Question for you computer guys.

[Onefast99gsx]

If you're building something like a file server with mirrored, Raid 3 or 5 protection, i'd go with SCSI but Enes is right, otherwise ATA, IDE drives. They are super cheap. I believe most of them nowdays are 7,200rpms. SCSI is expensive but if you have the hardware, then i guess run them. At a workstation level, SCSI just isn't common. For the cost of what you'd have into a 36G SCSI option, you could have 80+ GB in the other option. I just bought 2 Maxtor 80GB drives for work here from CDW for $70.00 each.

[scheides]

cost aside, the 10k rpm sata drives are as fast or faster than several 10k rpm u320 drives on the market. Now, Eric said he's looking at 15k drives. I've implemented both 10k and 15k drives in various servers at work, and the performance margin is hardly noticable.

For the money, I'd go with 10k sata drives, especially since this is for a workstation-type box. 15k drives tend to be a little on the loud side.

Now, as for mobo's, I still think a dual-proc athlon 64 setup would be a great way to go. In fact, the database back end to our mail system at work is just that, a dual athlon 64 machine with 3Gb of ram , and 4x 15k u320 drives. Of course, that machine cost roughly $6k, but if you want processing power, you're set. The motherboard in that machine is a supermicro, which you may want to check out, Lightning.

[Enes]

cha ching a ling a ding a bong

[Matt D.]

15k drives tend to be a little on the loud side.
Yeah, but hearing a jet fighter take off when you turn the computer on is pretty sweet. :)

[StealthGST]

I'll go along with that.

SCSI isn't all that it's cracked up to be anymore as far as speed. It's great for other things (hot swap, large disk arrays, 15 devices per channel, etc.

The 74GB WD Raptor (10k SATA) is simply killer (in price and performance) I have the 36GB model and it's insanely fast. Plus the 15k drive will sound like a dentist drill and not yield any extra performance for your desired goal.

Ram speed won't matter nearly as much if you're not overclocking. Make sure that the motherboard / CPU setup can even take advantage of the extra speedy / extra pricey ram. Just don't go too generic with ram. the cheaper the ram you get the slower the CAS speed (cas2, cas2.5 etc)will be, and performance will sufffer a little.

Lastly, don't buy an Nforce or ATI multimedia chipset board with everything built on. I'd go with something VIA based with built in sound and 1000mb lan and SATA Raid, get a decent pci-e or agp8x video card, and whatever else you want in there and some good ram.

www.newegg.com is a great place for parts

[Anduinlight]

I wish i knew more about dual processors :p

[scheides]

I wish i knew more about dual processors :p

Think about it like one of those dual 1.8t-powered vw scirocco's or that dual-motor'd tiburon you've seen videos of. A dual proc system is usually good *roughly* for a single proc rated at 180% of the speed of one of the dual proc's.

15k rpm drives are not *that* loud, fyi, but noticable for a workstation-type machine. All mine are locked in a room w/ dual dedicated A/C systems and 40 other machines...ya don't notice them as much in there... :)

[LightningGSX]

Thanks for the replies, surfing around the last couple hours I've come to the same conclusion you guys have posted.So I've been looking into the Athlon x2's, didin't realise how little the difference in price compared to the regular Athlon 64s was.And yeah, paying $439 for the 73G 15K SCSI vs $160 for the 76G 10K Raptor is kind of pointless as I look at the minimal difference in performance specs.Mike has me brainwashed into SCSI though.

Still can't come to a conclusion on a motherboard though, I've read too many good reviews on too many different motherboards.Makes the decision kind of tough.Any brand recommendations?

[Enes]

key is, if you are doing this for a server.. aka web server go with skuzy ;p but if its going to be a home number crunching machine then go with sATA

[LightningGSX]

Yep, for home use.Mostly for PC based electronics test equipment, PCB design/auto routing, and circuit/firmware simulation.