My build spec's OK?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger Buchanan
  • Start date Start date
R

Roger Buchanan

The purpose of the PC that I'm going to build is primarily for home
movie video editing, miniDV, (nothing too snazzy) as well as a bit of
digital photo work and some flight sim play ala Microsoft Flight Sim
Combat Module.

For an OS I was thinking XP w/SP2.

MB - ASUS A8V Deluxe
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Newcastle 939 pin)
RAM - 4x512 meg Corsair Value Select DDR 400
Case - Cooler Master Wave Master
Power Supply - Antec 480w NeoPower
HDD - 2 x 200 GB Seagate (SATA), 1 x 74GB WD Raptor (SATA)
DVD - Plextor PX-712SA
Sound - SB Audigy Platinum w/internal panel
Video - ATI AIW 9600 or 9800

Fans, heatsinks, cable sleeving and accessories have yet to be figured
out.

I've chosen to go the SATA route as it seems to be the wave of the near
future, and I don't have to worry about master/slave relationships with
the drives. (I get enough master/slave type stuff with my wife <weak
grin>)

As an alternative to the case/power supply combo I was thinking of one
of the Plus line of Antec cases. Doing so would free up some cash to
maybe go towards a faster CPU (3500+ or maybe FX?)

I was thinking of putting the OS on a partition on the Raptor, and then
using the rest of that drive for a game or two. The two Seagates could
then be set up in a stripped array for data. Backups would be done
regularly of course. Does this configuration make sense???

This should last for a few years running stuff like Pinnacle Studio 9
and Adobe Photoshop Elements, shouldn't it? I'm taking it for granted
that it will run basic Internet and Word Processing apps just fine.

My current system is sooooo old that I'm gonna have to get all new
software with no chance for the upgrade path. <sigh>

I'm quite sure that I've missed something, or don't quite understand
some implications of the selected hardware. I'm not quite sure about the
SATA DVD, and how it will connect properly having read another thread
about the same thing. Feel free to comment and
make useful suggestions to help me make this a successful first full
build.
--
- Rog

http://www.wpcusrgrp.org/~rogerbuchanan/index.html

NOTE: to Reply to this, remove the phrase "NOSPAM"
from my "Reply To:" address, or it will be returned.
 
The purpose of the PC that I'm going to build is primarily for home
movie video editing, miniDV, (nothing too snazzy) as well as a bit of
digital photo work and some flight sim play ala Microsoft Flight Sim
Combat Module.

For an OS I was thinking XP w/SP2.

MB - ASUS A8V Deluxe
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Newcastle 939 pin)
Click to expand...

I'd consider either Sempron for lower cost CPU with the plan
to later upgrade the CPU, or a higher speed A64 than 3000.
It's not that there's anything wrong with a 3000 but it's a
bit lower-class than the rest of the system.
RAM - 4x512 meg Corsair Value Select DDR 400
Case - Cooler Master Wave Master
Power Supply - Antec 480w NeoPower
HDD - 2 x 200 GB Seagate (SATA), 1 x 74GB WD Raptor (SATA)
DVD - Plextor PX-712SA
Sound - SB Audigy Platinum w/internal panel
Video - ATI AIW 9600 or 9800
Click to expand...

If it fits in the budget I'd suggest the "full" 256 bit
memory interfaced 9800. Any decent seller should clearly
identify which is which.

Fans, heatsinks, cable sleeving and accessories have yet to be figured
out.

I've chosen to go the SATA route as it seems to be the wave of the near
future, and I don't have to worry about master/slave relationships with
the drives. (I get enough master/slave type stuff with my wife <weak
grin>)
Click to expand...

Master/slave isn't really an issue, most every modern drive
and board will work fine with cable select mode. But, using
the SATA the board provides does leave more PATA opportunity
for other optical drives. Overall your HDD choices look
great.
As an alternative to the case/power supply combo I was thinking of one
of the Plus line of Antec cases. Doing so would free up some cash to
maybe go towards a faster CPU (3500+ or maybe FX?)
Click to expand...

Personal decision, yours alone. Might depend on where you
put the case and if (either one) it matches the room.

I was thinking of putting the OS on a partition on the Raptor, and then
using the rest of that drive for a game or two. The two Seagates could
then be set up in a stripped array for data. Backups would be done
regularly of course. Does this configuration make sense???
Click to expand...

The two Seagates should be a mirrored array or left as
single drives, not a striped array.
This should last for a few years running stuff like Pinnacle Studio 9
and Adobe Photoshop Elements, shouldn't it? I'm taking it for granted
that it will run basic Internet and Word Processing apps just fine.
Click to expand...

The age-old hope... it will run everything fine till you get
better at what you're doing, the jobs get fancier, your
interests change, and eventually only you can decide when
it's too slow again. Reading website reviews will
accelerate that process. It's a solid system that is as
good as reasonably possible for a PC.

