Parts list...how does this look?

[Nomad84]

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pokertracker is io-bound, and the raptor isn't that expensive. if you're sweating pt performance at all i'd suggest buying one. don't expect a performance miracle compared to a modern drive in terms of typical use, though.

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I think I will probably just go ahead and get a Raptor, based partly on this old post by Astroglide. It will be one less thing to worry about, and I'm not too concerned about the price. I suspect I should probably install Windows and many of my programs on this drive as well, but I'll do some more research on this.

So now it's just a question of video, I suppose.

[astroglide]

i will generally tend to ignore 'what should i build?' cookbook posts for a variety of reasons but here are the basics on how i roll.

on cases i dislike noise. it's a pain in the ass to replace fans that eventually fail, and they usually have much more space than i actually want/need (which means they also take up more space in the room or desk or whatever). i've been using shuttle xpcs for a long time now and i don't expect that to change. my home computer is an sb81p. if i were to buy a case/psu separately i would probably default to a sonata with an overkill fortron/sparkle psu.

since i buy shuttles i also don't worry about motherboards, but asus would be at the top of my safe list as well. i would certainly entertain stuff like abit, msi, etc. almost every one of my personal systems i've built in the pre-shuttle era has been with an abit motherboard.

for ram i'll just get whatever i should get in the value segment with a reasonable brand name. kingston, corsair, pny, geil, whatever. people really overestimate how much ram they need. even with multitasking on top of 8-tabling i still don't hit the 1GB usage mark on my system, it's only running virtual machines (emulating multiple computers within my computer) when i get into trouble. 1GB is enough for almost everyone. the low latency/ultra stuff is a complete waste of money.

storage i use 74g raptors for performance-oriented stuff. i use one as my boot/main drive, and maxtor maxline iiis for storage. they're maxtor's 'enterprise-grade' sata offerings with higher build quality, longer mtbf, 5yr warranty, etc. the diamondmax 10 is its consumer analog, they've been in the higher ranks of 7200rpm drives for a while now. raid is basically a waste of money for most people, including me. it doesn't impact single user performance in a meaningful way, yes even when multitasking, and the failure suggestions/data risk should be obvious.

for dvd burners i just get the most recent nec model.

audio i'm happy with onboard. i use sony mdr-7506 studio headphones at work and klipsch 2.1 speakers at home. i hate surround wiring and i think it's lame for computers.

for video i tend to keep up on the best bang for the buck $200-ish type thing. it was the ati x800 gto2 that could be modded to an x850 very recently, but the prices have shot up since then. if ati and nvidia are near equal in price/performance i'll go toward nvidia, one of the cheaper but still biggger name brands like evga, msi, etc. NOT xfx for reliability reasons, documentation of this on their own forums.

monitors i still just pick up 2001fps when they're cheap. i use kensington expert trackballs (the ones with a ball the size of a pool ball) and happy hacker lite2 usb keyboards.

[Nomad84]

Thanks very much for the reply. I am pretty pleased with my Newegg wish list right now. For the most part, everything I have listed seems to jive well with your suggestions. I was not familiar with the Maxtor drives you mentioned, so I'm researching those. They look nice so far, and I will likely go with it instead of the Western Digital that I was considering. I have also decided to used a Raptor in hopes of quicker PT/PAHUD database operations. For video, I don't need a $200 video card. I appreciate your suggestions on video in my other thread.

Hopefully I can order this stuff early this week and start assembly next weekend [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]