Please Evaluate a System Proposal

  • Thread starter Thread starter kwthom
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K

kwthom

Greets!

::whew::

After about a week of analysis; I think this is what I want. I'll
entertain any & all constructive criticisms over what I've picked --
along with reasonable options in the same generic price range.

This will be a replacement to my venerable Asus P2B @ 800MHz system,
with 256Mb RAM, along with a Radeon 7000 gfx card, Soundblaster
128PCI, Win XP. etc. This one will probably be repackaged and sent to
be with mom & dad.

This has been an audio ripping, recording & web surfing machine...the
proposal continues (improves) this, and possibly adds beginning
digital video editing to the mix.

I've never overclocked (never had enough "good components" in this box
at one time to even try; doubt the new box will be OC'ed, either --
just want rock stable machine with some lasting power (...see my
current machine...will this new one last 5 years? {yes, I've added a
few things along the way})

Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E

CPU: Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz (800MHz FSB)

RAM: start with 512MB DDR PC3200 RAM (will pick brand & vendor from
motherboard approved list -- I assume Crucial & other first-tier
should be sufficient?)

Video: ASUS Radeon 9600XT/TVD
Will be adding LCD display; still evaluating at this time -- want to
also have CRT display available as well. In addition, price of this
beats to death ATI All-In-Wonder, from what I've seen...

Audio: Still a bit open on this -- it will be PCI add-on card -- but,
just for the information, just how bad is the on-board audio?

Optical Drive: Plextor PX708A (one drive for everything?)

Case: Antec Sonata

HDD: Minimum 80GB IDE drive to start with ATA 100/133 7200 RPM 8MB
cache -- vendor? (Yeah, but why not SATA? I could...at least I have
the option to do this; right now, we'll go with PATA for the sake of
this discussion...)

OS: WinXP Pro (no giggles,please...)

The other odds-n-ends come from out of the spare parts bin at the
moment...I'll use either my existing ViewSonic E773 or I've been
gawking at Samsung & Viewsonic LCD monitors lately -- nice, real nice!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please reply to this
message -- I'll be looking for your constructive critique.

--kw
 
Looks like a decent set up, good choice going with Intel since your doing
video. I'd personaly recomend going CRT with the monitor and put the money you
would have spent on a LCD in to RAM (I'll skip my rant on LCD's since it doesnt
look like color concistancy is an issue here).

Can tell you from experince that going from 512meg to a gig of RAM makes a big
difference when it comes to hungry apps.

Since I"m an AMD user I'll leave opinion on types of RAM to the more
experinced.

Onboard audio is a lot better than back in the day but if your doing audio
ripping you may want to get something a bit more heavy than the onboard stuff.

I've been using one optical drive for a while now. only issue I've run in to is
when doing disk to disk copy's. For me not a big issue. May be something to
consider.

For harddrives I'm personaly a fan of Haitachi. But WD seems to be the big boy
on the block. I've been burned by them but only with the lower end 2MB models.
Something to look for is a good long warrenty (manufactures, not some bestbuy
extended job). Also look for 8MB Cache on the buggers. Since your doing Video
your going to be working the poor little thing hard. What I'd recomend looking
in to is if your board does RAID. Setting up a RAID 0+1 (stripe and mirroring)
would help with the video... a bit pricy tho (could always use the money you'd
have dropped in to a LCD here)

Think thats all I can manage to babble now. Good luck on your build.

~Arie
 
Agree with sprite about the RAM. Get 1 GB of matched 512 sticks and use in
dual channel mode.

If you're buying a HD get a SATA otherwise use what you have.
 
I'll just add my two pounds worth. As Sprite1001 says not a bad set up. I've
just upgraded the core of my computer with P4C800-E Deluxe and 3GHz P4. I
went with 1GB Corsair TwinX memory and think you should considor going for a
decent amount of quality memory as you're doing video work. I would stick
with CRT monitor as the picture quality from a good quality CRT is better
than a LCD. I know that will start some arguments but that's my view. As
you're doing audio work a decent sound card like an audigy 2 will be much
better than using on board. On board audio has come a long way and for most
users will probably be fine but for gamers and people doing audio work a
seperate card is better. Hard drives, I've nearly always bought Maxtor. I
just bought 2 x 250GB Maxline II serial drives and setup a RAID 0. It rocks.
Very fast. As you're doing video work I suggest doing the same. I would only
use RAID 1 (or RAID 0 + 1) if your worried about a hard drive failling as
the duplicate set is not a replacement for regular backups. A RAID 1 dup set
is only good when a hard drive fails. As it's a duplicate set if one set
becomes contaminated by a virus, both sets become contaminated and so on.
RAID 0 plus regular backups onto a different hard drive is the way to go.

Hope this helps. Please repost if you want any more advice.

Glen
 
Greets!

::whew::

After about a week of analysis; I think this is what I want. I'll
entertain any & all constructive criticisms over what I've picked --
along with reasonable options in the same generic price range.

This will be a replacement to my venerable Asus P2B @ 800MHz system,
with 256Mb RAM, along with a Radeon 7000 gfx card, Soundblaster
128PCI, Win XP. etc. This one will probably be repackaged and sent to
be with mom & dad.

This has been an audio ripping, recording & web surfing machine...the
proposal continues (improves) this, and possibly adds beginning
digital video editing to the mix.

