Tom Saurus' Potentially New Computer

[Tom Saurus]

You might remember me for my problems lately with my existing PC. Here is a link to that thread:

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=309806

Instead of tying up more money in my existing computer at the moment I thought it might be time to have a new computer built that can take some of the burden off my existing computer. From what I have read I am going to go the Intel Core Duo route. I have read that they run cooler and they are quite powerful. I will be back to post some links to the parts I am planning on having installed. I am changing "Technicians" and trying out a new place up town. Hopefully this will work out successfully. I am doing my research for prices at "canadacomputers.com" because I am Canadian and the prices listed there are in Canadian Dollars.

One question right off the bat about the CPU's. The new technician told me not to worry too much about the rating of the new Core Duo's for example some are 1.8 Ghz, 2.4 Ghz, ect. He said that there isn't that much noticable difference between a 1.8 or a 2.4. I know that there is a fifty buck difference or so between two of the cpu's listed there and I thought it best just to pay an extra 50 bucks at this stage and I probably would be thankful later on.

The purpose of my new computer will be to design and author DVDs, edit mpg2 video, capture audio and video via a capture card and surf the net when I feel and inkling too or when I need to update drivers or firmware. I am impressed with the new Womble Mpeg Video Wizard and its ability to export XVid files. I don't know if these files will play in a Divx player or not, but I do like the idea that they might. I think I will want to do encoding from one format to another and I also will use DVD Shrink to my DVD Author files down to fit better on a standard DVD. Sometimes a movie or tv show when captured is just a little bit too big, so it needs dealt with by DVD Shrink. So my computer needs to be able to handle DVD Shrink without too much heat building up.

That is it for now, I will be back with links to specific parts. Thank you for any advice you can give me on this issue.

[redwudz]

It sounds good so far. Good luck with your project.

[normcar]

tomshardware.com has a cpu rating chart, and a video card rating chart, which may help you decide between components. It will help you decide if the extra money is worth the difference.

Unless you are a gamer, then don't spend a lot on a video card. For video editing a fast CPU, good memory, and a lot of storage are important. The best harddrive arangement is at least 3 HDs. One for the OS, and 2 for drive to drive conversion.

[Soopafresh]

Big hard drive, Tom. Big... You're working with video files. Make sure you have a fan for it. Maybe not this exact fan setup, but this is what I mean.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=008594&cid=FN.505

Every 10 degrees C you can lower the temperature, you'll double the life of the device.

CPUs - The Intel E6400 is a great dollar/performance value, probably the best ratio of speed to $$$ at the moment - worth the extra $40 over the lower 6300:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010886&cid=CPU.84

[normcar]

Every 10 degrees C you can lower the temperature, you'll double the life of the device.

I agree. Add as many fans as you can to your case, and ensure that the case you get has several input, and serveral ouput fans. The cooler you keep the components, the better the performance, and the longer the life.

Also a good powersupply is important. Cheap cases come with cheap powersupplies. Get a good powersupply like Antec's Truepower 430W. Or get an Antec case with a 400W powersupply. Cheap powersupplies can ruin components, and provide as little as 1/2 of their rated power, and can catch fire if too many components like harddrives are added.

[jagabo]

NewEgg Prices:

E6300 - 1.8 GHz - $180
E6600 - 2.4 GHz - $308

That's more than a $50 difference. I suspect you may have meant the

E6400 - 2.1 GHz - $218.

The E6400 also has twice as much L2 cache.

Whether the difference is noticeable will depend on the application. Video encoding is a place where the difference will be most noticeable.

Another thing you might want to consider is noise. If this computer will be sitting in the living room running 24 hours a day a slower CPU can use a quieter cooling solution and may be adequate for your purposes.

[Tom Saurus]

redwudz, normcar, Soopafresh & jagabo: Thank you for your input.

I think I will get the Intel Core Duo E6400 2.13ghz cpu. It is selling at 1 cent shy of 260.00 bucks. There is a model that is $160.00 more, that has twice as much L2 cash, and even though I might regret not getting it, I think I will use that money for other parts for this machine.

