New PC Build... thoughts?

[toejamfootball]

Hi guys, since my epic Data loss troubles the other day, I have decided to build a new PC.

Here is what I am thinking to begin with. I will do some more research and see if there are any conflicts soonish, just the gist here....

Antec Sonata III MiniTower Case - Piano BlackW/500W PSU
LG H22NS30 SATA 22X+- Super Multi DVD Rewriter Black
Kingston DDR2 4G(2x2G)PC8500 1066Mhz HyperX
Samsung 1TB SATA II Silencer Series 32M(HD103UI/Y)
Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H AMD780G FSB5200 4DDR2 1200OC VGA PCIE2.0
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7850 Black Edition AM2+ Processor

What do you guys think? I am just going Dual Core, cause I will only ge doing Word Processing, web browsing and watching movies and listening to mp3s.

[Delever]

At a quick glance, everything seems to fit together and should work.

[Phreaker]

I would recommend a LITE-ON dvd-+rw burner, instead of LG

[toejamfootball]

At a quick glance, everything seems to fit together and should work.

Cool, IIRC it's the same CPU and mobo as my last build, and it has been good to me so far...


I would recommend a LITE-ON dvd-+rw burner, instead of LG

Thanks for the recommendation, but why is this? Cheers.

[snek]

I've seen a lot of sites recommending the nvidia 9400 chipset lately instead of the AMD 780G series, and it will most likely be getting better support in Linux being nVidia based. You might want to have a look at that as well.. Mobo's should be about the same price.

For the rest it seems like a fine system.

[toejamfootball]

I've seen a lot of sites recommending the nvidia 9400 chipset lately instead of the AMD 780G series, and it will most likely be getting better support in Linux being nVidia based. You might want to have a look at that as well.. Mobo's should be about the same price.

For the rest it seems like a fine system.
Thanks, that's a good idea. I will look into it.,

[frodon]

I'm not really a sonata fan, to be honnest they are not worth the price for me. They advert good noise blocking properties but the result don't reach the expectations so it's a good computer case but with only a "standard" noise blocking ability.
If noise is a criteria for you the reference is the P183 by antec, not the same price though.

About proscessor i tend to prefer core 2 duo as they have outstanding overclocking capabilities mine is 2.8GHz and runs at 3.5GHz like a charm, some friends of mine even put it at 4GHz. So in general i advice to buy a cheap core 2 duo and overclock it. Anyway your choice is already good, it's just price/performance ratio discussion here :)

[toejamfootball]

I'm not really a sonata fan, to be honnest they are not worth the price for me. They advert good noise blocking properties but the result don't reach the expectations so it's a good computer case but with only a "standard" noise blocking ability.
If noise is a criteria for you the reference is the P183 by antec, not the same price though.

About proscessor i tend to prefer core 2 duo as they have outstanding overclocking capabilities mine is 2.8GHz and runs at 3.5GHz like a charm, some friends of mine even put it at 4GHz. So in general i advice to buy a cheap core 2 duo and overclock it. Anyway your choice is already good, it's just price/performance ratio discussion here :)
I don't really understand overclocking, maybe it's time to look into it....

[zolookas]

Yes, I recommend going with nvidia integrated graphics, because nVidia's drivers for Linux are way better that Ati's (I can tell that from my experience). Plus by using nVidia card you will be able to offload HD video decoding from CPU to your GPU (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_vdpau&num=1). And OpenCL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCL) will probably be integrated into stable driver by the next Ubuntu release.


I don't really understand overclocking, maybe it's time to look into it....
Basically you change some settings and you get more MHz, but your CPU produces more heat.

[Phreaker]

@toejamfootball (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=780176) - Benchmarks and tests have shown that Lite-On generally are more reliable

[3rdalbum]

Yes, I recommend going with nvidia integrated graphics, because nVidia's drivers for Linux are way better that Ati's (I can tell that from my experience). Plus by using nVidia card you will be able to offload HD video decoding from CPU to your GPU (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_vdpau&num=1). And OpenCL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCL) will probably be integrated into stable driver by the next Ubuntu release.


