A new system for Home videos mostly

[Dash1]

I am planning on a new rig that will be used for [no game] mostly
for Home Video editing [DV and old VHS] some picture edit too.
I was thinking of the new Adobe Elements 4 + 6
which may be upgraded later on to the Pro line.
$1500 was my street budget without the softs only

Please comment on this list and ???.:

Mother Board Asus - P5W DH Deluxe Or "K" ???
CPUDual Core Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6750/6850 ???
Memory (2GB) Kingston 1GB 240pin DDR2 PC2 6400 (x2) KHX6400D2/1G
Seagate OR WD System Drive 120G SATAII
SATAII Video Storage WD2500KS 250GB- 500 SATAII
Is RAID is a must ?
Case +Power Supply 500W ???
Graphics Card ATI Radeon X1950PRO 256MB Or 8600 ???Will I need DirectX 10 ???
DVD Burner Pioneer DVR-710 and later BlueRay burner too
Stereo speakers 2.1 ???
Logitec Keyboard and lazer cordless {?} Mouse
2 x19" regular LCD's or one 24"/22 WIDE[and which] ???

[Soopafresh]

A) Quad Core Instead of Dual Core. Price is almost the same, the benefit is significant.

B) I just installed 2 DFI Blood Iron Motherboards and they've both been running trouble free for the past 30 days. I used to love ASUS equipment, but their quality has gone down lately. Too bad.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136038

C) Samsung 245BW 24" Wide Screen

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234

D) The Nvidia 8600GT is a good and inexpensive video card for around $100

E) Raid isn't needed for your requirements.

[Soopafresh]

Whoops. Sorry. Double post.

[Dash1]

Thank you. Can I have more comments on all the "???" ...

[redwudz]

Just opinions on the ???:

Mother Board Asus - P5W DH Deluxe Or "K" ???
I've gotten away from Asus MBs also. I use Gigabyte most often.

CPUDual Core Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6750/6850 ???
If you can get a quad core for a reasonable price, go for it. More cores make a big difference with encoding time.

Case +Power Supply 500W ???
Don't economize on the PS. Use a major brand, such as Thermaltake, PC Power & Cooling or similar. ~500W should be sufficient, especially if you are not using a SLI dual video card setup. I have also got away from Antec PS's because of quality control problems.

Graphics Card ATI Radeon X1950PRO 256MB Or 8600 ???Will I need DirectX 10 ???
It depends on what you are doing. For newer gaming, you need better. Editing or encoding, not really a factor.

Stereo speakers 2.1 ???
Again depends on what you are using the PC for. If you use it for a HTPC, I use my surround sound amplifier and system. For other uses, decent quality stereo speakers would be my choice.

2 x19" regular LCD's or one 24"/22 WIDE[and which] ???
I really like two monitors for web surfing and video/photo editing. It allows me to put the controls on one monitor and the video/photos on the other.

I agree about the RAID. I just use more hard drives. I commonly use three on the computers I put together. One smaller one for boot, and two larger ones, one for editing and one for archive storage.

For many newer MBs that have lots of SATA connections, I use SATA for both the hard drives and the optical drives. This eliminates the large IDE PATA cables that take up a lot of space and can restrict airflow and cooling.

With all of this, it also depends on your uses for the PC and what programs/software you plan to use.

[budz]

I have to w/Soopafresh about that ASUS quality control has gone downhill. Take a look at the GIGABYTE mobo's.
redwudz beat me to the punch!

FYI most newer mobo's only have 1 IDE connection. So if you have more than one dvd burner you'll need to get a SATA hard drive. If you're interested in getting a SATA dvd burner get a SAMSUNG S203B 20x dvd burner. Great reviews on that drive. You can check out the review at Cdfreaks.com.

[fredfillis]

I have the ASUS P5WD2 Premium. Lots of teething troubles, mainly due to their BIOS defaults which were not really defaults, but were overclocking. Once I got that straight, Ive been happy with the board.

Agree with comments about antec PS, stay away. I returned 2 TruePower PS in 18 months. First one burned up, second caused random reboots.

SATA is key, if you can get a board that has external SATA ports, even better for future expansion.

RAM. Well, I've had my share of RAM issues over the years. One thing I've learned is to use the RAM that is certified by the MOBO manufacturer. Less hassles with support if you run into problems.

Hard Drives. I initially bought 2 x 250 GB drives and configured in RAID 10 with Intels RAID MATRIX technology. Have my OS and progs on the redundant part and video on the other. I ran out ouf space quickly and added another Seagate 500GB drive. Running out of space again so now I'm looking at eSATA (external). Remember that 1 hr of DV will eat up 13gb. I like seagate for the 5 yr warranty.

