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[WolfWalker]

people recommend?  I am looking at www.alienware.com.  The main requirment that I need is disk space so I am thinking a raid setup, what do you recommend?

[LonWar]

Well, If you know someone that can build computers, Your better off that way. You can usually build the same computer for much less...

Stay way from HP and Dell (Dell is being sued for shady practices)

If you like games, Go with AMD, if you don't then go Intel.

[KingSparta]

If you know someone that can build computers, Your better off that way. You can usually build the same computer for much less

not so sure about that.

the problem comes in if you want the latest and greatest you normaly can not buy the top of the line boards untill majors have there pick (Gateway, Dell, HP etc...)

I think the 3 major players are

1. alienware
2. Gateway
3. Dell

Alienware has some nice Computers if you can get past the price tag

[Matthew]

imjustagamer, can you be more specific with why DELL is doing shady practices.

[LonWar]

imjustagamer, can you be more specific with why DELL is doing shady practices.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/22/technology/dell_lawsuit.reut/

[datdude]

Gotta build your own, Dude!  It will take more time in terms of research but you will get better quality components exactly the way you want, for the same if not cheaper than buying it pre built.  It's not like building a car.  The key is to get a good case and after that its plug and play.  Look for pc building guides on the net.

[JimH]

Being sued is not the same as being guilty.

[LonWar]

Being sued is not the same as being guilty.

Well that is up to the courts to decide....

I work for 1 of the Largest corporate computer resellers in Canada, and this is not the first time this has come up.

[Mastiff]

Building a computer yourself always beats those pre-built systems. I would recommend going with the new 600 CPUs from Intel for anything else than a a hardcore gaming rig. A very nice main board is the Asus P5AD2-E Premium, with it's built in HD sound, a huge bundle and room for all the storage units you want - six IDE and a bunch of S-ATA. Also it has built in WLAN and two LAN ports. Combined with a CoolerMaster Stacker case, with room for all those units, and preferably water cooling (quiet, efficient) you'll have a system that eats Alienware for lunch, at probably half the price.

I'm not big on RAID myself, I prefer to have a full backup in another case that's not connected to the power grid (mine's an MP3 computer in the car), since power spikes can kill all disks if they're in the same case. 200 or 250 gig disks would be the way to go when you want as many gig for your money as possible at the moment.

[LonWar]

Not to steal this thread........

Some of these cases that you can get have room for 12 drives. Your Main board has to Controllers, that have a ribbon that enables you to connect 2 things...

THat's 4... How do you connect the others?

[benrad]

Not to steal this thread........

Some of these cases that you can get have room for 12 drives. Your Main board has to Controllers, that have a ribbon that enables you to connect 2 things...

THat's 4... How do you connect the others?

one of these:  http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?segment=undefined&product_id=127

[Mastiff]

Eh...the mobo I'm recommending supports 14 disks without any add-on boards. if you need more than 14 times 200 gig, which should be close to 3 terrebyte, I think you'll have to talk to the RIAA and the MPAA investigators... 

[benrad]

Eh...the mobo I'm recommending supports 14 disks without any add-on boards. if you need more than 14 times 200 gig, which should be close to 3 terrebyte, I think you'll have to talk to the RIAA and the MPAA investigators... 

I hadn't looked at that board Mastiff, sweet board, a little pricey though, and I'm an AMD type of guy. Great board though.

[Mastiff]

I prefer AMD for general use since they are cheap, but for media use there's no competition to P4.  And yes, it's not cheap, but you do get so much on the card that you may otherwise have to buy, like all those drives, the WLAN, the dual LAN, a very good sound card, especially for SPDIF output. I chose it for a budget concious HTPC, and I don't regret it.

[Alex B]

I am just now replacing a crashed boot HD on my main HT PC. I have currently 5 hard drives connected because I am gathering data from several backup HDs and I have a temporally boot hard drive.

My MSI P4 MB has three integrated controllers. An Intel SATA for two drives, an Intel PATA for 4 drives and a Promise RAID controller for 2 PATA & 2 SATA drives. It's possible to connect 9 hard drives at the same time if one of the connectors is used by a CD/DVD drive.

For more drives it's possible to use extra PCI or SCSI controller cards. Of course there are USB2 and Firewire ports too. I suppose it could be possible to make them work also with internally mounted HDs.

By the way, I bought that broken 200GB SATA drive on June 2004. They are not what they used to be.

Edit

This is my third HD crash within a year even I have properly cooled PC cases and stable AC power. Bad luck?

[Mastiff]

Actually the price difference between internal and external drives has become so small that I would actually consider getting a few USB2 drives instead of buying expensive raid cards. Oh, and S-ATA drives aren't as reliable (or quiet, for some reason or another) as the "old fashioned" IDE-drives.