Basically you change some settings and you get more MHz, but your CPU produces more heat.

I agree, go with Nvidia integrated graphics, you'll thank us for it.

If you can, get a motherboard with an LGA775 (Intel) socket and put a Core 2 Duo into it. Any Core 2 Duo will do fine. AMD Athlons are okay for what you want, but they're a bit old hat; you get a lot more performance per dollar with even a basic Core 2.

Also, Pioneer DVD burners are the most reliable on the market today. My LG Blu-ray combo drive isn't bad, but it causes a 20-second wait before init on Ubuntu.

For what you say you're going to do with that computer, you REALLY don't need 4GiB of RAM, and you don't need that speed either. 2 GiB of 800MHz RAM would save a bit of money and do you fine. Remember, we're talking Ubuntu here.

Also, note that 1TB hard drives take absolutely FOREVER to check the filesystems on... I have a 500 GiB and it takes ten minutes or longer. If you don't need that big a disk, go for something smaller and save some time every 30 bootups.

Good choice of case though, Antec are great. :-)

[toejamfootball]

Yes, I recommend going with nvidia integrated graphics, because nVidia's drivers for Linux are way better that Ati's (I can tell that from my experience). Plus by using nVidia card you will be able to offload HD video decoding from CPU to your GPU (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_vdpau&num=1). And OpenCL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCL) will probably be integrated into stable driver by the next Ubuntu release.


Basically you change some settings and you get more MHz, but your CPU produces more heat.


@toejamfootball (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=780176) - Benchmarks and tests have shown that Lite-On generally are more reliable


I agree, go with Nvidia integrated graphics, you'll thank us for it.

If you can, get a motherboard with an LGA775 (Intel) socket and put a Core 2 Duo into it. Any Core 2 Duo will do fine.

Also, Pioneer DVD burners are the most reliable on the market today. My LG Blu-ray combo drive isn't bad, but it causes a 20-second wait before init on Ubuntu.

For what you say you're going to do with that computer, you REALLY don't need 4GiB of RAM, and you don't need that speed either. 2 GiB of 800MHz RAM would save a bit of money and do you fine.

Also, note that 1TB hard drives take absolutely FOREVER to check the filesystems on... I have a 500 GiB and it takes ten minutes or longer.

Good choice of case though, Antec are great. :-)

Thanks for the tips guys.

[Therion]

Overall your build looks good to me.

No video card, or have you just not yet decided? Do NOT tell me you're going to stick with the onboard graphics with a rig that juiced... Just don't.

Suggestion One: Dual Hard drives. Seriously, it's the ONLY way to fly. On the fly backups, plain old data storage. Whoops! Ubuntu just totally borked on me! You're cool as a cucumber though because your precious, irreplaceable DATA sits quietly, and safely, on it's own drive isolated from OS flakiness and failure. Believe me when I tell you, you'll be glad you did it. Besides, drives these days are cheap! It's a huge return for a relatively small investment.

The only other thing I might suggest you look at is Antec P180/182 enclosure. I've built rigs on the Sonatas and they're good cases. The 180's are a little roomier and easier to work with though. You'll need a power supply with a 180 though, and I don't know what you budget allows.

[toejamfootball]

OK, well I have taken a complete left turn and decided to bring my budget down by around $400.

I have this in mind now....

Western Digital 250G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD(16Mb Cache)
Kingston DDR2 2G (Single stick)PC6400 800Mhz
LG H22NS30 SATA 22X+- Super Multi DVD Rewriter Black
Asus M2N68-VM AM2+
ATX Delux 6220-CA Midi tower Case 400w Black
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7850 Black Edition AM2+ Processor

I have a spare PSU sitting here to take the place of the cheap ATX 400w...

[toejamfootball]

Overall your build looks good to me.

No video card, or have you just not yet decided? Do NOT tell me you're going to stick with the onboard graphics with a rig that juiced... Just don't.

