Advice for 64bit system build

[MkIII_Supra]

Hello all, looking to build a new system to replace my old AMD Duron 1.2GHz system. She runs fine but now that I am getting into more intensive graphics (photo editing and DVD creation) I am finding she just can handle the demand as well as I would like her too.

So I started thinking about what system to build. So I figure why not ask around here first, get some ideas and make sure I am building a sane system. The other problem is I have been out of the hardware loop for some time so I am actually a hardware noob again!! Imagine that. So I am looking for help from you folks that have more experience and knowledge about modern hardware and compatibility.

As with most here, budget is paramount. If things get to pricey then I will have to do the build over time. Okay next is I most assuredly want to stick with AMD CPU's. I have had real good luck with them since the AMD K6-III 450MHz days, so stick with what is proven, and they are a bit less expensive than the Intel offerings.

What I a looking at is as follows:

OS: OpenSuSE 10.2 or newer (if this takes me a while to build...)
Desktop: KDE
CPU: Looking at a 64bit 2.4GHz or better (but if the 32bit CPU is recommended then I will go with that)
Motherboard: SATA capable with at least 4 PCI slots and minimum 8X AGP.
Video: Already have a 256MB nVidia GeForce 8X AGP that I will use.
Memory: 2GB minimum but would like 4GB with fastest possible buss speed.
Hard Drive 1: 80GB 7200RPM SATA
Hard Drive 2: 250GB 7200RPM SATA - would a Raid set-up be useful for a home system? I am not really familiar with raid and only have a basic understanding of it. My biggest concern is ensuring my data is protected, many of the photos I can never replace, since they are of my child and I.
Hard Drive 3: 500GB Removable IDE or SATA drive for external back-ups. I have a lot of photos and home movies that I keep. Currently I use DVD's but I would prefer using an external drive.
CD / CD-RW: I will use my existing IDE CD-RW
DVD-RW: I will use my existing IDE DVD-RW

So I think I have covered everything. Now to clarify the purpose of this system. I will use this as my primary desktop for e-mail, web surfing, document production, and DVD creation. And the DVD creation is the main reason I am looking for so much horse power.

As I said my current system works fine, but when I am creating DVD's I am pushing it past it's limits and it takes up to 8 hours to process a 1.5GB DVD. That is just the first step! The other problem is I cannot do much else on the system since it is being dragged to a crawl and any other applications I open increase the processing time and take for ever to open and use.

So I figure with a faster more powerful system I should be able to bring the processing time down to 2 hours and also have enough left to continue with other application/project I am working on. And the 1.5GB is a small project I am using to test and learn the KmediaEdit application, I have 2 DVD projects that I am working on for christmas gifts, one that is 3.75GB and the other 4.25GB in size, and I am looking at 2 maybe 3 days processing time per DVD once I am ready to start.

Okay, I think that is enough, if not please ask for more information. All your help is greatly appreciated!

[bwkaz]

Not sure about most of that, but the RAID comment caught my eye.

You can't do RAID unless your disks are the same size. You can do JBOD, but that (like RAID 0) shouldn't be called RAID in my mind -- there's no redundancy. (RAID 0 and JBOD both combine several drives to get a total capacity of the sum of each drive's capacity. But if one drive goes down, the entire array is gone.)

RAID 1 (mirroring), where you have two identical drives that both get copies of the data written to them, might be good if all you care about preventing is disk failure. But you'll need two 500G disks.

RAID 5, where you use N identical disks and get (N-1)*(disk capacity) total capacity, and allow any one drive to die without taking down the array, could give you a 500G array from three 250G disks. Or with five 125G disks. Etc., etc.

Or, you could just keep doing backups (since accidental writes are not protected by RAID, so you should do backups anyway), and forget RAID completely. ;)

[je_fro]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16816116031
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148140

If you want to do RAID5, I'd suggest that card and 4 of those disks...works great here.
IMO, take your time and build the best box you can, rather than the best you can build off one paycheck. Go for a dual-core 2.4 GHz proc (socket 939-940) and 2-4GB of the Corsair standard value memory..ddr400.

[dkeav]

i think je_fro will agree, if you want to go real raid, stick with sataII and 3-ware raid cards, throw some good sataII drives on there and you will get very impressive performance and disk space compartivly with what you spend