[clue-tech] Need new hardware (was two monitors)

[erik at ezolan.com]

> There's a difference in SATA drives?  (google).  Cr*p.  I have the 1.5s.
> The Dell system configurator isn't indicating what the drives are there,
> but
> for $129/160GB, they must also be 1.5s.  Thanks for pointing that out.
> Transfer rate makes such a difference.

I'm not familiar with database tweaking, I didn't think that hard drive
transfer rate would make such a big difference. I always thought databases
were more vunerable to seek time. You can get four new 3GB/s hard drives.
Just get a cheaper case, with a 120mm fan on the front that will blow
directly on the drives.

And a motherboard that will support 4 3GB/s SATA hard drives.

> You've given me the strength to explore the 'roll your own' option.  My
> only
> concern there is compatability - but even that looks to be a non-issue at
> this point.  I'll let you know how it comes out (although I'm still open
> to opinions).

Let me know what you decide, I'm very curious. I built a RAID box once,
and it went horribly because I went with a cheap, closed source Promise
RAID card. Lesson learned.

Erik Z