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Need opinion on this shopping list

dvn

By dvn,
in Critique my Build List

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dvn

dvn 15

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Can you guys take a look at this list and tell me what you think? This would replace my main PC which is currently a Q9550 Socket 775 system. The i5-2500K may or may not get swapped out for an i7-2600K, depending on funds. The biggest question is the board. I think it's probably fine since I'm not going to be over-clocking. I'm also not concerned if it doesn't have ob RAID. It has uEFI and a couple 6Gb/s SATA connectors.

 

Also, is there any reason I should not use uEFI at this time? I'm looking forward to faster boot times which I understand it provides.

 

 

LIAN LI Lancool PC-K58 Black CECC Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

$69.99 $55.99

 

 

 

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

 

$219.99

 

 

 

Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996995

 

$54.99

 

 

ASRock Z68 PRO3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

$104.99

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Guest no-control

Guest no-control

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The EFI install is not really that much faster on boot. In the end I dumped the EFI install and just went with the normal windows install.

 

EFI install is incompatible with WHS, just a heads up. Backups will fail, so consider that if its your b/u solution.

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JediTim

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The EFI install is not really that much faster on boot. In the end I dumped the EFI install and just went with the normal windows install.

 

EFI install is incompatible with WHS, just a heads up. Backups will fail, so consider that if its your b/u solution.

 

This is the first I have heard of this. My next build would most likely included a MB that includes EFI. Are you saying that I will not be able to connect this build to a WHS 2011 for a backup? That would seem very shortsighted by Microsoft.

 

I would hope an update to WHS 2011 would fix this in the future.

Tim

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ikon

ikon 439

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The EFI install is not really that much faster on boot. In the end I dumped the EFI install and just went with the normal windows install.

 

EFI install is incompatible with WHS, just a heads up. Backups will fail, so consider that if its your b/u solution.

 

This is the first I have heard of this. My next build would most likely included a MB that includes EFI. Are you saying that I will not be able to connect this build to a WHS 2011 for a backup? That would seem very shortsighted by Microsoft.

 

I would hope an update to WHS 2011 would fix this in the future.

Tim

Tim asks a good question nocontrol; do you mean EFI on the WHS2011 or on the clients, or both?

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dvn

dvn 15

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Tim asks a good question nocontrol; do you mean EFI on the WHS2011 or on the clients, or both?

I did a quick check in the forums and found this article by Tim Daleo:

http://homeserversho...gpt-sermon.html

 

Tim's article says that an OS on a GPT disk on a client PC is not supported for backup by WHS 2011. He doesn't mention uEFI itself being a problem, but does say there's a bug in the Connector software that prevents backup of GPT client PC's.

 

That leaves me to assume that a client PC with a MBR disk on a uEFI motherboard will work.

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Guest no-control

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Let be clear here I'm talking about an EFI windows installation on a EFI motherboard NOT a regular windows install on an EFI motherboard.

 

You will not be able to backup an EFI install using WHS (Either version). Or any GPT partition for that matter.

 

We discussed this at length on BYOB during the WHS2011 Beta and my Project: Sabertooth build.

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dvn

dvn 15

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I'm still not quite clear.

 

MBR + BIOS = ok

 

MBR + uEFI = OK

 

GPT + uEFI = no-go

Edited by no-control
fixed ;)
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Guest no-control

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The motherboard has no bearing on it. only the type of windows install.

 

I only brought this up because you mentioned EFI to speed up boot times. There isn't really a faster boot from an EFI motherboard unless you do a EFI windows installation. You didn't make it clear what you were doing so I wanted to point it out.

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dvn

dvn 15

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Ok. So it's all to do with GPT. Clear. Thank you!

 

So back to the subject at hand. Does that mobo look decent enough for someone who's not going to be OC'ing?

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dvn

dvn 15

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I only brought this up because you mentioned EFI to speed up boot times. There isn't really a faster boot from an EFI motherboard unless you do a EFI windows installation. You didn't make it clear what you were doing so I wanted to point it out.

Ok. Back to unclear.

 

What do you mean by EFI installation?

 

GPT + uEFI or MBR +uEFI

 

Are you referring to both of these, one of these?? Or are you saying that EFI, period, kills it for WHS backups? Because I thought we had been saying an GPT OS was the impossible scenario.

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