AMD/INTEL Video Encoding Tight Budget

[DoctorPC]

I've got about a $400-$500 budget to play with. [EDIT] Or as close to the $500 dollar mark as I can get without going over to much.[/EDIT]

I have to submit a build plan by tomorrow. I'm doing as much research as I can but I'm swamped with other tasks as well. Please help.

I'm pretty new to building pc's that have all the new technology. I'm still running a P11 350Mhz. Yikes.

[EDIT] After further research, any AMD Dual Core pulls me out of the $500 price point. So disregard the next sentence.[/EDIT]
[DISREGARD]I've made my mind up knowing that I definitely want an AMD Dual Core with the AM2 socket mobo.[/DISREGARD]

Now that I'm looking at it looks like the Intel D805 could do the job just fine at a better price point then any AMD Dual Core.

But I'm totally on the fence as to what mobo, case, psu, hd, mem and vid card to get with my budget constrants.

I'm going to be making Desktop Videos with "Camtasia Studio", and I would like to start playing some games. I like FPS'ers like Ghost Recon and such.

Recommended System Requirements for Camtasia Studio:
1.0 GHz processor minimum
Recommended: 2.5 GHz*
256 MB RAM minimum
Recommended: 1 GB

The main goal is to get a machine built quickly as cheap as possible but **stable**, heat and psu wise. I don't plan on doing any overclocking. I just need something that works for now. I'll OC later.

Recommendations for AMD Dual Core CPU / AM2 socket type?

Case?

PSU?

Mobo?

Mem?

HD?

Sound? Sounds not huge. If its builtin, then great.

Vid Card? I have a CRT monitor right now but plan on getting a Flat LCD soon wich uses DVI I believe.

I have an Exteranl DVD+-RW USB drive and an Internal IDE Lite-On CDRW.

TIA for any recommendations.

 

[The_Prophecy]

You will HAVE to save up more than $500 for this build, even with the AMD price cuts coming July 24th.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+

Mobo: Asus M2N-E

RAM: Corsair XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2-800

Video card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT

Power Supply: Antec Truepower 480W

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA2

Sound: Don't bother with a seperate sound card. The onboard sound is good enough, unless you are really crazy about sound. If you are, go for Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

 

[Heyyou27]

He'd be better off with the X1600 XT for video encoding.

 

[theaxemaster]

For that budget, its going to be hard to build for both gaming and video encoding. You could probably save some cash by getting a 6 series card (or whatever the ATi equivalent is). Limiting your storage a little bit might shave it some. Just get a cheapie case, that will help. I don't think you can do it though.

 

[DoctorPC]

For that budget, its going to be hard to build for both gaming and video encoding. You could probably save some cash by getting a 6 series card (or whatever the ATi equivalent is). Limiting your storage a little bit might shave it some. Just get a cheapie case, that will help. I don't think you can do it though.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I told these people that tyring to do video encoding alone is going to cost them bucks for even a mid range Vid card.
I'm just gonna have to come up with the best price point that I can offer them without letting them get into a total POS machine. Plus the owners wife doesn't allow him to make any of the Tech by choices anymore because of his past performance. She knows that I'm trying to get something cheap but that I refuse to get them into something that's a piece of junk. She knows I'll do my best.

I think I'm going to go with the Intel D805 and work from there. I'm home now so I can spend the rest of my day researching. Thanks again.

 

[pat]

For that budget, its going to be hard to build for both gaming and video encoding. You could probably save some cash by getting a 6 series card (or whatever the ATi equivalent is). Limiting your storage a little bit might shave it some. Just get a cheapie case, that will help. I don't think you can do it though.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I told these people that tyring to do video encoding alone is going to cost them bucks for even a mid range Vid card.
I'm just gonna have to come up with the best price point that I can offer them without letting them get into a total POS machine. Plus the owners wife doesn't allow him to make any of the Tech by choices anymore because of his past performance. She knows that I'm trying to get something cheap but that I refuse to get them into something that's a piece of junk. She knows I'll do my best.

I think I'm going to go with the Intel D805 and work from there. I'm home now so I can spend the rest of my day researching. Thanks again.

If you want an Intel, don't get the 805D.. get a better one. Especially with encoding. Or get a 3800+X2. but not a 805D...

 

[The_Prophecy]

I think I'm going to go with the Intel D805 and work from there. I'm home now so I can spend the rest of my day researching. Thanks again.

The CPU is more of a concern in terms of video encoding than the GPU is. Since you're not limited to AMD now, here are my new suggestions:

CPU: Intel Pentium D 805 <--- I don't really want to recommend this, but get the board i've suggested, and you will be able to upgrade to a Conroe chip (go for the E6300) later..... preferably sooner.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: OCZ Gold 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2-800

Video: eVGA Geforce 7300LE <--- Upgrade this later

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA2

Power supply: Antec Truepower 430W

Drop the sound card altogether.

