Building a new system and need advice...

ddemaray

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Oct 2, 2006
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I am going to be building a new computer and hopefully ordering all of the parts in the next day or two. My budget is $2,000The things that I know that I want for sure are as follows,

Core 2 Duo E6600
150gb raptor
(3) 250gb western digital hd's
xp pro

I am going to be using this machine primarliy for photo and video editing. My two main questions are which mobo and ram should I get? I need 4 gigs of ram and wireless on the mobo.

Right now I am thinking about the p5w dh wireless???

Also I want low latency ram..

DDR2800?

My only regret is that ddr2 memory isnt cheaper. Thank you in advance for any suggestions/help.
 

Assman

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that is a good mobo choice. as for ram it all depends if you are planning to overclock. if yes than get corsair ddr2 800 cl4 or cl5 (whichever you can afford), if you plan to do a moderate oc than ddr2 667 with lowest cl you can $$$, if running on stock than ddr2 533
 

wiz83

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$2000 could get you a great system.

Just get a good set of ram modules, and you're off to go. Overclock the shit out of it.
 

ddemaray

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The system that I have configured so far is as follows...

(2) samsung dvd burner drives
Thermaltake armor full tower
Samsung floppy drive
150gb raptor x
(3) 250gb wd caviar drives 16mb cache sata II
Antec true power trio 550w psu
Zalman cnps9500 cpu fan
4gb ocz s.o.e ddr2 800 memory
Asus p5w dh deluxe wifi mobo
Intel core 2 duo e6600
Radeon x1300pro
Windows xp pro
(2) hans g 19" lcd monitors 5ms

Please feel free to critique my configuration. I am trying to get the best system possible. Thanks.

Also is there any place that is better than newegg on price. Right now I am planning on ordering from them and my total for this system is $2,615. That includes shipping.
 

RyanMicah

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Which Caviar drives are you getting? The RE2's are supposed to be higher quality. You can get 500 gig ones. They may cost a tad more, but fewer drives leave you expansion room and create less heat. Not to mention the commercial grade gives you a bit safer data storage, supposedly. Also, do you need a 150gig raptor? If you just want it as a boot drive, get one of the smaller, cheaper ones. Since your graphics card choice is either temporary or you're not a gamer, you may still want more powerful graphics if you're rendering several large images at once, etc, although RAM and processor make more of a difference there. Floppy drives are on their way out, unless you really feel you need one for clients or something, buy a USB thumb drive instead. Right now the general concensus seems to be wait to build a system until quad core, DX-10 video cards, and Vista are out. But I say if you need a system you need a system. Still, waiting at 3 months or maybe two may produce some huge savings. Then again, sometimes you just have to commit and purchase. Choices choices...
 

ddemaray

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Actually I am a hardcore gamer. My main system is running dual x1900's in crossfire. The new system that I am building is just going to be used for photo and video editing. The reason that I posted this question is because I can build a gaming system with my eyes closed.

But I have never built a system specifically for photo and video editing and am not sure what components I should be focused on the most. I will be using primarily adobe products that consume allot of memory.
 

RyanMicah

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Well then, there you go. CPU and RAM are top priorities. You want as much ram as you can get for editing media, especially if you intend getting on Vista for the system. You for sure want a dual-core as well. If you really want a powerful system, go for 8gigs or 16gigs and quad core when it becomes available. I doubt you'll see any lag in editing for a decade.

I've done some work in graphic design, and I can assure you that RAM is your #1 priority when it comes to having large images open on your screen.