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View Full Version : First time builder seeks memory/hard drive advice



bazinfan
04-04-2012, 07:42 PM
Hi, everyone!

So here's what I'm pretty confident in (though tell me if you see anything wrong, I can still exchange things):

Rampage IV Extreme 2011
Intel i7 3930K
Noctua NH-D14
Win 7 64 Ultimate
Cooler Master Haf-X case
GeForce GTX560ti 448-pin (my monitor, which I'm not ready to upgrade, is only 1440x900)
Corsair Enthusiast 850watt 80-plus bronze


Here are the components I'm worried about (some are on the way, some I haven't ordered yet):

RAM: Corsair 16gb - 2133 MHz
Since I've started looking into forums I've noticed NOBODY mentions this ram. Am I making a mistake? Is there something I don't know?

2x Intel 320 series SSD
I'm a novelist and, thus, horrified at the prospect of lost data. I intend to put these 2 SSDs in a RAID 1 (mirror) configuration. Though, they are really only going to be hosting my OS. I only recently noticed, however, that the drives are only 3gb/s capable. Obviously I should go with the 520 series, right? Except, where the 320 series drives are all highly rated, the 6gb/s SSD drives I've read about all seem to have issues with failing (see above, my worst nightmare). Am I really going to see that big of a jump in quality by returning my 320 drives in exchange for 520s? Are the 320 series drives more stable at the moment? Although I want performance, I prize stability a little more right now.

4x Western Digital 1TB RE4 HDs
Okay, second verse same as the first. I intend on putting these 4 drives into a RAID 10 configuration. Again, these are only 3gb/s drives and I wonder if I should be considering the WD Black Caviar drives. They are comparably priced but I notice sooo many user complaints about the Caviar drives (from noise to the dreaded disk fail) whenever anyone tries to put them into a RAID configuration. Help? Same questions from before: 1) will I really notice much difference between the 3gb/s and the 6gb/s (I'm not running a server or anything, these drives are just for my personal use... you know, massive collections of porn, comic books, "how to" manuals I will never read, games, music, etc. I also do a fair amount of video editing (not porn) which will take up most of the space on these drives). 2) Would I be sacrificing major stability for a minor performance boost by switching to the Caviar drives?

At the moment that is my entire set up. I really appreciate any advice you can give. This is my first build, I'm very excited about it, and I don't want to mess anything up too badly.

Thanks for replying!

HiVizMan
04-05-2012, 10:52 AM
If you are not reading about the ram then maybe they are not the problem rams. We see many problems with the cheaper range from Corsair or when people try and use two kits of ram for quad channel. Not the easiest thing to set up.

520 SSD are solid. You can use with confidence. RAID should never be confused with a regular back up. Regardless of what RAID array you build back up your data once a day or at least once a week.

azuresystem
04-07-2012, 12:22 PM
Dominator GT (1.5v) modules are highly recommendable, stable, hasslefree, oc'able if interest is there, dunno about the vengance (1.5-1.65) kits tho :(

RE4 drives are meant for raid with low error rate! you aint getting any better for that raid10 on sata atleast, possibly ES constellations but youre looking at a 2-3 times the price over an RE4,

Nowadays almost no SF ssd has any issues with the newest FW's ;P
intel drives are known for stability so i guess ill recommend the same, otherwise samsungs 830 comes highly regarded aswell.

//best building luck! /azure