Total before taxes and shipping: $547.94

 

[shadowduck]

I think I'm going to go with the Intel D805 and work from there. I'm home now so I can spend the rest of my day researching. Thanks again.

The CPU is more of a concern in terms of video encoding than the GPU is. Since you're not limited to AMD now, here are my new suggestions:

CPU: Intel Pentium D 805 <--- I don't really want to recommend this, but get the board i've suggested, and you will be able to upgrade to a Conroe chip (go for the E6300) later..... preferably sooner.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: OCZ Gold 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2-800

Video: eVGA Geforce 7300LE <--- Upgrade this later

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA2

Power supply: Antec Truepower 430W

Drop the sound card altogether.

Total before taxes and shipping: $547.94

I hate having to suggest the 805 too, but the 930 is $174 which breaks the bank.

To the orginial poster: Let's be blunt- the 805 sucks. Unless you overclock the crap out of it, its awful. If there is ANYWAY possible try to get the Pentium D 930. However, with the price cuts of July 24th, the 3800 X2 will be around $150 which is cheaper than the 930.

 

[dimwhited]

i know you dont want to overclock, but you money would be best spend buying a decent board thats good for overclocking AND supports conroe

invest in a decent cpu cooler... look on ebay perhaps, because heatsinks (to an extent) cant be broken by overuse like components can.

overclock the 805 as much as you can. it will save you alot of money, and give you a big performance increase.

when your cpu either fries after a year or two, or becomes obsolete for the video editing you want it to do (it wont take long, trust me) throw in a conroe and you will have a fully capable system, without having to completely redo the entire thing.

also, if you have an old computer you may be able to salvage parts from that. namely the case, psu, hdd, and optical drive

 

[DoctorPC]

Thanks "The_Prophecy" and others,

The CPU is more of a concern in terms of video encoding than the GPU is. Since you're not limited to AMD now, here are my new suggestions:

CPU: Intel Pentium D 805 <--- I don't really want to recommend this, but get the board i've suggested, and you will be able to upgrade to a Conroe chip (go for the E6300) later..... preferably sooner.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: OCZ Gold 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2-800

Video: eVGA Geforce 7300LE <--- Upgrade this later

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA2

Power supply: Antec Truepower 430W

Drop the sound card altogether.

Total before taxes and shipping: $547.94

Sweet. All of these items look top shelf for the price and all have great reviews. I especially like the Mobo. This will allow me to upgrade to nicer stuff once I have the money. And after looking at the article here, about the new Core2 Duo, I will definitely be going that route. The E6600 looks to be the sweet spot in regards to price/performance, from what I can tell anyways.

Stupid question that I keep forgeting to ask. Do I need to have a copy of Windows XP Pro 64bit version or not? I mean with a regular 32bit version running on the higher end processors will there be any performance issues? I can't think of any 64bit apps that I would run but I just wanted to make sure that with the higher end cpu's that I won't be loosing any perfomance gains within the cpu itself if I have a 32bit version of XP installed. I hope that made since.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Honestly, I would avoid XP x64 altogether. If you make the move to Vista once it is finally released, get the 64bit version of it.

 

[dimwhited]

I wouldnt buy vista as soon as it ships. wait for a few months for the first price drop, then check back here to see how driver support / performance is

 

[DoctorPC]

Awesome.

Thanks again everyone. You guys Rock!!. 8)

Now they want a nice LCD monitor. So now I'm off to researching the in's and outs of those. And a higher end vid card. I told them that processor prices will be dropping pretty soon and that a $1000 price range will get them into a very nice system with an LCD display.

A $500 price point for the type of system that they want to build, isn't realistic. So now I've got some more time to learn more and research before the CPU prices drop. As well, I've got them now willing to spend a little more money.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Monitor: LG L1752TX 17" 8ms 1400:1 DVI-D

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT <--- If they can afford it... move up to an eVGA Geforce 7900GT KO Superclocked

 

[shadowduck]

I wouldnt buy vista as soon as it ships. wait for a few months for the first price drop, then check back here to see how driver support / performance is

What price drop? XP costs the same today as it did on release in 2001.

 

[DoctorPC]

Monitor: LG L1752TX 17" 8ms 1400:1 DVI-D

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT <--- If they can afford it... move up to an eVGA Geforce 7900GT KO Superclocked

Nice. Thanks again "The_Prophecy"

 

[b_diddy_t]

What price drop? XP costs the same today as it did on release in 2001.

wtf? what did you just crawl out from under? in my country? xp home 2001 = $339 xp home 2006 = $169

 

[shadowduck]

What price drop? XP costs the same today as it did on release in 2001.

wtf? what did you just crawl out from under? in my country? xp home 2001 = $339 xp home 2006 = $169

XP Home = 199 in 2001 XP Home= 199 now at retail.

