For the HDD, get a smaller one and then get external for storage and backups. remember, if that one HDD goes , everything goes. I have a AMS eSATA external enclosure that currently has 4 drives in totaling 1.9TB. Unfortunately, I will probably have to get a second enclosure or larger HDDs for in it. Take a look at the WD 250GB for internal HDD. Not the KS model, but the YS.

 

No, I haven't. I'll have to look into that.

There is a header on the board

Right now, I'm using the onboard audio in a 5.1 set up. It works well. I never hooked up the cable between my graphics card and the header, but when I get ready to swap in the HDDVD/Blu-Ray combo drive, I'll set it up.

 

Hard drive:

Yeah I was starting to think the same thing about putting all my eggs in one basket for failures. Only problem is I think each DVD is roughly 9-10 gig and I have about 100 DVDs to rip onto the hard drive. Thus I need to start off at about 1 TB and have more for music, pictures, and TV shows. I think the Sonata III has 4 Internal 3.5" bays. Thus it looks like I'm limited to 4 internal bays for primary storage and then external hard drives for backups. I'm not too worried about losing the hard drive with the DVDs b/c I'll have the DVDs at the parent's house and can always go back for them. However, pictures would be a bigger issue.

Thus is I need 1 TB of space off the bat, I can't go with 4 250 WD internal hard drives or I'll be at capacity right away.

My revised thought was maybe 2 500 GB hard drives for moviews and then a 250 GB hard drive for the OS and pictures. That way I have a remaining internal bay open in the case for future use. But then again what are the "5 external 3.5" bays" used for in the Sonata III case?

My only thing is the external hard drive connected via USB will have to be for backups only. I have a 250 GB external HD connected via USB to my laptop and that thing is really loud and has slow write speeds. I just wouldn't want it making all that noise during a movie.

 

Cool, decided on the graphics card.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...ustomerRatings

evga 8800 GT OC'd to 650 mhz at Circuit City.

Original price is $279.99 but I'll have it price matched to $229.99 from Microcenter and then use a $15 off coupon I have for a final price of $215 before tax.

 

Are you ripping the entire DVD?? You really don't need anything but the main feature. That can save alot of room.

Sounds like you got an outstanding graphics card.

 

I know all I need is the main feature but I can't help it, it'd be nice to have the extra features just in case I want to see them.

I'm just SQUASHING the budget right now......

 

Again, I would do that kind of stuff to an external drive. With the AMS eSATA external HDD case, I can put 4 750GB drives in for a total of 3TB. Even with the 1.9TB I have now, 3 500GB and 1 400GB, I can have my movies stored on the one drive and backed up twice on the other 2 drives. You can also buy 1TB USB external drives, although USB is going to be a lot slower. Another option is a 250GB main drive and multiple large internal drives. Most MB have room for at least 4 SATA drives and you can us IDE for the DVDs. Yes IDE is slower than SATA, but the drives are not that fast transferring anyhow.

Here the external case I have. Throw 4 750GB in and you have 3TB, also they are hot swappable, unlike USB. If you are not using the external drives, just turn it off. If working and you realize you need it, just turn it on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817332013

You also do not need to fill all slots. Just put in 1 or 2 drives now and put in the others later as you need them.

 

heh... you want to totally blow that budget out the window, go for a Sata 3.0 Gb/s or eSata drive.

Sata 3.0 Gb/s (only one listed at newegg):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822154073

eSata:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...831&name=eSATA

by the way, the IP35 Pro does have two external Sata 3.0 Gb/s ports on the backplane.

 

I'm not debating that it is a bad or good idea, but if the movies are on those external drives then it'll need to be on while I'm watching the movies. Then I have to deal with the noise from it and I incur (the Sonata case will hopefully deaden sound) the extra cost of the case.

Regardless, I incur the same cost of hard drive for either plan. The IP35 pro mobo will allow me to connect up to 6 sata 3.0 gb/s drives. I figure one for the cd and dvd player/burner and then one for the HD DVD/Blue Ray player/burner if possible (I'll add this drive later on) and then 4 others are open for hard drives. Then when I run out of space I'll throw on additional drives in the case you refer to through the eSata ports.

 

You would be surprised how quiet they are. Mine is closer to me than my PC case, put the PC is louder than the case with fan and 4 drives spinning. I would still get some kind of external, if for no other reason than to backup your C: drive in case it goes. Yes you can reinstall everything, but having done that, I would rather do 2 hours of restore over 2 days of reinstall and reset all my preferences.

 

You're 110% right about the importance of the backup. It would be a HUGE pain to reinstall the OS and change all the settings. I will be using my WD external 250 GB HDD for backups. Then I'll be saving and eventually do an external enclosure with several drives to increase space. In the mean time I'm going to put off the extra cost and put the drives inside the case.

I just need to look for either 2 500 GB drives or a 750+ GB drive for the DVDs. Then a 320- GB drive for the OS and pictures.

 

Acted on a good deal on frys.com for the first media storage drive. $235 for a seagate 1TB 32MB 7200 internal hard drive.

Now I'm looking for the drive to use for the OS which will also store pictures and songs. This drive will be backed up by my 250 GB WD external HD (I'll back up pictures and the OS).

I was going to go with the seagate 7200.10 or 7200.11 series but am having second thoughts. I want at least 250 GB space but also need something very durable.

I'll be putting an HDTV card in this HTPC soon and it'll double as a TIVO that will record TV for me when it's scheduled and do the other things that a TIVO will do.

That being said I think the HTPC will need to be on 24x7 and thus the Internal HD for the OS will be spinning constantly for the OS.

Should I opt for the ES line by Seagate?

 

Well now I'm torn on the video card....

The guy at microcenter said to get this one

1. Radeon HD 2600 Pro 512MB GDDR2 PCI-E Video Card
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0263924

instead of the

2. e-GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Video Card
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0263924

He said the 8800 GT would be overkill and that it wouldn't be as good as the Radeon with Blue Ray or HD DVD.

Is it true or was I being con'd?

 

That's the card I have and I like it. It does very well for the game I play too. Do you play any games... anything really graphics intensive? It might be better to go w/ the 8800. I didn't really plan on playing any games (I just recently re-enabled my DAOC account), and got the 2600 because I wanted to do HD video editing.

 

Not really. I haven't played a computer game in probably 6+ years. If I was to play a game it would be on a Wii or Xbox 360. I doubt the fiance will want to let me get a 360 but we'll probably get a Wii because it's interesting to more people.

He had said the 2600 would be better for me because it'd have more digital ports, but looking back at it, it has 2 DVI ports...same as the 8800 GT.

However, it might not be a bad idea to save some cash if I don't need all that power for computer games.

This computer's main purposes are HDDVD, HDTV, Blue Ray, DVD, CD, web browsing.

However, the $151 that microcenter is charging seems high. You can get the "Black Box" version from Circuit City for $119. Though I'm not sure what the difference is between the two.

Surround sound will come directly from the optical port on the abit IP35 pro mobo and go to my Onkyo 7.1 surround sound.