Choosing internal mass storage means that you must decide to focus on the best performance, the highest capacity, or both. Solid state drives (SSDs) lead the Serial ATA performance race, but slower mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) lead in capacity. Western Digital’s 600GB VelociRaptor VR200M fits neatly between the small-yet-fast SSD and huge-but-slow mechanical drives in both capacity and performance, while our hard drive charts highlight performance and cost per gigabyte of a broad selection of SSD and HDD models.
A fast drive might not make most programs perform better, but it will certainly make them load faster, and that includes Windows itself.
How much storage you'll need is a function of your usage patterns; Windows rarely exceeds 16GB without additional programs installed, even after many months of collecting temp files, cookies, and other "temporary" trash. Programs can easily consume five times that much capacity, and some games take up to 12GB on their own! DVD and Blu-ray disc images consume up to 8.4GB and 50GB each, respectively, causing those who love to archive video to find their capacity needs rising quickly.
Remember that hard disk drives fill from the outside of the platters inward. Constant disk speed and bit size assure that the outer edge of the platter is fastest, so many users choose to place a small system partition up front to make programs load quickly. After several years of trial and error, I've settled on a 120GB system partition, but this again is specific to my program configuration.
Knowing the size of larger files being stored (such as 8MP photos or 8GB movies) and predicting the number of these that the system will collect over its expected life allows the selection of the minimum acceptable storage partition size. Users with multiple partitions can add the system partition and storage partition requirements to choose a single drive with the capacity needed, or split the files across multiple drives.
Though systems typically use a single large disk, several advanced options are available for those who require added performance or capacity. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, a group of methods that allows data to be spread across several disks concurrently. Most enthusiast-class motherboards now support at least RAID modes 0, 1, 0+1, and 5.
The possible use of RAID affects the number and capacity of drives selected, so a very brief description of these modes is in order:
- Level 0 (striping) divides data into chunks that are spread across two or more drives at the same time, providing up to double the transfer rate and the combined capacity of both drives. The major drawback is that if either drive fails, the data from both is lost.
- Level 1 mirrors two or more drives so that if one fails, data can be recovered from the other. The major drawback is that because both drives store the same data, the available capacity is half of the total capacity of the drives.
- RAID 0+1 allows four (or more) drives to be set up as a mirrored set of striped drives. If one striped set fails, data can be retrieved from the other, but total capacity is still limited to that of one striped set.
- RAID 5 creates parity bits for data recovery. Data and parity bits are distributed across all drives, increasing transfer rate, while sacrificing only the amount of space required to store the added parity bits (the capacity of one drive in the set).
Generating parity bits for RAID 5 requires processing, which means that RAID 5 via "software" controllers, such as those found built-in to chipsets, is often a significant resource hog. Conversely, RAID Levels 0 and 1 generate little CPU overhead. Gamers with little regard for long-term data storage may choose Level 0 for performance, and anyone with a significant amount of valuable data may choose Level 1.
Tom's Hardware Guide has reviewed many storage controllers, with several of these articles going into additional detail concerning RAID modes, benefits and consequences.
- Part 1: Component Selection
- Processor And Graphics Selection
- Motherboard Options
- Remember The Memory!
- Hard Drive Selection
- Power Supplies And Other Components
- Part 2: Choosing The Right Vendor
- Purchase Price
- Integrity
- Part 3: Putting It All Together
- Installing The CPU
- Installing The CPU Cooler
- Installing The Power Supply And Motherboard
- Installing Other Components
- Motherboard Cable Installation
- Device Cable Installation
- Final Words

Or for those of us in the uk, check out
scan.co.uk
ebuyer.co.uk
overclockers.co.uk
DO NOT install your motherboard like this. Have all the screws in place before tightening.
However, when overclocking 8pins will give you far more stability and is highly recommended.
Except for the fact that the hibernate file =RAM size say 4Gb, and outlook files (can't be moved from C
Do you mean the Outlook pst can't be moved from C? I've three customers in the building here that I've moved all the 'local' Outlook data to a network drive...
