Custom PC

Hey Guys,

I am looking into buying/building a High Performance computer - Is there any recommendations on what Hardware to use and which version of Windows 7 I should get

Any Help is really appreciated

Many thanks,
Josh

I tend to use it for Heavy Multimedia and some gaming My Budget can be variable so do not worry about that

Josh

Thank you for the Information while I am here could someone explain RAID to me - I have heard of it but haven't understood it fully

I really Appreciate this :)

RAID stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks. It allows you to take multiple hard drives and contatenate them together in some way to either provide additional space, speed, or redundancy (or mixes of both).

Typical enthusiasts use RAID0...which stripes the two drives together. So, you get 2 identical drives and they together comprise the C drive. 1/2 of the file goes to disc 1 while the other half goes to disc 2. You get more speed because you have 2 drives going, through 2 interfaces. However, you get no redundancy...so if either drive fails, you lose all of your data (since you only have 1/2 of each file remaining).

RAID 1 is a mirror. You take 2 drives and 1 is an exact copy of the other. So, if one fails, you can still run from the other one. Of course, you lose 1/2 your total disc space.....as 1 drive is a duplicate of the other.

There are a variety of striping with parity options like RAID 5. Essentially you have a minimum of 3 disks. Part of the data goes on disc 1, part of the data on disc 2 and a parity bit is written to the third drive. So, in this case you get 2/3 of your total drive space. You pick up extra speeds on reads since you have multiple drives, but you suffer a small write penalty for having to calculate the parity. The advantage is that if a hard drive fails, you don't lose data. Your RAID controller can use the remaining data and the parity to "reconstruct" the missing data on the fly. Performance will decrease when you are down a drive, but it still functions.

Hope that helps.

This is great stuff Ciara! :) Thanks for that

pparks has given you a very good description of RAID. The two main types used by "home users" are RAID0 and RAID1. Strictly speaking RAID0 is not a true RAID since there is no redundancy.

Here is a link that adds to what ppparks said, and shows the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems:

BytePile.com - RAID Classifications

One word of caution: think twice before installing your OS to a RAID0 - its very problematically as seen on these forums. You are better off with a SSD.

Good luck,
Golden

I have done some research and came up with some Parts - I have Checked them and they seem compatible but if some could be kind enough to Double check I would be Grateful

Many Thanks,
Josh