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Quick advice on an upgrade

F

Final_Omen

n00b
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
19
I wish to call upon the talents of the [H] crew once again.

Let me just start off telling you what I currently own, and what I plan on upgrading.
Current:
Antec P182
PC P&C Silencer 750w
Intel Q6600 G0 w/ Thermalright Ultima90 & Scythe S-Flex 120mm SFF21F
Asus P5B-Deluxe
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-5400C4 x2
BFG 9800GX2
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
-onboard raid-
WD 2500AAKS x2 (raid0) (os)
WD 5000AAKS x3 (storage)
LG DVDRW

Upgrade:
Antec 1200
PC P&C Silencer 750w
Intel Q6600 G0 w/ Xigmatek HDT-S1283 & Scythe S-Flex 120mm SFF21F
eVGA 750i FTW
Corsair XMS2 DHX TWIN2X406-6400C4DHX
BFG 9800GX2
-onboard audio-
HighPoint RocketRAID 2300
WD Velociraptor 300GB (os)
WD 5000AAKS x4 (raid5) (storage)
Pioneer DVDRW SATA

I'm just looking for an overall opinion on what I'm upgrading. I do understand the performance gained will be minimal. But alot of the changes are because I'm searching for certain capabilities in place of performance gains.

Antec 1200 - Not only do I think this case looks amazing, it has incredible cooling, and room for 9 harddrives!

Xigmatek HDT-S1293 - The new direct heatpipe coolers seems to be more efficient then any other air cooler that I am aware of.

eVGA 750i FTW - SLI, SLI, SLI. I have been waiting for a stable, quad overclock friendly, SLI capable motherboard without all the frills.

Corsair XMS2 DHX TWIN2X406-6400C4DHX - The eVGA 750i FTW motherboard apparently doesn't like high FSB overclocking with all memory slots occupied. Also, more capable memory is also required.

onboard audio - First, I don't like creative, not after their recent publicity. Second, EAX5 doesn't work properly in vista without extra software, and then you still might have problems. Third, no room to properly install any PCI cards on that eVGA 750i FTW motherboard with two dualslot GPUs.

HighPoint RocketRAID 2300 - Raid card for my raid5

WD Velociraptor 300GB - Speed! I also don't like the idea of using onboard raid (unfortunately that's how it's setup now)

Pioneer DVDRW SATA - I plan on building another system with my left over parts and sell it. My DVD has to be replaced and I rather have a DVDRW drive that does not have any white lettering on the front bezel. Also, Pioneer drives are less noisy in my experiences.

The system I will be putting together and selling is as follows:
Antec P182
Corsair VX450
Processor will need to be purchased
Asus P5B-Deluxe
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-5400C4 X2
eVGA 8800GT w/ Zalman VF1000
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
WD 2500AAKS X2
LG DVDRW SATA

If you guys could give it a quick appraisal as well that would be great. Thanks in advance!
 
You already own a 9800GX2. Why the need for SLI? Two 9800GX2 in SLI doesn't warrant the costs for it. What exactly is making you think that you need a SLI mobo?

I have yet to play around with the Antec 1200 so I can't say anything about it...yet.

Also, I think the Ultima 90 is just fine for your needs. IIRC, they both perform about the same.

And finally, do note that particular RAID card is actually a hardware assisted software RAID card. Meaning the card setups the RAID but it uses your CPU to do all of the parity calculations. From what I've seen so far, it'll take up 10 to 15% CPU usage on all cores at all times while using a hardware assisted software RAID card like that RocketRAID.

If you don't mind used, I recommend getting a Dell Perc 5/i hardware RAID card for around $110 on ebay plus the SAS to SATA cables for another $30 or so. For a total of $140 to $150, you can get a true hardware RAID card with support for up to 8 drives! It will require the use of a PCI-E x16 slot though.

Hit up these links for more info:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1298815
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1301566
 
The reason I want an SLI capable motherboard is not for 2x 9800GX2 cards, but 2x 280GTX cards. With their rumored release date in mid-June, I want to be ready.

I will be needing both of my PCI-E 16x slots, My only option that I can see is a PCI-E 1x raid card. I'm not to sure how much a discrete card will hamper my system, even with my quad core and 4GB of ram. And speed isn't to important, after all my raid5 is used for storage.

Keep in mind that very little money is coming out of my pocket for this upgrade. I will be making most of the money back by selling my old hardware.
 
yeah im upgrading to an SLI Mobo also for the same reason as final omen got 3 computers I plan on upgrading this summer and a few for my friends :) can't wait
 
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