Advice on hardware for ground up build
 

Dell and Gateway are not getting any more money from me. I'm real
comfortable with putting all the parts together, but need help selecting all
of the individual components.

Primary function of the system will be high end video editing, so I'm
thinking 3.2 GHz processor, 1 gig RAM, 250 gig SATA drive, 256 MB vid card,
and 1394 controller to start.

I'm looking to build 'the cadillac' system and willing to pay a little more
for better / faster / reliable stuff.

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

Thanks for the advice!!

=The Wook.

256m vid card is not necessary. that memory won't help you in the
video rendering world. Depending on your output format I would look
away from 'gaming' cards.

"WookieMan" wrote in message
news:xtY9d.188$y77.46@trnddc05...
Dell and Gateway are not getting any more money from me. I'm real
comfortable with putting all the parts together, but need help
selecting all
of the individual components.

Primary function of the system will be high end video editing, so
I'm
thinking 3.2 GHz processor, 1 gig RAM, 250 gig SATA drive, 256 MB
vid card,
and 1394 controller to start.

I'm looking to build 'the cadillac' system and willing to pay a
little more
for better / faster / reliable stuff.

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

Thanks for the advice!!

=The Wook.

WookieMan wrote:

Dell and Gateway are not getting any more money from me. I'm real
comfortable with putting all the parts together, but need help selecting
all of the individual components.

Primary function of the system will be high end video editing, so I'm
thinking 3.2 GHz processor, 1 gig RAM, 250 gig SATA drive, 256 MB vid
card, and 1394 controller to start.

If you're doing high-end video editing, you may want to look into at least a
2 drive RAID system, and possibly a higher end 4 drive RAID system using an
add-in card from Promise, 3Ware, or Highpoint. Also, you may want to use
very fast Western Digital Raptor drives that spin 10,000 rpm. I'm not into
video editing, but from what I understand, the faster the storage system,
the better the video capture quality.

I'm looking to build 'the cadillac' system and willing to pay a little
more for better / faster / reliable stuff.

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

Faster and more reliable aren't necessarily the same thing. Abit brand
motherboards have been shown to be the best overclocking motherboards out
there, but Asus as generally shown to have the best stability. There are
other brands such as Gigabyte and MSI, who have been supplying Dell for
sometime now, that have very good products, as well. Honestly, the board
differences, assuming they use the same chipsets, mostly very in their
BIOS. They pretty much use the same components from the same manufacturers.

If you have the funds, look into a good Pentium 4 or Athlon 64 board from a
good quality brand such as Asus, MSI, or Gigabyte with the option on it you
want. One important option that you should consider is the new Firewire 800
(1394).

Video cards aren't that big of a deal, since video editing will be done in
2D, and the 2D performance between a high end card and a low end card are
negligible. Only in the 3D space do the cards very.

Also, 1GB of memory isn't a whole lot for video editing. A friend that does
that sort of stuff has 4GB on his machine.

"WookieMan" wrote in message
news:xtY9d.188$y77.46@trnddc05...
Dell and Gateway are not getting any more money from me. I'm real
comfortable with putting all the parts together, but need help selecting
all
of the individual components.

Primary function of the system will be high end video editing, so I'm
thinking 3.2 GHz processor, 1 gig RAM, 250 gig SATA drive, 256 MB vid
card,
and 1394 controller to start.

I'm looking to build 'the cadillac' system and willing to pay a little
more
for better / faster / reliable stuff.

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

Thanks for the advice!!

=The Wook.



Here ya go. From www.mwave.com Top shelf components, all. You definitely
need AOpen brand mainboard and Intel chipset, and this one I chose is a good
match for your processor. Note the video card is VIVO and the sound card is
digital in and digital out. You will want TWO hard drives. Either raid
them so that the second is an exact copy of the first, or use acronis true
image (or similar) for timed backups (daily!). You do NOT want to lose your
videos that you are going to work so hard on. Hard drives are so cheap
(relatively speaking) that it doesn't make sense not to have two of them.
The motherboard comes with SATA cables, and the power supply has SATA
connectors. The DVD burner is IDE. Hey, the connectors are on the
motherboard, so you might as well use them. :) Not sure what you want for
DVD software. I think the drive comes with Roxio (OK), but Nero Express 6
was only five bucks, so I threw that in. I'm sure you'll like one of them.
If not, at least you have a choice of software to get by with until you
figure out what you really want. Note I ordered the case with a ThermalTake
480W power supply. It says no power supply, but lists the power supply
later. Not sure if you really need the firewire add-on card (mainboard has
firewire), but there's a good one. Normally you wouldn't need a floppy
drive, but you *might* need it to install an OS on the SATA hard drive.
Don't forget the surge suppressor (it's in there). The keyboard I threw in
was kind of a splurge. You might like it, though. I'm a fast touch typist,
and my wife is hunt n' peck. We both love it, I'm typing on it now. You
just need to add a 19" CRT monitor (just about any 19" CRT monitor, buy it
locally). Done! Enjoy. -Dave

