New build

[x88x]

@ RAIDing drives:
I assume you're talking about getting another 150GB Velociraptor and RAIDing it with your current Velociraptor (not Raptor)? I'd say go ahead, I've got a RAID-0 going with my two Vertex's, and it's amazing. I would, however, qualify that with a word of caution. If you RAID-0 your OS/Apps drive, BACK IT UP! If one of the drives in a RAID-0 dies...you're kinda screwed if you don't have backups. So, if you do decide to do that, do yourself a favor and go grab a nice 1-1.5TB drive, and use scheduled backup software to grab an incremental image of your drive every day or so.

[Chewy_Solo]

I guess I was under the impression RAID could be done with different drive types? As for backing up, I have an external 320GB drive that I use for backing up, suppose it wouldn't hurt to get another, I just need more Firewire ports and that new MOBO doesn't have any, How would I solve that one anyway?
As for getting a TB drive, aren't 3 HDDs already blocking airflow quite a bit?

[x88x]

RAID works best when all drives are identical, or at the very least have identical specs. RAID-0 specifically will behave very oddly if the drives are not identical. I would definitely not recommend doing a RAID-0 across a Velociraptor and a Raptor. The nature of how RAID-0 works means that if all the drives in the array do not have identical read/write characteristics, really strange things will happen.

Firewire, you can either daisy-chain, or get a PCI/PCIe add-on card to get more ports, but I would recommend internal over external; you'll get higher throughput and just better overall performance.

3 HDDs in an Antec 1200 will not be a problem at all. That case has massive potential, and can easily take 9+ HDDs. HDDs generally don't actually block much airflow at all, and especially in a 1200, it's not really something you need to worry about.

[Chewy_Solo]

I mean is it really worth it to go RAID with say 2 velociraptors? Would it be that much of a performance increase for gaming? As I wouldn't be too exited buying two of the drives.

[x88x]

Well, assuming a good controller, theoretically you'd have a 2x boost in read/write performance with a 2-drive RAID-0 array, but whether or not that would be worth the cost is up to you. Usually the HDD isn't the bottleneck in gaming performance anyways.

[Chewy_Solo]

Well, assuming a good controller, theoretically you'd have a 2x boost in read/write performance with a 2-drive RAID-0 array, but whether or not that would be worth the cost is up to you. Usually the HDD isn't the bottleneck in gaming performance anyways.

Thats what I was thinking, It would already out perform any 7400 RPM drives.

[x88x]

Actually, iirc, some of the newer 7200RPM drives with 500GB platters and 32MB caches have performance at least pretty close to the Velociraptors, but yeah, the Velociraptors are nice performers. The don't compare to good SSDs, but for the performance-capacity-cost, they're pretty good.

[slaveofconvention]

Up to 3x HD, Single Optical Drive, Single VGA and no watercooling? That case is going to be huge for that build. Don't get me wrong - nothing wrong with the case but you really don't need something that size. I'd seriously consider the 900 instead - it's a more reasonable size, it's got more than enough cooling to keep up with the hardware you're planning on using, looks very similar (it's basically the same case with less drive bays - drive bays you don't need) and it'll save you some money. I'm running a Q6700, 8GB ram, 4870VGA and 3xHD in the 900 and it stays really cool - it'd keep up with your hardware no problem...

[Zephik]

I'd look into the Nine Hundred Two for a smaller case. It has all of the finishes of a Twelve Hundred. Its basically a cross breed between the two.

Personally, I'd stick with the Twelve Hundred. You'll never need a new case with it and you'll always have enough room to expand or do anything you want. That, and because its such a large case with so much cooling, you should never have any cooling problems unless a volcano erupts inside of your case. lol

I kind of look at it like "future proofing". That, and function doesn't always have to hold hands with form. Sometimes, people just like having a monstrous case just because. :p

But yea, anyways, if you want a smaller case and if you want to save a bit of dough, check out the Nine Hundred or Nine Hundred Two. Amazon has the Nine Hundred for $107, the Nine Hundred Two for $124, and the Twelve Hundred for $170. So you could save $46 at least or $63 at most AND get a smaller and more portable computer. Your decision.

[Chewy_Solo]

Yea, I would like to keep this one for the future, so who knows, water cooling eventually or what not.

And again, should I go with that Heatsink or keep my current Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme? I cannot find any converter brackets.

I did some calculations with the PSU calculator and apparently my current 800 Watt will be fine, correct?