I am having a hard time deciding on a motherboard, but I am leaning toward an MSI mobo, because my new technician noted that MSI has a plant in Ottawa. He said Asus mobos have to be shipped all the way to Texas if there is a problem. The original motherboard he quoted for me was an Intel board and I have no knowledge of that brand, so I am shying away from it.

He seems to like the Antec Cases. He says they come with pretty good powersupplys and are reasonably priced. I saw a nice Antec case called the Sonata II, over at canadacomputing. It has a 12mm fan on the back, and optional hookups for a fan on the front, one near the cpu to cool it, and one to cool the videocard. I am regretting I didn't save a link to paste here for that case. I really want to get an powersupply that is good in quality and will have enough juice to run everything. The Antec Sonata II comes with one fan, the other three are optional. I think I want those other three fans.

As far as hard drives go. I want to get just a small one, maybe 80 gb for the C Drive that the Operating System and programs are stored upon. I do want to get large drives, but I think I will max out at 320gb because per GB they seem the best deal. My mind boggles when I think of the advantages of a 750 gb hard drive. Maybe I shouldn't bother with a 80 gb drive, just get three 320 gb hard drives. At first I might only be able to afford 2 hard drives, and I will have to add in the third when I can afford it. I figure they should all be SATA Drives, since that is the way things are heading.

Due to my DVD burner problems awhile ago, I got some great advice here at videohelp and at the imageburn forum. I was adviced not to go with the 18x DVD burner that NEC offers, because it was built with Sony's help and it has problems. So the NEC ND 3550 Black seems to be the way to go. I am really pleased with my current NEC, so I want to continue purchasing their products.

My new technician is recommending Windows XP Home to save money. I am leaning toward Windows XP Pro, because I believe it to be more stable than the Home Version. He believes there to be not that much to of a difference to pay out the extra 50 bucks or so. I would like to save that 50 bucks to put into other parts but I have this feeling I would regret it down the line.

I won't even get into the capture card issue right now. I always intended to continue with ATI, particularly the AIW line, but due to reading about various driver issues that people have been having lately, it is kind of turning me off of the product. Combine this with the fact that ATI seems to be discontinuing the AIW Series, it just seems maybe I should atleast give Hauppage a try. It is something I am giving a great deal of thought to.

I will dig up a link to that Antec Sonata II case and the built in power supply to see what you all think of it.

The ram the technician was suggesting was a type made by Corsair. I think I can only afford 1 GB at first. He told me there are four slots that each take 512mb of ram.

At first I might not be able to afford the capture card and the third drive, but I will try to add them as soon as I can. I like the idea of being able to get two tv shows at once, one one computer one on another. Sometimes two really interesting shows are on at the exact same time and having the option of getting both is appealing.

Can I transfer files from one computer to another with a USB 2.0 cable? I ask because I think there will be times when I will capture a movie to mpeg2 and then want to send it to the other computer to edit, design and author a DVD and then burn it to a blank DVD-R or DVD+R. Or will I have to invest in a network and router?

Well I am all over the place here. It is clear I have more research to do. Thank you for the advice I have already recieved. Thanks for any additional information you can provide.

[normcar]

I use 80GB drives for my OS so I don't use them for other things. Therefore, if that drive gets messed up, I only have to reload the software, and not use my recovery software.

Make sure you have at least 350W, and 400W is better, powersupply. Therefore, when you add more harddrives (and you will if you do a lot of video editing) you will have plenty of power.

Corsair is very good memory, but always use memcheck (search for memory checking on zdnet.com) or other software to check out new (and old) memory. Always get memory in pairs so they work the fastest.

As for transfering files between computers, you need a router or switch to connect the computers. If you use a cable modem or DSL, then get the cable router or DSL router which you can use to connect both computers to each other and the internet. If you get a wireless router, then make sure that you set up passwords so someone doesn't steal your bandwidth, and maybe do bad things to your computers and/or on the internet.

I use ASUS motherboards, but MSI is good too.

Hauppage is very good, but get the capture card for what fits you needs the most. If you need to save money, and you are not a gammer, then get a lower priced video card. Get one that has a HD decoder, and that is all you need.

[jagabo]

An 80 GB drive will cost you about US$50. You can get a 4x larger (300 GB) drive for US$100. I'd go ahead and get two 300 GB drives. You can always use the extra space on the boot drive for long term storage. Or partition the boot drive into two partitions, one to boot, the other for storage.