Firewire onboard is a good thing.

Monitors. Well I like the 24 inch idea. I use an external TV for my video work (Vegas) but I have the 19" viewsonic LCD. With the prices these days I would have bought bigger, but I would still use my TV for correction work.


Don't have any opinions on video cards. I have the ATI 800XL PCIe. No problems. I'm not interested in capture over anything but firewire (have the Canopus ADVC 300 for my analog needs).

Can't have too much cooling. Fans are quieter than they used to be. Don't get sucked in to buying fan control gadgets, they are a waste of time and money. Do spend money on good round cables as opposed to the ribbon type and be particular in keeping your PS wires out of the way. Make sure you have exhaust and intake (fans can be installed arse backwards easily).

If you're installing your own CPU, be very careful to use the "right" amount of thermal paste and be prepared to pull the CPU a couple of times when you get the thing started due to higher than desired temps.

Lastly, you may know some or all of this already. Good Luck!

[budz]

Do spend money on good round cables as opposed to the ribbon type and be particular in keeping your PS wires out of the way.

Dash1 posted he has the PIONEER 710 dvd burner which requires using a 80 wire ide cable. Be careful because not all rounded ide cables are 80 wire ide cables. The PIONEER 710 drive is just the retail version of the PIONEER 111. PIONEER requires using a 80 wire ide cable for their dvd burners. If not then the drives will not work correctly.

[fredfillis]

Yup, some are even floppy cables (yes, I still have one, justin case)

[Bondiablo]

Count me as another vote for a Gigabyte motherboard. Specifically a GA-P35-DS3L, DS3R or DS3P depending on your needs.

Also another vote for a quad core over a dual. You can get the Q6600 for around $280, it can easily be overclocked to at least 3.0GHz and get the G0 stepping if possible just because it runs cooler and uses less power.

For PSUs Seasonic are among the best and they have some very quiet models. Look at the S12 550HT or Corsair 520HX, which is also made by Seasonic and has the added benefit of a 5 year warranty and modular cabling.

If you care about noise or cooling don't skimp too much on the case either. Steel is preferable to aluminum and larger fans 92 or 120mm, ideally with the intakes filtered to keep dust out.

http://www.silentpcreview.com

Video card doesn't matter much for editing though there is some advantage to an 8600GT or better for video playback. DX10 will eventually matter for games but only if you're using Vista as it appears there will be no DX10 for previous versions of windows.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
http://futuremark.yougamers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164

Currently WD drives are quieter than Seagate but Seagate still has the better warranty, 5 years vs 3 years.

I think the Kingston RAM is overpriced. You can get Crucial Ballistix for under $70 including shipping after rebate from Newegg.

[dadrab]

I guess God protects the ignorant. When I built my system, I knew “snot” about computer construction. However, I do read pretty well and comprehend most of what I see, so I started reading.

I also used the IT guys where I work to run ideas past.

I have an Epox motherboard that’s been very good. It’s like my pal up in IT says, “I’ve never heard anything bad about them (Epox, that is).” Mines over a year old now, and it just works.

As has been relayed already, don’t skimp on the power supply and use rounded IDE cables.

The inside of my Audio/Video box rarely gets over 10 degrees (F) warmer than ambient air temp in the room.

My boot drive and small storage drive are Seagate while all my archive drives are Maxtor. I use upper tier Corsair memory.

Unfortunately, dual and quad core processors were just being introduced as I purchased my 3400 AMD processor. Especially for encoding, I'd really like to have one. But, I’d have to buy a new board too as I don’t believe they’re making any socket 939 multicore processors.

It’s not a perfect system, but it does what I need it to do just fine (and I get to be proud I built it 8) ).

[Webster]

Unfortunately, dual and quad core processors were just being introduced as I purchased my 3400 AMD processor. Especially for encoding, I'd really like to have one. But, I’d have to buy a new board too as I don’t believe they’re making any socket 939 multicore processors.

You can still upgrade to dual cores using the opteron.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001028+40000343+10507069...ame=Socket+939

[rhegedus]

Count me as another vote for a Gigabyte motherboard. Specifically a GA-P35-DS3L, DS3R or DS3P depending on your needs.

Also another vote for a quad core over a dual. You can get the Q6600 for around $280, it can easily be overclocked to at least 3.0GHz and get the G0 stepping if possible just because it runs cooler and uses less power.

I have to agree.

I'm running a Q6600 in a DS3P at the moment, ocd to 3.0GHz on air at stock voltages.