newbie at building a pc...help?

[dale5605]

Then you should definitely get the 2 80gb hard drives for a total of about 150gb space, plus really fast.

And yes I know he's new to computers, but a RAID configuration is easy to setup. All you have to do is enable it in BIOS, which it usually is by default, and then when it says press F10 to enter RAID setup utiltity you press F10.
Then all you have to do is set the mode on striping (RAID 0) and leave the striping size on optimal, then put both hard drives into the RAID section and save the changes. After that reboot the computer and go into setup. Then set it to boot on CD. The put in windows and start the setup.

During the setup it will say "press F6 to install RAID devices" so you press F6

then you wait for it to finish loading the files, and then it will ask you to insert a floppy

so you put in a floppy with the RAID drivers on it and then BAM!

that's it, you will have a permanent RAID setup and won't have to mess with that crap again.

The reason I suggested gigabyte board is because it is a swett board and has a whole lot of features. It has all the SATA cables and it also support SATA II which is really fast and also comes with those cables!

Two Hitachi 80gb SATA II hard drives on RAID 0 would be so fast for you man...

 

[c4sTr0]

yes that sounds like exactly what ive gotta do. but whats this RAID 0?

 

[dale5605]

It's 2 hard drives working together to share the work load. So it's faster than just one hard drive. But you also get the combined storage.

 

[c4sTr0]

alright,
what other hardware do i need in order to install this?

 

[dale5605]

Well for an Nforce4 Motherboard, such as the gigabyte one I suggested all you do is this.
Go to nvidia's website and download the latest nforce4 chipset drivers.
You will probably want to burn these onto a CD so you can install them on the computer after you install windows.

After you burn the drivers to a CD (just burn the main setup file, it should be only one file and it will be an icon), unzip the install file. Then navigate into the "IDE" folder and then into the "WinXP" folder.
Then what you want to do is take all of the files there EXCEPT the "raidtool" folder and copy them onto a floppy disk.

Then you will use this disk to set up the RAID that I mentioned how to earlier.

edit: oops I thought you said software

for hardware you just need the RAID capable motherboard, 2 SATA hard drives, SATA II preferred, and a couple of SATA II connector cables. The gigabyte motherboard will come with those though. Then you're set.

 

[c4sTr0]

so,
what this computer will consist of so far is:

-AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail (core-winchester)
-EVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB DDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "128-A8-N350" -RETAIL (radeon is still up for discussion)
-Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail
-Seagate 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST380013AS, OEM (2 of these)
-mobo still not confirmed
here is a random one thats compatible:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-180-068&depa=1
-sound blaster audigy 2 ZS


that looks like the sceme of things. please tell what im missing out and what should be changed.

 

[dale5605]

Don't get Soltek.

Well I thought you had a bigger budget than that. Kinda skimping out there. Oh well.

 

[c4sTr0]

doesnt matter, which mobo should i get?

 

[aspire]

abit an8 or dfi lanparty nf4 ultra
abit = reliability and easy overclockability
dfi has memory issues only likes expensive ram no value ram

 

[dale5605]

Just spend the extra money and get the good stuff. Don't skimp. If you get crappy brands like soltek or anything like that it won't be good at all, the better brands are worth the money, trust me.