i'd only spend 1000$ and save the rest to start paying off loans. take it from somone who has them

tech reports latest system guide might be a good springboard for you if you don't really know what you want, and aren't interested in doing the research yourself.

Ah.

In college I came across a custom built computer for video editing, that was sort of working, but flaky under load.

Opening it up, I found a 20pin power supply in a 24pin motherboard. Replacing the power supply fixed the stability issues.

So, I didn't know you could do that. Cool

I'm using some of these in my gaming box, and find them pretty quiet, with zalman fanmates running them somewhere between 5-7V [about 600RPM] There is a light ticking, but in a P182 under a tabletop I can't pick it up. With the side off and my ear next to it, I can. If anything they are cheap, right...

The big question for modding my P-182 case is if I can get away with blocking off the top vent without raising the temperature inside the case. You very likely fan, from a general consensus in my opinion, , a lot of people don't use the top fan mount. If you're really interested in being in a compe...

950W psu? sigh...that would be my first return... When bought in conjunction with the CPU, it was 170 dollars off (so it was 80 bucks). I was originally going to get a 650 or 700W but this one ended up being 20 dollars cheaper with that combo deal. I know it's a bit overkill but in the future if I ...

what do the 4 pins you removed power? the pci-e slot?

Two years out of college, so, maybe something to look forward too! And yes, its very quiet. http://chrisrandel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/workstation-small.jpg big http://chrisrandel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/boxes-small.jpg big http://chrisrandel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/bigscreen-sm...

However, either way the difference in real world (non-benchmark) speed between 667, 800 and 1066 DDR2 is pretty insignificant and almost always the system is bottlenecked by something else (CPU, HDD, GPU). Id get the cheapest brand name RAM listed at 1.8v and not worry about all the overvolted stuf...

I'd get the least expensive antec earthwatts supply. I've seen the 330W for 30$ many times. It certainly may be overkill, and you might not get the best efficiency, but when you're dealing with such a low load, more efficiency doesn't help *that* much in the long run when you're spending a lot more ...

Maybe he wants to encode DVD's on it.

I've considered getting a quad-core for a fileserver, plus a netflix subscription.

Well, you won't really know till you put the thing together. My gut says yes, it should be fine. If you're not overclocking, it should be sufficient. Your 4850 will put off a lot of heat, so I'd recommend mounting a 120mm blowing over the card on the back of the hard drive bay, and make sure to keep...

I think RAID is for performance, more than storage.

If you just need storage, I wouldn't even use RAID.

Put two in your fileserver, put two in a computer you turn on to backup once a week.

Your new systems will stomp the old ones. They should be completely sufficient for the described purpose above. Heat may be a minor issue, but even a single 120mm case fan with the cpu fan and power supply fan should be adequate for cooling. The on-board components are designed to handle high temper...

For OS, Windows XP 32-bit won't cut it. You'll be limited to 2TB volumes (which will be very annoying) unless you move to WHS, Server 2003, Vista, or Server 2008 (which allow for the use of GPT disks). Don't forget linux :) I'd say get a full blown computer, you have a lot more options if you want ...

how do you like the foam? is it thick enough to really suck up any noise?

I would try to get something that runs 5-5-5-18 at stock voltage. I find that I experience memory failures [at work] with memory at higher voltages. I just had a stick of crucial ballistix at work that failed running @ 2.0v, 4-4-4-12@ 800mhz which is the first memory stick i've had fail in a long ti...

Your mobo supports a ton of CPU's. Q9450, E8400

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func ... incat_no=1

CPU upgrade would go a long way from a P4 based chip.

You could buy another reset button and mod the case?

googling "ATX Push Button" turned up new buttons for 3-4$.

at least one thing to consider is that you will decrease the lifetime of components and for no measurable or detectable improvement in noise level Would 50 C (full load, around 20 in the room) at the CPU decrease the life time of it? No. CPU life is generally pretty long [10+ years] assuming you're...

Ha, you're not really building a "Home" file server, you're building a workstation/work class file server. Have you had good luck pulling a raid controller from an existing machine and plopping it into a new one? I've had mixed luck with it. The whole system hardware-wise is totally overkill. You co...

Also agree on AMD, when you're on a budget like you have.

You can easily add a nice graphics card down the road, and I think you will be happy.

The E5200 is a really great pick for the pricepoint.

I wouldn't even worry much about name brand memory, though its only a little more than other memory.

Definitly look for a mATX motherboard, and if you don't need a dedicated graphics card, save yourself the money and don't get one.

The Q6600 is priced the same as the E8400 where as the Q9550 is 100 eur more. Not too worried about the heat (should I be?). Seems like the Q6600 is better prepared for future programs. Motherboard? I would really appreciate your help. Planning to buy it all tonight (europe) or tomorrow. Any of the...

Looks solid, and totally overkill for an HTPC. But for playing games, should be fine. I'd recommend any P35 chipset motherboard. You can browse through the ones the egg has here I've had really good luck with gigabyte boards running the P35 chipset, built 6 or 7 with no problems, all running quadcor...

i know i wanted raid6 but what can you tell me about PERC 5/i? is in any good? for its price i have to think about it I've used these as well, they are actually LSI cards. Pretty much any dell server with SCSI or SAS has a card from this family. Performance isn't bad, but no web interface for the c...

3ware 9650SE-8LPML is my choice right now but i want to know if there are other good controllers out there i know raid6 controllers ain't cheap, but i need storage space Agree, I love these, using several at work. The 12ML is also very good if you wanted to be able to expand. Pretty useful web inte...

I don't trust many inexpensive RAID solutions, personally. I'd just make two separate drives, and use rsync to mirror them nightly, or something like that. If one shits the bed, then you have everything on the other disc there, you can plug it in anywhere without worrying about RAID stuff, etc. I'd ...

If you wanted to plan ahead, and go big, I'd roll with Either an Antec 900 , or if you want more, this Lian-Li . With the Antec 900, add two of these for 10 hot-swappable bays. With the 12 5.25" bay Lian-Li, you could have 4 of them, totalling 20 hot-swappable disks. Replace the 120mm fan in the Sup...

I used a Gefen DVI/usb switcher that worked pretty well.

DVI KVM's seem to be difficult to come by.

Have you thought about remote desktop/VNC for your second computer?

I've found that it's just as good if not better to use remote desktop to get what you need as far as two computers.

Ha, the X1900 is a real energy hog :). After replying to this thread, I'm now doing some reading on the different 80 plus standards, no idea we had different levels of 80plus+ efficiency. It looks like its tough to find low wattage 80+ silver power supplies, and nearly impossible to find 80+ gold po...