Just a few questions

[ptrevor]

I need to buy a new PC in the next few months. Usage is for software development, office use, and occasional lite gaming. However, as it will be located in the main room of a small apartment noise and heat output are key factors. I have been considering the Puget Serenity SPCR Edition with some tweaks from the baseline.

I think I want an SSD for the C-Drive and a HDD as the D-Drive … with the user profile area moved onto the D-Drive. From what I’ve read moving the user profile area is relatively easy to do during Windows installation (using an unattend.xml file) but somewhat difficult and unreliable if attempted after installation. I understand you install Windows as part of the burn-in process. Is relocating the user profile area during installation something you can do?

How do the 1.5TB and 2TB WD Caviar Green HDDs compare for heat and noise? And how much difference does the HDD noise dampening enclosure make?

Also, the default video card (GT430) only offers a max desktop of 2560x1600 and 2 monitors. Is that 2560x1600 per monitor or combined? If combined and I want two monitors that together exceed this resolution (possibly two at 1920x1080 at 60Hz) does it make sense to get two GT430s or something else? (Remember I want quiet and cool.)

Finally, I’m thinking of maxing out the system RAM (12Gb?). Switching off the pagefile and prefetch. Then setting aside 1 or 2 Gb for a RAMdisk and configuring both the temp and tmp directories to use it (and possibly the IE temp folder too). Do you have experience of this? Does it make sense? Can you recommend a brand of RAMdisk?

Thanks in advance.

[PCC-William]

We can move the user profile while putting the system together here, but personally I find that I don't want the whole user folder moved. There are things in there like the AppData folder which really should be on the C: drive (in my opinion). What I prefer, then, is to move just the various folders which actually house files you save: Documents, Videos, Pictures, etc. You can even move Favorites and such if you want, but I prefer them to be on C: as well. Those folders are also much easier to work with and re-arrange after install, though of course we can move them for you if you wish.

As for the WD Green drives, they are pretty similar in noise. I can't personally tell the difference, though I've not spent a ton of time with them outside a case where you can get up-close. If you are putting them inside a Serenity system I don't really think you need a noise-dampening enclosure either, unless you are aiming at the absolute lowest noise possible without considering price.

Now the video card is an interesting topic. The GT 430 would be well suited to most of your uses, but might be underpowered for your gaming needs (depending on what sorts of games you have in mind). It also has a rather odd setup for multiple monitors: there are one each of a DVI port, HDMI port, and DisplayPort. You can use any two of those you want at a time, but not all three... and the DVI and DisplayPort max out at 2560x1600, while HDMI maxes at 1920x1200. It sounds like that would take care of your needs, so long as your monitors have two of those port types available; if not, you may be able use an adapter cable.

All that is moot if you need more powerful 3D gaming support, though, in which case I would upgrade to the Radeon 5750 (if you want to stay passive) or the GeForce GTX 560 (if you are okay with some fan noise). The later is the most powerful fan-cooled card that is still very quiet most of the time, and is my normal recommendation for folks wanting a quiet gaming computer.

Lastly, on the RAM, the Serenity systems are best off with either 8 or 16GB. At either of those amounts you'd probably be safe turning off the page file - I do so on my home system with only 6GB and it seems fine. I also use a 1GB RAMdisk, as you are considering. We can't set one of those up for you, as we don't sell that software, but you can see what I use in an article I wrote for our website:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles...s&id=71&page=2

Hopefully that info helps!

[ptrevor]

Thanks for the response.

I am able to move the ‘special’ folders (Documents, Pictures, etc) myself, it was the AppData folder I was concerned about. My research had led me to believe it was a good idea to keep volatile data off an SSD as much as possible, but you disagree. Can you explain further?

I had considered the Radeon 5750 graphics card but saw your comment that it ran hot. I’m not overly concerned about the heat affecting the system (with adequate air flow) but wondered about its effect on the surrounding environment (how much would it heat up a room). So, just to confirm: one Radeon 5750 can run two monitors of 1920x1080 each?

