i would be more than happy to answer any questions.

___________________

awesome thanks. i'll go more into detail so you can understand where im coming from...

the purpose of the machine is more for storage than anything else but i would also like to do some photoshop/premiere shit like that too so it cant be a total cheap machine. i highly doubt i'll do any gaming and if i do it wont be anything insane. probably the old starcraft or something. basically i dont mind spending the money but the machine has to be stable and last awhile. i also plan on running the machine very close to 24/7.

like i said ive been out of the loop so basically did was just look up what products had good and plentiful reviews on newegg and went from there. so the first question would be.. any reason to not go with any of these components?

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813131736
* really dig the 5 year warranty.

AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819103961
* question here is, do i want more cores or would it be better for me to go with less cores and a higher ghz? also wont be doing any overclocking so the stock heatsink/fan should be good enough right?

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231314
* 8gb should be more than enough right? ram is just so cheap if i need more i dont mind adding.

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130625
* kinda was hoping to find a motherboard with halfway decent on board video so i could save the cash on a separate graphics card but i just cant find anything that looks good enough. also does this graphics card do dual monitors? 2x dvi means it should right?

ASUS DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...k=asus%2024b3st
* its just a burner. dont think this really matters.

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...EWS&PageSize=20
* to save some money maybe go with the 64gb model? this will just be the c drive. basically will just have windows, office, the adobe family, all that stuff. but im wondering if 64gb is cutting it too close there. would also like to make a partition and throw linux on there for fun since ive never messed around with it.

4x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136284
* would really prefer to have these as 2tb drives but the reviews are terrible on those. gonna have these raid 5 or 10. also not exactly sure which i should go with. one is slower reading and one is slower writing. speed isnt going to be that big of a deal. i just need/want everything accessible at all times. basically will only be writing the bulk once and occasionally adding bits more. reading will happen more frequently so i guess thats what i should go with. thats raid 5 right? ive never actually configured a raid system before. cant be that hard though right? or?

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced RC-932-KKN5-GP Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0, Black Interior and Four Fans-1x 230mm front RED LED, 1x 140mm rear, 1x 230mm top, and 1x 230mm side
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811119160
* full tower is very important to me to have room inside for all the hard drives. honestly think this thing is a little ugly but i really dont care. also would of preferred a case/power supply combo as thats what im used to from years ago but again cant find anything thats decent enough.

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817171036
* dunno where it was cuz i couldnt find it again but i newegg had a power calculator and their site and it said i would need around 550w of power for all the hard drives and everything else. no idea if this is even correct or if i should get a more powerful supply. also read some reviews on newegg that this power supply caused some problems on existing setups.

2x ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) W/Speakers
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...k=asus%20vh242h
* should look beautiful. wont use the speakers though.

now this all costs a buttload of money, so to keep initial costs a bit more manageable i'll only be starting with 1 monitor and 1 or 2 hard drives and adding the rest later. but everything else im basically ready to order right now.

alright. most of my questions are there. thanks in advance for any and all advice and im sure a few more follow questions are to come.

I'd say since you'll be using this more for storage/server maybe get an Intel processor but I can be wrong in thinking it's the better choice for this type of application. Also for your SSD I'd recommend Intel as they have the best warranty and are probably the most reliable. And 64GB should be enough.

___________________
My Soundcloud Page | The Free Soundcloud Stuff Thread

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

quote:

Originally posted by PatMcGroin awesome thanks. i'll go more into detail so you can understand where im coming from... 1- question here is, do i want more cores or would it be better for me to go with less cores and a higher ghz? also wont be doing any overclocking so the stock heatsink/fan should be good enough right? 2- 8gb should be more than enough right? ram is just so cheap if i need more i dont mind adding. 3- kinda was hoping to find a motherboard with halfway decent on board video so i could save the cash on a separate graphics card but i just cant find anything that looks good enough. also does this graphics card do dual monitors? 2x dvi means it should right? 4- to save some money maybe go with the 64gb model? this will just be the c drive. basically will just have windows, office, the adobe family, all that stuff. but im wondering if 64gb is cutting it too close there. would also like to make a partition and throw linux on there for fun since ive never messed around with it. 5- would really prefer to have these as 2tb drives but the reviews are terrible on those. gonna have these raid 5 or 10. also not exactly sure which i should go with. one is slower reading and one is slower writing. speed isnt going to be that big of a deal. i just need/want everything accessible at all times. basically will only be writing the bulk once and occasionally adding bits more. reading will happen more frequently so i guess thats what i should go with. thats raid 5 right? ive never actually configured a raid system before. cant be that hard though right? or? 6- full tower is very important to me to have room inside for all the hard drives. honestly think this thing is a little ugly but i really dont care. also would of preferred a case/power supply combo as thats what im used to from years ago but again cant find anything thats decent enough. 7- dunno where it was cuz i couldnt find it again but i newegg had a power calculator and their site and it said i would need around 550w of power for all the hard drives and everything else. no idea if this is even correct or if i should get a more powerful supply. also read some reviews on newegg that this power supply caused some problems on existing setups.

nice selection on gear btw

1- more cores is the way to go. most software nowdays can use them effectively. it is an amd, so it runs cooler, but jamming 8 cores that close has got to give off some heat- i would upgrade the stock cooler if you want it to be bullet-proof for years.

2- eight is fine for now

3- there is no such thing as "decent onboard video", sry. even if you just surf the web, a decent vidcard will be a good investment.

4- i would skip the SSD for now.

5- i am not a big fan of wesdigis- they run hot. seagates are more stable for the long haul. compare the difference in warranties, you'll see. raid setup is much easier than it used to be, no worries.

6- do NOT get a case/power combo. the psu's that they use are garbage and will kill your components prematurely. it's like having a sports car and filling it with shitty fuel, and then wondering why it isn't running like it should.

7- if you are going to make this a server-type box, then factor in what you may add in the future. once again, feed it right for best results. i do my builds with antec modular PSUs, they are rock-solid. but coolermaster and some other brands are good too.

i hope this helps

___________________

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16835118223

and don't forget this;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16835100007

___________________

wow. that cooler looks awesome! one question though, it doesnt say am3+ in the specs. only am3, am2+, etc. but how different are am3 and am3+ anyway? it should still fit right?

also another retarded question... got a legit copy of xp but its only 32bit. but that limits me to what 3.5gb of ram right? will the entire system be bogged down because of this huge ram decrease? should i stick with this for now until i can upgrade to a 64bit system or are the 'more available' copies of win7 easy enough to work with these days?

quote:

Originally posted by PatMcGroin wow. that cooler looks awesome! one question though, it doesnt say am3+ in the specs. only am3, am2+, etc. but how different are am3 and am3+ anyway? it should still fit right? also another retarded question... got a legit copy of xp but its only 32bit. but that limits me to what 3.5gb of ram right? will the entire system be bogged down because of this huge ram decrease? should i stick with this for now until i can upgrade to a 64bit system or are the 'more available' copies of win7 easy enough to work with these days?

i believe that it will fit, but i would look into it just to make sure.
yes.
go win7 and have plenty of ram.

___________________

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817371056

now that's a Power Supply Unit

___________________

Can you even get away with running SLI/CF on a 650W PSU? That seems very low.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On Can you even get away with running SLI/CF on a 650W PSU? That seems very low.

I'd like to know this myself, as I have a 650W PSU and would eventually like to have two video cards running in SLI. Is there actually any way for me to tell how much of the PSU is being used?

___________________
My Soundcloud Page | The Free Soundcloud Stuff Thread

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

quote:

Originally posted by PatMcGroin basically i dont mind spending the money but the machine has to be stable and last awhile. i also plan on running the machine very close to 24/7.

So don't forget a no-break!