Need Some Advice

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I think I've made up my mind:

ATI TV Wonder Pro (with remote) and get a video card later. That sound good?

[Eddie Bronze]

Jon, buddy, you need a new sig. Let's find some pics of Ramholt and Pardy in action and I'll make you something.

[BlackArcher101]

Good info Wookie. But you failed to mention the staple of all video editing. RAID. RAID is a godsend for data transfer speed regarding hard drives. The hard drive will always be the slowest thing in your computer. RAID diminishes that.

[Daradon]

Dear god, I'm still shleping around on my P3 500

128 Ram I believe. 32 meg video card. My burner runs at x4, OH YEAH!!! (swing hips ala Duffman)

[Wookie]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101@Sep 3 2004, 10:59 PM
Good info Wookie. But you failed to mention the staple of all video editing. RAID. RAID is a godsend for data transfer speed regarding hard drives. The hard drive will always be the slowest thing in your computer. RAID diminishes that.

Lol, thanks.

Unfortuantly I know very little about RAID and I didn't feel I could explain it[]

[Wookie]

Originally posted by Maritime Q-Scout@Sep 3 2004, 09:23 PM
I think I've made up my mind:

ATI TV Wonder Pro (with remote) and get a video card later. That sound good?

It's a good choice. That's what I used previously.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally posted by Ecko@Sep 4 2004, 12:38 AM
Jon, buddy, you need a new sig. Let's find some pics of Ramholt and Pardy in action and I'll make you something.

thy shall be done

I don't have adobe, and well Paint was the best I could come up with... I think it's decent considering what I had to work with. I have to catch a bus in 10 (plus finish eating) so I'll PM you tomorrow.

Just PM me when you read this so I don't forget

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I caved in, last night I saw an All-in-Wonder 7500 on eBay for a buck. For a buck (plus $20 for shipping) why the hell not?

[if anyone here out bids me while I'm at work ... :angry: ... I'm gonna do to your house ... :angry: ... and cut you!!!]

[browna]

Really appreciate the time put in Wookie. Very informative.

Went to the memory express website....not knowing enough about building from scratch, with things such as cases, heat sink fans etc, I came up with what you suggested, around $1650, with basic mouse, keyboard, Xp.

Didn't see anything about Firewire, however, and as to how many USB ports etc. Also didn't see a choice for a RAID HDD.

If you have an extra 2 minutes sometime in the next few weeks, Wookie, build a system at Memory Express, coming in between $1800-2000 if possible (including assembly).

Other then what I mentioned, some CD burning, DVD burning from VHS, and possible basic DV editing from my camcorder, there isn't going to be a lot of specific heavy tasks that it will be used for, other then surfing.

[Wookie]

Originally posted by browna@Sep 4 2004, 01:21 PM
Really appreciate the time put in Wookie. Very informative.

Went to the memory express website....not knowing enough about building from scratch, with things such as cases, heat sink fans etc, I came up with what you suggested, around $1650, with basic mouse, keyboard, Xp.

Didn't see anything about Firewire, however, and as to how many USB ports etc. Also didn't see a choice for a RAID HDD.

If you have an extra 2 minutes sometime in the next few weeks, Wookie, build a system at Memory Express, coming in between $1800-2000 if possible (including assembly).

Other then what I mentioned, some CD burning, DVD burning from VHS, and possible basic DV editing from my camcorder, there isn't going to be a lot of specific heavy tasks that it will be used for, other then surfing.

I'll do it on Sunday. but here is some answers for you

RAID = configeration as opposed to a physical property. Look on the specs of the motherboard as to whether or not it supports RAID or not

PowerSupply need about 380W makes sure it has SATA cables

CASES they're mostly cosmetic, except for ports at front for audio/usb/firwire.
and then room inside to p*ss around and add stuff. $49 - 199 will cover anything you'd want.

Firewire is also called 1394 look for that on the motherboard specs

unless you're overclocking (bumping up the setting to get more then stock speeds out of CPU RAM PCI bus) your equipment, most of the stock Heatsink and fans will do.

Obviously you'll need a CD/DVD burner. I'd reccomend getting a 8 - 16 speed one. Although putting off this for a bit might pay off as the DVD burners will soon support (well they do, but they'll be readily available and decently priced) dual layerd dvd writing at 4 speeds (20 oinutes instead of an hour+ to write a 9 gig DVD)

What CPU socket or platform did you end up choosing? 754, 939, INTEL, XP?

If 939 their is some new boards coming out which should be pretty sweet in Q4, that would give some time for the prices to go down a bit.

The problem with 939 is the boards are almost as much as the 754 boards.. then everything else costs the same vid card, ram, drives, but the CPU is friggin pricey and makes me want to put it off lol... if the CPU's came down a bit it would make for such an easy decision lol..