[PCC-William]

My goal when moving data files off the SSD is not to avoid having volatile data there - I see no problem with that, SSDs are certainly reliable - but to save space on the SSD. The price per GB of SSDs is vastly higher than hard drives, so data files which don't need high-speed access make more sense elsewhere. I would also want to be able to reinstall Windows if needed without having to worry about losing data, but in my experience the files in AppData will be recreated when you load software and such anyways.

On a related note, even though SSDs are quite reliable it is still important to back up your system regularly. I back up nightly to an external hard drive: an image backup of the C: drive, and file-based backups of my data drives. The best approach may vary depending on your setup, but having an image backup of the main drive is always a good idea - and helps remove concerns of volatility there I think.

[ptrevor]

Backup strategies should be tailored to individual needs. I’ve tended to favour reinstallation rather than restores for software, and offsite backups for key user data. (If you’ve ever seen anyone loose not only their computer but also their backups due to a house fire you’ll understand that one.) And remember that Outlook will store your emails in AppData by default.

However, the main motivation for trying to keep volatile data off the SSD as much as possible is to do with SSD longevity. Now I have no first-hand experience of SSDs so I may be completely wrong on this but from what I’ve read the more data that changes on an SSD the shorter its effective lifespan. (On the other hand I suppose moving too much off the SSD onto a slow HDD could nullify the advantages of having an SSD in the first place.)

[PCC-William]

Ah, yeah - never been an Outlook user. I tried it once, but its just too much for me: all I need is a mail client, if even that... I use one for work, but for personal stuff I use Gmail's web interface. In both cases my emails are not stored locally, or no more than a cache is, so that isn't data I worry about keeping safe.

You are correct that the more that is written to a SSD - be it changing data or new files - the more you eat away at its overall lifespan. However, I ran the numbers a while back based on what Intel claims for their 34nm flash (the stuff used in their 2nd Gen and 510-series drives): they claim 5000 writes per section of data, so you could write the entire contents of the drive each day for over 10 years! And re-writing changed data on a SSD functions just like writing new data, so that it wears the drive more evenly. There are certainly usage scenarios where a SSD might not be the best choice in terms of longevity: a Photoshop scratch disk, for instance, but I think for the OS, applications, and such it makes sense.

[ptrevor]

Almost in a position where I can buy, but in the meantime I have a few more questions if I may:

1) Is the Powercolor Radeon HD5750 available with the SPCR Serenity the "Go! Green" model? I understand this has the same spec as the regular model but uses less power and (more importantly to me) has less thermal output.

2) Can you confirm that the HD5750 can run 3 Dell P2411H (DVI connection, 1920x1080 each) ... the third being connected to the DisplayPort output will need an *active* DP2DVI adapter?

3) As the 2nd monitor logical output of the HD5750 uses either a DVI port or a HDMI port can I connect the DVI port to a monitor and the HDMI port to a TV (with the same image appearing on both) ... or will having two devices connected to the same logical output confuse it?

4) The customise web page offers upto 2 hard disks and upto 2 optical drives. Is it possible to get an SPCR version with 3 hard disks and 1 optical disk? (I'm thinking of an SDD plus two of the 3TB HDDs, and a DVD drive.)

Thanks.

[PCC-William]

1) No - we experimented with the 'Go Green' version of this card, but found it to be problematic. As I recall, tt has no PCI-Express power connection, which is likely what helps it stay 'green' - but that also means that it is so limited on power that in some cases it has to reduce speed because it can't get enough power to run at full capacity.

2) Yes, that works... but I will mention that we've seen some occasional problems with use of DisplayPort -> (anything else) adapters. Ideally, keeping with the native connection type is best.

3) The second DVI port and the HDMI connection are mutually exclusive: you can only have something connected to one of them (or if both are connected only one will get an image).

4) Yes, the 2-drive limit is simply an artifact of how our configure page was originally built. Most of our systems can accommodate more drives of both types, though the maximum will depend on the chassis (for number of available bays) and motherboard (for number of free SATA ports). If you want configuration options not directly available online, please include comments when saving your quote and we can adjust the saved design.