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Re: Advice on system purchase



On 10/27/2012 7:29 PM, Marc Shapiro wrote:
> I'm really getting annoyed by my random system lockups, so I have been
> looking at new motherboards, new systems, etc.
...
> I saw a Fry's add for a motherboard, an AMD 8 Core CPU and memory for

That's a 125 watt CPU (ouch!).  That's two 60 watt incandescent bulbs
worth of juice and heat output at full load, one bulb worth at idle, and
a relatively loud stock cooler to prevent it from melting.

Coming from a 2800+ which is a ~60 watt CPU, and given the fact you'll
never make use of more than 2 of those 8 cores, I recommend a dual core
AthlonII X2 @ 3.4GHz.  I have the 3GHz model and the 2nd core is pretty
much always idle, with primary core being idle most of the time as well,
as is everyone's.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103953

plus mobo w/VGA/DVI/HDMI, 8GB of AMD memory (they make DIMMs now):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186206
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820103006

And a fast 120GB SSD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236

Total:  $243 USD + shipping

> My main worry is the hard drive.  I currently have what I think is its
> older cousin, a 1 TB SATA II drive.  It works perfectly and I have
> always liked Seagate drives.  I know that there are people out there who
> have had trouble with Seagate, but there are also many who have not. 
> Any individual drive can be a lemon.  That's not my problem. The
> question that I have is that this drive seams to have Advanced Format 4K
> sectors.  The ad says that there are no utilities to run and no extra
> integration steps.  I have read enough posts here about problems with
> Advanced Format to be wary of their claim, though.  Does anyone have
> experience with this drive, or with other Seagate drives with 4K sectors
> and Seagate SmartAlign?

Acquire the parts list above, use the SSD as the system/swap drive and
primary storage (mailbox, etc).  Use your current Seagate drive as a
data drive (media files etc).  The Advanced Format issue just evaporated.

-- 
Stan


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