How many drives did you choose?

Anyway update me with the info..

Also what video card did you look at? Will you ever want to play a game on it? There is some pretty great games out right now that would be a blast on the computer you're building. I'll message you with info. Did your quote include a monitor? My brother also does custom builds (it's his coampany, and offers a three yr warranty. After building it on memxp I'll check to see if he can beat the price..

In the meantime check out

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?act=idx

for any questions. It a biased forum (because it's the AMD forum) but it can be pretty open minded and the posters are all really nice and love to talk about anything and answer questions. Even browsing the first page of the General Tech and Desktop pages you'll find relevant info to what you're shopping for.

No need to thank me, It's enjoyable :P

[browna]

Processor : AMD Athlon 64 2800+ w/ 512K Cache (Retail Box ) 1 $209.95

CPU Heatsink / Fan : AMD Retail Heatsink and Fan 1 $0.00

Motherboards : Asus K8V SE Deluxe w/ Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Dual SATA RAID 1
$174.95

Memory : Kingston 512MB PC3200 DDR CAS 3 2x$119.95 $239.90
Case : Elite 0301SL (Black) w/ 350W P/S, Side and Top Windows, LED Fans 1
$84.95

Power Supplies : Included with Case 1
$0.00

Floppy Drives : Panasonic 1.44MB Floppy Drive 1 $19.95

Hard Drives 1 : Maxtor 200GB DiamondMax Plus 9 7200RPM, Serial ATA, 8M Cache 1 $209.95

Hard Drives 2 : None 0
$0.00

Optical Drive 1 : LG 52x32x52x CDRW (Black) w/ Software 1
$49.95

Optical Drive 2 : Pioneer DVR-108 16X16 DVD Dual Layer +/-RW Drive 1
$139.95

DVD Software : CyberLink PowerDVD Software Decoder 1
$19.99

Video Cards : Ati All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600 128MB (Retail) 1
$249.95

Monitors : None 0
$0.00

Sound Cards : Onboard 6-Channel 5.1 Audio 1
$0.00

Speakers : Altec Lansing 120 Basic 2.0 Speaker System, Black 1
$29.95

Ethernet Cards : SMC Fast Ethernet 10/100 PCI Card 1
$9.99

Keyboards : OEM Ace-type Windows 104 Keys 1
$15.00

Mouse : OEM 2 button mouse w/wheel 1
$12.99

Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition oem 1
$159.95

Assembly : Please Assemble Hardware + Load my O/S 1
$60.00

Warranty : MemoryExpress 1 year parts and labour warranty 1
$0.00

Sub-Total:
$1687.37
GST:
$118.12
Total Cost:
$1805.49

[BlackArcher101]

I just made a quick system, and it's almost similar to yours Browna. didn't even see yours before either. I'll post it anyways as it has a few changes.

Processor :AMD Athlon 64 2800+ w/ 512K Cache (Retail Box ) 1 $209.95
CPU Heatsink / Fan :AMD Retail Heatsink and Fan 1 $0.00
Motherboards : MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R w/ Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA RAID, IDE RAID, 1394 1 $179.95
Memory :Micron Original 512MB PC3200 DDR400 2 $119.95 $239.90
Case : Elite V60 (Black) w/ 400W P/S 1 $79.95
Power Supplies :400W P/S (included) 1 $0.00
Case Fans :Panaflo 80mm Ultra Quiet Fan, Medium Flow 1 $19.99
Floppy Drives : Panasonic 1.44MB Floppy Drive 1 $19.95
Hard Drives 1 : Maxtor 80GB DiamondMax Plus 9 7200rpm Serial ATA 8MB Cache
$109.95
Hard Drives 2 : Maxtor 80GB DiamondMax Plus 9 7200rpm Serial ATA 8MB Cache
$109.95
Optical Drive 1 :Pioneer DVR-108 16X16 DVD Dual Layer +/-RW Drive 1
$139.95
Optical Drive 2 :LG 52x32x52x CDRW (oem) w/ Software 1 $39.95
Video Cards :Ati All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600 128MB (Retail) 1 $249.95
Monitors :None 0 $0.00
Sound Cards :None 0 $0.00
Speakers :Creative Labs SBS 2.1 330 Speaker System 1 $44.95
Ethernet Cards :None 0 $0.00
Keyboards :Logitech Cordless Access Duo 1 $79.95
Mouse : Included with Keyboard 1 $0.00
Operating System :Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition oem 1 $159.95
Assembly :Please Assemble Hardware + Load my O/S 1 $60.00

$60.00
Warranty : MemoryExpress 1 year parts and labour warranty 1
$0.00



Email Quote
Sub-Total:
$1744.29
GST:
$122.10
Total Cost:
$1866.39

Note: I've changed cases because the 400W would be better than 350W. You need 2 hard drives of the same type for RAID to work. There are 2 main types of Raid. (0 and 1). 0 uses two drives and pretends it's one. So two 80gb drives gives you 160GB with increased performance. Raid 1 uses two drives but only sees 80GB of space. This is because one drive is used as normal, and the second is a "mirror" of the first. It's basically backs up the first drive. This is the fastest, most reliable, but gives less space for the money. Unless you are really worried about backing up huge important projects, Raid 0 is good enough.