My current system is sooooo old that I'm gonna have to get all new
software with no chance for the upgrade path. <sigh>

I'm quite sure that I've missed something, or don't quite understand
some implications of the selected hardware. I'm not quite sure about the
SATA DVD, and how it will connect properly having read another thread
about the same thing. Feel free to comment and
make useful suggestions to help me make this a successful first full
build.
Click to expand...

Choose a nice aftermarket heatsink with an 80x25 or 92x25 mm
low-RPM fan. Your ears will thank you, it won't wear out
and get even noisier nearly as fast, and will need cleaned
out less frequently.
 
" For an OS I was thinking XP w/SP2. "

No contest really.


" MB - ASUS A8V Deluxe "

Possibly the best 939 board available at the moment. Some might advise you
to wait for Nforce4 PCI-Express, but there aren't any PCI-E AIW graphics
cards available yet. If you did wait, it could be six months before you
build your system.


" CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Newcastle 939 pin) "

You can't go wrong. The gulf between the 3000+ and 4000+ isn't as big as
the $500 difference suggests.


" RAM - 4x512 meg Corsair Value Select DDR 400 "

Good choice, but make sure you get the CL2.5 modules, and not the CL3 ones.


" Case - Cooler Master Wave Master
Power Supply - Antec 480w NeoPower "

$130 is expensive for a case with no PSU. The Antec Performance Plus cases
have a TruePower 430W PSU in them, and the package costs less than the
Cooler Master case alone. The TruePower 430W should be enough for your
system, but if you felt the need for more power then you really might need
separate case. You can get some mid-range Lian-Li cases for less than the
Cooler Master, such as the PC-60, PC-65 and PC-6077.


" HDD - 2 x 200 GB Seagate (SATA), 1 x 74GB WD Raptor (SATA) "

Raptors are brilliant, and I'm guessing that you're going with Seagate for
the 5-year warranty. I'm also guessing that you aren't planning a RAID
array, but using the Raptor for Windows, and the 400GB for file storage.

Do you need all that storage? If you substituted the 74GB Raptor for two
36.7GB Raptors, you could have a RAID 0+1 array (36.7GB + 200GB) alongside
(36.7GB +200GB). That would be so much faster, only cost a few dollars
more, but you would of course halve your disk capacity.

The new Maxtor 250GB (6B250S0) and 300GB (6B250S0) drives have a 16MB cache,
support NCQ, and have a 3-year warranty. You might like to think about
whether they are worth the extra instead.


" DVD - Plextor PX-712SA "

There aren't any dual-layer compatible SATA drives out yet, and, because of
that, I think this drive is expensive. I would either wait for a dual-layer
SATA drive, or get a dual-layer EIDE drive with a rounded cable instead.


" Sound - SB Audigy Platinum w/internal panel "

You can't go wrong with that, just as long as it goes to good use. If you
only end up playing games on rare occasions, then you may wish you'd spent
the money elsewhere.


" Video - ATI AIW 9600 or 9800 "

Look towards getting a 9800 Pro AIW. The 9600, 9600XT and 9800SE are a fair
way behind it in gaming performance, so it's worth spending the extra money.
The three lesser cards won't hold up as well to future games.
 
Cuzman:
If you substituted the 74GB Raptor for two
36.7GB Raptors, you could have a RAID 0+1 array (36.7GB + 200GB)
alongside (36.7GB +200GB). That would be so much faster, only cost a
few dollars more
Click to expand...

What are these claims based on? I have not seen any benchmark that
demonstrates a significant increase in speed to a desktop user using RAID
0 instead of a single fast drive. I don't think a 1-3% increase in speed
is worth halving the reliability and halving the disk space.
 
kony said:
to later upgrade the CPU, or a higher speed A64 than 3000.
It's not that there's anything wrong with a 3000 but it's a
bit lower-class than the rest of the system.
Click to expand...

Right now it seems to be the power/value leader, but with that said
maybe the 3500+ or the FX would be a more solid choice, given that it's
for video editing, sorta...
If it fits in the budget I'd suggest the "full" 256 bit
memory interfaced 9800. Any decent seller should clearly
identify which is which.
Click to expand...

Uhm,... "full 256 bit memory interfaced 9800"??? I'm a bit lost on
current cards.
The two Seagates should be a mirrored array or left as
single drives, not a striped array.
Click to expand...

If I'm backing up my data regularly wouldn't a striped array be a bit
faster as being dedicated to video? (Maybe I need a 4th drive just for
apps?)
Choose a nice aftermarket heatsink with an 80x25 or 92x25 mm
low-RPM fan. Your ears will thank you, it won't wear out
and get even noisier nearly as fast, and will need cleaned
out less frequently.
Click to expand...

Fans and filters and heatsinks are things that I'm looking at now. My
one concession to vanity might be one of those laser cut fan grills. See
if anyone notices. After all, those Wave Masters are nice cases. Though
I'm not sure about the USB/Firewire/etc ports on the top of the case...

Thanks for your feedback!!
--
- Rog

http://www.wpcusrgrp.org/~rogerbuchanan/index.html

NOTE: to Reply to this, remove the phrase "NOSPAM"
from my "Reply To:" address, or it will be returned.
 
