UPGRADING!! Help with suggestions

[Flying-Squirrel]

Hi all,

I built my first and only rig with the help of these forums. It is a gaming rig that I have loved but now I believe it is time for some upgrades

I have some questions and some current items I am looking at. What I would like from you guys is your explanations and suggestions and comments.

OK so here we go, my current setup:

- Antec PERFORMANCE TX Black Steel Server Computer Case
- 500W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply
- Amd athlon 64 3700 sandiego OCed from 2.2 to 2.65ghz with a Big Typhoon heatsink
- DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D mobo (6-23 bios i believe)
- eVGA 7800gtx video card, OCed but I forget what it is at right now
- ViewSonic VP930b Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor
- 2nd Video card for 2nd monitor is an XFX 7300GS
- 2nd monitor is a ViewSonic VP191B Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor
- G.SKILL Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM sadly running at a 5:6 mem divider I think
- 160 GB Seagate 7200RPM Serial ATA150
- X-Fi Fatality Soundcard
- Cool headset from japan (I am too lazy to look up the name)
- Sony Black CD/DVD Rom
- Lite-On Black CD/DVD Burner and Player (doesn't burn anymore, basically just another player now stupid thing)
- Black LG 16x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Super MultiDrive with LightScribe (replacement for the busted burner)
- NEC Black Floppy Drive
- 3 80mm intake fans, 2 in the front and 1 in the side and 1 big exaust fan in the back
- Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse

Now Here are the parts I am looking at getting as upgrades:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103544

XFX Geforce 7950GX2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150160

Western Digital Raptor 10,000 rpm 74gig hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144366

OCZ GameXStream ATX12V 700W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817341002

What I really need to know:

- Do I need to buy a hardware card to do raid or does my mobo have that built in?
- Can I do raid 0 with my current crapper 160 gig 7200rpm HD and the new 10,000 rpm raptor HD that I would get (i have never done raid before and know nothing please explain as much as possible)
- What do you think of that new processor? Is there an Opteron that is dual core that I should consider instead? What kind of OCing can I expect?
- Does that CPU even work on my MOBO? Does my Big Typhoon heatsink work on it?
- I had a performance loss with my 7800gtx when I ran my 2 monitors from it. That caused me to buy the 7300gs to run my secondary monitor and use the full 7800gtx for my main monitor. Can I sell both of those on ebay and run both monitors with the 7950GX2 and still have the gaming performance I crave?
- Do I need to get this new Power Supply to power all my crap or is my old Antec 500W one still good enough?

Thanks for all your help, please offer suggestions, comments, links, and explanations. I know absolutely nothing about raid and have virtually no experience with dual monitors. I do realize DX10 will be out soon but I figure this vidcard can run vista or anything else and DX10 won't be out for a while yet so it still seems like a good idea to me. Thanks for your help!!

P.S. My sig is a bit outdated so ignore it and look at what I posted in this thread.

EDIT: ATI licks my sweaty sack so please don't suggest an ATI vidcard suggestion or i'll flame u

 

[Jumping_Bean514]

I think raid works best with 2 drives that are the same. I wouldnt raid anything with a raptor unless it was another raptor.

I'd get the new power supply just because, I'm sure your old one would work though.

I wonder about duel monitors and proformance myself. I read a usefull topic about it on these forums once. You should search it.

 

[Flying-Squirrel]

What do you think my performance would be if I did not raid them? If I simply had my operating system and a couple main games on the raptor and then all my other junk on the 160 gig crapper?

 

[Jumping_Bean514]

What do you think my performance would be if I did not raid them? If I simply had my operating system and a couple main games on the raptor and then all my other junk on the 160 gig crapper?

Raptors are extremely fast so if your reason for raiding is speed, then dont bother, there plenty fast enough as it is.