hi what shall i get the SATA or IDE HDD? I plan to build the system myself will i have all the necessary connections for these drives when i buy the partsthanks.

>hi >>what shall i get the SATA or IDE HDD? I plan to build the>system myself will i have all the necessary connections for>these drives when i buy the parts>>thanks.Modern motherboards for the most part have SATA interfaces.This is a partial list of interfaces from oldest to newest.ST-506ATA-33,66,100,133 ATA-33 slowest, ATA-133=fastestSATA1SATA2SATA3Most notebooks use 5200 RPM HD's,forget em.Desktops HD's generally come in two speeds, 7200,10,000 RPM.Western Digital Raptor drives are 10,000 RPM HD's and are affordable for most.They do have 15,000 RPM drives but they cost a lot. And they are SCSI interface, mostly used in servers, expensive.

so i suppose i should get a SATA drive then?

Well, ultimately that's up to you. SATA is generally what you will find on modern motherboards and setups.Another thing is that SATA drive connectors are much smaller than the fat ribbon IDE cables. That means you get better case airflow with the SATA ones.Plus there is more space on the motherboard with the SATA cables. In other words, jumpers, etc. are easier for fat fingers to get to. I think SATA cables are nicer all the way around. I have seen instances of them coming loose, whereas the old IDE ones had so many pins that was not as common.As far as speed differences; I once read some info on that, and if I remember correctly SATA has a potential higher ceiling, but in real-world perf ATA133 and SATA were not too far apart. I expect that is changing as we go forward however. SATA is where you will go on a modern board.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

I see some new MBs are now providing only a single IDE controller, intended just for DVD drives. For example the Asus P5K I am looking at supports 6 internal SATA ports via the Intel ICH9 SB, and 2 external SATA ports. Only the single IDE controller (2 drives). IDE hard drive is going away in the desktop market. The only real alternative would be S-SCSI which requires an addin card.scott s..

We had a good thread going on this a bit back. SATA vs IDE just refers to the buss the drive will be using to transfer data to and from the system. The race track anaolgy works well. The Buss (SATA /IDE) is the race track. The disk drives are the cars. The drive's RPM is the biggest influence on the drive's speed for modern IDE and SATA drives. Modern drives can transfer data at 50 MegaBytes (for 7200 RPM drives ) to 70 MegaBytes per second (for 10,000 RPM drives). Data access times tend to be from 4 milliseconds (10,000 RPM-ers) to 10 milliseconds (7200 RPM-ers). The old IDE standard called ATA100 can accommodate data transfer speeds of up to 100 MegaBytes per second (MB/sec). Additionally, the buss plays no part in influencing access times. As we continue, remember the fastest (consumer) disk drive today only needs a 70 MB/sec "racetrack" (buss).It's easy to see that the old IDE standard still provides plenty of "race track' (buss speed) for any modern hard drive manufactured today. SATA 150 (SATA1) can accommodate data transfers at up to 150 MB/sec. SATA 3.0 (SATA2) can accommodate xfers at up to 3.0 giga bits / per second (Gb/sec). Stop here for a moment. We gotta do some math. Remember there are 8 bits ("b") in a Byte ("B")? SATA2's buss can handle data transfers at 3 Gb/sec. Woah, that's a whoppin' 375 MB/sec! (Divide 3 billion by 8). There is no SATA3, yet. Again, they call the latest drives "SATA 3.0" (3Gb/sec) or "SATA2". As with all this hard drive chatter, they're just talking about the buss. If that was all a blurr! . . . here's the bottom line. We have hard drives that transfer at 60MB/sec and hard drive busses that can handle 375 MB/sec. What's up with that? Ya think they are might be trying to bamboozle us into buying entirely unnecessary technology? I think your point might be well taken!It's interesting to note that the video standards AGP, PCI-e, and in September PCI-e2 are playing entirely the same game. However that said, it's still the smart choice to go for an SATA drive (and of course, PCI-e video). The old IDE (AKA, "PATA" or Parallel ATA) ribbon cable plugs are going away on new systems. Also, SATA is just more convenient. No more jumpers, the cables are smaller and they tend to incorporate the newer technology (whatever that might be at the moment).I've been forcing myself to NoT buy any more IDE hard drives. The price might be good, but I definitely want the capability to easily transfer them between modern systems. Time marches on.

Wow, that's pretty good info, Sam! Thanks for explaining this in an understandable way.Be well!Jaap Verduijn.

thanks for thatnow another questionwhat Ram will work ok on the Asus P5B-Deluxe 775, CORE2EE, P965, 1066FSB, PCIEI6 mobo, i believe you got to be careful with the Ram you choose, will the DDR2 2048MB(2x1G)PC5300 667Mhz Kingmax be ok ?

