Jmac
10+ year member
Retired
RAID 0 means if 1 drive fails, you lose all your data. Thus having 2 x 500 GB drives in RAID 0 means you double your chances of losing your data compared to 1 x 1000 GB drive. RAID 1 gives you parity, but you get 1 drive's capacity (i.e. 2 x 500 GB in RAID 1 gives you data parity, so if 1 drive fails, you don't lose anything, but you'll only get 500 GB of storage).Sorry if this is kind of a noob question but I am still very much learning as this is my first computer build. Wouldnt it be safer though to go with two 500gb HDDs and run them in raid 0 then running a single TB HDD, please explain to me how that would be safer. Also if need be I can go over budget a bit I got a raise this week and can get any software I need free from work so they will provide me with Vista or XP 64 so that would save $100 right there. As far as motherboards go I want something that will allow for more upgrades in the future so I need it to have a few extra ports, the one you listed, does that have a bit of extra room for when I may need it?
Also for something like the graphics card if its only like an extra $50 or something to get something like the 8800 I wouldnt mind I can throw in an hour or two of overtime to afford the extra luxuries if need be. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Although it is mainly for CAD, Autodesk, and CS3 I will use it at sometimes for some other things maybe a little gaming here or there nothing hardcore but maybe some unreal or GTA4 if/when it gets released for PC
The DFI board I linked to has 6 x SATA2 ports, so it leaves you room to add 2 more hard drives without having to purchase a SATA controller card. It has 6 USB ports, though it doesn't have Firewire (~$10 card to put in, but if you want Firewire onboard, there are other boards that offer it for roughly the same price).
The 8800 GT won't help much, if at all, w/ CAD or CS3 unless you're doing ultra-high-end 3D rendering using CAD (in which case you should be looking into an ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro). CPU, RAM, and HDD is what is going to help there. If you plan on playing casual games, I recommend the ATI HD 3850 256 MB, which is $100 after Mail-In Rebate. It'll play every game fine at 1280x1024/1440x900 on Medium settings or better, including Crysis. If you plan on playing at higher resolutions, then the 9600 GT ($145), HD 3870 ($155), or 8800 GT ($165) will be a better fit, though obviously more expensive.