[Tom Saurus]

normcar: Thank you for the additional information. I will have to look into the issue about ram by checking out the zdnet website. It is kind of comforting that the technician is picking quality parts for this computer. You mentioned that Corsair ram is good ram. Here is a link to that case, it has a built in ATX powersupply:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=007291&cid=CS.664

jagabo: Thank you for the additional information. I think I will go with two 320 GB Seagate Barracude 7200.10 hard drives.


I am posting the quote that the technician gave me, but realize that some of the items I have already decided against. I am going with a used Viewsonic CRT monitor if I can find one. I am not going to spend money on a lcd monitor at this time. Also I have decided I won't get the Hauppage High End Card. If I get one it will probably be the 150 or 250 model. This will give and idea of what the technician considers good parts for building a computer. I also am skipping on the 18x DVD Burner and getting the NEC 3550 model.

Technician Quote:
This is a full system biased off of your requests of two tuners + two hard drives and basically being a media recording PC. Also note it comes with a 20.1” Widescreen monitor, if you don’t need a monitor you can subtract -$340 off of the total price to give you $1,563.17



cNEC AD-7170A-0B Black 18x8x16x dvd��r/rw / 8x dvd-r dl / 12x dvd-ram / 48x32x48x cd-r/rw Dual Layer E-IDE 2 MB 160ms DVDRW

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86 GHz (1066MHz) 2MB L2 Cache Socket 775 Processor

Hauppauge WinTv-PVR 500 MCE Personal Video Recorder White Box

Antec SLK2650 BQE (black) with SmartPower 350 Watt ATX Power Supply

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA NCQ 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache (OEM)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA NCQ 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache (OEM)

Corsair DDR2 PC2-5400 667MHz Value Select 1GB Kit (2X512MB) 240-pin Unbuffered DIMM (VS1GBKIT667D2)

Viewsonic VX2025WM 20.1" Widescreen LCD 8MS Response time 1680 x 1050 Resolution, 800:1, 300 cd/m2 Brightness, Built-In Speakers w/DVI Cable

Intel Desktop Board DP965LTCK Socket 775 Intel 965 Express + ICH8 Chipset Dual Channel DDR 533/667/800 6-Channel Audio Gigabit Lan Firewire PCI-Express x16 Graphic Slot Support Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

Microsoft Windows XP Home (OEM)

Altec Lansing VS2320 2.0 Speakers

ATI Radeon X1300(450 MHz) 256MB(275MHz) 128-Bit DVI-D PCI-Express Graphics Support Avivo Technology Retail Box

Logitech (967437) Cordless Desktop – Black



Total: $1,903.17



I am assuming there is no video built into the motherboard, because he lists a video card. I definetly won't be playing games on the computer. Well maybe Solitaire. I am grateful I haven't developed a thirst for playing computer games. I am leaning toward a MSI mobo, but perhaps an Intel board is good quality as well.


Thank you all for this additional information. I appreciate the time that you take to provide this information to me.

[Tom Saurus]

I just noticed that the CPU in the quote has an fsb of 1 ghz and the board doesn't have fsb to match that speed. I wonder if that would mean and underclocking issue with this computer.

[Soopafresh]

I've built a number of computers with that case - it's a good one. The thing I don't like about it is having to open the door to use the DVD drive, but that's pretty minor. It isn't silent, but it is very quiet.

Get the e6400 CPU...

Check the customer reviews out on Newegg.com about the Viewsonic monitor. It's probably a very good monitor, but do some research to be sure.

Find out if that video card has a fan on it - try to avoid those - go with the models that just have a big hunk of metal as a heat sink. Those fans always start making noise after 6 months.

Might make sense to get a lower end video card and an HD Over The Air capture card (you should see -LOST- in HD - I wish the show was as good as the video). This is a really good card, and low cost:

http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/eng/Products/RTLite.aspx

[redwudz]

I'd agree with your tech on XP home. There are mostly networking advantages to XP Pro, and some other minor features like encryption that are not really a large improvement over XP home.