The ram numbers are speed ratings. A car analogy might still work. For instance, you might buy tires that are rated to go 150 MPH. This doesn't mean they will ever go that fast. It only means that if they ever are driven that fast, they will not explode, Bang! In the case of tires, it's the car that drives the tires to a certain speed. With ram, it's Front Side Buss (FSB) that drives the ram to (whatever) speed.For instance, modern Mobos run a FSB of 266 mhz. However, the FSB number we see advertised is a Quad Data Rated number (QDR). SO, 266 x 4 = 1066 (ignore the rounding error). There's your FSB. 1066.Ram only Doubles the Data Rate of the FSB. That's what the term DDR means. Modern ram Doubles the Data Rate of the FSB, aka, "DDR". A modern Mobo will drive ANY ram you pop into the slot to 266 (the FSB)x 2 (DDR'd) = 533. That means you need ram that is rated to go at least 533. This ram is called (unsurprisingly!) DDR2-533 (AKA PC 4200). That's the minimum rated ram that will work in a mobo with a FSB of (266 x 4, or) 1066.That said, modern mobos also have the capability to adjust the speed of ram up or down. In the old days, we applied dividers to the ram buss, generally to slow the ram down so it wouldn't explode when we cranked up the FSB. That old DDR400 wouldn't go much beyond a 200 mhz FSB. Remember 200 (the old FSB speed) x 2 = DDR400. My 'puter won't even boot with a FSB above 205. I gotta use a divider to turn my ram down. But these days, the capability of ram to 'go fast' has run way ahead of the FSB's need for that speed. For instance, DDR2-533 (or PC4200) is all that is needed to run the ram at "1 to 1" on the current 266 mhz FSB of modern mobos. No 'speed up' or 'slow down' needed.See the marketing boys creep in with the flim-flam once again? Faster ram is just not needed. So, if you are NoT going to overclock, want something that will work absolutely perfectly and price IS an object, get some DDR2-533 (PC4200). It's dirt cheap and will work just fine. Buying faster ram will help a bit, but not much. Modern mobo have a bios screen (back there somewhere) that will let you select what speed-grade of the ram you have installed. The bios will then automatically apply the proper ram-to-buss speed multiplier. You don't have to keep a calculator on your desk anymore.However, I'd buy the new P35 chipset (actually, I'm going to . . with a $250 quad core Q6600 in July). This is a new Intel chipset for motherboards and it was released today. It will handle the new DDR3 ram, but we're right back into that same marketing hype we had for hard drives and Video. The P35s have memory controllers are slightly improved and also use DDR2. It's not the DDR3 that helps this board. It's the new memory controller. If you are looking at this chipset, make sure you look at the version that can use DDR2.The best bang for the buck right now is DDR2-800 (PC6400). It's everywhere for $75 for a set of 1 gig, dual channel sticks (2 gig-o-ram). When you get built, go into bios and make sure the bios is set use the ram at its rated speed. Otherwise, it will run whatever you install at the system default of (266 x 2) 533. Ram running at DDR2-800 will get you a 5% boost in FPS. It's no big deal. If money is an object, it's much better spent on a faster CPU or a bigger Vcard. But still, the lowest speed rating I'd go is DDR2-666 (PC5300). That'll let you upgrade to a new CPU with the next FSB uptick to 333. This will be advertised as a QDR 1333 FSB, but 333 x 2 = a memory requirement of DDR2-666. See how it works?Get DDR2-666 aka PC5300, or DDR2-800 aka PC6400. You'll be future proofed (a bit!) and its soooo cheap right now.

thanks Samthis is very informative.

Sam - Really a big thanx for the 'plain english' explanation. Makes it easier to understand all the gobbledegook (that's another technical term) :)Like you I'm planning to put together a new system after July - I figure I have about $2 - $3k to spend. I like Nvidia video cards, so if you were to spend that $$ - what would you buy - cpu/mobo/ram/video - also thinking about Raid 0+1 w/ 4 250G drives. Probably would want to stay with XP for now tho.Thanx,VicVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/

