Any PC geeks out there

Tornado · 06-09-2005, 09:56 PM

Hi guys,

Even though I have worked in IT for the past 12 years, when it comes to PC hardware I am lost. My background is working with high end unix systems so when it comes to the home PC running windows my knowledge is limited.

Anyway, I want to build a new PC for myself mainly for video editing, So my question is what do I buy.

My budget is around 2K.

How does this config look ?

ASUS A8N-E Nforce 4 Ultra MB $165
AMD64 x2 Dual Core 3800+ $513
256M MSI X850XT VT2D Graphics $650
2G (4x512) DDR400 Kingston $300 (or 2 x 1GB)
250G 16M SATA2 HDD $167
Pioneer 110d DVD RW $ 70
Antec Overture II Case $179 (450W)
Windows XP Home $125
==============================
Total: $2169
==============================
** I already have a decent KB, mouse and 2 19" LCD screens

Any sugestions for a better video editing config welcomed...
As I said, I need help in this area....

Caviar · 06-09-2005, 10:20 PM

looks pretty sweet... look at getting some higher performing ram? not sure how kingston racks up against corsair or OCZ but yeah quality over quantity can be a good rule of thumb on a high end machine.

Would also suggest the 2 x 1gb sticks, my mate was telling me that some mobo's have problems with all four ramslots being used? not sure i'm using 4 at the moment and no really weird problems.

Just a few hints of advice i've found when building pc's is to never skimp on a motherboard

and for the video card, $650? thought about a tad extra and going to a Geforce FX 7800? Bees knees at the moment, slaughters 2 x 6800GTs in SLI i'm told

Tornado · 06-09-2005, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caviar

looks pretty sweet... look at getting some higher performing ram? not sure how kingston racks up against corsair or OCZ but yeah quality over quantity can be a good rule of thumb on a high end machine.

Kingston is very good memory, we use them in some Sun Systems, better then corsair

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caviar

Would also suggest the 2 x 1gb sticks, my mate was telling me that some mobo's have problems with all four ramslots being used? not sure i'm using 4 at the moment and no really weird problems.

Not sure about PC motherboards, but I know with the Servers I work on, its better to have multiple sticks of memory then a couple of big sticks, the more slots you use the better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caviar

Just a few hints of advice i've found when building pc's is to never skimp on a motherboard

and for the video card, $650? thought about a tad extra and going to a Geforce FX 7800? Bees knees at the moment, slaughters 2 x 6800GTs in SLI i'm told

I was looking at the 7800GT, but I though the X850XT was better, I could be wrong though..

Tornado · 06-09-2005, 10:48 PM

Oh, one of these new systems from work would be nice, but even with staff discount its way too expensive..

Caviar · 06-09-2005, 11:02 PM

Well thats most of my theories blown out of the water lol... I've just gone by what i've picked up on over at www.overclockers.com.au

Good computing forum over there too btw, might be worth a visit for any questions you may have

I see you mentioned servers, Kingston is a reputable name brand in memory - not doubting that in the least, but there is performance ram out there for niche markets that are designed for overclocking and low latency. Not sure if that's up your alley at all.

7800GTX, can be had for about $750 i think i've seen... don't quote me on that.
Some other peoples opinions on said video cards: http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1675746
Some have even said just the GT over the x850xt, but like everything might pay to read a couple of reviews.

Steffo · 06-09-2005, 11:10 PM

Definitley go with the system you planned. And go the 4x512 stick route. And damn man, Dual-Core Athy64, X850XT and 2GB RAM for $2100? That's a steal!

Tornado · 06-09-2005, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caviar

Well thats most of my theories blown out of the water lol... I've just gone by what i've picked up on over at www.overclockers.com.au

Good computing forum over there too btw, might be worth a visit for any questions you may have

I see you mentioned servers, Kingston is a reputable name brand in memory - not doubting that in the least, but there is performance ram out there for niche markets that are designed for overclocking and low latency. Not sure if that's up your alley at all.

7800GTX, can be had for about $750 i think i've seen... don't quote me on that.
Some other peoples opinions on said video cards: http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1675746
Some have even said just the GT over the x850xt, but like everything might pay to read a couple of reviews.

Thanks for the info, thats what i'm after, some opinions.
As I said earlier, PC's are new to me so perhaps the corsair memory is better for a PC, I don't know. I need to do a little more reading.
The X850Xt is normally around the $750 to $850 mark and the 7800GT is just below that, but as far as video editing performance I don't know. I want a fast card that has 2 DVI so I can use both my LCD screens.

