new PC post 2

[cmolson]

Hey guys, I posted a topic a few weeks ago about getting a new pc. Anyways here is what I have purchases to date, I decided to spend a bit more and make it more future-proof if there is such a thing.

Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Intel E6400 Conroe
2x1GB Team Xteem DDR2 800 ram 4-4-4-10 (maybe i put too many 4's)
Antec P180b Case


Q1) Power supply? I have a startech 500 Watt currently. And was told it was a pretty good psu. I am sure 500 Watt is plenty for this setup, however I might be doing crossfire later on if possible. Is this make ok? I know they make alright compute cables lol

Q2) Hard Drive. I have plenty of 300GB PATA drives, 7200rpm 16mb cache. I was thinking about getting a single 74gb raptor. Or for the less $$ I could put 2 7200rpm 160gb drives in raid 0... Which do you think would be 'worth it'?

Q3) Video card: Do I get a x1950 pro 256mb for about $200, then sell it when the new dx10 cards come out in a few months. Or should I get a 8800 GTS right now and leave it.


Thanks for your help!

 

[saltynay]

well nvidia graphics cards are generally better lol dont hit me ati fan boys but i need to know what video card model to suggest?? get a seagate barracuda nearly as fast as the raptor but much more affordable. what size monitor do you have if its less then 20 inches then get the 320mb 8800gts and if its larger the 640 version.

Matt

 

[cmolson]

Hey thanks for the reply. I have a 19" samsung lcd, 1280x1024. So I will look at the seagate barracuda, maybe raid them. The reason I was looking at the ATI's was that my mobo supports crossfire, and if I got a video card that could do that then later on I can upgrade my PC fairly easily. Thanks for yyour help, any more suggestions?

 

[saltynay]

320gb is suppose to be the price/performance but I have limited hdd cages so have 1 320gb and 2x500gb the 500gb get a bit hot bt that might be because i dont turn off my pc ever lol. I Like the Antec true power trio 550w as it will handle everything for quite a while.

Matt

 

[cmolson]

Yeah ~300gb is around 100 dollars cdn. I am not as interested in more space as I am with more performance. I have a linux puter setup with a few 300gb drives, over gigabit lan. Which is why if it is a noticable difference I would rather get 2 160gb drives and raid them, as opposed to even 1 500gb drive.