QUICK...Build me a new PC! :)

[Hegs]

Heya,

My family is gonna get a new computer in a few days (yay!). I use the pc for vfx (combustion, afx and 3ds) and video editing. We want to get a good pc which will act as a work machine for myself, but double as a family pc. It will need to be fairly good (without breaking the bank), and last a few years without becoming very obsolete.
So, I was wondering if you could customize me a pc TOWER as if u were in my situation, which will be good for vfx and video? (btw, no AMD please).

PS> We have some parts from our old pc which are still good (u can include/exclude them as u wish):
1gig 400ddr ram
200GB + 160GB 7200rpm HD (not SATA)
Firewire PCI card
DVD RW drives

THANKS heaps for any help! I really appreciate it. If you cant be bothered customizing a system, I would love to know about any recommended parts as specific as possible. THX!

[Aruna]

Upgradeability is the name of the game.. Building a PC or buying an off the shelf one?

Mainboard:
Something that has Core2Duo support (and will support Core2Quad in the near future).
PCI Express Slots x16 for video. If you want to keep your hard drives, get a board that still has PATA slots. You can also chuck that firewire pci card away, if you choose a MB that has it already.

I have an Asus P5B Deluxe, but there are many to choose from

Memory:
You'll have to get rid of your 400ddr. I recommend something that goes with the motherboard, and something that's quality.. Corsair, G.Skill, Crucial, are some memory manufacturers that are good. 1GB minimum, I recommend 2GB (2x1048 chips) that work with your motherboard

Hard Drives:
I recommend going SATA. Size is up to you on the budget factor. But, if you get a MB that supports PATA, then you can use your existing HDs, and save some money there.

What I like to do is figure out what CPU I want (in my case, a Core 2 Duo). Then I figure out if I can use some of my existing parts (mostly my SCSI system, which requires a PCI slot). From there I find the motherboard that supports that, and then add memory to work with the board, and then a video card with the board. All done.

Hope that helps!

[Hegs]

thanks aruna, heres what Im thinking, but anyone please change it/comment etc:

Core Duo E6400 (2.1ghz).

Gigabyte P965 DS3 motherboard (has built in firewire - is this preferable to my PCI firewire?)

1GB DDR2 4200 (533hz) RAM (Should I go for 2x512mb or a 1Gb stick? And is 2GB really necessary?)

ASUS Geforce 7900GS (Its got great reveiws but its a factory overclocked card - is this a potential durability problem?)

80Gb SATA HD for the OS (But will my older non-sata drives be good enough for everything else?)

thanks again

[Aruna]

That board has:
PATA 1 x ATA100 up to 2 Devices
SATA 3Gb/s 6

The built in firewire will allow you to free up a PCI slot for other things.
You won't be able to use both hard drives and an optical drive. And you'll need to use DDR800, not 533, unfortunately. 1GB should be fine, you can upgrade to 2GB later, and it'll make working and multitasking MUCH nicer.

Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets.

The Asus card is good.. I wouldn't worry about it being factory overclocked.

Hard drive wise, 80gb should be good for the OS. If you want to use all your hard drives, you'll need a IDE PCI card like these to use with your existing IDE drives. I don't think there's a IDE->SATA converter (which would make life a little easier), only an SATA-->IDE one, unfortunately.

[Hegs]

thanks again! But why would I need 800Mhz ram?! Remember, Im talking ddr2 ram, not ddr. The guy at the pc shop recomended 2x512mb ddr2 ram pc-4300/533Mhz.

[Aruna]

The minimum specs for RAM of the motherboard you mention necessitate DDR2 800 (I forgot to put the 2 up there).

Number of Memory Slots 4×240pin
Memory Standard DDR2 800

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012

As well, the FSB for that board is 1066/800MHz. If you get slower ram, I'm pretty sure everything will run slower. I guess you could run PC4300 RAM, but I'd get PC6400, just to be safe.

[Hegs]

from that above site, it states :"This exquisite motherboard utilizes the latest Intel P965 chipset to deliver up to 8 GB dual-channel DDR2 800/667/533 memory with Fast Memory Access technology for maximum platform performance." So it can handle all three speeds can't it? 800 is just the MAX it can handle. I mean, why would such a low cost mainstream motherboard be made to only handle an expensive, rare speed of RAM such as 800..