Tornado · 06-09-2005, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steffo

Definitley go with the system you planned. And go the 4x512 stick route. And damn man, Dual-Core Athy64, X850XT and 2GB RAM for $2100? That's a steal!

So you think the X850XT is better then the 7800GT ?
How about my choice of Motherboard and CPU ?
Or should I go for an Intel CPU ?

Steffo · 06-09-2005, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tornado

So you think the X850XT is better then the 7800GT ?
How about my choice of Motherboard and CPU ?
Or should I go for an Intel CPU ?

Athlon64 X2 3800+ outperforms the Pentium D Extreme Edition (Intel's top range dual core CPU) in quite a few applications, so no. AMD CPU for sure. And in single-card comparos, ATi has it all-over nVidia. GeForce is only better if you go for SLI.

And the A8N-E is the non-SLI version of the best motherboard available in Socket 939 form (A8N-SLI). I generally swear by Asus motherboard's. Excellent system!

Caviar · 06-09-2005, 11:25 PM

The be all and end all of 7800GT\GTX vs x850 xt
http://rage3d.com/reviews/video/nvid.../index.php?p=1

But seeing as you're after video editing performance, go speak to the guys on the forum over at overclockers.com.au. Absolutely huuuuuuge demographic, and you should get all the answers you need

oh and on the topic of the motherboard, i have the A8N-SLI and the chipset fan is notorious for failing... I just went through that drama :( A $12 Zalman heatsink fixed that and no more fan/noise (those original fans spin at 8000rpm and can be quite the noise). Saves haveing to RMA and wait a few weeks at least, but i guess i've kissed my warranty good bye too

Tornado · 06-09-2005, 11:35 PM

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I will have a look at that review and the forum you mentioned.

donno · 06-09-2005, 11:59 PM

Don't know about you guys, but I've always thought of corsair > kingston. Someone might correct me, I haven't been into hardware for the last 4 years or so (cars took over), but corsair usually has a latency of 2, and kingston is 2.5.

EDIT: Just read your post about corsair tornado. But yeah, pretty sure corsair kicks.

free-energy64 · 07-09-2005, 06:24 AM

Hi, when I have needed advice on anything to do with computers I go to the Whirlpool Forum and post a question. These guys are the absolute puter geeks who have never let me down. They live and breath puters, a bit like us and our Fords.
Just a thought
Paul

EA2BA · 07-09-2005, 08:48 AM

Filling all the ram slots might sound good in theory, but unless you are adding max memory to the motherboard to start with, your upgrade budget for ram better be worth a few dollars when you replace the lot.

DivHunter · 07-09-2005, 10:02 AM

Just go for 1Gb RAM sticks. AMD, good choice. ASUS, good choice.

XP Home, BAD CHOICE. Go pro for sure, yes it is worth it.

EA2BA · 07-09-2005, 10:10 AM

yeah XP home is hopeless for doing anything later on, the amount of time i spent getting xp home to talk to xp pro was just plain stupid.

SunDrifter · 07-09-2005, 10:22 AM

I'd personally change the ASUS motherboard for something else. (like gigabyte). And you'll need to specifically check your motherboard as to the amount of ram you install. I know with my Epox board, it suggests that i use only 2 of the four slots for ram becuase it halves the channels for the other slots. (Gigabyte has manuals online if you want to do some research.)

And before anybody bags me for not liking ASUS boards, i've just had to repair too many computers with intermittant systemboard failures to like them.

SunDrifter · 07-09-2005, 10:29 AM

Its funny seeing people bag XP home. Do you know what the differences are?

XP Pro has network bridging support. Sorry, i have hardware to do that.
XP Pro has advanced file security settings when using NTFS (without rebooting in safe mode) - how many home users will ever need that?
XP Pro allows for logging on to a Domain. I don't run a domain at home, if you do, you spend too much time on the PC and not enough on your car!

thats pretty much it (correct me if i'm wrong here... i deal more with servers then home pc's) Dellboy, without sounding facitous, how could you possibly have problems networking a XP home PC to a Pro?

Tornado, wouldn't you be needing the XP pro 64bit version?

Steffo · 07-09-2005, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dellboy999

yeah XP home is hopeless for doing anything later on, the amount of time i spent getting xp home to talk to xp pro was just plain stupid.

