System rebuild

[Lazydog]

I have been out of touch/not keeping up with computer hardware and I am looking for some advice. My home system has fallen to hardware failure and I want to upgrade. I'm looking to run virtual machines on this new hard ware. Below is what I'm looking to buy and would like some suggestions on which to buy.

CPU
- Must be quad core and fast for virtual machines
- Heat sink with good cooling

Motherboard
- Must support quad core CPU above
- 16G RAM support min.
- Must have gig network interface
- Sound card onboard or as a card

RAM
- 16G with heat sink

Graphic card
- Fast graphic card NVidia

RAID Controller
- SATA Support with Raid10 min 4 drives

Hard drive
- SATA 1G min.

Hot Swap Bays
- SATA hot swap drive bay

Power Supply
- One big enough to handle everything above plus a little more

I have a Shark Tower case which I plan on using.
Any advice or recommendations you could pass along would be greatly appreciated.
I'll be buying form Newegg so any links into then with your suggestions would be great.
Thnx in advance for your help.

[previso]

Check TigerDirect for bare systems, Pricewatch for individual components.

[mbuell]

Hard drive
- SATA 1G min.

Must be a typo on that item. Surely you meant 100G.

Everything else? What comments could we make? AMD vs Intel? HDD brands? I think maybe better to visit a more specific board with devotees of each side. It all sounds fine. 16G is a lot of RAM for a desktop, but ok, if you can get it in there, more is better, yes?

[Lazydog]

Yep, that was a mistake. Should have been a T not a G. The 16G of ram is for the virtual servers. with a 4 cores I'd like to devote 4G to each. I might back down to 8G ram though. Haven't thought about it much.

I'm just looking for peoples opinion on this then I would decide myself after wards. If you go to a board for ADM then you are most likely only going to get ADM recommendations. Same with the other boards. By going to a non-specific board you get more input about different products. Besides I don't want to have to join yet another board for this information when I think I can find it here.

[previso]

Best of the Best - Maximum PC-approved hardware and components for your rig building needs | Maximum PC has always been my guide for component selection. They have been running objective performance tests for more than a decade.

[mbuell]

There ya go. That link sounds like just the thing needed. I know the most recent bookmark I have for Intel vs AMD is 6 years old. I'm anti-monopoly, and I used to buy AMD in the 90's, when they were a good deal and didn't have issues, but in the early 2k's they had too many heat and other issues. I gave up, the trouble wasn't worth any price difference any more. Haven't bought enough hardware since then to worry about it.

HDD's have been equally trouble free for me the last 10 years, regardless of brand. RAM, tho, ironically, used to be an area I didn't worry about brand. The last few years I have had issues with some brands not working with a motherboard. Not sure if it is indicative of anything.

[Lazydog]

Well I finally pulled the trigger on the new system and here is what I bought. Mind you I'm not a gamer but am looking at virtual hosting on this system.

Thermaltake Spedo Advance Package VI90001W2Z Black 0.8 mm SECC Steel ATX Full Tower Computer CaseItem #: N82E16811133072

Thermaltake Toughpower XT W0230RU 850W ATX 12V 2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified modular Active PFC Power SupplyItem #: N82E16817153105

Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7860Item #: N82E16819115214

ASUS Maximus III Formula LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel MotherboardItem #: N82E16813131482

2 x CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMD4GX3M2A1600C8Item #: N82E16820145265

EVGA 768-P3-1360-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video CardItem #: N82E16814130562

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEMItem #: N82E16827135204

Still need to buy hard drives to replace the old ones I have in the system now. Looking to get 5x 1TB to create a Raid 10 using 4 and 1 as a backup.

[TaZMAniac]

Looks like a good powerhouse system you have put together.

Looking to get 5x 1TB to create a Raid 10 using 4 and 1 as a backup.

Careful with your choice of hard drives for a RAID setup.
Western Digital disabled the time-limited error recovery in their affordable Black Edition hard drives which make them useless in a Raid system.
Seems you have to purchase their more expensive drives for use in a Raid system.
A lot of angry customers as WD didn't publicize their disabling that feature in the new Black Edition drives.

Read the fine print of the specs from the manufacturer's web page before making your final decision.

Good luck with your new system. It should serve your needs very well.

[Lazydog]

What is a power house today is needing replacement tomorrow. The Techno people are just too fast anymore.

As to the drives I have already placed the order for these Drives. I didn't see anything on their web site about the issue you just stated.

I hope I don't over look anything or have any issues with the RAID.

[TaZMAniac]

You might want to read this;
WD Black drives in RAID??? - Western Digital Community