I've never overclocked (never had enough "good components" in this box
at one time to even try; doubt the new box will be OC'ed, either --
just want rock stable machine with some lasting power (...see my
current machine...will this new one last 5 years? {yes, I've added a
few things along the way})

Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E

CPU: Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz (800MHz FSB)
Click to expand...

Get a northwood, not a prescott. Also make sure you get a good PSU of 350W
or maybe more? I'm using a sparkle and 350 is plenty. I had a cheaper PSU
and it was -flakey- with this board and chip.

RAM: start with 512MB DDR PC3200 RAM (will pick brand & vendor from
motherboard approved list -- I assume Crucial & other first-tier
should be sufficient?)
Click to expand...

Make sure you use 2 stick in dual chanel mode. P4's LOVE memory bandwidth.
You'll take a big performance hit with 1 stick of ram.
Audio: Still a bit open on this -- it will be PCI add-on card -- but,
just for the information, just how bad is the on-board audio?
Click to expand...

Sounds fine to me, why not try it yourself first?

HDD: Minimum 80GB IDE drive to start with ATA 100/133 7200 RPM 8MB
cache -- vendor?
Click to expand...

I like the WD drives in this size. Just tried a samsung 40 gig and it's
quiet and fast so might be my new "suggestion"?
 
Northwood P4 2.8c - save a few dollars and you won't notice the difference
Stick with the stock sound system for the time being.
Get 2 x sticks of RAM as per other comments - you will notice far more
benefit from this than anything else.
Check the RAM you are getting is right type for the board. IE check here or
at Asus.
Get a SATA HDD. You may want to RAID later.
Get / Hold on to CRT (19"?) - display quality is much better than LCD.

So, get the right bits now and hold off for the luxuries that will benefit
later.
*Check* your PSU requirements using one of the online calculators. Include
your high spec graphics card especially if you are getting it later as it
will be later when you have it that your system will crash if the PSU
doesn't have enough grunt.

HTH
- Tim
 
Northwood P4 2.8c - save a few dollars and you won't notice the difference
Stick with the stock sound system for the time being.
Get 2 x sticks of RAM as per other comments - you will notice far more
benefit from this than anything else.
Check the RAM you are getting is right type for the board. IE check here or
at Asus.
Get a SATA HDD. You may want to RAID later.
Get / Hold on to CRT (19"?) - display quality is much better than LCD.

So, get the right bits now and hold off for the luxuries that will benefit
later.
*Check* your PSU requirements using one of the online calculators. Include
your high spec graphics card especially if you are getting it later as it
will be later when you have it that your system will crash if the PSU
doesn't have enough grunt.

HTH
- Tim
Click to expand...

Agree on the RAM. I tested a system before Christmas (given as a gift)
and tried an 865PE based system with and without dual channel. Dual
channel mode had 30% more memory bandwidth, as measured by memtest86.
You can feel the difference in the desktop, as I was able to detect
that the product I bought, didn't ship with the right ram in it. A
two matching stick config is worth having.

I've recently purchased a 17" LCD, 1280x1024 resolution,
and agree that the CRT is a better display. The LCD takes less space
on the desk, less power to run, but the CRT has a wider gamut for
Photoshop, and on the CRT I can change resolutions without suffering
any aliasing artifacts like you get on the LCD. When you scroll a
document on the LCD, it tends to flash as it scrolls. If you have
the desk space and can afford the electrical power, stick with the
CRT.

The Northwood processor is the one to get. 0.13u technology, 512KB
cache. I just bought a 2.8/800/512KB for my current build, and
sitting in Win2K desktop, it is consuming [email protected] or only
13.2 watts of power. Draws the rated power at 100% load.
Recommended. (I just wish my video card would scale back like
the processor, when the video card isn't being kept busy.)

Paul
 
Agree on the RAM. I tested a system before Christmas (given as a gift)
and tried an 865PE based system with and without dual channel. Dual
channel mode had 30% more memory bandwidth, as measured by memtest86.
You can feel the difference in the desktop, as I was able to detect
that the product I bought, didn't ship with the right ram in it. A
two matching stick config is worth having.
Click to expand...

Gents:

Thanks for the useful info to this point. Your comments have been
taken into account; my system has changed a bit...

Now, a quick ? about memory...

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21&ps=hw3

Would something like this be adequate for what I'm planning on -- or
do I need something high-grade, such as

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80097-1

Thanks; great info so far!

--Ken
 
Gents:

Thanks for the useful info to this point. Your comments have been
taken into account; my system has changed a bit...

Now, a quick ? about memory...

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21&ps=hw3

Would something like this be adequate for what I'm planning on -- or
do I need something high-grade, such as

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80097-1

Thanks; great info so far!

--Ken
Click to expand...

As for the experience of people with RAM, you should search over here.
It would take me hours to reread all these threads again, so try
entering P4C800-E into the search engine and have a look yourself:

http://abxzone.com/forums/search.php

Basically, the memory merchants will take as much money out of your
wallet as they can. The performance versus dollars curve is very
steep. The CAS2.5 memory should be pretty decent, and a 1GB/$181
kit is cheaper than some Crucial CAS3 CT6464Z40B at 512MB/$105 each.

HTH,
Paul
 
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