SKU Qty Item Unit Price Ext. Price
MB-BA20172 -BA20453 -BA19437-BA19437 - INTEL PENTIUM 4 3.2E GHZ 800MHZ
RETAILED BUNDLE W/ Details (AOPEN AX4C MAX II; CRUCIAL 1GB DDR400(512MB X
2); NO TESTING) $556.00 $556.00

BA20400 - -BA19276 THERMALTAKE TSUNAMI VA3000BNA (BLACK) MID TOWER NO
POWER SUPPLY W/ FRONT I/O, 120mm CASE FAN x 2 & 90mm CASE FAN x 1 Details
(NO EXTRA FAN; W0013 480W) $154.00 $154.00

3460360 BELKIN 3-PORT FIREWIRE PCI CARD Details . $34.63 $34.63

AA29950 -AA00482 -BA15599 -AA24590 NEC ND-3500A SILVER 16X/16 DVD DUAL
DOUBLE LAYER REWRITABLE DRIVE W/SW (White box) Details (AUDIO CABLE; 18" ATA
ROUND CABLE; RITEK 4XDVD-R 50-PK) $104.40 $104.40

AA17310 - MITUSMI 1.44 FLOPPY (Bare drive-black color) Details (NO FDD
CABLE) $7.90 $7.90

AA22860 - WD 250GB 2500JD SERIAL ATA 150 7200RPM 8MB BUFFER HARD DRIVE
(Bare drive) *Requires SATA Data Cable Details (NO DATA CABLE) $158.00
$316.00

AA26620 ZIPPY EL-715B BLACK ILLUMINATED LARGE SIZE KEYBOARD USB Details
$38.00 $38.00

1328692 LOGITECH MX310 OPTICAL MOUSE USB/PS2 Details $24.84 $24.84

AA25210 NERO EXPRESS 6.0 FOR DVD/CD REWRITABLE DRIVE (OEM)*Must be
purchased with hardware Details $4.90 $4.90

1383330 BELKIN SURGEMASTER 9-OUTLET 10FT-CORD 2950-JOULES W/TEL
RJ11/RJ45 Details . $45.97 $45.97

3460075 TURTLE BEACH CATALINA 7.1 CHANNEL SOUND CARD 24BIT 96KHZ
W/DIGITAL I/O Details . $50.51 $50.51

3396301 ALTEC LANSING VS3121 3-PC SPEAKERS SYSTEM (Black/Silver) Details
$56.87 $56.87

AA15070 Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/sp2 #E85-03014(DSP/OEM)*Must
be Purchased w/Hardware!!* Details $134.00 $134.00
Sub Total $1,528.02

On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 19:26:14 -0400, "Dave C." wrote:



Here ya go. From www.mwave.com Top shelf components, all.

Wow. I might debate a couple of your choice, but you certainly
answered the man's question!

Prices, sure, Model numbers, absolutely. But you provided SKUs.

Heh.

R.

WookieMan:

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/...09-21-2004.ars

The Hot Rod version is geared toward general computing/gaming but should
serve you well. Tack on an additional hard drive and you can downgrade the
video card if you don't play games, upgrade the processor for a small
boost.

--
Mac Cool

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the shopping cart built, but I'm
going to wait another day to see if anyone else has additional or alternate
recommendations.

BTW, I spec'd out a similar system with Dell and it was almost 2x the cost
vs. buying the parts individually, which seems contrarian. I don't mean to
knock Dell - they are great for folks with limited time or hardware
knowledge and deeper pockets. ;-)



"Dave C." wrote in message
...

"WookieMan" wrote in message
news:xtY9d.188$y77.46@trnddc05...
Dell and Gateway are not getting any more money from me. I'm real
comfortable with putting all the parts together, but need help selecting
all
of the individual components.

Primary function of the system will be high end video editing, so I'm
thinking 3.2 GHz processor, 1 gig RAM, 250 gig SATA drive, 256 MB vid
card,
and 1394 controller to start.

I'm looking to build 'the cadillac' system and willing to pay a little
more
for better / faster / reliable stuff.

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

Thanks for the advice!!

=The Wook.



Here ya go. From www.mwave.com Top shelf components, all. You
definitely
need AOpen brand mainboard and Intel chipset, and this one I chose is a
good
match for your processor. Note the video card is VIVO and the sound card
is
digital in and digital out. You will want TWO hard drives. Either raid
them so that the second is an exact copy of the first, or use acronis true
image (or similar) for timed backups (daily!). You do NOT want to lose
your
videos that you are going to work so hard on. Hard drives are so cheap
(relatively speaking) that it doesn't make sense not to have two of them.
The motherboard comes with SATA cables, and the power supply has SATA
connectors. The DVD burner is IDE. Hey, the connectors are on the
motherboard, so you might as well use them. :) Not sure what you want
for
DVD software. I think the drive comes with Roxio (OK), but Nero Express 6
was only five bucks, so I threw that in. I'm sure you'll like one of
them.
If not, at least you have a choice of software to get by with until you
figure out what you really want. Note I ordered the case with a
ThermalTake
480W power supply. It says no power supply, but lists the power supply
later. Not sure if you really need the firewire add-on card (mainboard
has
firewire), but there's a good one. Normally you wouldn't need a floppy
drive, but you *might* need it to install an OS on the SATA hard drive.
Don't forget the surge suppressor (it's in there). The keyboard I threw
in
was kind of a splurge. You might like it, though. I'm a fast touch
typist,
and my wife is hunt n' peck. We both love it, I'm typing on it now. You
just need to add a 19" CRT monitor (just about any 19" CRT monitor, buy it
locally). Done! Enjoy. -Dave

