ASUS P5ND2-SLi/Intel 840 XE Build

L

Luckyme

Geek Trainee
So far I have settled on the Titled Comp[onents and only need to add the rest. Any experiences with Titled and suggestions for filling out the rest of the build would be appreciated. The following parameters need to be applied;
( Build is primarily to complete short-lived video capturing/recording project (code named DocItOrGoCryInyosocks-Wuss), and only secondarily to upgrade my 5 year old previous builds.)
1. The caseshould be light weight aluminum and easy to build in.
2. The PS should be greater than the 485W Enermax suggested by ASUS and satisfy the rail distribution requirements cited in a Sticky in another post.
3. The Video Card has been addressed in another post/forum.
4. The boot disk must be SCISI Ultra 320 and not be Seagate. Seagate is the best, but too too expensive. Any bad experiences with Maxtor, LSI or Tekram?
5. The OS must be XP Pro 64 bit.
6. I think the memory should be 667 Mhz and want at least 2G to start. Suggestions as to brand?
7. Desirable to get CPU fan other than stock? if so, which?
8. Case fans to cool the one video display and possibly two video 4 channel each capture cards; hot Mobo, memory and SCISI's. Serious suggestions only please. LOL
9. Thermal paste for the CPU (no, I will not apply it with my tongue).
10. A non-SCISI DVD/CDROM/CD-RW combo that does it all (I don't understand the +- mumbo jumbo). I was thinking about an external drive that I can share with my other 3 PCs??? Although I do have an external CDRW. Suggestions, pretty please...
11. Do I really need a cheap floppy too. I have one in the other PCs that I can use? Oh, Lucky, what about creating the ERD dumb, dumb.
12. Can I use the new DVD/CDOM/CDRW thingie in the install process. I.e., to install using what hasn/t been installed??
13. Is there anything I forgot, other than the static wrist band which I bought for the last builds - but didn't use because it kept getting in the way.
Any suggestions tips would be appreciated.
 
1.)Lian-Li, CoolerMaster or Thermaltake (the Tsunami line) brands all have cases that would suit your needs.
2.)The Enermax EG565P-VE or the Antec TruePowerII 550 are probably your best bets for the money. If you really want to go all out, snag the PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI, but only if you must have the Rolls Royce of PSU's.
3.)N/A
4.)I've used a Tekram card before, and it was nice, not to mention faster than the comparable Adaptec. Tekram > Adaptec. Given Maxtor's track record as of late, I'm a little hesitant to suggest them now, and would advise reconsidering Seagate's stuff. Otherwise, see what Samsung or Fujitsu offer.
5.)There's only XP64, not Home or Pro variations. XP64 is not advised because of very little driver support or software support as of right now, so unless you know the apps you'll be using will be available for you in 64-bit coding, just get XP Pro instead.
6.)Patriot, Corsair or OCZ are all brands that'd be excellent choices.
7.)If you're not overclocking or looking for a silent rig, the stock cooler will do the job quite well.
8.)Depending on the case, there may be holes on the side for fans. There's usually room up front for one or two, depending on size, as well as ones in the back. You can find some brackets to hang along-side your expansion slots to hold a fan or two if you don't get a case with a side intake. If you're looking for quite operation, look at Vantec's Stealth line, which come in sizes of 80mm, 92mm and 120mm for your needs. Vantec also produces the Tornado line for higher airflow, but with added noise, hence the Tornado moniker.
9.)Arctic Ceramique.
10.)I like my Pioneer DVR-109, but you can find cheaper alternatives from Samsung and Lite-ON. If you feel like really splurging, go for Plextor, but them things get rather pricey.
11.)If you don't create your own custom install of Windows, then yes, you'll need a floppy to feed in SCSI or SATA drivers that aren't supported natively under XP. After that you can just unplug it and forget about it.
12.)To install drivers, no. Not unless you make a custom XP install (which is legit since MS provides the resources to do so on the CD). Can you use it with the OS install disc? Yup.
13.)Off-hand, no, not really. Seagate has some cheap 250GB drives for about $110 apiece. Depending on how much money you have, you could snag 4 of those and have a terabyte of scratch space in RAID 0 (assuming you'll be doing regular backups). Like I said earlier, the support in drivers and software in XP64 is pretty meager, so unless you know the apps you'll be using are all 64-bit, then look at a non-64-bit version of Windows.
 
Big B,
Thanks for taking the time to help me out with what sounds like some pretty good advice.

My comments about not using Seagate were based on the assumption of going SCSI 39320...and Seagate is outta sight. Maybe you were referring to 7200 RPM?? I wanna do 10Krpm, at least for the boot.
I've always been afraid of trying Raid because I never understood it and it is expensive to do Raid 5 with SCISI. If I purchase a 10K 73G SCISI for about $320+ a pop the Raid 5 seems expensive for the security I get in return. a Raid 0 would be awesome!
I've never backed up and have the scars to prove it. I've bought software and tried it but never comprehended it. I need to learn how to do it as I crash my 3 W2K systems fairly consistently. I have 2 monitors and 1 wireless keyboard and 2 wired keyboards. I am always in a hurry when I switch monitors and keyboards and can never remember where I used them last. And w2k doesn't like for you to remove stuff without telling it first. I am going to get new additional keyboards, mice and maybe a monitor to address this issue as I'm sick of looking at blue screens! LOL Not!
I'm a little confused about your comments concerning XP. The driving force behind this upgrade is to be able to use some 64bit written DVS/DVR/PVR video capture software apps/cards that demand XP 64 processing (to include the XP Pro multimedia functions). I will keep w2k containing other - 32bit apps- on at least one of the other PCs. --It was my understanding that XP home gave you only 32bit, while pro gave you 64bit (compatible with 32 bit apps). In any event, if you are right that both home and pro are 64 bit, doesn't matter as I need the pro's multimedia stuff to satisfy video capturing requirements and be able to use capturing software/cards demands.
Finally, I will check into Tekram and the other SCISI vendors as you suggested in your responses to this and another of my posts.
Again, thank you and thank you and thank you.
 
I was talking about running 4 SATA drive in RAID 0, which for around $400 could snag you a terabyte of storage. Unless you're really swimming in money, I wouldn't do that huge of an array (of any RAID). Yes, having the main boot drive as a 10, or 15,000RPM SCSI (it's SCSI- Small Computer System Interface, not SCISI, btw) Ultra 320 is what you'd want if you'd have the money. Even if you don't go for a RAID array, the SATA drives would provide cheap storage for works in progress. You could also implement RAID 1 and provide a better level of redundancy (but you should still back up!).

XP 64. There's a distinction: XP Home, XP Pro, and XP 64-bit. These are three different OS's. Home and Pro are both 32-bit only. XP 64-bit is a 64-bit version of XP Pro. Pro has the advanced networking features that Home does not. 64-bit is just a 64-bit version of Pro.
 
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