The Sonata case is probably a improvement over the one in the quote. Antec cases and PSs are generally good quality. If you anticipate running a lot of fans, which may not be that necessary, consider a fan controller to cut down the noise. If the CPU and the SATA drives run fairly cool, the next cooling problems I have seen are Video cards and sometimes the motherboard chipsets. You shouldn't need 'leafblower' noise levels with most newer systems, though. Also large fans, such as 120MM generally turn slower, and move more air quieter than the average 80mm fan setups.

Crucial Value memory is OK. With any memory, look for a lifetime guarantee. If it's DDR2 memory, make sure it's compatible with the motherboard chipset. Some motherboards can be picky about DDR2 memory brands.

I used to put 80GB PATA hard drives in for the boot drive, mostly to speed up reinstalls of the OS and antivirus checking, but newer SATA2 drives are fairly quick, and a 160GB or larger HD is not that much more money. A few programs insist on putting files on the boot drive, and with video, that can be large files. Having extra space there may be a plus. But I wouldn't use a 750GB HD for a boot drive, myself. 160 - 320GB is more than enough, IMO. For secondary HDs, 320GB or larger is fine.

Just remember we all have our opinions here. You may want to sort through it all before making any decisions based on them.

[Tom Saurus]

Soopafresh: Thank you for this additional information. I definetly want to build the computer around the E6400 CPU. There will never be HD in the area I live, atleast not over the air HD. I live in a rural area; we had a slight chance of having cable about 15 years ago, but it was not feasable so the guy abandoned the plan. I had a C Band dish, but to be truthful other than the signal going out because of weather, I consider the digital small dishes to be superior. There are HD Channels available on our Star Choice dish, but I have no desire for HD. I am really pleased with the standard definition that I have now. Well there are a couple channels we can get by antenna, but the picture isn't all that sharp and they are available on the digital dish, so we don't bother with them.

I will do some more research on the video card. I am going to try to get a used monitor to save money to put toward the other components of the system. My AIW 9800 Pro has a fan attached to it. It is very small and white in colour. My current computer had a video card built right into the motherboard.

Thanks once again for this additional advice. It was kind of you to take the time to respond to this topic.

[Tom Saurus]

redwudz: It would be nice to save the fifty bucks by getting Windows XP Home. I have been under the impression that Windows XP Pro, was much more stable for some reason. But what you said about networking and encryption is what the tech was saying as well.

The ram matching up is vitally important, and I have to make sure it is correct. All I know for sure at the moment is I think the E6400 Cpu and and a NEC 3550 DVD Burner are the way to go. Everything else is in flux. So whatever ram, mobo, ect. suit them best is what I have to try to get.

Thank you for the additional information you have provided. I certainly have to plan this computer out very well.

[jagabo]

It would be nice to save the fifty bucks by getting Windows XP Home. I have been under the impression that Windows XP Pro, was much more stable for some reason.

It's not like the old days where Windows 98 was a different operating system than Windows NT. XP Home and Pro are the same operating system now. Pro just comes with more options and fewer artificial limitations. The following comparison is out of date but most of it is still accurate:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx

[smitbret]

You're power supply is too small. Check this link http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp, and go to the extreme PSU calculator. By my calculations you need at least a 378 watt PSU, and that would be the absolute minimum. I would recommend a 450-500W for your new PC, especially if you are considering adding another HDD in the future (or anything else at all for that matter). Trust me on this, you will be glad you spent the extra $$$$ to get the better PSU. I can give you horror story after horror story about people whose PCs had PSUs that didn't put out enough wattage or they were just a terrible brand. Otherwise it looks like your new system should be pretty awesome. Also, most of the advantages that come with XP Pro vs. Home are in the area of networking, remote desktops, etc. The only real advantage you'll probably get is the backup utility that comes with XP Pro, but there's more than one way to back up your stuff.
-Brett

[InXess]

Look at this (below) and ask yourself a question whether what you'll be getting out of your system is worth an extra grand. Building PC's is not a voodoo anymore and cost to benefit ratio still has to justify a purchase. PC's are getting cheaper quickly. Think about it.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=BDL10001679&catid=24014&logon=&langid=EN

Throw in a extra HDD and you're in business for the next 2 (or 3)years. Software incl.

