Core 2 Duo 6400
Badaxe MoBo
Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB)
Two 320 gb Seagate Barracudas 7200.10 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (in Raid 0)
One 74 gb Western Digital Raptor for OS and programs
Soundblaster Audigy 4
Radeon X850 XT

how'd I do?

I don't like ATI video cards, but with that MB... other than that she ought to scream.

Should be smoking except to the ati card, all that power with a Outdated graphic card will slow it down alot. I would say at least a 1600 if your going ATI or for another 50 bucks  you could buy a 7900gt nvidia that would smoke it. ($250) or a 7600GT for $150

did you buy already?

also, what is the mem speed? mobo fsb? ....

can you copy & paste the actual items?

SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model SH-S162L - OEM

Intel BOXD975XBXLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
 
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400
 
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 1066MHz FSB LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

I'm iffy on RAID 0,  unless you need it because of video or audio editing.

Quoted: SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model SH-S162L - OEM those are nice, bought one for my mom. Great buy for $32 Intel BOXD975XBXLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail This board doesnt support CORE 2. Dont buy it!  (wait a second, Newegg doesnt list it as supported but the intel site says it is supported. Ok, figured it out. You have to get one of the newer serial numbered boards †† Only versions of the Intel desktop board D975XBX with AA# D27094-304 or AA# D29532-303 or higher support these processors.).....anyways, it is expensive for what it is. Try to get an ASUS or ABIT, Ive had excellent results with both. The Intel boards can be hard to overclock. CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 the cas latency sucks at 5, get one with 4...or 3 if you can find it, and the timings are very bad @ 5-5-5-12.  Try to get a set with lower timings, like 3-3-3-9, or even 4-4-4-10.  Also, DDR2 800 is good, but DDR2 1000 is better   Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply ive had bad luck with antec. Ive burned up 4 or 5 (me and friends PC's)  I recommend Rosewill 550w-600w. Good PSU for a good price.   Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 1066MHz FSB LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive Nice, was wondering if you got the perpendicular Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive These are nice.

Also, I dont think you need to run your 320gb Seagates in raid 0. They are plent fast for storage, hell you could run your OS these with great sucess. You could get just one drive for storage.

Also, the GPU really is a poor choice. Try to get a 7900gt, 7800

Nice audio card, you will love it.  It has a firewire port on it too, so you dont have to get a mobo with firewire.

Oh, crap almost forgot!  Buy some Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. It will lower your temps 5-10c at idle. Its the best cheap upgrade you could ever buy. $9

Also, Ive heard reports the the CORE2's fan that comes with it is pretty crappy. Get an ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro. $29

Ok, I'll return the memory

I selected the board for a few reasons...one of the reasons is the nifty front-panel thing that gives me more USB and firewire up front (fits in a drive bay)



All of the Conroe compatible boards are way expensive, it seems. This one is compatible for sure

I know the GPU sucks. (relative term) A buddy gave it to me

On the Antec PSU's, I've only bought theirs for the last few systems I've built for myself and for friends.. I've yet to have one go bad on me.

-d

Quoted: On the Antec PSU's, I've only bought theirs for the last few systems I've built for myself and for friends.. I've yet to have one go bad on me. -d

I use them for all builds I do.  I've lost one, due to a system not being protected (re: surge supressor) and lightning killed it.  Other than that, they are all rock solid.

ok...how about this memory:

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065

and this video card:

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130033

Quoted: ok...how about this memory: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065 and this video card: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130033

Good video card... that is better.

Quoted: Quoted: On the Antec PSU's, I've only bought theirs for the last few systems I've built for myself and for friends.. I've yet to have one go bad on me. -d I use them for all builds I do.  I've lost one, due to a system not being protected (re: surge supressor) and lightning killed it.  Other than that, they are all rock solid.

Me to... I have used Antec power supplies in more builds than I can count with not one failure. Cannot say that about any other single component.

stop the presses....

the vid card that I linked won't work for me

I'd prefer to have the ability to do Crossfire in the future

Quoted: Quoted: stop the presses.... the vid card that I linked won't work for me I'd prefer to have the ability to do Crossfire in the future The card is  SLI ready. or is it that SLI and Crossfire aren't compatible ?  mmk

I'm not sure if the mobo is SLI-compatible....

the new memory is a good choice.

the card is good. I have the same one.

EVGA had problems with their ram early in the 7900gt series, they have since released "reloaded" versions with better ram. These reloaded versions are alot better, they dont artifact likt the old ones.

7900 GT Series

"New" Part Number Existing Part Number
256-P2-N580-AR/BR 256-P2-N560-AX/BX/DX
256-P2-N582-AR/BR 256-P2-N562-AX/BX/DX
256-P2-N583-AR/BR 256-P2-N563-AX/BX/DX
256-P2-N584-AR/BR 256-P2-N564-AX/BX/DX/FX

Also, make sure you get a KO version. It has the larger heatsink.

As far as Crossfire, well thats just ATI's version of SLI. Your selected mobo doesnt support that.