Mind you, 800 wont cost me siginificantly more, so do u think the extra money is worth the upgrade?

[3dfx]

Also get 2 hard drives. One for the os and the applications, and the 2nd HD for your files. This is more efficient than just using one HD.

Get 2 x 512mb or 2x1GB ram. Make sure you get the dual channel ram. Faster than a single memory module.

Also with windows xp pro, it will only allow each software to see up to 2 gb of ram only. I've heard you can change that. Not sure how.
Windows Vista can see 4gb for each application. However, I've seen benchmarks comparing Vista vs. XP Pro. XP beats Vista in every tests. It's not worth it to get Vista now. Maybe later yes. The good thing about Vista is that it's 64bit. However, now Vista doesn't have many drivers for it. There's also XP pro 64, but again, not many drivers.

Oh, also if you get a case, make sure it's minimum 400 Watts. With highend cpu and good graphics card, you want to make sure it has enough juice or else your computer keeps shutting down.

The good thing is that you're using this computer for vfx. Bad side is that it's also going to be a family pc, meaning that your family will go online, and you could get spams, virus, etc. That's why I build my own pc mainly for vfx, and never let it go online. I don't have to worry about stupid xp updates, viruses, etc. It's my Virgin Computer, hehehe.

Have fun with your new comptr.

[Aruna]

from that above site, it states :"This exquisite motherboard utilizes the latest Intel P965 chipset to deliver up to 8 GB dual-channel DDR2 800/667/533 memory with Fast Memory Access technology for maximum platform performance." So it can handle all three speeds can't it? 800 is just the MAX it can handle. I mean, why would such a low cost mainstream motherboard be made to only handle an expensive, rare speed of RAM such as 800..

Mind you, 800 wont cost me siginificantly more, so do u think the extra money is worth the upgrade?

Well, there ya go! You read more than me. Mmm.. For budgetary reasons, I'd go with the 533 then. Oh, and I second what 3dfx said about a good quality PSU. 400W should be good, but the guy at the computer shop would know more. Enermax, PC Power & Cooling, Thermaltake, all are good quality power supplies.

[3dfx]

DON'T BUY WINDOWS VISTA. I recently read that if you have Windows Vista, it will take about 25 minutes to boot for the first time. Your computer will get a blank page and you're thinking that it crashed, but it's not. Some people have already damaged their hard drives because they turned off and then turned back on again. Best Buy is handling out warning signs to customers to let them know about this problem. Vista is sucks.

Why is microsoft so stupid to make vista take that long to boot for the first time. I guess it wants to patch up all of the security holes, hehehehe, as usual. How dumb of them to create an O.S like that. Also I read that gamers will hate Vista because it's sucks for playing games, even though microsoft claimed that supports games or OpenGL.

[Hegs]

todayds the day! Im gonna get 533 ram - apparently its great cus it synchronises with the FSB of the CPU (1066mhz). I post the pc specs later. Thx very much for all ur help along the way!

cya later

[Ajax]

Hey Aruna,
Since your on the topic of hardware that you use, can you recommend parts to be upgraded if needed in order to have a descent compositing workstation? Currently I have AMD Athalon 64X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+2.1 GHz and 2GB of RAM. I have Dual 7600GT Nvidia SLI Cards. Can anything be upgraded or is my box suited for running a compositing workstation? Im thinking of getting another 600GB External Drive, which I have now are (2) 250GB externals and (2) 74GB internal @10000 rpm. Cheers for any advice

[Hegs]

ajax, that sounds like a pretty beastie pc to me! do u really need to upgrade yet?

[Ajax]

Hey Hegs,

Yeah its pretty fast for me, Im not ready to fully upgrade the entire system as of yet, however I do want to be able to have options and I just wanted to make sure my system was capable of working on comps.

[Aruna]

Ajax, how are your externals connected? via USB2 or 1394 or SCSI? For general work, all that will do. You won't get full res uncompressed playback, but it should be fine in small spirts. If you really wanted to spend money, 1) give some to me or 2) get a U320 SCSI setup. You'll be protected on resolution increases if you go with a U320 SCSI system, but they're definitely expensive. If you're running linux of XP 64, you could upgrade your memory to 4GB. That'll help a little as well.