My system and its memory? 5

[steve2540]

I am putting a computer together for my wife's business. This computer will be used for business. We don't play games on our computers. (Not that there is anything wrong with it, it's us. I have an addictive personality so I just rather avoid it and my wife, well what should I say, she is a fashion designer and does not have the slightest interest in things electronic or mechanical.) I don't overclock. What is important though is that this computer is stable, reliable and will last a while before I need to upgrade. I am willing to pay for that just to avoid the phonecalls and late nights after work trying to figure out what is wrong. We will use it mainly for MS Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, streaming in music video's from Yahoo Launch, watching TV, Internet Explorer, some accounting programs. This computer also contains all the business data and two other computers need to network into this computer.

I will be using an Asus P4C800 E-Deluxe motherboard.

It will run Windows 2000.

CPU - P4 2.6 GHZ 800.

Hard drives - 2 harddrives of 160 GB SATA Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 - I want to use raid 1 for mirroring my data. (Will the Promise Raid that comes with the motherboard do a good job? Will it be difficult to setup.)

Video Card: Matrox either the G550 - P650 or P750. To me it seems that the G550 would do alright. But on the other hand, the P650 and P750 seem to have better quality 2D graphics and have two DVI outlets. (I assume that since we look all day at our screen, it makes sense to spend good money on it and spend a little more so that it will do for the new and coming technology.) The only real issue I have is if it makes sense to get the P750 since that card can have 2 monitors and a TV. Will a seperate TV give better quality or does it watch just as well on LCD screens? Anyway, does it make sense to spend the extra money for the P750?

Memory: This is where I really don't know what to buy best. What I want, is good memory that will last and be reliable.
First, should I buy ECC memory or non-ECC? Crucial itself recommends that one goes we non ECC and says that nowadays it does not make a lot of difference anymore.
Second, does a lower latency make a difference for a regular user? A nanosecond seems to be really quick. And more, is the memory with a lower latency more stable and reliable or is it just faster. (And what about those heatsinks?)
Third, here are the choices of memory that I narrowed down.
a. Crucial DDR PC3200 - CT6464Z40B: DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 5ns • 2.6V • 64Meg x 64
b. Kingston Valueram DDR PC3200 - KVR400X64C3A/512: Standard 64M X 64 Non-ECC 400MHz 184-pin Unbuffered DIMM (SDRAM-DDR, 2.6V, CL3, 400mil, TSOP, Double-Sided, Gold) (Datasheet)
c. Kingston HyperX KHX3200A/512MB: 512MB HyperX DDR 400MHz DIMM 2-3-2-6-1 Standard 64M X 64 Non-ECC 400MHz 184-pin Unbuffered DIMM (SDRAM-DDR, 2.6V, CL2, 400mil, TSOP, Gold)
The Hyper X is more expensive. But is this more reliable than the other ones?

Thanks, I am especially looking forward to getting feedback regarding the kind of memory I should get? TX Steve

 

[shtick]

Steve,
It seems you've done your homework well. I would recommend buy the best type of memory that the motherboard manufacturer recommends. Remember, memory is like cash money, you can never have too much of it. This is especially true with your scenario of using streaming video and high end graphics. Max out the memory if possible. The raid setup should be fairly easy to configure. Plus, the higher end graphics card you get, the better. Crucial, Kingston, and Viking are all reputable memory vendors.
Hope this helps.

 

[nlm9802]

wow. for not wanting a pc for gaming that is a pretty heavy rig

the p4c 2.6 is probably the best bang for the buck intel out there. You may be able to get a 2.8 for about 25$ more though. or a 2.4 for about 15$ less.

I'm using the same motherboard with a 3.0c and 1GB of corsair's xms (low latency) pc3200. lower latency is faster, and flexible. the flexibility is more for overclocking, but the faster part will likely not be noticable. It's good to have for the extra 10$ per 512MB I think. The p4c800e also has good onboard sound, gigabit lan, and umpteen million usb 2.0 ports

setting up the raid is very easy, however i used IDE, not sure if SATA is the same.. just install the software off of the disk that comes with the mobo, shut down, hook up the drives, start it up and hit the ctrl h or whatever the keys are to go into raid setup.

video card, I'm not too sure. I'm a fan of ATI, and they have some excellent cards for business or gaming. I'm running a 9700 pro now, which supports 2 monitors. one of my old cards is a ATI all in wonder rage 128, which supports video in and video out. the graphics it put out were not bad for the day. I'm sure their newer cards are better.
I'd look into a all in wonder 9000 or possibly 9800 as they have started coming down in price.

also, I would use XP pro, it seems to support more hardware, and 2k will get the axe before xp. MS has already announced they no longer support 95. but 2k should be good enough for a while.

are you just getting a standard blah beige case? You'll probably want:
1. upgraded cooling. at least 1 intake 2 exhaust fans, quiet ones are out there.
2. at least a 400w name brand power supply. I've tried going the cheap way and getting the 18$ 500w power supplies.. it just doesn't pay off. I've gone through 3 (yes I'm stubborn) and eventually settled on an Aspire turbo 500w

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-148-005&catalog=58&depa=1

59$, but it looks nice, and it's warrantied, also havent heard anything bad about them.

do you have a budget or just shooting for a upper middle of the road pc? have you checked out newegg? they tend to have excellent prices, and free shipping on almost everything. Most importantly, they have awesome customer support.

