Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

That has always amazed me, the compatability of parts. You can get a processor fabbed in Ireland put on a motherboard from South Korea, chuck in some Taiwanese RAM and a power supply from down the road and it will work. There is no other industry where every single component can be made by a different company and you know they'll all work together.

As long as you get the standards right. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

For a first time builder the biggest problem comes when you get a DOA part. It can be extremely hard for a newbie to find where the problem lies.

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

Question: At my university dorm, I will have access to T1 internet (at least, that's what they tell me). What kind of hardware will I need for that??

Also, a generic modem will work just fine for dial-up, right?

One more; a 9-in-1 card reader? What is it?

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

If they say T1 access, most likely they mean you'll be on an internal network that has (at least) one T1 line going out. One T1 isn't that much for an entire university... maybe for one building. You'll need some kind of ethernet jack, whether on the system board or on a PCI card. You'll also want a CAT5 (or CAT5e, or CAT6...) cable.

You have access to T1 line... why do you want a modem? But yeah, a generic modem would be fine. I wasn't aware there was any other kind http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

9-in-one could mean a lot of things. It basically means it reads 9 out of the bajillion formats of memory cards out there. So that means, SD cards, flash cards, flash sticks, etc. I've seen some that include a floppy drive as well.

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

I think the T1 line is for the one residence building.
Would an "Integrated Gigabit Network Adapter" fit the bill?

Heh, well I want the modem for when I'm at home, since at home we only have dial-up http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

How important is a floppy drive to have these days in a new computer??

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

I've found them usefull. Occasionally, you'll probably want to transfer something that's too small to bother using a whole cd.

Plus, if you like old games...

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

Floppy drives are useless most of the time, but you can not use your computer without them on occasion... They are dirt cheap, so there is little reason not to get one.

DO NOT get anything labeled a "WinModem." These devices implement most of their functionality in software, which is a very bad thing. Splurge that extra five bucks to get a decent dial-up modem.

Would an "Integrated Gigabit Network Adapter" fit the bill?

If it has 10/100/1000 somewhere on the label (relating to connection speeds), yes. Your university is likely to still be using 100 base ethernet networks, since 1000 is still fairly new and a waste of money in a dorm network.

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

Buy cheap system - $300.00 then spend $400.00 to upgrade.

Hey, what is a RAID system? And if it is what I think it is, how do you connect extra HD to it?

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

A RAID array is using multiple identical hard drives to both increase storage and make data loss more infrequent. The data tends to be located on multiple drives in the array, so one hard drive failing means that you probably won't lose much, if anything. At least, that is what I think RAID arrays are for... Might be just a specialized use for them or something.

Re: OT: Buying vs. building your own computer
 

First you need a raid controller, either onboard or as an add on card. Then you connect more than one drive to it. With two drives you can do a mirror which keeps duplicate data on each drive. Down side, you loose half of the space on the drives, 2-20’s give you 20gigs to use. Loose a drive, you keep all of the data.

Or

You can do a stripe set which will write data to each drive at the same time. Very fast, but loose a drive, loose your data. You also get to use all of the space on the drives.

Or

You can attach three or more drives and do a Raid five. Raid fives maximize disk space, 5-20 gigs give you 80gigs to use/ 3-20's would give you 40 to use. And loose a drive, keep your data.

For storage of high value data, you can do a windows raid. Add two drives, convert them to dynamic and then mirror them. Loose a drive keep your data, and you only get to use half the space. Also, this set up is not bootable.

If you run Windows 2K or 03 server, you can also do a windows Raid 5 with three or more disks.

If you are truly worried about your data, then you need to move up to SCSI drives. If SCSI is the Benz of drives, ATA would fall in somewhere around a Yugo. You can pick up NOS 160 SCSIs for about a dollar a gig and a controller card is less than fifty.


PS: Buy a cheap POS computer, then you own a cheap POS.