box me up.

March 16, 2006 3:55 PM

Upgrade filter: I'm looking for a new motherboard/CPU combo and a SATA-RAID "solution" I want to spend $300-$400. What hardware should I get?

Basically I'm looking to upgrade my current machine with a new motherboard and CPU and replace my hodgepodge of drives with a single mirrored RAID array. Maybe like 2 80 GB drives mirrored. I get the impression I can get an SATA-RAID card for $20-$30 and an 2 80 GB drives for around $50 each, leaving about $170-$270 for the motherboard, CPU, and RAM.

For a motherboard, I don't know. I'd like a nice one. I need USB2 support and firewire would be nice, but not necessary. I'd like to stick with AMD, but what can I get as far as motherboard/CPU for $200-$300 total? Ideally Id spend $200 on the mobo/CPU now, and then maybe spend a couple hundred more in a few months to get something top of the line CPU, or near too it.

What do ya'll suggest? both for the RAID card, a good suppler and the motherboard CPU?

posted by Paris Hilton to computers & internet (24 comments total)

I recently built a system using a Epox 9NPA+ SLI MoBo, and am very happy with it. It's an AMD motherboard using the nForce4 chipset. If you don't need SLI, you can get the Ultra version which is $105 at Newegg. It actually has an onboard raid controller too, though I haven't used RAID so I can't comment on that.
posted by pombe at 4:21 PM on March 16, 2006

Sorry, but I'd like to hijack this a bit. Where do you go for good prices in Canada, no not NewEgg.
posted by Napierzaza at 4:32 PM on March 16, 2006

Hmm, that epox board looks pretty nice. It has raid mode 1, which is all I need (so that solves the RAID problem).

What chip should I get to go with it, and where should I get it?
posted by Paris Hilton at 4:42 PM on March 16, 2006

hell, I'm so out of it I don't even know what family of chips this thing runs on :P
posted by Paris Hilton at 4:43 PM on March 16, 2006

Pricewatch for all your CPU/Mobo combo needs.

The Asus A8N-SLI is a nice board, too, with SATA Raid on board (nForce4).
posted by disillusioned at 4:44 PM on March 16, 2006

I mean I know amd64. But which versions?
posted by Paris Hilton at 4:47 PM on March 16, 2006

Hmm, looks like the lowest end athlon64 is about $120, so with the motherboard for $110 (I'll estimate) and covering the RAID issue It'll be $330 for the board, hard drives, and CPU. Very nice.

Then I can upgrade in a few months to some monstrous dual core beast.
posted by Paris Hilton at 4:52 PM on March 16, 2006

socket 939
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:26 PM on March 16, 2006

Barf. I mean, that mobo takes socket 939. Not socket 754, if that was the A64 you were looking at.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:27 PM on March 16, 2006

Alright I have in my newegg cart:

2x 120gb SATA drives $139
1x EPoX motherboard_ $105
1x PC3200 ram_______ $66
1x AMD athlon64 3000 $135

Total is $446, a bit more then I wanted to spend, but shaving $80 by getting a cheaper mobo or smaller drive dosn't seem worth it.

The ram is:

_{"CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS1GB400C3 - Retail"}

That should be fine, right?
posted by Paris Hilton at 5:28 PM on March 16, 2006

Barf. I mean, that mobo takes socket 939. Not socket 754, if that was the A64 you were looking at.

Right, I did a little googling on the board to find out what kind of processor it took.

Now these FX chips and x2 - dual core chips intrigue me. I get the idea they're both dual core, but the FX chips are so much more expensive. What's the deal? How much faster are the FX chips then the x2? Do the x2 chips share a cache?

In theory I could upgrade to one of those in a year or so, (when the prices come down) right?
posted by Paris Hilton at 5:30 PM on March 16, 2006

Since I got my question mostly answered, if you want to answer Napierzaza's question, feel free too.
posted by Paris Hilton at 5:37 PM on March 16, 2006

waiting to hit the 'checkout' button :P
posted by Paris Hilton at 5:39 PM on March 16, 2006

For RAID-1 there is absolutely no reason that you need a hardware RAID controller. Software RAID (available stock in just about any operating system, Windows, Linux, *BSD) will work fine with any controller. Even for RAID-5 with its parity computation, a software RAID will almost always outperform hardware RAID on any modern CPU. The only reason to go with hardware RAID is when you get into the realm of *real* hardware RAID controllers that have battery backed NVRAM and hotswap and other advanced features. But you won't find that on any crappy integrated "RAID" controller found on a motherboard or any crappy add-on card that costs $30.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:04 PM on March 16, 2006

Whatever, as long as I can recover the data I'm happy. This motherboard seems pretty slick and it has integrated RAID so it's fine with me.
posted by Paris Hilton at 6:21 PM on March 16, 2006

Alright, I'm goin to order this stuff.

Thanks everyone!
posted by Paris Hilton at 6:23 PM on March 16, 2006

plus, with hardware RAID I should be able to partition the drive and install multiple OSs on it.

In theory, anyway.
posted by Paris Hilton at 6:25 PM on March 16, 2006

er, I mean "going too". not 'going to'

Although at this point it's "did". :)
posted by Paris Hilton at 6:38 PM on March 16, 2006

For Canadian hardware, check bbf.ca for price comparisons. I like Canada Computers and ATIC.ca. NCIX is popular. Dangeo I've used too. If you're ambitious and frugal, watch RedFlagDeals for rebates and specials.
posted by Yogurt at 9:25 PM on March 16, 2006

PH - for about $500 in upgrades you ought to be set for the next few years at least. I spent $500 at newegg about 2.5 years ago, built a nice system (recycling a few parts, including OS, monitor, CD-RW and HDD) and haven't needed to do anything with it until recently, when I dropped in a 320gb SATA and tripled the memory. The thing perfoms like a champ. By the time you feel like you need to put in a more powerful processor, it'll be time to just scrap the mobo and rebuild again anyway.

Plus, if you aren't running PCIx right now you will really need to be running it soon. I'm not, so my next upgrade will require a new video card as well...
posted by caution live frogs at 7:01 AM on March 17, 2006

I belive the mobo I got does, in fact, support PCI-E. Although it does not have built in video, or an AGP slot. oops.
posted by Paris Hilton at 8:08 AM on March 17, 2006

For what it's worth, my Corsair ValueSelect RAM pack had one stick bad.

Quick ship back, and I have two working, perfect sticks in my compy right this very instant, running the machine as if by magic.
posted by disillusioned at 3:00 AM on March 18, 2006

Just an update. I received all the stuff, but my old case's power supply was ATX 12v or whatever, so I had to go to the local comp store and get a new one. Since a case with a PS was only $5 more then a standalone power supply, I got the case.

It was flimsy, and ugly, but the only one in stock. Very light though.

Plugged everything in (the mobo had a 7-segment display to show post codes, pretty slick Plus a bunch of blue LEDs for no reason at all :P)

I also got a CD-Drive and floppy, two more components I needed to spec it up to a full PC and install windows with the RAID driver.

Everything works fine, I just need to install XP now.
posted by Paris Hilton at 10:53 AM on March 21, 2006

Er, I mean my old case's power supply was not ATX 12v. So I needed one of those.
posted by Paris Hilton at 10:33 AM on April 14, 2006