"built a computer to support a HD" - Yep, it was a good friday
This is to give people an idea of what building a machine is like. People who don't understand computers probably won't be able to follow it very well. That's my warning.
I bought two 250GB WD drives for use switching to a RAID 5 controller. The Raid 5 Controller I purchased is a Promise SX6000 with 128MB of cache(dimm). I also bought 2 more 120GB WD drives so that the RAID 5 controller will be used to it's full potential. So I put the 250GB drives in 2 of the 3 external drive cages I have, and Windows XP SP1 and Windows 2000 SP4 both had complaints.
So at that point I was looking at the following hardware scenario:
Machine 1: (amd2400xp, soyo dragon 333 ultra platinum, 1.5GB ddr266, GF FX5950, Audigy2, Pioneer DVR-106D, 60GB WD, 4x120GB WD, 80GB WD[in dual link external firewire/usb2 enclosure])
Four HD's (120GB WD) in Raid0 -fast but not safe.
Machine 2: (pIII850, some random MSI mobo, 512MB pc100, ATI AIW128Pro, SBLive 5.1, Samsung DVD/CDRW combo, 6GB Seagate, 80GB WD)
I try partitioning the 250GB drives into smaller chunks, I use usb2.0, I use firewire, I even used WD's Data Lifegaurd tools to do the installation as a last resort, I even considered hooking them up locally to the machine on an IDE channel, but decided against it since I know there is a 137GB barrier on the hardware.
Meanwhile I've got two 120GB drives, and the raid card just sitting there. I hate spending money on hardware I can't use. It's only happenned a few times that I bought stuff that either hardware didn't support, or power requirements weren't being met. In either case I always end up doing the same thing -- BUYING MORE HARDWARE!
So, I call up my friend at www.iccicorp.com, and he tells me to come down and we'll figure it out. A few dollars later, I am driving home with the following hardware:
Intel 865GBF Motherboard
Intel P4 2.8E (1mb cache) 800mhz FSB, HT
ATI Radeon 9800pro 128mb
Antec P160 Case (more about this later)
Antec Truepower 550 PSU
1GB DDR400 Dual Channel
I get home, and open the box for the case. It's amazing.
Lightweight, and really well made. This case cost me like $90 without a power supply. The motherboard tray is removable, and the case has nice thick plastic strips where the tray mounts to eliminate case vibration. HD's also are mounted using a combination of drive sleds with bottom mount screws isolated in rubber grommets. Optical drives mount tightly using rails. The case is incredibly well designed, all edges are rolled. I only cut myself once building this thing, and that was because I slipped while I was popping off a 5.25" sheet metal plate.
So I build the machine, put everything in. Then I realize that the Power Supply has a 24pin ATX header instead of the usual 20pin. I look on the box, and I've got a server class psu. I call ICCI, and he tells me to bring it back later. I'm an impatient geek who likes his toys now, not having a day off in several weeks also adding to my impatience.
Take a trip to Staples and look for a PSU, they don't have them. Go to Circuit City and pick up an ANTEC Truepower 430W cuz it's the biggest thing they have. I know the PSU is good, because it's running a ton of hardware in my AMD box. Go home, put the psu in the case, turn it on, and the fans spin up. No post! Board doesn't even make a beep. I start taking stuff off the board until it's just the cpu and the ram. Board still doesn't post. Hop on to www.intel.com to check the mobo compatibility, and it's 2 revisions off from supporting my P4-2.8E.
This is now thursday night. I've had the day off from work pretty much as a gift from my boss since we had some problems with hardware at work. I've got hardware I can't use, but I'm off for Good Friday. Tomorrow is another day.
Friday comes, I drive down to my friends garage, and we get my car to pass inspection after a short drive with a MODIS unit monitoring the codes until they all change to pass. Plug my car into the state inspection computer, and get my sticker. While I'm there I change the oil (400 miles early from the 3k mark) and rotate my tires. (see that, even put some car stuff in here).
I drive to ICCI, and get my new Motherboard. Return the 550W PSU, my friend offers to give me the money for it, but I tell him to hold on to it as a store credit for now, I'll use it to pick up a Dual Layer DVD burner when they come out in a few months.
Drive home and realize that I need to put this computer somewhere. The p3 that I'm replacing was my old video capture machine, but I stopped ripping vhs and only rip DVD's now, so I haven't really used it. The FX5950 in the Athlon has VIVO (video in video out) capabilities anyway, so I decide to give what's left of the p3 (cpu, mobo, ram, case, 6gb, nic, ati AIW128pro) to my brother so he and his fiancee can watch movies downloaded from bT ( www.suprnova.org ) on their tv. Stop off at staples again and find a nice small profile computer desk for $40. Pick up a nice set of Altec lansing speakers, keyboard, and a Logitech MX310 optical mouse(800dpi).
Build the desk, set everything up and drop a spare 17" CRT (cheapie AOC flat model). Load up the machine, drives are recognized. No dreaded "delayed write failed" error on the drives like was occuring on the other machines. Setup drivers, install software, run Aquamark and get a score of over 40,000.
If you read this far, I'm really impressed.
