I'm replacing a 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 w/ 1G RAM & trying to keep it under $500. Primary use will be a graphic design workstation. I'm interested in any feedback I can get esp. WRT parts/compatibility.

From my newegg.com wish list:

• AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz

• XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler

• MSI KA780G AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

• Kingston HyperX 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

• Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA

• Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

• Rosewill Stallion Series RD400-2-SB 400W ATX V2.2 Power Supply

• COOLER MASTER Elite 360 RC-360-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

• EVERCOOL FAN-EC12025M12C 120mm Case Fan (x1)

• Rosewill RFA-80-K 80mm Case Fan

Total = $493.40 before shipping

The 3 case fans may be overkill, but the case is kinda small (5.8" x 15" x 16.1") and I figure it's better to err on the side of caution. Plus I chose the Black Edition Phenom and MSI KA780G because (I've read) they are really overclock friendly. I've never tried to overclock a system before, but I hope this setup gives me the flexibility to dabble/tweak once I get adventurous. Hence the copious amount of fans. I'm also not sure about the CPU heatsink & fan—too big/small?

It'll run one distro of linux or another. Probably Ubuntu because I'm comfortable with it (Gnome) already, but I think I should take this opportunity to try something new. Maybe I'll man-up and go the Arch Linux route.

Any thoughts? What did I overlook?

Thanks for the feedback!

Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure I'm clear on the benefits I'd reap from a RAID1. Obviously it would be nice to have the security a mirrored disk would provide, and I guess another $50 is a small price to pay for that peace of mind, but there has to be something else that I don't quite wrap my head around. Or is there? I'm pretty good about backing up important data on to disc as it is, and I understand that RAID is not meant to replace that practice. What am I missing? I guess I need to be talked into that idea before I can really get behind it.

As far as the integrated GPU, though I have never been up to date and only just started researching, it doesn't seem to be a problem:

Hardware Support

But I may be reading that wrong. Clicking around the forums it seems that a lot of people are using a Radeon 3200. It also seems that they develop problems when trying to enable "crossfire"—which I assume means using 2 video cards (GPUs), but haven't really looked into—but I won't be going that way w/ my 1 onboard GPU. ;-)

There must still be hobbyists/enthusiasts out there overclocking their systems that AMD is targeting with their Black Edition since AMD unlocks the multiplier on the Black Edition processors—which apparently cost less than their locked counterparts. I figure I may as well take advantage of it. :-)

And I'm never happy with anything as is—you should see my car! =D

Hardware RAID is usually more macho

I think hardware RAID is obsolete.

Processor cores cost less than RAID hardware. Why offload work from CPU, when CPU is faster and cheaper? Just spring for the processor that has one more core.

I've seen the same cycle over'n'over since my Amiga days. Someone has cool hardware dedicated to something, and then a few years later, cheap CPUs are doing it faster. Blitters are history. Hardware RAID is history. I'm glad I don't work at NVIDIA.

Thanks for the education!

But dumping an extra disk or two in a small and carefully approximated design is pushing this project over budget and may be necessitating a larger power supply and/or case.

Could a software RAID solution be accomplished with an external hard drive and a USB 2.0/or Firewire cable?

I tried googling up an answer and it seems perfectly reasonable given this gem I came across:

USB stick RAID in ACTION!

¿People still dual-b-- sorry, couldn't resist.

But dumping an extra disk or two in a small and carefully approximated design is pushing this project over budget and may be necessitating a larger power supply and/or case.

Over budget? Fair enough. It was just an idea.

Over case capacity? That would be a surprise, but I guess it's possible.

Over wattage? I don't think so. According to your list, you're buying a 400W supply. Modern disks use less than 10W. If things are close enough that another disk matters, then you already had problems (but I think you'll be fine).

Could a software RAID solution be accomplished with an external hard drive and a USB 2.0/or Firewire cable?

Theoretically, but I haven't tried it. The page you linked to speaks for itself, I guess.

That ought to cost more, not less. If a separate enclosure and power supply for a disk doesn't cost more than a slightly larger power supply in your main box (something you won't need in your situation) or a slightly larger case (maybe), something funny is happening.