Workstation Help

[meiscory]

Hey everyone, I am building a workstation for CAD and wanted to see what everyone thought. I also have questions that if anyone could answer that would be great. Thanks alot in advance.

• Case: Undecided

• Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006


• Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365
Questions:
Memory Standard : DDR3 2000(O.C)/1866(O.C)/1800(O.C)/1600(O.C)/1333
Does this mean I would have to OC to use my 1600 ram? Does anyone know a motherboard where I would not have to?

• Processor: Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition Bloomfield 3.33GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115212
Mostly chose this over the 920 because I don't know how to OC and otherwise cannot use >1066 ram.


• RAM: 2x mushkin Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226052
Unless anyone knows some that would be better for me?

• Hard Drive: 4x in RAID 10: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
Questions
1. Is a RAID 10 hard to set up?
2. Do I need anything else to set up the RAID on the ASUS P6T Deluxe that I chose?

• Graphics Card: PNY VCQFX1800-PCIE-PB Quadro FX1800 768MB 192-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133272

 

[MRFS]

get the WD "RE3" HDDs instead:
"RE" means "RAID Edition":

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/productcatalog.asp?language=en

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=504


e.g. no Time-Limited Error Recovery listed for the WD6401AALS:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=551


I don't see PMR in any of the specs for the WD6401AALS either.


A MAJOR FACTOR with current HDDs is the rate at which
raw binary data passes under the read/write heads
e.g. compare horizontal magnetic recording at 10,000 rpm
with perpendicular magnetic recording at 7,200 rpm!!


MRFS

 

[MRFS]

> RAM: 2x mushkin Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Take a look at Corsair's Dominator series:
their matching RAM fan is very well engineered:

http://www.corsair.com/corei7/default.aspx
http://www.corsair.com/products/dominatorgt/default.aspx
http://www.corsair.com/products/dominator/default.aspx


MRFS

 

[MRFS]

> 1. Is a RAID 10 hard to set up?

No.


> 2. Do I need anything else to set up the RAID on the ASUS P6T Deluxe that I chose?


Read The Fine Manual ("RTFM") FIRST.

If you plan to install your OS on a RAID 10,
you'll need to prepare the device drivers
to load during Windows Setup e.g.
the F6 option when installing XP/Pro.


Be sure also to enable the RAID Option ROM
in your BIOS, and follow the directions
for initializing your RAID array during boot-up
(typically CTRL-I at the right moment).



MRFS

 

[meiscory]

Thanks for the help.
Do you Know if the WD RE3 750 gb with 32mb cache would perform better than the WD RE3 500 gb with only 16mb cache?