 

[Plekto]

Hint - get an OEM copy from the local mom and pop shop. $159-$169. Buy a couple of fans or other things you need to be fair to them, of course, since that's maybe $10 profit for them.

 

[shadowduck]

Hint - get an OEM copy from the local mom and pop shop. $159-$169. Buy a couple of fans or other things you need to be fair to them, of course, since that's maybe $10 profit for them.

Yeah of course Well XP Home is $89 OEM on Newegg. But I was just trying to pove my point lol.

 

[DoctorPC]

Well, good news.

The day that I was about to purchase the parts for this new computer, one of the investors came in and he happened to be somewhat computer savvy. After listening to me rant about trying to build a nice computer on a such a small budget he said to hold off on the purchase.

Long story short, I have a new budget to work with. He didn't give me a definitive price range but said that I could basically build what I wanted within reason. IE... meaning I only had to justify why I'm choosing the parts that I'm choosing. With THG's site and the test and stats pulled from various articles I can atleast rationalize my logic behind the purchases. That's the nice part about this site. The work is already done. And it's pretty easy to sell something that's backed up with factual data. Whoot Whooot.. Plus I indicated, that what I would build, would be more around the $3,000 range.

So, I know without a doubt now, that I want to build this system around the purchase of the Core 2 Duo, E6600. From the research done by this site and others, this is cleary the sweet spot, price/perfomance wise when compaired to the competition (AMD).

I want this thing to scream. I listen to music, play Ghost Recon AW and other FPS'ers, have Outlook and Firefox running with 5 or 6 tabs, running NortonAV, and Camtasia Studio for work which is doing all the video encoding/converting and capturing.

Core 2 Duo E6600 $345

UltraSharp 2407WFP 24-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor (Gives me all the realastate that I need for work and play.) $750

GeForce 7950 GX2 $500

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB Hard Drive
Serial ATA-300, 7,200 RPM, 16MB (Raid 0) x2= $160

I'm on the fence when it comes to which Mobo, Mem, Case and PSU to get especially with Core 2 Duo being so new. As well, I don't know which Mobo is going to work the best with the GeForce 7950 GX2?

Mobo?
No skimping here. ASUS is looking the most mature with real rich features, but I'm not sure if the vid card will work with this board.

Ram?
4 gigs would do me more than perfect.

PowerSupply?
Don't want to skimp here. Want quality and something that allows for additional components to be added in the future. More HD's probably for a Raid 5 array.

Case?
I want a Full Tower case with plenty of room. Nothing fancy.

Extra Case Fans?
Not sure if I will need those or not. More than likely I will. I've heard that the vid card above gets pretty hot when under load for long periods.

Any help from the pro's to help wrap this purchase up is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Core 2 Duo E6600 $345

The E6600 is $6 cheaper here

UltraSharp 2407WFP 24-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor (Gives me all the realastate that I need for work and play.) $750

Could save a little bit by getting the Acer AL2416WD

GeForce 7950 GX2 $500

Drop to an eVGA Geforce 7900GT KO and get a DX 10 card when they come out in 6 months or so. No sense in wasting over $500 on a video card you're going to only use for a short time.

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB Hard Drive
Serial ATA-300, 7,200 RPM, 16MB (Raid 0) x2= $160

Swap these for a couple of Seagate's 7200.10 320GB SATA2 drives.

I'm on the fence when it comes to which Mobo, Mem, Case and PSU to get especially with Core 2 Duo being so new.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 <--- Provides Kentsfield support as well.

Ram? 4 gigs would do me more than perfect.

DO NOT get 4GB of ram until Vista arrives. 4GB won't be recognized by or fully utilized by any 32bit operating system, and XP x64 is a waste of time. Stick with this Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 for now. Pick up another set if you end up switching to Vista down the road.

PowerSupply? Don't want to skimp here. Want quality and something that allows for additional components to be added in the future. More HD's probably for a Raid 5 array.

Antec Truepower 550W

Case? I want a Full Tower case with plenty of room. Nothing fancy.

Antec P180

Extra Case Fans? Not sure if I will need those or not. More than likely I will. I've heard that the vid card above gets pretty hot when under load for long periods.

The P180 should have some fans, but if you want to add more (provided there is room), pick up a couple of these

 

[joefriday]

Is camtasia studio even MULTITHREADED? If it's not, you're wasting your money on the dual core cpus and would benefit much more from a regular athlon 64. Make sure the software you plan to use is mulitthreaded before buying any hardware.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Any programs that aren't multithreaded yet will probably be rewritten to take advantage of dual core chips in the near future, since everyone is heading that way now.

 

[joefriday]

Then in the future, he could replace a single core cpu with a new multicore cpu that has much better performance than today's offerings, at a much better price. There's no point to buy one now if it won't be utilized by the software being used.