This is to give people an idea of what building a machine is like. People who don't understand computers probably won't be able to follow it very well. That's my warning.
I bought two 250GB WD drives for use switching to a RAID 5 controller. The Raid 5 Controller I purchased is a Promise SX6000 with 128MB of cache(dimm). I also bought 2 more 120GB WD drives so that the RAID 5 controller will be used to it's full potential. So I put the 250GB drives in 2 of the 3 external drive cages I have, and Windows XP SP1 and Windows 2000 SP4 both had complaints.
So at that point I was looking at the following hardware scenario:
Machine 1: (amd2400xp, soyo dragon 333 ultra platinum, 1.5GB ddr266, GF FX5950, Audigy2, Pioneer DVR-106D, 60GB WD, 4x120GB WD, 80GB WD[in dual link external firewire/usb2 enclosure])
Four HD's (120GB WD) in Raid0 -fast but not safe.
Machine 2: (pIII850, some random MSI mobo, 512MB pc100, ATI AIW128Pro, SBLive 5.1, Samsung DVD/CDRW combo, 6GB Seagate, 80GB WD)
I try partitioning the 250GB drives into smaller chunks, I use usb2.0, I use firewire, I even used WD's Data Lifegaurd tools to do the installation as a last resort, I even considered hooking them up locally to the machine on an IDE channel, but decided against it since I know there is a 137GB barrier on the hardware.
Meanwhile I've got two 120GB drives, and the raid card just sitting there. I hate spending money on hardware I can't use. It's only happenned a few times that I bought stuff that either hardware didn't support, or power requirements weren't being met. In either case I always end up doing the same thing -- BUYING MORE HARDWARE!
So, I call up my friend at www.iccicorp.com, and he tells me to come down and we'll figure it out. A few dollars later, I am driving home with the following hardware:
Intel 865GBF Motherboard
Intel P4 2.8E (1mb cache) 800mhz FSB, HT
ATI Radeon 9800pro 128mb
Antec P160 Case (more about this later)
Antec Truepower 550 PSU
1GB DDR400 Dual Channel
I get home, and open the box for the case. It's amazing.
Lightweight, and really well made. This case cost me like $90 without a power supply. The motherboard tray is removable, and the case has nice thick plastic strips where the tray mounts to eliminate case vibration. HD's also are mounted using a combination of drive sleds with bottom mount screws isolated in rubber grommets. Optical drives mount tightly using rails. The case is incredibly well designed, all edges are rolled. I only cut myself once building this thing, and that was because I slipped while I was popping off a 5.25" sheet metal plate.
So I build the machine, put everything in. Then I realize that the Power Supply has a 24pin ATX header instead of the usual 20pin. I look on the box, and I've got a server class psu. I call ICCI, and he tells me to bring it back later. I'm an impatient geek who likes his toys now, not having a day off in several weeks also adding to my impatience.
Take a trip to Staples and look for a PSU, they don't have them. Go to Circuit City and pick up an ANTEC Truepower 430W cuz it's the biggest thing they have. I know the PSU is good, because it's running a ton of hardware in my AMD box. Go home, put the psu in the case, turn it on, and the fans spin up. No post! Board doesn't even make a beep. I start taking stuff off the board until it's just the cpu and the ram. Board still doesn't post. Hop on to www.intel.com to check the mobo compatibility, and it's 2 revisions off from supporting my P4-2.8E.
This is now thursday night. I've had the day off from work pretty much as a gift from my boss since we had some problems with hardware at work. I've got hardware I can't use, but I'm off for Good Friday. Tomorrow is another day.
Friday comes, I drive down to my friends garage, and we get my car to pass inspection after a short drive with a MODIS unit monitoring the codes until they all change to pass. Plug my car into the state inspection computer, and get my sticker. While I'm there I change the oil (400 miles early from the 3k mark) and rotate my tires. (see that, even put some car stuff in here).
I drive to ICCI, and get my new Motherboard. Return the 550W PSU, my friend offers to give me the money for it, but I tell him to hold on to it as a store credit for now, I'll use it to pick up a Dual Layer DVD burner when they come out in a few months.
Drive home and realize that I need to put this computer somewhere. The p3 that I'm replacing was my old video capture machine, but I stopped ripping vhs and only rip DVD's now, so I haven't really used it. The FX5950 in the Athlon has VIVO (video in video out) capabilities anyway, so I decide to give what's left of the p3 (cpu, mobo, ram, case, 6gb, nic, ati AIW128pro) to my brother so he and his fiancee can watch movies downloaded from bT ( www.suprnova.org ) on their tv. Stop off at staples again and find a nice small profile computer desk for $40. Pick up a nice set of Altec lansing speakers, keyboard, and a Logitech MX310 optical mouse(800dpi).
Build the desk, set everything up and drop a spare 17" CRT (cheapie AOC flat model). Load up the machine, drives are recognized. No dreaded "delayed write failed" error on the drives like was occuring on the other machines. Setup drivers, install software, run Aquamark and get a score of over 40,000.
If you read this far, I'm really impressed.
Sounds like a sweet setup. I really need to upgrade mine, but Mods for the car come first. I also hate changing a system that works without any problems. 
