how's my hardware?

smite · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 12:52 am Post subject: how's my hardware?

I'm building a new computer, and here's what I have so far:

Antec Sonata Quiet Mid Tower Case (Piano Black) Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=140025

Gigabyte GA-7NNXP nForce2 Ultra 400 Athlon(XP)/Duron SktA DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Dual LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail
266/333/400FSB, ATA/133, AGP 8X (1.5V), 4DDR DIMM, 5PCI, USB 2.0/1.1, IEEE 1394, Audio, Dual LAN, RAID/SATA
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240756

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.08GHz 333FSB Processor Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80173-R

2 sticks of 256MB
http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT3264Z335&cat=RAM

The Crucial RADEON 9200 128MB
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.asp?imodule=CTV9200128MB&cat=Video+Card

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y120L0 120GB
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100699

LiteOn DVD Burner
http://directron.com/ldw411bk.html

There are two things I'm worried about: (1) Did I make a good choice about the motherboard/CPU? Is anyone using these any happy with them? (2) How well supported is the Radeon 9200? I understand that nvidia is better supported.

pem725 · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 2:10 am Post subject:

What are your plans with the system? For a workstation, not bad. May I make a suggestion....

RAM: I have found over the past 15 years in the PC business that larger RAM modules almost always outperform multiple smaller modules. Also, it is easier to upgrade when you come up with the funds or need.

HD: Since setting up RAID on my server, I am now a convert to at least striped drives. The performance is unbeatable and makes UDMA drives perform with the best SCSI drives.

If your intentions are for a server, the system specs may not fit the bill - overkill on the video and underkill on the storage.

Just my $0.02
_________________
Cheers,
Patrick

Do the community a favor and answer a few stranded messages. I'm off to answer one now...thanks to gentoo!

cyberb · n00b Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 9

About the RAM modules: The nForce chipsets have two channels and therefore the performance is much better if both channels are used. So two 256 MB modules are better than one 512 MB module, afaik.

smite · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 12:27 pm Post subject: