AJsarge Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 The Story: I recently dropped some cash on a new system that's currently Arma3-ready and decently future-proof. MoBo - MSi P67A-C43 CPU - I5-2500 RAM - Sniper 4gb x2 DDR3 GFX - EVGA GeForce GTX 570 PWR - Corsair 750w Decently good, yes? (Opinions are always welcome. Current plan is getting a larger case, new MoBo with room for +1 570, and 2 more monitors) Well, if you notice, I skipped on a few parts. The HDD is a 3-year old WD 500GB from when the previous system was built, I can't identify the speed/capabilities of the disk drive, and the case is a non-issue (Antec 900. I want to add another 120mm fan to the empty side slot). Plus, I wouldn't mind getting a much better CPU fan (water-cooled?) than the stock I5 one. I don't consider myself an expert in any way on hardware. Yet, I'm computer savvy enough to have put together the current system without instructions, and without breaking anything. So, I come to you all for help. The Question: I want to take my HDD, and upgrade it. I'm looking for more space and more speed. The limitation, is that I want to make the switchover as smooth as possible, preferably swapping everything old-new 1-for-1. If it's anything beyond simple, I'm going to need help. -Which hard drive do I get? -If it's more than one drive in a RAID, how do I set them all up? -Price limit? No. But, I am trying to save some money. Bonus points for pointing me at a good disk drive, and a good CPU heatsink/fan. The future case is likely going to be an Antec 1200...When I get a desk that's larger than 2'x3.5'. Oh, and monitors. I've got an HP w2207, and I'm going to try and find another 2 or comparable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donziboy2 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 If your going to switch Mobo's I would suggest a clean install. For HDD the best bang for your buck (performance/storage/price) would be a WD Raptor Drive. Good seek times and decent size. If you have the cash then an SSD would be better for the boot drive and games. (Im running 90GB SSD for OS, 300GB Raptor for games, and 1.5tb Seagate for storage.) Im not a fan of Raid Stripping.... Ive only done it once and one of my two Deskstars (Deathstars as they are know) decided to die so I lost everything on both drives. For Heatsinks there is so many of them, I have always gone with 120MM designes that pushed air down onto the motherboard instead of throu the HS and then at the back of the case. COOLER MASTER GeminII S RR-CCH-PBU1-GP 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler is what im using atm. As long as it has good reviews isn't overpriced and does what you want how you want it to then you will be good to go. Pretty much any high rated HS/Fan will do, just make sure its the one you want, read the reviews and see how it attaches to the mobo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBE Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Sounds already pretty good . (i got the i5 2500k that is the OC -ble one did you check for that (also MoBo ? ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MH6~SPARTA~ Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Yeah I'd go with the i5 2500k so you can easily overclock it, especially if you are going with an aftermarket CPU cooler anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJsarge Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 So. What I listed is what I already have. I'm not planning on dropping any more cash any time soon. With a deployment rearing its ugly head as well, everything is going to have to wait a few months. By that time, I hope I can be out of the dorms, and have a proper desk to set everything up. Once that point rolls in, I'll drop the cash, build a second machine from the old parts, and get the new machine shined up for whatever new games push the limits. I'm still wondering if anyone knows how I can go about transferring everything from an old HDD to a new one (I'm looking at the WD Raptor. I've got a 2TB external drive on order, that I'm going to hook up as a network drive. Don't need more space on the desktop with that rolling). Finally, any recommendations for a CD/DVD drive and Blu-Ray drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing~SPARTA~ Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I'm still wondering if anyone knows how I can go about transferring everything from an old HDD to a new one Probably you want to make what is called a CLONE. You can take a look at this program: http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html The FREE version should be sufficent. I never used, but if my theory is right, you just put the new HD in your PC, use this software, follow the instructions and CLONE the content of the Old HD to the New HD. When that is done, shut of, swap off the Old HD, reboot and "probably" the New cloned HD start up and you are smooth like butter I don t think you wanna go RAID, that is not fully "smoothy" and requires a full System reinstall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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