[Tom Saurus]

InXCess: Hopefully the computer will be about $1400.00 at the most. I am not getting the Viewsonic monitor he had in the quote, and I am not getting the Hauppauge WinTv 500. I have looked around the Future Shop website and I am not really impressed with what they have available. The nearest Future Shop is in the big city, and I prefer to shop locally.

It is a daunting task having this system built. For example the case I had picked out the Antec Sonata II, has a power supply built in. It is an ATX 450 watt, and I don't know for certain that is a good brand of powersupply, and if it is going to be able to power everything running in this system.

Right now the only parts that I have figured for certain should be in the computer are:

Intel Core Duo E6400 2.13ghz CPU 259.99
NEC 3550 Black DVD Burner 37.99
2 Seagate Barracuda 320 gb Hard Drives 2 x 127.00= 254.00
Windows XP Home 109.99
So far that adds up to $660.00

The case, power supply, mobo, ram, the video card and the capture card are all in flux. I might have to by a case a power supply seperate from each other. I do want this all to have the correct power supply to run everything. Over at Canada Computing there only was one Antec Case that didn't already have a power supply built in. But I was looking in the Mid Tower catagory which I am assuming is what the average computer is a Mid Tower.

Thank you for additional advice, jagabo, smitbret and InXcess.

[smitbret]

450 watt will probably be sufficient for now. Antec is usually a pretty good manufacturer. They used to be "THE" PSU company. If you can find a PSU by FSP (Fortron), Seasonic, PC&C, Corsair, OCZ, Thermaltake, Antec or Sunbeam, you're pretty much good to go. Other makes have some good and bad. Others have just bad. There are a whole lot of things to look at, manufacturers can distort the way a PSU's wattage is figured (500w is not always 500w), components are just not heavy duty enough, etc. If you don't know what to get, the best rule of thumb is decide how many watts you will need and then get a PSU that either comes from the list I made a few sentences ago, or just budget $70+ and you'll usually get a good one. If you see a screaming deal on a case and PSU you can't live without, it's usually ok to take a chance, but watch out for inconsistent system instability. That usually means bad PSU. Luckily, a PSU swap takes about 10 minutes if you have to replace one.

You seem to have a pretty good grasp of what it takes to put together a PC. Have you thought of building your own PC. You could get yourself a pretty good setup for less than $1000amer, and you'll know it has exactly what you want and that it's quality you won't have to worry about. There are plenty of people that would love to talk you through it if you have questions.
-Brett

[Tom Saurus]

smitbret: Thank you for this additional information.

My technician seems to really like Windows XP Media Center Editon. When I think of MCE, I think it is more geared toward Microsofts Proprietary Media Codecs and stuff and full of DRM and such. I will have to research what Windows XP MCE is about.

I am never going to play high end games on this system. I am hoping there is an MSI mobo with video all ready built into it, so I can skip getting a video card. I would rather take the money for the graphics card and put it into a capture card.

The technician said he would make sure the ram and mobo would match up with the cpu. He has impressed me with his knowledge of computers and how on key important things it echos the advice I have received here.

What I need to determine now is what exactly is the reason the Hauppage 250 is superior to the Hauppage 150 other than and increase in price. What is it that makes the one better over the other? I don't mind spending the extra money for the Hauppage 250; but I am curious as to what makes it the better capture card. I am used to the ATI capturing to 720x480 Mpeg2 DVD specs, so I am hoping the Hauppage will do a good job as well. I like how I have read it is easy on system resources. I have also read that the software isn't all that great when it comes to Hauppage cards, so that is a mark against it.

I would like to have the ability to build my own computer. I am just one of those people who is very intimidated at building mechanical things. I would be scared of damaging the parts or electrocuting myself. I want to thank everyone for this great advice. I have learned alot from this website.

[jagabo]

What I need to determine now is what exactly is the reason the Hauppage 250 is superior to the Hauppage 150 other than and increase in price. What is it that makes the one better over the other?

When it works, the 150 is as good as the 250. But the 150 was plagued with two big problems: distorted (too loud) audio and blown out whites (too bright) on PAL video. It took Hauppauge over a year to fix the audio problem. I don't know if the blown out white problem is fixed yet. Not everyone has these problems so you might try one out if you can return it.

