Wooo Wooo....new computer

[cruelpupet]

I previously had decided that I wasnt going to upgrade from my Dell Core2 (E8500, 6GB Ram, and 1TB Raid1), until I could build a PC that had a Sandybridge chip (3D transistor technology), USB 3.0, SATA 3, and 24 or 32GB RAM.

But alas a great deal fell into my lap. A friend was getting rid of a spare Core i7, and let me have it for almost nothing. Basically, once I sell my old PC on CL I should have $150 to spare on upgrades. Not sure what the upgrades will be yet, but it will be good.

[snooper403]

Nice. That's always the way it works. Every single time I had my eyes on a certain machine, another deal arrives out of the blue that calls my wallet. oh well...best of luck with your mods.

[Jeffbx]

Holy crap man, what do you use that much RAM for? You have 17 VMs running?

[cruelpupet]

Holy crap man, what do you use that much RAM for? You have 17 VMs running?


A few AD servers and a workstation or two on its domain will happily eat up 24-32GB. Small Business Server alone eats up 8GB, if you go for just 1 server to handle everything.


Which is also the reason I would really need 8+ cores

[Jeffbx]

Oh, it's a work machine! That makes more sense

[cruelpupet]

Oh, it's a work machine! That makes more sense


Home machine, but with a virtual enterprise network. Then again, I would still go for the huge amount of RAM even without the enterprise network, and give each VM at least 4GB of RAM so it doesnt need a swap file.

[cruelpupet]

Got the PC about a month ago, and have been biding my time by updating drivers, firmwares, and Windows 7.

Yesterday I finally got a trusted original MS copy (mine was corrupted) of XP Pro w/SP3 for volume licensing. Now I am in the middle of updating my new virtual machine image that will spawn off many many more VMs.

Sadly it seems the coupon has expired and my original order voided for a great RAM deal from NewEgg (4GB GSkill Ripjaw sticks for $30 each.) I'll be speaking with them about that later today.

[cruelpupet]

Just ordered the quad kit (16Gb for $130 @ $10 more) but get a free 4gb flash drive with it.

Soon I'll be using my Core i7 with 16GB of RAM goodness.

Still haven't spoken with them about the canceled order...not sure if its worth the $10.

[cruelpupet]

It's done.

I'm currently posting from my new
Core i7-870 2.93GHz w/ 8MB cache
16GB RAM


I upped the video card from the ****ty NVIDIA to my preferred chip the ATI 5450.

All that's left is to order (2) new 3TB hard drives for my RAID1, (3) if I find out the Dell mobo supports a hot spare or allows mirroring to a 3rd drive.

Anyone know if 3TB drives are expected to come down in price soon?

[Jeffbx]

They're still dropping in price - here's one for $129 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145493), or $119 if you want to fark around with rebates.

[Thesifer]

Anyone know if 3TB drives are expected to come down in price soon?

Aren't Hard Drives ALWAYS dropping in Price / Upping Storage.. Seems to be the norm these days.. Wait a week, pick it up on 'sale'..

[Napoleon54]

memory too, jeez!

[cruelpupet]

Aren't Hard Drives ALWAYS dropping in Price / Upping Storage.. Seems to be the norm these days.. Wait a week, pick it up on 'sale'..


Yes, but usually when a new storage size comes out for sale, not just announced, the previous storage limit drops significantly.

So basically is a 4TB drive about to be released on newegg, so that i might pick up a 3TB for $70 each?

[Thesifer]

Not sure, but there are many many 4TB Hard drives 'released' (not sure how available they are just yet) or in the pipeline for release, that have been announced.

If I were to guess, I would say the date they hit Newegg, is shortly after you break down and buy 3TB.

[Jeffbx]

You should maybe think about getting an enclosure & going RAID5 with 4x2GB - more spindles will give you better access time. It's only money!

[cruelpupet]

Not sure, but there are many many 4TB Hard drives 'released' (not sure how available they are just yet) or in the pipeline for release, that have been announced.

If I were to guess, I would say the date they hit Newegg, is shortly after you break down and buy 3TB.

Probably. I know they were announced in March, and are for sale elsewhere, but its when newegg gets them that will drive the 3tb price down.


You should maybe think about getting an enclosure & going RAID5 with 4x2GB - more spindles will give you better access time. It's only money!

I do want a separate RAID enclosure for a copy of media files that can be shared on my network, but for the files on my PC I dont need more speed, i need redundancy.