Glad it made sense. Sometimes it seems a big part of their profit strategy is to keep us in a total state of confusion!It's a magic time to be putting together a new computer. FSX (and software in general) is no longer about dual cores. . . its about MuLtiPle cores . . . and the more the better. It seems to me that waiting 'till July 22nd is a tiny price to pay for a double in CPU power for the same $$$$.That said here's my take on a July 22nd system.$250 for the Q6600. OEM version because . . . $50 for a Tuniq or the top Thermalright CPU cooler. You are going to O/C that 2.4ghz Q6600 to at least a $1000 bucks worth of beyond-anything-that-Intel-even-makes. $200 (or a bit less) for the Intel P35 based Mobo of your choice. $100 (or a lot less)for 2 gig-O-ram.$150 (not a nickel less!) for a solid, 600+ watt PS$350 Hard drives - four (raid 0'ed) 160s at $60 each and one (backup) 500 at $100$500 (ugh - but bite the bullet) 8800GTXSo, ya really want to spend 2-3K. We're at $1600 now. Hummm, how about monitors? Those fancy 24 inch monitors are $600. A Triple head to go setup will cost three 19"-ers + the THTG unit. That's $700-800. Why not go for a 1080p, 37" or 42 inch monitor? The Westinghouse 37" 1080p can be had for 8-$900 and the 42" for about $1000. Just set your 8800GTX for 1920 x 1080 and zingo. If you want a traditional monitor running off the system too, here's how. Buy a $59 Nvidia 7300 and plug it into the second PCIe slot. Now buy a couple of 19"-ers and plug them into the 7300. Now set up a corner desk arrangement, put the rwo 19"-ers on the right leg and the 37" - 42" diagonally across the corner. Yea, I pretty much spent it all, but now kick back and enjoy your $3000 setup. TV, hi-def movie or a long FSX flight going on the big screen . . . and oh, those pesky emails on the 19s. Its a magic time.

Not a nickel less than $150 for a 600W+ PSU?That seems a tad excessive. It's actually hard to find a 600W PSU that sells (after discounts and mail in rebates) for $150.I buy into each of the other specs, no doubt about it (with a faint touch of reservation on the GPU), but the PSU price spec is hard to understand. That said, I agree that something south of $75 is foolhardy in the demanding environment of which we speak, but there are numerous PSU's going in the $100+ range that seem quite sufficient.Can you elaborate, Sam, on the relatively high bar that you've set for a PSU price?-Seadog

Yea, you're right. That was kinda a foot stomper to emphasize the importance of a good PS, but for good reason! Here's a couple of recommendations. http://www.sundialmicro.com/silverstone_po...f_1786_374.htmlhttp://techreport.pricegrabber.com/search_...sterid=19777088An important detail to look at with a PS is the temperature at which the PS is rated. For instance, Silverstone power ratings are at 40C. Other power supplys measure power at 20C, 25C or an "undisclosed" temp. What's the game here? I can put a 250 watter in the freezer and get 500 watts from it, no problem! This is just another game the manufactures play to confuse us. A $60, 600 watt PSs will only be able to sustain a 300-400 load at normal operating temperatures. Always be very careful buying an inexpensive PS or case with an included PS. Not to say it'll be bad, just be careful. For instance here, Anandtech is using a 1000 watt-er. They are running a Q6700 and crossfire'd X2900s. THis is a max load for ANY modern computer. We are only running a single big Vcard, but it'll give you an idea. Anand wants the PS to be a 'no-factor' component in their tests. A 1000 watt PS is the only way they can be sure that the "stops" they hit are NoT PS related. http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2995We have the same goal because power supply induced problems will make you crazy. Unstable ops, overly frisky mice, spontaneous bluescreens, low frame rates . . . you name it. And to make it worse, PS related stuff is impossible to pinpoint, short of replacing the PS, and even then you're never sure. This is not a pedestrian system. It has the strength to run . . . FaSt. And that means turning that little overclocking crank on everything. Both the CPU and the GPU have room to run. Heck, even the ram will crank to the sky if you buy it right. http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/21/ove...kits/index.htmlThe $250, Q6600 will run at the speed of a $1000 anything and that $500 8800GTX will run at the speed of an $800 Ultra. We're over-induldging our troops with all the powerbars they could possibly want. For our $50 extra spent on power, we get way over $1000 in (potential) added preformance. That's a good spend. (but unspent, this could turn into a very bad deal if the system started to get mysteriously flakey!). It could be argued that an extra $50 spent on a top notch PS has the best cost / performance bang-for-the-buck ratio of any of the components. But that CPU is soooo good, ahhh, and the ram . . . and . . it's all just too good!And soon to be better yet . . . http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39829

If its any consolation, I sure like my p/s. PC Power rates theirs at the temps you'll actually SEE in your case...So 510 is 510. Many of the 600 watt power supplies people have, will put out _maybe_ 450 inside the case.I was intending to keep the PC Power 510 for my next build (prob a quad core), but the rapid increases in p/s output over the last 2 years have caused me to re-think this. Do you think the PC Power 510 can handle a quad penyrn + 8800/next gen card? I think it can, 'cause PC Power's are beasts. But I would like other opins.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian