Jonathan Sachs wrote in
message ...

I'm assembling a new system in a couple of months,
and am facing the old dilemma: SCSI or IDE disks?

SCSI has basically passed its useby date for all except the most
demanding situations. Basically lousy value for money now.

I have traditionally insisted on SCSI disks because they're faster and
more reliable. Lately I've been having some hearing problems, though,
and the drive noise is bothering me. Thus I'm motivated to use IDE
drives in my next system if I can do so without too much compromise.

What about performance? If I run two or or three disk-intensive
applications under Windows, will there be much practical difference
between a pair of fast Ultra320 drives and a pair of fast IDE drives?

I doubt you'd be able to pick the difference in a
proper double blind trial with your ears plugged.

I will have at least three IDE devices: two hard disks
and a CD/RW or DVD drive. I'm assuming that each
device should go on a dedicated channel.

No need.

If so, should I get a mainboard with four IDE channels
built in, or will an add-on adapter work equally well?

2 channels will be fine.

What about reliability? Are modern IDE drives reliable
enough for all practical purposes? (I define this to mean
a negligible chance of failure over a system life of three
years, with the drives running almost constantly.)

Yep.

Are there any popular brands or models which
have particularly good or bad reputations?

I like the WDs myself. I avoid the Hitachi/IBMs because
of the atrocious record they got with relatively recent
drives and the fact that they have a lousy RMA system.

Best to avoid the Seagate Barracudas in your situation
because they have chosen to disable AAM because of
some stupid claim about patent infringement. That means
that the currently buyable drives arent that quiet anymore.