Serial ATA, New PSU Choice

[FourScience]

I might move to SATA finally (ATA/133 twin 160GB Maxtors right now):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822144394

That's $0.4625 a Gigabyte for SATA power!

Or, I can splurge and spend about $20 more for a Raptor:
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Category.asp?Category=15

I am thinking the 320GB WD SATA is the best deal right now, I'm all about getting the most bang for my buck. I run a 2-yr ancient $800 budget box so I avoid the ultimate performance pieces because of their price premium. I'll probably rebuild my gaming box in early 2006.

If anyone wants to suggest RAID keep in mind that I'm a RAID newb, and I can't afford 2 new drives right now.

[E.J.FUDD]

stack 2 twenties and put that big mamba jamaba behind em...

raid isnt that hard. its just a bioch when it crashes.

[FourScience]

As ZipZoomFly has a regular price of $155 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101252&affiliate=pricegrabber), I'm in less of a rush to get one now. I also realized I'd need a new PSU, which will be a good investment also.

So 2 questions:
Does anyone recommend the WD SecureConnect cables? The WD SATA drives can use them but they work with normal SATA cables just the same. They're $12.
Any recommendations for hard drive vibration absorbers (cheap little insert types)?

Any recommendations on the PSU? Cable sleeving will be mandatory, and only moderate power consumption (I run a 350W presently with 2 DVD drives and 2 Maxtors). I'd like it to be some balance of cool/quiet.

I will be swapping my two 160GB Maxtors into a server machine thus decreasing the power requirements in my current box. I would want my new WD hd, the power supply, and my sound card to make the jump into my new PC come next year.

Also... I am interested in a hard drive cooler to protect my investment. Right now I have 4 case fans pushing air over, under, and between my twin Maxtors. The problem with that is they are noisy (8 case fans in all) and really inaccessible to clean. So I'd rather put my new hd in a 5.25" bay, within a hard drive cooler such as this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...ard+Disk+Drives

Any thoughts?

[MuffDiver]

go for the 36 gig Raptor Drives... fastest thing next to scsi.


I have two 36 gig raptor drives striped, read at 230 mb/s  write at 145 mb/s.  Runs faster than a raped date.  You can get MoBo's that handle 6 or more Sata drives and use ide or external ide for storage.

Storage doesn't have to be that fast. your working disks need to be fast, disks that hold your OS and your games and apps need to be on smaller faster drives and your movies and saves on larger slower disks.


hard drive coolers, check out the Aerocool fanless heatpipes, get the one for your video card too.... silent fanless cooling that rocks....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16835127101
http://www.aerocool.us/p-cooler/hb-101/hb101.htm

[SK_CROW]

Man, its so nice to have ya back on these boards Muff!  

[MuffDiver]

Dont get too used to it... i could vanish at anytime- I just got hitched, i mean shackled...uh what i mean is married.

[FourScience]

Dont get too used to it... i could vanish at anytime- I just got hitched, i mean shackled...uh what i mean is married.

Thank you Muff, your input is quite appreciated. The VGA heatpipe cooler looks awesome! I will definitely seek that kind of solution when I upgrade my 9600 Pro.

Last night my fiancee walked in on me at 12:30am as I played some CS. She was a bit peeved and laid a guilt trip on me. I left her a letter for the morning, explaining why I play late at night and, funny, she seems to have accepted my behavior and encouraged me today to spend my time how I want to...

I'll need to wait on buying more computer equipment but I sure do like checking the daily deals on NewEgg.com. Right now I'm drooling over the price-cut on the 9800 Pro ($135). I know it's the kind of candy I should wait to bite into though (until I can afford a complete overhaul with PCI-Express).