I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. - R. McCloskey

 

[nlm9802]

link is

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-148-005&catalog=58&depa=1

it added the 59 to the end for some reason.. price is 59$

I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. - R. McCloskey

 

[steve2540]

to nlm9802.
I order an Antec server case and an Antec True Power 550W power supply. That should do. I know its a little more expensive, but I include the hours that I need to work on it as opportunity costs.
Regarding the memory, what you seem to say is that if you don't plan on overclocking, then the crucial or kingston valueram memory with C3 will do fine for me. But which one is more reliable in general. C2 or C3?

Thanks

 

[paparazi]

Steve2540
I compare CL2 to a Ferrari and CL3 to a Volvo, the Ferrari might cost 10X much but is in the shop every 5,000 miles for a service, tyres, brakes and an oil change.
Usually technology that is faster and closer to the design edge is less reliable but there is a flip side to the argument and that is if you buy CL2 and run it at CL3 latencey timings, it would be like driving that Ferrari at 25mph everywhere, basically operating well below design limits, possibly more reliably.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[nlm9802]

given these choices:
a. Crucial DDR PC3200 - CT6464Z40B: DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 5ns • 2.6V • 64Meg x 64
b. Kingston Valueram DDR PC3200 - KVR400X64C3A/512: Standard 64M X 64 Non-ECC 400MHz 184-pin Unbuffered DIMM (SDRAM-DDR, 2.6V, CL3, 400mil, TSOP, Double-Sided, Gold) (Datasheet)
c. Kingston HyperX KHX3200A/512MB: 512MB HyperX DDR 400MHz DIMM 2-3-2-6-1 Standard 64M X 64 Non-ECC 400MHz 184-pin Unbuffered DIMM (SDRAM-DDR, 2.6V, CL2, 400mil, TSOP, Gold)

with the prices i found on them per 512 MB stick:
a. $97
b. $80
c. $126

and adding in one more:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-420&catalog=147&depa=1

corsair xms pc3200 512MB (with heat spreader)
108$

based on the reviews I've seen the corsair would be your best choice. The lower latency will improve performace compared to the cheaper stuff. I have used kingston valueram before. Some people swear by it, but I tended to get blue screen's in windows 98 using it. I switched from kingston pc100 to crucial pc133 and no more blue screens.

If you were going for max performace it would be a tossup between the corsaid and the kingston hyperx, they both received excellent reviews by maximum pc, but the kingston edged out the corsair, also is a little more expensive.

For a business application I wouldn't be concerned with performace as much as price. for your money, the crucial is probably the best choice. but it's up to you if it's worth the extra 10$ per stick for what will probably be a barely noticable difference.
You could do a google search and see what you can dig up.. I search for "cl2 cl3 difference" and one of the articles I got was

http://develop.nordichardware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1430&forum=5

note, most of these forums discussing cl2 vs cl3 will be posts by kids, so take it with a grain of salt
here is a more professional explanation:

http://www.4allmemory.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=faq.details&faq_id=82

excellent choice on the case and power supply, a larger case like that may require more fans to keep the air moving. as long as they are the quiet type 2 intake and 2 exhaust (plus the intake/exhaust fan on the power supply)should work fine.

 

[technome]

Personally I would go for the lower latency ram, but more of a concern I would go for ECC ram.

I have pulled cl 3.0 from a few machines, repopulated with cl 2.5, no other changes, and there is a noticeable speed difference.

 

[455buick]

Hi Steve,

If I might be so bold. Anandtech ran two articles concerning memory and memory timings. "Searching for the memory Holy Grail 1 and 2" at this link:

http://www.anandtech.com/

On their web page enter on the memory tab at the top and you'll find the articles down the page. To answer your question specifically, the Kingston Hyper X 3200 with 2.0cl timings would be the best, but unfortunatley the most expensive. Most memory manufacturers like Corsair, Kingston, Geil, and OCZ offer lifetime guarantees on their memory. The applications you'll probably use in the office, you will see a "very slight" performance advantage over the slower memory using CL3 latencies. Some applications are very memory hungry and having multiple applications open also put a hurt on the memory. Having enough memory and quicker memory will help your system from "bogging down".

I hope this helped,

455buick
"There's a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"