Less than perfect build, choose a card ?

[Whatever_works]

Due to my financial disposition I have decided to build myself a compromised system for video edditing. Not the latest parts but what is reasonably priced.

It will be based on the Core2 Duo E6400 processor,
I am looking at a 80 gig drive for the OS, a radi 0 of 2 sata drives to provide video storage (both raw and finished), 2 Gig of memory will have to suffice, more than enough video card, win xp pro, and a power suply that is more than enough.
I'm really not that up on part specs and I'm trying to choose a motherboard so I can move on to the other parts.
A guy in a local shop (moving on from dell finally) who may be my assembler told me to consider these bellow.
anyone have an opinion ?
Thanks for your time

Rick

Asus P5B Deluxe w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, SATA II, 1394, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail...ctID=8957&SID=

Asus P5B-E w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail...ctID=9022&SID=

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail...ctID=8610&SID=

Intel Desktop Board D975XBXLKR w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, 1394, Crossfire Dual PCI-
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail...ctID=9024&SID=

[Bjs]

Slow down ...

You dont need more than 512mb of memory ... 1 gig if you really need it , but then this only benefits high end production tool's such as those from adobe ... and they cost plenty .

It may be of benefit to duo core processor's ... but we have yet to see this in reality with "real world" performance test's .

Hard drives ... one for os is fine ... but 2 for dealing with the data in different stage's is just adding to the unit's entire cost ...

Why not use the 2nd to store raw ... and the main os for the final ... the system will run much cooler in the long run .

Motherboard's ... gigabyte a must ... forget asus (use msi instead) ... That intel board listed will be almost bullet proof ... cost a bit more ... but well worth it

In my years of pc building , we have chosen between msi and gigabyte for both quality and specifications ... and the fact you can actually get to their download site for driver's without hassle is a must with modern pc's .

Power supply should be 450watts or better .

As for video card , this really can only be known after the motherboard has been chosen ... we purchase units that have video onboard ... which allows for "use it now" ... "upgrade it later" ... which for the time being allow's them to save on the complete unit cost .

If your not into the latest games , then 128mb unit will do almost everything you need ... 256mb is better ... but check the warantee status of unit ... msi give's 3 years .

[InXess]

It may be of benefit to duo core processor's ... but we have yet to see this in reality with "real world" performance test's .

Hard drives ... one for os is fine ... but 2 for dealing with the data in different stage's is just adding to the unit's entire cost ...

I agree with most of it although... "real world" performance is no different then in the test environment. They use same software, hardware and clearly specify the environmen in all cases t. Why would a CPU behave differently during testing and what really is a "real world"?
As to RAID, I think it's an overkill to say the least unless you're going to do it (edit) professionally. I'd buy 2 big HDD considering their low prices. What's the deal with 80 Gig? Is this some kind of magic number or you don't need extra storage.

Motherboard selection should be done based on features you need not just brands. I disagree with the indication that Gigabyte is better then ASUS and MSI... etc. No one brand beats all others. The key is the individual design of the board, implementation of chipset etc. Every maker has some stellar models as well as total failures. Which is which is hard to say. test results are a good source, they include in most cases a good design and components description as well as identify potential issues. I personally like to check awards as they are given by people/publications (especially European, Asian) better prepared for the task then a average user. I have bought in the past 2 (among many) so called award winning boards for myself and none was a disappointment.
I go by features I want, narrow it to 2-3 then select a model based on coverage, user/tester experiences etc. The difficulty is with new releases as the info may be scarce.
On-board video and audio is also a huge plus in my opinion.

One thing to avoid: motherboards incorporating chipset cooling fans (prone to overheating) as they tend to be very unstable.

[redwudz]

More or less what Bjs said, but I'm not so particular on motherboard brands.

I wouldn't recommend RAID 0. If one drive dies, you lose everything. RAID 0 serves little purpose these days. Most any PATA or SATA hard drive is more than fast enough for most any video capture. And you will see little gain for editing or encoding. A better way is to have the two hard drives you planned for RAID 0 to be independent drives.

512MB memory is enough. Only a few high end graphics programs can make use of more. Encoding uses about 300-400MB, editing even less. Much more and you are just wasting money that would be better spent on a faster CPU.

The video card has about zero effect on editing or encoding. It's useful for games and not much else. Spend the money elsewhere.

Motherboards with DDR2 AND PCI-E are a good choice. They have more memory bandwidth and will somewhat 'future proof' your PC.

And don't take my word or anyone else's for any of this. Look for reviews of your selected motherboards and other components. Do some research before you buy. It's your money. Spend it wisely.