
• Cooler Master HAF 912 ($45)
• Apevia 500W PSU ($20)
• Window 7 Home Premium ($95)
• Samsung B2430H 24" monitor ($220)

For a grand total of $1004.


Just a few more things I want to check (I logged in to re-read this threadfor the recommendations)and then I'll place the order.


Thanks,


Brant