[smitbret]

smitbret: Thank you for this additional information.

My technician seems to really like Windows XP Media Center Editon. When I think of MCE, I think it is more geared toward Microsofts Proprietary Media Codecs and stuff and full of DRM and such. I will have to research what Windows XP MCE is about.

I am never going to play high end games on this system. I am hoping there is an MSI mobo with video all ready built into it, so I can skip getting a video card. I would rather take the money for the graphics card and put it into a capture card.

The technician said he would make sure the ram and mobo would match up with the cpu. He has impressed me with his knowledge of computers and how on key important things it echos the advice I have received here.

What I need to determine now is what exactly is the reason the Hauppage 250 is superior to the Hauppage 150 other than and increase in price. What is it that makes the one better over the other? I don't mind spending the extra money for the Hauppage 250; but I am curious as to what makes it the better capture card. I am used to the ATI capturing to 720x480 Mpeg2 DVD specs, so I am hoping the Hauppage will do a good job as well. I like how I have read it is easy on system resources. I have also read that the software isn't all that great when it comes to Hauppage cards, so that is a mark against it.

I would like to have the ability to build my own computer. I am just one of those people who is very intimidated at building mechanical things. I would be scared of damaging the parts or electrocuting myself. I want to thank everyone for this great advice. I have learned alot from this website.

Media Center XP is probably a good choice for you. Most vendors are selling it with a Windows Vista upgrade (when it comes out) right now, too. The Core 2 Duo 6400 is probably the right choice, video encoding is mostly CPU intensive. Don't get too locked into an MSI motherboard, they are good as are Intel, Asus, Abit, DFI, Epox and Gigabyte. Avoid names you've never heard of. If you like to import DV, make sure that you get integrated firewire support on the motherboard or make sure that you get an add-in firewire card. Onboard video is ok, but a video card is so much better that if you can afford one at all, get one. They don't use your system resources to create an image and will be able to provide the necessary resolutions and settings that you'll probably want to use. Also, if you can get 2gb of memory, that would be the next thing to look at. Make sure your tech knows that you are going to be doing CPU intensive work so that he can provide adequate cooling for your case. If you like the Antec Sonata II, go for it. That case/PSU combo should suit you fine. Make sure the tech puts in the optional intake fan on the front of the computer to maintain good airflow while you are doing CPU intensive tasks like video encoding. The optional 92mm fan in the air duct over the CPU wouldn't be a bad option either, if you pick a good fan that isn't noisy. The front panel inputs for USB and Firewire will hook you right into the headers on the motherboard so you can plug cameras and peripherals right without digging around to the back of your comp. I wish I could tell you anything about the Hauppage, but I know almost nothing about them. Don't lose too much sleep over the rest, as long as you don't just look for the cheap way out (and you don't appear to be), you'll be great with what you've chosen so far.
-Brett

[Tom Saurus]

smitbret: You have given me lots of information to work with in this last post and your other posts. Don't worry about not having knowledge about Haupage, I am sure that the answer is out there somewhere. I can do some more research on Hauppage or maybe someone will take the time and explain their experience with the Haupage Cards. Thank you very much for the information you have provided. It was kind of you to take the time to answer my questions. I am feeling much more confident about having this computer built.

[Soopafresh]

GBPVR is a terrific free Media Center alternative. http://www.gbpvr.com/

[Tom Saurus]

Soopafresh: Thank you for the additional information you have provided.

I am planning on having this computer built at the end of January 2007. It is going to be a big purchase for me and I am putting my faith in a new technician. The technician said between now and then the price of the CPU and the mobo may go down slightly. I don't know if it will go down enough to afford the E6600 which is appealing mainly for the L2 cash being twice the size of the other two. Though I don't understand what L2 cash really has to do with anything; that is something I will have to research. This system has to last me for years and years, because I have to start spending my money on other things in 2007.

The main thing I am trying to wrap my mind around is the Hauppauge Capture card. It is going to be a different experience to the ATI AIW 9800 Pro that I have currently. One of the big things is from looking at the Hauppauge Website is that there seems to be a programming guide that one somehow has downloaded to their computer and you go through that click on programing to tape different shows. I don't know if those listings are free or not, or whether they apply for Canadian Digital Dishes or not. I sure have alot of research to do on this topic.

