Computer rebuild and how to set up boot drive

[JHZR2]

Hi, Maybe two or three years ago, I got the inkling to build a computer. Why not, its fun... At the time, AMD was the best bet. I dont think the latest intel processors were out, and Ive always had beter luck with AMD than intel in lifecycle robustness in operation, like they stay upgradable for longer, run well longer, etc. Maybe its just me, but I feel that my 750 MHz Athlon runs xp better than my faster, dual xeon III machine. Anyway, I bought everything that was highest rated benchmark-wise for the time. I installed vista. Vista sucked. Way too slow, poor networking, churning over stupid things, etc. I gave up, left it alone. Well, I'd like to get this thing running again. Ill put W7 on it, maybe upgrade the processor for the fastest I can get on the MB, add as much RAM as it will take (if I dont have it in there yet), and move along. I think I have a caviar black or a velociraptor HDD. Should I get, say a 60GB SSD and use that as a boot drive, with the HDD for running programs? Should I put programs that I want to operate fast onto the SSD if I go this route? Also, years ago, I used to play a LOT of Marathon. For running on power macs, it ran great, and had a LOT of fun. Is there an open-network shoot-it-up game like that, which anyone would recommend? I only have 768k dsl, so that may have an effect, but it would be fun to play a shooting game again. When I get home and open the computer, Ill update on the actual parts inside. Thanks!

 

[PandaBear]

If I were you and can get faster internet, I'd do that first before upgrading from windows XP or SSD. You are likely bottlenecked by the internet connection first, then the CPU, before hard drive. Velociraptor and Caviar black are certainly not slow drive and you are likely better off than many machines already.

 

[tomcat27]

Put your apps on the SSD. and use W7 64 bit. If you use 32 bit it wont use more than 2Gb of RAM. You can get Call Of Duty for Windows. Until about a year ago, we used to run "game nights" on Fridays at work. If you're gonna run games, get a decent video card.

 

[97prizm]

Go download a copy of mint linux and run that. Way better than windows or mac's osx which is borrowed unix any ways. Mint comes with all of the video and audio drivers as well.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear

If I were you and can get faster internet, I'd do that first before upgrading from windows XP or SSD. You are likely bottlenecked by the internet connection first, then the CPU, before hard drive. Velociraptor and Caviar black are certainly not slow drive and you are likely better off than many machines already.

If high speed wasn't such a massive ripoff I would. You can't get high speed service for less than $50/month before tax just for Internet (no phone), and they want to bundle all kinds of other garbage like cable TV (which I boycott), so I'm a bit stuck there unfortunately...

 

[MrHorspwer]

IMO, unless the machine is an internet appliance, the smallest SSD you should ever consider for a primary system drive in 128 GB. I am currently running two 64 GB SSDs in RAID0, giving me about 120 GB total storage. Between the OS (Win 7 64), Photoshop Elements 10, Office 2010, Battlefield 3, and a couple other small utility programs I use, I have 80 GB consumed. I have yet to install FSX, so figure that's going to about another 5-8 GB consumed.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer

IMO, unless the machine is an internet appliance, the smallest SSD you should ever consider for a primary system drive in 128 GB. I am currently running two 64 GB SSDs in RAID0, giving me about 120 GB total storage. Between the OS (Win 7 64), Photoshop Elements 10, Office 2010, Battlefield 3, and a couple other small utility programs I use, I have 80 GB consumed. I have yet to install FSX, so figure that's going to about another 5-8 GB consumed.

I run a Mac for most of that, this would just be for games. So I wouldnt have a lot of programs... If I have plenty of ram, and the swap file is on the ssd, plus I have a fast hdd (mine is likely sata3, not 6), then how much difference can it make?

 

[1 FMF]

historychannel.com/shootout was advertised on discovery channel a while back for games. It is kumagames, and has a lot of free games. The one I always play is "Embassy" under the WWII/Vietnam category, it would do fine on my dsl at 1mbps or less most of the time.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

I run a Mac for most of that, this would just be for games. So I wouldnt have a lot of programs... If I have plenty of ram, and the swap file is on the ssd, plus I have a fast hdd (mine is likely sata3, not 6), then how much difference can it make?

With massive RAM you will likely not be using swap at all and can disable it. By Massive I means at least 8GB or 4GB more than any of your application will every use. If you have more than just one drive (SSD + mechanical), it is best to put your primary load on one and the swap / OS on the other so they can run in parallel. I do massive code build that takes up to 2.5 hrs with mechanical drive and 1.5 hr with SSD, and I found that the best performance is if I put my payload (source code and build directory) in the SSD and OS/swap/tool chain in the mechanical drive. Having everything on one drive will saturate even a RAID of SSD I'm using (2 OCZ Vertex2).