Need New PSU and HDD! Not sure what to get!?

spinstorm

spinstorm

spinstorm

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15 Jan 2007
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My PC died on my yesterday and the shop I took it to told me it was the PSU.

I therefore need a new PSU but I also have to wonder if maybe my HDD are knackered after heavy use and would be worth replacing.

So I would appreciate any recommendations on the best PSU and HDD I can get for a total of £200.

I have a Core 2 2.13Ghz, Asus P5B, 3GB RAM, Geforce 8600GT, Xifi Elite Pro (with breakout box) and currently 3 HDD connected up, though I also have an external HDD as well as an HD-DVD drive and several other USB accessories.

The PC shop recommended a 500W PSU mininum but at £85 which seems expensive to me!

Ideally Id like the most powerful and reliable PSU I can find and 2 HDD - one for windows alone - preferably lightening fast and a second drive as big as possible as I download lots and lots of music and films for around that £200 price. I do have a bit of flexability to go over as I am more interested in getting the best value I can for around that price.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.
 
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM

just ordered the above myself, alone with the rest of the bits and bobs
 
stupid question BUT is 36GB enough for Vista to run and install software? or would it just be the OS on the small drive and all the programs on the bigger drive?

also is 520W enough? I cant help but wonder if maybe all the hard drives and accessories shorted out the PSU? Thanks.
 
what about my question about if 36GB is enough for Vista? and where any software would be that I install? Thanks.

what is good about the PSUs that have been mentioned so far? is there a huge difference in the different manufacturers?
 
spinstorm said:
stupid question BUT is 36GB enough for Vista to run and install software? or would it just be the OS on the small drive and all the programs on the bigger drive?

also is 520W enough? I cant help but wonder if maybe all the hard drives and accessories shorted out the PSU? Thanks.
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I've always used a small drive purely for the os, and essential progs, (firefox, nod anti virus , adaware, ms office, psp and fireworks and dreamweaver)

everything else gets installed on a different drive

The advantage is that once set up you can create a ghost image and store it on the second drive so if anything goes wrong you're back up and running in no time, and also it prevents crap from apps, games, demo's etc building up on the main drive as you can ghos it everyonce in a while.

If you're really worried about space, use another 500 gig drive instead of the 36 gig raptor, its roughly the same price

If you want speed though, and aren't worried about a bit of extra noise, the raptors the best bet for the os
 
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to be honest if you took your pc to a shop to have it checked then it seems your not really in the know on the pc and i would advise you to have a shop replace the psu for you, that way your guaranteed for the system to be working properly when its returned to you.

if you fit the psu in yourself and bodge something your gonna be out of pocket on it.
 
not sure about the 36gb for vista its great for xp runs my os and all programs i install but i belive vista is a much larger install soo would prob be os only on that drive.
 
my intention is to buy a PSU and get them to change it - as I can't say I'm confortable messing about with the PSU and killing myself - obviously being a tad dramatic there but I also don't want to fry everything else in my PC if I make a mistake!

Once the shop replace the PSU I buy on here I will change the HDD myself and reinstall windows as that is no problem I have done it before!

Obviously the price is the main thing as the shop want to charge me £90 for a 550W PSU and I can get that corsair one which you guys recommended for £30 less online! likewise they wanted £90 for a 160GB HDD so as you can see Im def gonna buy it online and let them do the only thing I am uncomfortable with.

any other suggestions? Thanks.
 
thefishdude said:
not sure about the 36gb for vista its great for xp runs my os and all programs i install but i belive vista is a much larger install soo would prob be os only on that drive.
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36 gig is fine for vista, if managed correctly

The install itself isn't the problem.

Most people having problems with running out of space with Vista forget that it creates backups, restore points and shadow copies of the drive on a daily basis..

use disk cleanup, click the 'more options' tab, clean the restore points, and you'll probably find a quarter of the used space was a backup, maybe more depending on how long you've been using it

This is because although Vista automaticaly makes backup copies of your drive and settings, it doesn't automatically delete the old ones

To get an estimate of how much is being used by the backup, look at the HDD properties, then select everything in drive C, and click properties.

The second reading will be the correct one, with the larger of the 2 being the drive properties value, and the difference between the 2 is the space being used by the backups
 
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just a quick question do I need to format any new HDD I buy? or will windows vista format it for me?

If I do need to format it then does it show up in windows but I cannot use it until I format it? Its been ages since I added a HDD and I have forgotten!
 
spinstorm said:
just a quick question do I need to format any new HDD I buy? or will windows vista format it for me?

If I do need to format it then does it show up in windows but I cannot use it until I format it? Its been ages since I added a HDD and I have forgotten!
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vista will format your main one during the install, the other you can format from within windows with the disk management tool
 
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