New build input, please!

plzlisn

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Mar 11, 2007
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So it's been 4 years since my last build and it is definetly time for an upgrade, but for me that means new MB, RAM, CPU and Video card. So would sure love some suggestions on what it would be good for my needs and budget.

I use my computer mostly for video editing and rendering, playing games a bit (not a real hard core game player though) use it as the entertainment center of the house too. Do some graphic work with it, but that is more of side thing. Mainly I want a computer that I can do video rendering with and still multitask at the same time.

By the way, I will build this in May so there is no rush just want to figure out what would the best components for what I need and then shop for deals on them. Sure do appreciate any input on what you guys think.

What I have already:

Thermaltake Tsunami case w/ Cooler Master 550w 24pin 12v sli PSU. Two Seagate SATA I 120gb Hard drives. One external SATA, hard drive, Maxtor SATA II 7200rpm 16mb buffer 500gb hard drive

What I have decided to buy:

2 WD Raptor 150gb 10000rpm RAID striped ($360)

Need help deciding what MB and RAM to get. Any suggestions? Needs to have an External SATA port for my storage, backup drive and I will OC both MB and RAM. Also want a QuadCore capable board for later upgrades. Would like to keep the expense around $200-250. Remember I have till May to purchase so if you think a MB will drop to that price by then go ahead and include it in your suggestions. If you could also suggest what you think would be the best RAM for that particular MB. Again keeping the price of RAM around $200 give or take some.

As for the CPU I thought I'd go with the new one to be release E6320 for the 4mb cache and OC it. What do you think? $200

As for the video card I was thinking of going with the...
XFX GeForce 8800GTS 320mb DirectX 10
I will probably never run SLI unless you think that would help with video rendering. It's a bit more then I wanted to spend but am hoping prices will fall by May. $280

That's a total $1250. Like I said a bit more then I wanted so hope to find some bargins. :D

Also thinking of running Windows Vista 64bit, though I have read that it is not so great for video rendering nor for games with OpenGL. Any thoughts on this?

Well I've rambled enough, thanks so much for any ideas you take the time to share.
 

hashbrown

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Well for the motherboard, right now a great choice is from GIGABYTE. There are three levels of one of their boards that are all great, its more up to you with what options you want. These are all great overclocking motherboards, probably some of the best for the performance/money. Tom's Hardware gave them great reviews and they have been selling like crazy. You're likely to see these boards in lots of people's sigs. These are all Intel boards, so these are for if you decide to go Intel. Also this means they are not SLI, although the DQ6 has some Crossfire capabilities.

Here is the cheap version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017

This version is pretty much no different except for the "durability" (hence the "D" added to the name) upgrade to solid capacitors and possibly some other stuff, not exactly sure of everything, but it is still very cheap for how well it performs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012

Here is the loaded version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128323

There is also a nvidia 680i version of the DQ6, but it's pretty expensive.

Right now Patriot is having a $50 M.I.R. on a 2gb kit which is pretty decent:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220144

Also, here is some really low latency memory for real cheap from a quality company:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820609026

Otherwise I'd recommend just going with any Corsair memory.
 

plzlisn

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Thanks so much for that input. I like the GA-965P-DQ6 Rev3.3 it is the only one of Gigabyte that comes with the eSATA that I need but it looks like a great board.

How do you think it compares with the Asus P5B Deluxe, which I also was checking out?

Thanks again.
 

proof

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Well for the motherboard, right now a great choice is from GIGABYTE. There are three levels of one of their boards that are all great, its more up to you with what options you want. These are all great overclocking motherboards, probably some of the best for the performance/money. Tom's Hardware gave them great reviews and they have been selling like crazy. You're likely to see these boards in lots of people's sigs. These are all Intel boards, so these are for if you decide to go Intel. Also this means they are not SLI, although the DQ6 has some Crossfire capabilities.

Here is the cheap version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017

This version is pretty much no different except for the "durability" (hence the "D" added to the name) upgrade to solid capacitors and possibly some other stuff, not exactly sure of everything, but it is still very cheap for how well it performs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012

Here is the loaded version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128323

There is also a nvidia 680i version of the DQ6, but it's pretty expensive.

Right now Patriot is having a $50 M.I.R. on a 2gb kit which is pretty decent:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220144

Also, here is some really low latency memory for real cheap from a quality company:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820609026

Otherwise I'd recommend just going with any Corsair memory.

You were joking about the Super Talent memory... right?
 

cattbert

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I built my machine back in November looking to do video editing. Basically, everthing I read stressed:

CPU (specifically mentioning that this is one area which takes advantage of 4 mb of cache ... I see you have that covered);
Memory (i.e. lots of it); and
Hard drives (not just speed, but having several of them so you can have separate ones for input files, output files and scratch disks ... I see you also have this covered).

