I've been getting some advice for a new computer from SA, but thought I would ask if anyone here has any recommendations as well. I'll just cut/paste my posts for you to check out
( Read more... )
I don't trust terabyte-or-higher drives. Then again, I don't trust any drive, always always always use either RAID1 or RAID5 AND do backups. You will not regret the cost. I also recommend well-known brands for videocards. There is a wide range of quality when it comes to a given chipset. I am jealous that you can get by with 550watt PSUs. I ended up needing 1000 watts.
If you're going to plan on a crazy powerful computer with overclocking, I cannot recommend water cooling enough. It's about ten times as reliable as air-cooling when done right. Hell, even compusa has water cooling stuff in stock now.
disclaimer: although I do have a modern desktop (bought last year. $1k), I mostly work with servers. Even then, I rarely deal with hardware anymore. My advice is clearly skewed towards redundancy/reliability.
The thread from SA had most of these parts recommended as the go-to ones due to quality and price, so I guess those hard drives were decent as well. I mean, I'm terrified of losing stuff too, as I have lost drives before, but is there anything about the larger drives that makes them particularly worse, other than losing more stuff at once
( ... )
larger HDDs are less reliable, they have shorter MTBF (real measure, not company-listed). they are just not ready for prime time yet imo. i don't recommend their use in business applications, but if you're well prepared for hw failure with raid and backups then it's your call
psu draw averages way, way lower than peak. but during startup a high amount is used and a heavily loaded system may not even boot (mine wouldn't boot on a 650w psu) so you don't actually 'use' 1000w on avg but i def. need it
water cooling is easy and imo totally worth it. overheating is a bitch and doesn't have a hard 'edge' where shit starts breaking, you'll just start having things act wonky and then get random BSODs
Do you have a recommendation for a good size, safe hard drive? They suggested the 640GB WD Black Caviar and the 500GB Seagate Barracuda (which I either have now, or have a variant of).
What about water-cooling? What is a good place to start? Would I just get a case that has it built in? The main experience I had with it was a roommate completely custom doing it, even building his own water tanks from sheets of plastic. In the end he spent months, 2 grand, the system never worked right. Although store-bought, I could see that solving most of his issue.
I imagine water-cooling would reduce the noise factor a lot as well, due to the lack of fans, right? Or do they still use some fans (obviously some parts will have them, like the PSU and whatnot)?
Comments 6
I also recommend well-known brands for videocards. There is a wide range of quality when it comes to a given chipset.
I am jealous that you can get by with 550watt PSUs. I ended up needing 1000 watts.
If you're going to plan on a crazy powerful computer with overclocking, I cannot recommend water cooling enough. It's about ten times as reliable as air-cooling when done right. Hell, even compusa has water cooling stuff in stock now.
disclaimer: although I do have a modern desktop (bought last year. $1k), I mostly work with servers. Even then, I rarely deal with hardware anymore. My advice is clearly skewed towards redundancy/reliability.
Reply
Reply
larger HDDs are less reliable, they have shorter MTBF (real measure, not company-listed). they are just not ready for prime time yet imo. i don't recommend their use in business applications, but if you're well prepared for hw failure with raid and backups then it's your call
psu draw averages way, way lower than peak. but during startup a high amount is used and a heavily loaded system may not even boot (mine wouldn't boot on a 650w psu)
so you don't actually 'use' 1000w on avg but i def. need it
water cooling is easy and imo totally worth it. overheating is a bitch and doesn't have a hard 'edge' where shit starts breaking, you'll just start having things act wonky and then get random BSODs
Reply
What about water-cooling? What is a good place to start? Would I just get a case that has it built in? The main experience I had with it was a roommate completely custom doing it, even building his own water tanks from sheets of plastic. In the end he spent months, 2 grand, the system never worked right. Although store-bought, I could see that solving most of his issue.
I imagine water-cooling would reduce the noise factor a lot as well, due to the lack of fans, right? Or do they still use some fans (obviously some parts will have them, like the PSU and whatnot)?
Reply
Leave a comment