I investiagted that for a while and found nothing to help, but I guess it can be done though. I was running a 30Gb ssd as a system drive (vista 64) and it kept creeping up to 25Gb+ will all folders on a different drive etc.
However in an article about building a system to have the fairly advanced need to move certain systems files around or turn them off, without actually stating that you'll need to do it is a bit of a discrepancy, i'd bet that 90% of people that know how to run a light installation of windows already know how to build, and that 90% of those that don't know how to build but might want have limited windows installation/customisation skills. So it appears that the article is aimed that software literate but hardware illiterate people, seems like a really small group to me.
Price range is cheap as poss without being crap.
Editing HD video and games is the point. Looks like I’ve got a few weeks read.
Also an Nvidia 8000 series card or ATI HD46xx upwardsfor accelerated render.
Also an Nvidia 8000 series card or ATI HD46xx upwardsfor accelerated render.
I've used them twice, both times i bought an "own brand" scan item that arrived DOA and took weeks to get any kind of response and refund.
used them lots, returned items, not had any trouble, refunds take a while with anyone including amazon... I think own brand is generally an issue, although with nvidia etc. its just a re-badge.
Never had a problem with scan before. I never buy own brand products where my PC's involved!
1. AMD Phenom II X4 Quad 955 Core 3.2GHz Processor 4 x 512 KB Boxed - Black Edition
2. Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P Motherboard Phenom II X4 Socket AM3 AMD 790X ATX RAID Gigabit Ethernet
3. Kingston ValueRAM Memory DDR3 Non-ECC CL8 DIMM 1GB (need two)
4. Western Digital Caviar Blue 250 Gb 7200 Rpm Sata-ii Internal Hard Drive
5. Samsung SH-S223L/BEBE Internal 22x DVD Writer Drive SATA Lightscribe - Black (OEM)
6. Corsair VX Series, 450 Watt, ATX, PS/2, Power Supply, UK Version (CMPSU-450VXUK)
7. Asus EAH4350 SILENT/DI/256MD2(LP) Graphics Card Radeon HD 4350 256MB PCi-E DVI VGA (90-C1CM1F-H0UANAKZ)
8. LG L1734S 17 inch LCD TFT Monitor 1280x1024 700:1 5ms - Black/Silver
9. Hercules Muse LT PCI sound card
10. Edimax EW-7128G Wireless LAN PCI Card 802.11b/g 54Mbp (Ralink)
11. Antec Three Hundred Midi Case
I know i'll need a few extra fans for the case, but will I need a CPU-cooler, or will I get one with the processor? And do I need a 'controller', or is it bundled along in there somewhere?
Even more importantly, can someone confirm that these components are compatible?
Would appreciate any help, guys.
1. AMD Phenom II X4 Quad 955 Core 3.2GHz Processor 4 x 512 KB Boxed - Black Edition
2. Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P Motherboard Phenom II X4 Socket AM3 AMD 790X ATX RAID Gigabit Ethernet
3. Kingston ValueRAM Memory DDR3 Non-ECC CL8 DIMM 1GB (need two)
4. Western Digital Caviar Blue 250 Gb 7200 Rpm Sata-ii Internal Hard Drive
5. Samsung SH-S223L/BEBE Internal 22x DVD Writer Drive SATA Lightscribe - Black (OEM)
6. Corsair VX Series, 450 Watt, ATX, PS/2, Power Supply, UK Version (CMPSU-450VXUK)
7. Asus EAH4350 SILENT/DI/256MD2(LP) Graphics Card Radeon HD 4350 256MB PCi-E DVI VGA (90-C1CM1F-H0UANAKZ)
8. LG L1734S 17 inch LCD TFT Monitor 1280x1024 700:1 5ms - Black/Silver
9. Hercules Muse LT PCI sound card
10. Edimax EW-7128G Wireless LAN PCI Card 802.11b/g 54Mbp (Ralink)
11. Antec Three Hundred Midi Case
I know i'll need a few extra fans for the case, but will I need a CPU-cooler, or will I get one with the processor? And do I need a 'controller', or is it bundled along in there somewhere?
Even more importantly, can someone confirm that these components are compatible?
Would appreciate any help, guys.