As to the video card, it will have no impact on video editing. the consumer level programs, such as the Adobe Premiere Elements I use, do not use GPU accelleration. Even the higher end ones, such as Adobe Premeire Pro 2.0, have a VERY limited list of cards that they can use for GPU accelleration. ATI markets their x1___ cards as accellerating transcoding, but when I looked into it I found out that only applies if you are using the ATI utility ... no video editing programs make use of it.

You did not say what program you use for video editing, but I wanted to mention that this can also have a significant impact on the speed. I recently tried Pinnacle 10 (because it was free after rebate) and it seemed like it was working in slow motion, even on my rig, as compared to Premiere Elements. Note: I have seen some reviews say that Premiere Elements renders the final product slower than some other programs, but I cannot speak to that because I generally start it and go do something else.
 

dobby

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providing its at least 2gb of ddr2
core 2 duo inside the budget
sata hdd (of designated size)
a 7 or 8 series nvidia card - as they are the better company at the moment


with spec like these it will do anything
 

plzlisn

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Thanks for all the suggestions.

I use Adobe Premiere Pro 7, Divx 6, VirtualDub, Vidomi, Cyberlink DVD solutions.

Thanks for the input on the MB. So if I go with the ASUS P5B Deluxe... what memory would you suggested for this particular MB that is compatible and good for OCing.

Nice to know that about the graphic card I had always wondered about it's play in rendering. Though it won't play a part in my rendering I will still probably get something that supports the DirectX 10 so I won't have to upgrade later, though it would be nice if there was a card out there with VIVO and DirectX 10. Anyone know if ATI has anything in the wings that will come out by the end of May?
 

hashbrown

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This memory should work fine, the timings aren't the lowest, but its really cheap:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

Otherwise these are still pretty cheap and have good timings and would be good for overclocking:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087

I think AMD is planning on releasing the R600 and a few variants of it during May-April? Not too far off from now though. I read an article on it not too long ago, but I can't find it anymore. This isn't the one, but it discusses it.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20070221023825.html
 

hashbrown

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Those Patriots are also a great choice, I thought they were out of stock, but I guess they restocked them pretty quickly. I'd grab some of those myself too if I had the money.
 

plzlisn

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http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1295&l1=3&l2=11&l3=307

meets your requirements: eSATA & overclocking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065

overclocks the best with the right parts: mobo - check; cpu - check; hsf = ?

Assuming you can order for newegg. Or you can find the same ram at your local stores.

Yes I forgot to mention I was going to get the Cooler Master Hyper TX for the HSF.

I notice you, "akhilles", have one of the boards I'm thinking about getting, the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6, but you recommend the ASUS P5B Deluxe. At newegg they are the same price so was just wondering how you like your board and why you would recommend the ASUS over the DQ6?

Oh and I see there is some problem with installing some HSF on the DQ6, do you think the Cooler Master Hyper TX will have a problem?
 

alcattle

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Problems with most LGA775 coolers are: 1. Stock coolers are hard to get locked, and 2: Some coolers are too tall for the case. very little difference in the MB
 

zenmaster

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OK, for a couple of points not covered so far...........

1) Stick with XP for the moment. Consider putting Vista on an alternate partition to test but Vista will still have lots of issues with many pieces of software and the 64-bit version even more since it will not run a single piece of 16-bit software.

Vista SP1 would be a better time to enter the OS

2) The 320Mb 8800-GTS is a good card and you said you were not going to do SLI which is good because this card is not a good SLI candidate.
The reason is that the super high resolutions that would be required to make SLI necessary are too much for the 320MB of memory to handle well. As a result SLI will rarely gain much on these cards. DX10 may change that, but we wont really know until DX10 starts to see real software written for it.
 

plzlisn

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Ok great then, if all are in agreement that the ASUS is the better board I will look for a good deal on it by May and get the Patriot Extreme memory, hopefully it will still have good deals or even come down in price. The Core 2 Duo E6320 when it comes out. And the HFS Cooler Master Hyper TX.

As for the video card, alot will depend on what ATI comes out with. If they have something with DirectX 10 and VIVO I'll probably get it, but for what's out there now I think the XFX 8800GTS will be fine for my needs since I will not use SLI. It certainly is WAY better then what I have now, AIW 9800 pro 128mb. I will not play games with the higher res. either.

Great suggestion about running the two OS. I had thought about doing that too.

Just out of curiousity what 16bit programs do you know that are common and don't come in 32bit or 64bit?

Thanks so much for all your input. If you guys think of anything else or have any other opinions to share about the Hardware let me know.

Oh and another thing I thought about doing is slipstreaming my Windows XP pro with the RAID/SATA drivers so I don't have use a floppy (I hate those things! Will they ever be gone?!) Anyone loaded Vista with this Intel MB? Does it need to use a floppy to install these drivers too?