Really? That's interesting, I've networked an XP Home machine to an XP Pro machine, and it was a plug and play affair, no issues

:

EA2BA · 07-09-2005, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steffo

Really? That's interesting, I've networked an XP Home machine to an XP Pro machine, and it was a plug and play affair, no issues

:

Yes they talk, but with no admin shares XP home is hopeless for transferring files etc.

johnydep · 07-09-2005, 11:14 AM

Check out one my old haunts http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/ and ask away, they were always helpful, the mag is great to.

Steffo · 07-09-2005, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dellboy999

Yes they talk, but with no admin shares XP home is hopeless for transferring files etc.

Again, don't see what you're talking about. Every network I've done between the two has been flawless. If you wan't hopeless, try networking a Win9x machine to anything... that's hopeless.

EA2BA · 07-09-2005, 11:23 AM

XP home does not have C$ or D$ or anything, and win9x is not all that hard at all, in fact a win9x will join almost any domain without issue (maybe not since ADS though)

XP Home will only see max of 5 other computers too (pretty sure its 5), and a few other limitations.

Caviar · 07-09-2005, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunDrifter

Tornado, wouldn't you be needing the XP pro 64bit version?

I've experimented with XP Pro 64 bit with the free demo Microsoft offered, and I found the driver support appalling. I couldn't get my Digital TV card recognised, and Netgear haven't released drivers for their products (which screwed me over for my wireless network card). But in all fairness I guess they were my only two products which i couldn't get supported and the tv card, i hear drivers have been developed since. The only other thing was some software not being able to run due to the 64 bit nature of the operating system.

I think I'll be waiting for Vista to be released, then hopefully software and drivers might be a little more easier to find

Tornado · 07-09-2005, 12:28 PM

hmmm some interesting comments there.

I don't know what the difference is between WinXP Home and Pro, but if it is only the differences that Glenn mentioned, then XP home will be fine.

Regarding using a Gigabyte board instead, which one would you recomend, I want to compare the two.

This is the RAM specs of the board I have listed:
4 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 4GB DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 ECC/ non-ECC un-buffered DDR SDRAM memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture

Full specs available here:
http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?mo...1=3&l2=15&l3=0

As far as needing XP 64bit, I don't think I need it.
I think its only needed if you have apps that want to reference more then 4GB of memory, so unless you are running some large server applications, I don't think you need 64bit XP.

I will check out some of those websites mentioned.

So far I think I will stick to my config as it is.
Just need to investigate the graphics cards a bit more.

Thanks Guys..

XRated · 07-09-2005, 12:45 PM

ASUS make great products. I have been using their boards for years and won't be changing anytime soon.

07-09-2005, 02:23 PM

I wouldn't go for 4x512 ram on an a64 machine as they run at ddr333 unless they have changed the memory controller on the dual cores. I would pay the extra $50 and get this motherboard http://pcmaniacs.com.au/product_info...506890095104a8
Don't get the x850xt, they are an entire generation behind the 7800gtx and I still have driver issues with mine.

Steffo · 07-09-2005, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizardmech

I wouldn't go for 4x512 ram on an a64 machine as they run at ddr333 unless they have changed the memory controller on the dual cores. I would pay the extra $50 and get this motherboard http://pcmaniacs.com.au/product_info...506890095104a8
Don't get the x850xt, they are an entire generation behind the 7800gtx and I still have driver issues with mine.

Since when does the Athlon64 run at DDR333? They've been DDR400 since the Athlon XP3200+ to today, 200MHz FSB (400MHz DDR). Athlon XP1500 through to XP3000 were DDR333. No Athlon64 uses the 166 SDR/333 DDR bus speed.

Blue Oval Mopar Man · 07-09-2005, 04:59 PM

While im here I just wanted to let you know I have a winfast 4800 forsale!
I want $280 for it but will take reasonable offers! Just updating my gaming computer , and dont know what card to buy next so Any advice would be great thanx ! I hope im not beakin any rules here ?

07-09-2005, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steffo

Since when does the Athlon64 run at DDR333? They've been DDR400 since the Athlon XP3200+ to today, 200MHz FSB (400MHz DDR). Athlon XP1500 through to XP3000 were DDR333. No Athlon64 uses the 166 SDR/333 DDR bus speed.

Some A64s default to ddr333 and 2t when you have 4 DIMMs. They still run the 200fsb but have a divider on the ram. You can usually get them to run faster with a decent mobo and cpu. The A64s are a bit different to the older CPUs because they have an integrated memory controller in the cpu.