Seeking advice for new linux box...

[kuber]

I have been setting aside some cash for a while to build a new system. I want something quite powerful as I am going to set it up as a sort of hub to my apartment. ie it will be my stereo, my game system, my dvd player, a controller for x10 stuff, and of course my linux box.
Here are my basic specs thus far:

Tyan Tiger MP S2466 Motherboard
2 Athlon MP 1600
1 gig pc2100 ddr
adaptec 29160N scsi controller
geforce2 (I own this already)

Now, I want to get a 10000rpm ultra160 scsi HD, probably around 35gig, and was wondering what good brands are. Is Quantum any good? It is the cheapest in this size...

Also, any general comments? Is anything a bottleneck here? Is anything over-doing it?

It will probably be running 3-4 different displays at a time and controlling a few different inputs--I would like to set up a display at my couch with a frontend to music/movies/games. I figure I probably need a lot of power to do all this, while perhaps my gf is typing a term paper at the same time.

[I Love NY]

Don't know about the hard drive but I'm drooling all over myself. Oh, if only I had money... :mad:

[camelrider]

:p :rolleyes: :D
Sorry, can't help about the hard-drive, but this sounds like a great project!

[Chase]

Hrmm.. Quantum doesn't exist anymore, they were bought out by Maxtor. As far as I've heard, even though Maxtor is supposedly dealing with Quantum's warranties, you can't get anything with a Quantum name on it serviced.

If you're stuck on the idea of SCSI, I would go with a Seagate Cheetah. Those drives rock.

I would also consider a ATA100 striping array. If you get a couple of IBM 60GXP hard drives, and stripe them together, they should be just as fast as your SCSI drive. Plus you get much more storage for far less money.

[otheos]

The Maxtor Atlas IV 10K is very good but I would definitely go for Fujitsus MAN series drive (and I did).

I would aslo strongly suggest to get an LSI based SCSI card and NOT the Adaptec. Besides the high price the 29160 is not a true dual bus card and uderperforms compared to the LSI based ones. The Tekram U3W card is at the moment the best U160 card but make sure if you get it that it is keyed for 64/66 and not 64/33 PCI slots.

My TigerMP (760MP) has 64/33 PCI slots and the Tekram fits fine (5V) but the newer Tekram cards are keyed for both 64/33 and 64/66 (i.e. 5V and 3.3V) so make sure you get one of those.

BTW make also sure you do not put any 33MHz cards on the 64bit slots eventhough they are compatible they will take the bus down to 33MHz (so not much use of the 760MPX over the 760MP).

So I'd suggest the Fujitsu MAN drive and a REAL SCSI card based on LSI chip. Kernel support is better for the LSI cards too.