Suggestion One: Dual Hard drives. Seriously, it's the ONLY way to fly. On the fly backups, plain old data storage. Whoops! Ubuntu just totally borked on me! You're cool as a cucumber though because your precious, irreplaceable DATA sits quietly, and safely, on it's own drive isolated from OS flakiness and failure. Believe me when I tell you, you'll be glad you did it. Besides, drives these days are cheap! It's a huge return for a relatively small investment.

The only other thing I might suggest you look at is Antec P180/182 enclosure. I've built rigs on the Sonatas and they're good cases. The 180's are a little roomier and easier to work with though. You'll need a power supply with a 180 though, and I don't know what you budget allows.
I will be getting 2 250GB drives I think. I just lost a crapload of Data a couple days ago so....

The last rig I posted is only going to set me back about AUD$400....

[Therion]

I will be getting 2 250GB drives I think. I just lost a crapload of Data a couple days ago so...
Dual internal HDD's then. You've learned your lesson. Drag and Drop your Home folder while you go grab a cup of tea? Oh yeah...

Personally, I'd ditch the 1TB and go with a matched pair. Don't know what you storage needs are but I've currently got a 160GB primary/OS drive, a 320GB backup/data drive and a 160GB "scratch" drive. The scratch drive is for when I want to play with a new distro...

I hop into my BIOS, disable the other two drives, install on the "scratch" drive and play with my new install until I get tired of it and realize I just want my old, reliable, Ubuntu install back. Back into the BIOS, reverse the settings and... Voila! It's distro-whoring made easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

Not that I encourage distro-whoring. Distro-whores are naughty, naughty monkeys!

[toejamfootball]

Dual internal HDD's then. You've learned your lesson. Drag and Drop your Home folder while you go grab a cup of tea? Oh yeah...

Personally, I'd ditch the 1TB and go with a matched pair. Don't know what you storage needs are but I've currently got a 160GB primary/OS drive, a 320GB backup/data drive and a 160GB "scratch" drive. The scratch drive is for when I want to play with a new distro...

I hop into my BIOS, disable the other two drives, install on the "scratch" drive and play with my new install until I get tired of it and realize I just want my old, reliable, Ubuntu install back. Back into the BIOS, reverse the settings and... Voila! It's distro-whoring made easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

Not that I encourage distro-whoring. Distro-whores are naughty, naughty monkeys!
I've definitely learned my lesson. But the thing is I had everything backed up on two seperate drives. The USB HDD diched everything during a simple copy/paste and the internal Slave drive re-formatted. I don't know how or why it all happened. All I know is now I want a new PC. This one is 8 years old now....

[sloggerkhan]

If you can swing it, go mirrored disks for OS, RAID V for storage.

[toejamfootball]

If you can swing it, go mirrored disks for OS, RAID V for storage.
What is mirrored disks? Thanks.

[Therion]

The USB HDD diched everything during a simple copy/paste and the internal Slave drive re-formatted. I don't know how or why it all happened.
What happened? Dude... You pissed off the Gods of Technology. No other explanation is possible for a catastrophe of that magnitude.

A new PC is the only way to appease them so at least you're moving in the right direction.

[toejamfootball]

What happened? Dude... You pissed off the Gods of Technology. No other explanation is possible for a catastrophe of that magnitude.

A new PC is the only way to appease them so at least you're moving in the right direction.
I really don't know man. I right clicked and chose copy from the USB HDD then right clicked Paste on the Desktop.

I let that go in the background while I mounted the Slave internal drive to get ready to make another backup.

Every window just left the screen and I return to each of the drives to find nothing. I tried for about 6 hours to get it back without any luck.

[sloggerkhan]

Mirrored disks is a way of reffering to the raid mode in which 2 disks/partitions basically duplicates of each other in case one goes bad.

RAID V is a way to set up 3+ disks so that they appear as one and if any one disk fails you can keep using it and just pop in a replacement disk without data loss.