Serial ATA & DDR Raid Ram Worth It? - Advice

[Knowledge]

I have a P4 2.4ghz B with 512 cache. MSI 645e MAX Mobo. nVidia GeForce Ti4200 128mb 8X (doesnt matter since my board only does 4x). 512meg stick of Mushkin DDR 2700.

Now my question is with this set up, is it worth upgrading? Keep in mind I have no issues with any of my other stuff... Id just like to have Serial ATA drives and Raid DDR Ram. I would keep my CPU, my Video Card, and everything else... Except for the motherboard, Id need a new one for the features

I saw today that there is something called DDR2 coming out. Perhaps I should just wait for that instead? Or since im not upgrading my cpu or my video card, maybe I just shouldnt upgrade at all...

Also note that I wouldnt change all of my hard drives to serial. Just my boot drive. Too expensive to go all serial, plus I think most motherboards only have 2 headers and I would need 4.

And as a side question, is there any real difference between a serial drive at 7200 RPM VS a IDE drive at 7200 RPM. I know theres a difference between like the raptors at like 10,000 RPM, but would you see a difference in a 160gb Maxtor 8mb 7200 RPM IDE VS a Serial ATA?

Thanks alot for any information you guys can give me in advance. I aperciate it Many Thanks!

 

[aj2003]

if i were you i would save you cash for the min and build a completely new system.
I would go with
AMD 64 3500 socket 939
msi or asus mobo (make sure 939 aswel)
2x WD raptors SATA 36gig each
1 250 gig seagate IDE
EVGA 6800gt
1gig or corsair ram

i would run the raptoprs in raid 0 for your OS and any progs u use all the time and the 250gig for storage. But saying this you should do some reasearch becuase only Seagate does true SATA atm WD, maxtor etc use convertors so its not really SATA speed but thats been talked about to death just search.

The question about the ddr2 is still up for debate over whether it replace ddr so i would recommend you wait and see what happens.

hope this helps

 

[Knowledge]

Awesome, thanks for your reply.

Well, while that is a KILLER idea, and I'd go for it in a heartbeat. I am on a budget This really all started over $160 worth of gift certificates to Fry's. Now they ran a special in their ad I think it was this last Friday. It was a 74gb Rapter for $150 after rebates, and a gig of dual ddr, I forgot what brand for $130 after rebates. I saw that and it got my mind going I know Ill have to spend more out of my pocket to upgrade, but I didnt really want to spend alot more then I needed. Plus all in all I really am happy with my current set up. When a stable 64bit OS comes out with a few decent 64bit programs, Ill upgrade my CPU. But for now I feel its like buying a HD Tv... Great hardware, but nothing to watch on it. Get what im saying?

Also, thanks for the info about DDR 2.

I think Ill just hold off on upgrading for the moment. My other option is get a 1gb MMC card for my cellphone (Nokia 6620) and a USB Bluetooth adapter. But, I think im good with a 256mb on my phone.

Thanks again