I have been reading the capture card lists reading oppinions about the various capture cards.

Thanks for the advice everyone has given me. For the most part I think I have things figured out. But as always if more information and advice is available I thank you advance for it and grateful to receive it.

[jagabo]

Though I don't understand what L2 cash really has to do with anything

Modern CPUs are much faster than the DRAM that they use for program and data storage. For example, a register to register add can be performed in a single cycle of the CPU's ~2 GHz clock. But if one of those values is in DRAM it will take hundreds of clock cycles to fetch it. During that time the CPU may not be able to do anything else.

One day long ago someone noticed that if the CPU accessed a value in memory it was likely to access it again sometime soon. So they came up with the idea of using some high speed SRAM (faster but much more expensive than DRAM) as a cache between DRAM and the CPU. If the CPU accessed a value that was already in the cache it wouldn't have to wait as long as it would have if the value was in DRAM. Similarly, the CPU can write to the SRAM cache much more quickly than main DRAM.

Originally this SRAM cache was located on the motherboard. As CPU features got smaller it became practical to build it right on the CPU making access even faster.

One problem with the cache is that it gets slower as the size gets larger. So modern processors usually have a small, very fast level 1 (L1) cache, and a larger slower level 2 (L2) cache. Some even have an even larger slower level 3 cache.

A real world analogy might be books. Say you (the CPU) are writing a research paper. On your desk (L1 cache) you have a few books open to the pages of interest. On your bookshelf (L2 cache) you have a dozen related books that you can access within seconds or minutes. If you're going to access one of those books repeatedly you'll put it on the desk (transfer from L2 to L1 cache). A few miles away is the library (DRAM) full of books that you can access if you need to, but it's going to take you an hour to access them. Again, if your need to access one of those library books a lot you will check it out and transfer it to your bookshelf or desk.

With video encoding the size of the L2 cache isn't too critical. Going from 2MB to 4MB will only increase performance by a few percent. In general computing the difference will be maybe 5 percent. With some types of programs the difference can be much higher.

[Tom Saurus]

jagabo: Thank you for this explanation of L2 cache. I feel now I won't be missing that much by going with the E6400 CPU; I know my pocketbook will appreciate it.

So now it all boils down to this technician and how good he is at his job and my taking a chance on Hauppaug PVR capture cards and Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition OS.

[Tom Saurus]

I am kind of concerned about buying Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition. It deals with it wanting to record video into the DVR-MS Mpeg 2 file format. If my stuff is recorded into a Microsoft Proprietary format such as that, it seems a real turn off. I am accustomed to having files in the Mpeg2 format, already DVD compliant. To have something that is hard to work with and needs to be converted to something else before putting on DVD, just seems to be a hassle I don't want.

I am not planning on watching my Mpeg 2 files on the computer, except to edit them and put them on DVD. I don't want to stream them to a TV or anything like that.

Is Windows XP Home or Window XP Pro the best bet for me. Maybe Windows XP Home would be the one to get. I really don't want Windows Vista for the forseeable future. I won't upgrade to it unless there is some big compelling reason to do so.

My other question is if I add a video card at a later date, would it be wise to get a product from ATI that has video capture capability built in, incase I don't like how the Hauppauge Card works. If so what should I get?

Another question I have to ask is I think that Hauppauge Cards are less sensitive to Macrovision, with a Hauppauge Card could I take some vhs tapes I purchased and convert them to mpeg 2 and then DVD. My ATI Card senses Macrovision and just shuts itself down.

I know of a local place that is selling there VHS movies really cheap to get rid of them, so I was thinking of purchasing a few. I think it would be nice to put them onto DVD.

Thank you in advance for any information you can give me on this matter.

[jagabo]

I'd go with Windows XP Home. MCE doesn't really offer anything you can't get with other software like Beyond TV or Sage TV.

As far as adding another graphics card in the future is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it now. I've read that ATI is dropping the AIW series. See what's available when you're ready to upgrade.

My PVR-250 ignores Macrovision.