SKU Qty Item Unit Price Ext. Price
MB-BA20172 -BA20453 -BA19437-BA19437 - INTEL PENTIUM 4 3.2E GHZ 800MHZ
RETAILED BUNDLE W/ Details (AOPEN AX4C MAX II; CRUCIAL 1GB DDR400(512MB X
2); NO TESTING) $556.00 $556.00

BA20400 - -BA19276 THERMALTAKE TSUNAMI VA3000BNA (BLACK) MID TOWER NO
POWER SUPPLY W/ FRONT I/O, 120mm CASE FAN x 2 & 90mm CASE FAN x 1 Details
(NO EXTRA FAN; W0013 480W) $154.00 $154.00

3460360 BELKIN 3-PORT FIREWIRE PCI CARD Details . $34.63 $34.63

AA29950 -AA00482 -BA15599 -AA24590 NEC ND-3500A SILVER 16X/16 DVD DUAL
DOUBLE LAYER REWRITABLE DRIVE W/SW (White box) Details (AUDIO CABLE; 18"
ATA
ROUND CABLE; RITEK 4XDVD-R 50-PK) $104.40 $104.40

AA17310 - MITUSMI 1.44 FLOPPY (Bare drive-black color) Details (NO FDD
CABLE) $7.90 $7.90

AA22860 - WD 250GB 2500JD SERIAL ATA 150 7200RPM 8MB BUFFER HARD DRIVE
(Bare drive) *Requires SATA Data Cable Details (NO DATA CABLE) $158.00
$316.00

AA26620 ZIPPY EL-715B BLACK ILLUMINATED LARGE SIZE KEYBOARD USB
Details
$38.00 $38.00

1328692 LOGITECH MX310 OPTICAL MOUSE USB/PS2 Details $24.84 $24.84

AA25210 NERO EXPRESS 6.0 FOR DVD/CD REWRITABLE DRIVE (OEM)*Must be
purchased with hardware Details $4.90 $4.90

1383330 BELKIN SURGEMASTER 9-OUTLET 10FT-CORD 2950-JOULES W/TEL
RJ11/RJ45 Details . $45.97 $45.97

3460075 TURTLE BEACH CATALINA 7.1 CHANNEL SOUND CARD 24BIT 96KHZ
W/DIGITAL I/O Details . $50.51 $50.51

3396301 ALTEC LANSING VS3121 3-PC SPEAKERS SYSTEM (Black/Silver)
Details
$56.87 $56.87

AA15070 Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/sp2
#E85-03014(DSP/OEM)*Must
be Purchased w/Hardware!!* Details $134.00 $134.00
Sub Total $1,528.02

"rhys" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 19:26:14 -0400, "Dave C." wrote:



Here ya go. From www.mwave.com Top shelf components, all.

Wow. I might debate a couple of your choice, but you certainly
answered the man's question!

Prices, sure, Model numbers, absolutely. But you provided SKUs.

Heh.

R.

I try to please. :) I built almost the exact same system recently, though
I got some components from newegg. Kicks butt. -Dave

"WookieMan" wrote in message
news:Z_1ad.3813$gd1.851@trnddc08...
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the shopping cart built, but I'm
going to wait another day to see if anyone else has additional or
alternate
recommendations.

BTW, I spec'd out a similar system with Dell and it was almost 2x the cost
vs. buying the parts individually, which seems contrarian. I don't mean
to
knock Dell - they are great for folks with limited time or hardware
knowledge and deeper pockets. ;-)




No problem. I forgot to add . . . use the floppy drive to flash the BIOS to
the latest version before installing Windows XP SP2, if that's what OS you
are going with. Then after flashing the BIOS, clear CMOS.

Yeah, my employer is buying me a Dell. (yuck) Ironically, I do most of my
paperwork at home, on the system I built for my wife, which will kick the
crap out of any Dell. I told my wife if the Dell system gives me any crap,
I'm going to accidentally run it over with my truck right before I
accidentally throw it off a cliff that I accidentally drove 50 miles out of
my way to accidentally find. -Dave

I don't mean to plug my website or anything.
But i have information which will help you at:

www.build-your-own-computers.com

Gary

"WookieMan" wrote in message news:xtY9d.188$y77.46@trnddc05...
Dell and Gateway are not getting any more money from me. I'm real
comfortable with putting all the parts together, but need help selecting all
of the individual components.

Primary function of the system will be high end video editing, so I'm
thinking 3.2 GHz processor, 1 gig RAM, 250 gig SATA drive, 256 MB vid card,
and 1394 controller to start.

I'm looking to build 'the cadillac' system and willing to pay a little more
for better / faster / reliable stuff.

The more specific you can be, the better, e.g. make & model #'s.

Thanks for the advice!!

=The Wook.