Quoted: stop the presses.... the vid card that I linked won't work for me I'd prefer to have the ability to do Crossfire in the future

Go with a SLI compatible motherboard and video cards. Crossfire is lacking compared to SLI

-d

i happen to know quite a bit about the d975xbx.

it's a great motherboard.  it is a crossfire board.  and the stability an intel board will give you will be outstanding.  the "bad axe" will overclock as well, although maybe not as well as a lan party or something.

the bad axe supports core 2, as long as you get the right revision.  i know 302's work, but i'm pretty sure that is only with a rework, so you might look into a 303 or 304.

crossfire is nowhere near as mature as sli, but i feel this day and age either is still unnecessary, unless it's for an upgrade path.  often times people spend more money to get a lesser sli/crossfire rig than would be cost-effective to just get a better video card.  a single x1900 will outperform many of the lower models, same with the 7800 and 7900's, so watch what you're spending.

if ati's physics platform comes to life, any dual-pcie board would be just fine to run graphics+physics.

stay away from raid0 unless you _really_ need it.  you would be better off with JBOD, which i believe the onboard intel matrix storage supports.  the only time i would consider raid0 is if you need serious speed for LARGE file transfers, ie pushing around gigantic files with video editing or databases or something.  the performance for typical usage is hardly noticable (if at all), and the data is MUCH less secure.

and, if the matrix storage doesn't do jbod, i'm sure the additional sil sata controller will.  the matrix storage controller will do raid 0,1,0+1, and 5 just fine.

hope that helps.

also, ddr800 is more than sufficient for the processor.  we use corsair 675 (667) on our builds and it works pretty peachy.  you would see a gain with 800, though.

thanks for the info, iroc.

The mobo is the 305 revision, so it will be compatible.

On the crossfire, I figured I get one good card now and pick up another of the same card in 2 yrs when they're much cheaper to extend the life of the machine.

WRT raid 0.....I'm capturing and editing HD video so I do really need the speed.

Quoted: WRT raid 0.....I'm capturing and editing HD video so I do really need the speed.

Ahh,  if you can do raid-5 and can afford it I'd consider that,  you get a speed bump, and at least be able to tolerate one harddrive dying.  Or just make sure to backup your projects!  (I had a friend that did lots of capture lose a raid-0 about a year back, he had his whole OS on it and everything)

Quoted: Quoted: WRT raid 0.....I'm capturing and editing HD video so I do really need the speed. Ahh,  if you can do raid-5 and can afford it I'd consider that,  you get a speed bump, and at least be able to tolerate one harddrive dying.  Or just make sure to backup your projects!  (I had a friend that did lots of capture lose a raid-0 about a year back, he had his whole OS on it and everything)

DV tapes are cheap enough that I'll always have the raw footage....plus, I'll be creating projects and exporting them on DVD.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: WRT raid 0.....I'm capturing and editing HD video so I do really need the speed. Ahh,  if you can do raid-5 and can afford it I'd consider that,  you get a speed bump, and at least be able to tolerate one harddrive dying.  Or just make sure to backup your projects!  (I had a friend that did lots of capture lose a raid-0 about a year back, he had his whole OS on it and everything) DV tapes are cheap enough that I'll always have the raw footage....plus, I'll be creating projects and exporting them on DVD.

Sounds like you have outs.  

The X850 didn't sound too bad if it was free,  but I wouldn't pay much for it otherwise.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: WRT raid 0.....I'm capturing and editing HD video so I do really need the speed. Ahh,  if you can do raid-5 and can afford it I'd consider that,  you get a speed bump, and at least be able to tolerate one harddrive dying.  Or just make sure to backup your projects!  (I had a friend that did lots of capture lose a raid-0 about a year back, he had his whole OS on it and everything) DV tapes are cheap enough that I'll always have the raw footage....plus, I'll be creating projects and exporting them on DVD.

with raid5 your write speeds will be the ouch, especially over raid0.  stick with raid0 for video editing, but maintain a second record (raw footage would probably be fine).

everyone should be keeping good backups anyways.  there's really no excuse not to.

with your video card, the x850 was a great series, and does well.  if it was free, then run it.  but honestly, i would invest very little into an x850 crossfire setup, you'd be much better just to pitch it and upgrade down the road when you need it.

i would say keep it for a physics card, but ati has stated you need a x1600 or above (or might be 1300, but definitely 1k series).

still, it was free, run it until you need to upgrade... i would probably try and keep it until dx10 was mature enough to use, then upgrade.  which a xfire x850 series will not support (dx10).

ok...progress is being made....

I've decided to add another raptor and go raid 0 for the OS.

the UPS man has arrived....all of the components are on hand.

I think I'll post step-by-step pics of the build, since there seem to be a lot of Q's about building computers here.

this computer is going to freaking scream!

whew...

that wasn't easy...4 hard drives, a CD drive, a floppy, a video card, a sound card, a big ass CPU fan and 4 other fans makes for a metric assload of cables.

I got the RAID set up and the OS installed (with just a little difficulty) but I'm going to re-do it with a few partitions.

Probably one for OS and programs, one for photoshop's swap file, and one for Sony Vegas' swap file.

Any partitioning suggestions?

Also, I took A LOT of pics of the build. I'll post them over the weekend probably.

swap files?  no way man. Those wont help you, you have so much RAM that a swap wouldnt even be used.

I would partition 40gb for the OS and programs.  Then fill the rest of the drive space(40-80gb?) with "truecrypt" encrypted partition. Use this for personal data and OS images.

The other drives I would use just for video storage and m3 storage. No partitions.

I partition out all of my drives to managable sizes. Total of 900 gigs on this pc and I think I have 8 or 9 partitions. Keeps stuff organized better.

-d