Building a new computer... suggestions?

[jjseth]

rendo said:
#1 RAID5 requires 3 disks.

#2 Don't run RAID, especially 0 because if one drive fails, your entire system fails. You might get better performance, but you risk losing data, and if that happens you'll have great difficulty retrieving it. RAID1 would be better since it gives faster reading which is what you'll need for games, but slower writing, which won't be too noticeable.

Might want to look into the Q6600's, they've dropped down to sub $300 levels and will leave you set for the next 5 years.

I know that I run that risk by using a RAID 0 setup, but it hasn't failed me now in a year and a half.  I also have a backup IDE HDD where I place backups of files, programs, and other stuff as a "just in case" something goes wrong.  It's just a old HDD that wasn't being used so honestly it worked fine for me.   That spare HD is just only for backups though, I don't run anything directly off that drive.  Also I have created a Ghost image of my PC so reinstalling everything is a snap if something ever goes wrong.  I generally update that image once a month or two.  Basically whenever I go and add a new program to my computer.