Cuzman said:
" RAM - 4x512 meg Corsair Value Select DDR 400 "

Good choice, but make sure you get the CL2.5 modules, and not the CL3 ones.
Click to expand...

Does "CL" refer to latency or voltage, or some such?
" Case - Cooler Master Wave Master
Power Supply - Antec 480w NeoPower "

$130 is expensive for a case with no PSU. The Antec Performance Plus cases
have a TruePower 430W PSU in them, and the package costs less than the
Cooler Master case alone. The TruePower 430W should be enough for your
system, but if you felt the need for more power then you really might need
separate case. You can get some mid-range Lian-Li cases for less than the
Cooler Master, such as the PC-60, PC-65 and PC-6077.
Click to expand...

I like the Wave Master for the aesthetics, and the fact that it has a
removeable motherboard tray. Call it a combination of vanity and
lazziness I guess. The fit and finish on the Cooler Master vase seems to
be pretty good. Your point about the other cases is well put, and worth
considering though!
Do you need all that storage? If you substituted the 74GB Raptor for two
36.7GB Raptors, you could have a RAID 0+1 array (36.7GB + 200GB) alongside
(36.7GB +200GB). That would be so much faster, only cost a few dollars
more, but you would of course halve your disk capacity.
Click to expand...

The big array would be used for storage of working video projects. Since
none of them are financially rewarding, or mission critical (I like that
term), I'm willing to put them on a striped array (though I'll back
things up frequently)
" DVD - Plextor PX-712SA "

There aren't any dual-layer compatible SATA drives out yet, and, because of
that, I think this drive is expensive. I would either wait for a dual-layer
SATA drive, or get a dual-layer EIDE drive with a rounded cable instead.
Click to expand...

I've had good experience with Plextor stuff, and the PX-712SA was only a
couple of bucks more than the PX-712A.
" Sound - SB Audigy Platinum w/internal panel "

You can't go wrong with that, just as long as it goes to good use. If you
only end up playing games on rare occasions, then you may wish you'd spent
the money elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I'll be putting sound tracks on my video's in certain places, and using
a microphone. Mostly this is a quality issue. The product is good,
supports lots of different formats, and help is readily available.
Look towards getting a 9800 Pro AIW. The 9600, 9600XT and 9800SE are a fair
way behind it in gaming performance, so it's worth spending the extra money.
Click to expand...

I'm getting that feeling. Thanks very much!!

Now all I have to do is figure out this "12-pixel pipeline" versus
"16-pixel pipeline" terminology and I'm off to the races.

--
- Rog

http://www.wpcusrgrp.org/~rogerbuchanan/index.html

NOTE: to Reply to this, remove the phrase "NOSPAM"
from my "Reply To:" address, or it will be returned.
 
Right now it seems to be the power/value leader, but with that said
maybe the 3500+ or the FX would be a more solid choice, given that it's
for video editing, sorta...
Click to expand...

Well you have options, it could be that buying the least
expensive CPU now, then waiting awhile for the faster ones
to drop in price, could result in being able to buy both
CPUs for same total price, but then having the 2nd CPU to
resell or reuse.

Uhm,... "full 256 bit memory interfaced 9800"??? I'm a bit lost on
current cards.
Click to expand...

Yes, 256bit memory bus, versus 128bit.

If I'm backing up my data regularly wouldn't a striped array be a bit
faster as being dedicated to video? (Maybe I need a 4th drive just for
apps?)
Click to expand...


Do you do a lot of work with uncompressed video that would
be stored on the Raptor, where there is only minimal
processing? If so then yes the striped array might help but
it may not help as much as keeping the two drives separate
and using one as source, the other as destination. If you
read and write to same array that reduces performance.
 
Does "CL" refer to latency or voltage, or some such?
Click to expand...

Latency
Though getting a module spec'd to run at "DDR400" (PC3200)
CAS2.5 @ 2.5V would be better than a module that needs 2.6,
2.7V to do so... but, 2.6V is petty common, nothing to be
worried about providing your board support that, which I
don't know.

I like the Wave Master for the aesthetics, and the fact that it has a
removeable motherboard tray. Call it a combination of vanity and
lazziness I guess. The fit and finish on the Cooler Master vase seems to
be pretty good. Your point about the other cases is well put, and worth
considering though!
Click to expand...


Don't weight the removable motherboard tray too heavily,
after a few minutes of inconvenience it's mostly irrelevant
except in really small, tighty laid out cases that need the
tray just to allow for (normally) simple tasks like adding
memory.
The big array would be used for storage of working video projects. Since
none of them are financially rewarding, or mission critical (I like that
term), I'm willing to put them on a striped array (though I'll back
things up frequently)
Click to expand...

The striped array might be good for capturing uncompressed
hi-def video, but not necessarily video work in general.
Any form of compressed video will be lower bitrate than one
of those drives alone can sustain.

Although, if you work with video a lot you may even find
400GB not enough space, if you had another drive added it'd
add to the likelihood that the current two 200GB planned
would be beneficial in a RAID0 array.
 
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