I changed the motherboard to MSI, mainly because I've tried Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI, with MSI usually being the best for me. Changed to memory to Micron only because of brand preference again. Keyboard and mouse change, because I never see a reason to cheap out on something you'll use to work the computer.

One thing I am unclear of, is where the firewire/1394 should be. My buddies who do editing usually have a seperate PCI firewire card for digitizing video. I'm not sure if firewire onboard the motherboard will be the same or not.

Now, there are few things that could possibly change. The whole 64bit CPU may be a little overkill, and the case isn't that great. I prefer the Antec full tower. Like the 1000awg. One thing you could do is go into memoryexpress and have them quote you for a custom build. They are extremely knowledgable in all aspects of computer uses.

[Wookie]

Originally posted by browna@Sep 4 2004, 02:06 PM
Processor : AMD Athlon 64 2800+ w/ 512K Cache (Retail Box ) 1 $209.95

CPU Heatsink / Fan : AMD Retail Heatsink and Fan 1 $0.00

Motherboards : Asus K8V SE Deluxe w/ Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Dual SATA RAID 1
$174.95

Memory : Kingston 512MB PC3200 DDR CAS 3 2x$119.95 $239.90
Case : Elite 0301SL (Black) w/ 350W P/S, Side and Top Windows, LED Fans 1
$84.95

Power Supplies : Included with Case 1
$0.00

Floppy Drives : Panasonic 1.44MB Floppy Drive 1 $19.95

Hard Drives 1 : Maxtor 200GB DiamondMax Plus 9 7200RPM, Serial ATA, 8M Cache 1 $209.95

Hard Drives 2 : None 0
$0.00

Optical Drive 1 : LG 52x32x52x CDRW (Black) w/ Software 1
$49.95

Optical Drive 2 : Pioneer DVR-108 16X16 DVD Dual Layer +/-RW Drive 1
$139.95

DVD Software : CyberLink PowerDVD Software Decoder 1
$19.99

Video Cards : Ati All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600 128MB (Retail) 1
$249.95

Monitors : None 0
$0.00

Sound Cards : Onboard 6-Channel 5.1 Audio 1
$0.00

Speakers : Altec Lansing 120 Basic 2.0 Speaker System, Black 1
$29.95

Ethernet Cards : SMC Fast Ethernet 10/100 PCI Card 1
$9.99

Keyboards : OEM Ace-type Windows 104 Keys 1
$15.00

Mouse : OEM 2 button mouse w/wheel 1
$12.99

Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition oem 1
$159.95

Assembly : Please Assemble Hardware + Load my O/S 1
$60.00

Warranty : MemoryExpress 1 year parts and labour warranty 1
$0.00

Sub-Total:
$1687.37
GST:
$118.12
Total Cost:
$1805.49

bump so I don't forget to do this tomorrow morning.

As well prices @ oemdepot fianlly dropped below the memxpress prices for a64 CPU's.

So you cna hold that against them when you go, ask for 5 - 15 bucks of, whatever the part...

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Be warned if you get Memory Express to match OEM express they'll take the warranty and service off of whatever you buy from them. They say it's fair as that's what you would get from OEM Express as they have zero warranty and service.

Hard Drives can actually be bought from Future Shop for less than ME. Just keep your eyes peeled to the flyers they always send out.

I can't believe they charge $60 to put things together for you... they used to do that for free I think.... Heck it takes me like 20 minutes now to put a box together....

I've been buying from ME since they were a crappy one room hole across from Chinook and I have to say I'm dissapointed in them lately. Service is down, prices are up.... and they have a hammerlock on the market....

Browna - does that board come with onboard ethernet?

[Resolute 14]

Speaking of video capturing and editing, I bought a Plextor ConvertX PX-402U at Costco today for $190 and have been playing with it all day. This thing is awesome! Connects straight from the output ports of my TV or VCR into my PC, and has been creating seemless captures all day long. It is sooooooo much better than my ATI AlL-in-wonder TV card, which is very rapidly about to find it's way to Cash Converters.