Blazing fast programming and video encoding PC built.

[Turkish]

Hi all, building a PC for use with Adobe CS, Visual Studio, Maya and some video encoding. I rarely play games these days... maybe I'll play a few old games but not much.

Here's what I have decided on:

MOBO: MSI P35 Platinum (rev. 1.2) - $143
CPU: INTEL E8500 C0 - $276
MEMORY: KINGSTON KHX6400D2LLK2/2GN HYPERX PC2-6400 Dual 2x1GB; DDR2-800Mhz; Cas 4 (4-4-4-12); Kutulu; SLI READY - $85
HD: WESTERNDIGITAL WD1500ADFD 150GB SATA150 Raptor 10000rpm; 16MB; NCQ - $215 (
CASE: LIAN LI PC-G7B - $90

Total without PSU & video card: $809.

I'll be running Vista Ultimate x64.

Couldn't decide on video card and power supply. I'll not be overclocking so is this mobo too much for my needs? Any mobo recommendations that will be enough for my needs? Also should I get a really powerful PSU as I'll not be overclocking?

Thanks

 

[Roguestar]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=27&threadid=2090214

Fill in the sticky.


The Gigabyte P35 DS3L is cheaper.

 

[MarcVenice]

I think you're better of with a quadcore, q6600 for 199$. You'll want 4gb of ram, which costs 60-70$ at most. You don't want a 150gb raptor, you'll be working with large files, your HD will be filled up to the brim in no time. Go with a MUCH cheaper 750gb samsung f1, for 120$ or so, also very fast due to higher density platters...

PSU, something arund 50$ will do, if you don't use a high-end graphics card you could get away with a antec earthwatts 380w for 30$ or so after rebates.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=27&threadid=2090214

Fill in the sticky.


The Gigabyte P35 DS3L is cheaper.

I heard the DS3L new production line has an issue with not booting up after bios update. Any knowledge on this?

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I think you're better of with a quadcore, q6600 for 199$. You'll want 4gb of ram, which costs 60-70$ at most. You don't want a 150gb raptor, you'll be working with large files, your HD will be filled up to the brim in no time. Go with a MUCH cheaper 750gb samsung f1, for 120$ or so, also very fast due to higher density platters...

PSU, something arund 50$ will do, if you don't use a high-end graphics card you could get away with a antec earthwatts 380w for 30$ or so after rebates.

Why do you suggest q6600? I encode videos and stuff but wouldn't a quadcore be useful if I encode couple videos at the same time or do a few high CPU performance tasts at once like photoshop, maya, etc. at once? Also what about Q9300?

I want a 10K RPM raptor because I already have 1 GB external drive (WD mybook), wouldn't that 10K raptor help windows performance?

Thanks for the help

 

[MarcVenice]

The video-encoding and the other applications are mulithreaded, meaning they can make use of more then 1 core. It doesn't scale 100% but it's fair to see some applications will be three to almost 4 times faster with 4 cores, then with just one. Q9300 could work as well, don't know how the lack of cache affects performance though. And for the HD's, I think you should have your OS on one HD, and the file you are working with, should be on the other HD, for maximum performance. I don't like raptors though, they were nice a couple of years ago, right now 750gb HD's often offer similar performance, but have 5 times the capacity and run cooler/quieter.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I would go with a quad core too. Most encoding programs do benefit from quad cores.

Raptors are old hard drives now. They may have slightly better access times than the newest 1tb and 750gb drives, but their transfer rates are quite a bit slower now.

 

[Turkish]

Thanks for the input guys I'll look into other HDs and prolly go with a quadcore.

 

[hnzw rui]

What type of video encoding do you do? DivX, Xvid, x264, etc? You would see definite gains when on x264 encodes with a quad. Not so much for DivX and Xvid.

The Q9300 is fine if you're not overclocking. However, with the Q6600 on sale for less than $200 most of the time (Fry's $189, Microcenter $199), I don't think spending the extra $100 for a Q9300 is justified.

For the hard drive, I suggest you consider the Western Digital 640GB WD6400AAKS. The bigger 320GB platter would probably offset the Raptor's higher RPM and it's much better price per GB, too.

 

[boomhower]

You are a perfect candidate for a quad. If you codec does/will take advantage of SSE4 go with a Q9300, if not Q6600.

 

[imported_wired247]

Quad -- do eet.

Raptor -- getting outdated pretty damn quick. Way expensive per GB and slower throughput than a lot of drives out there. Tiny benefit on seek times is all you get, not really noticeable.

 

[Turkish]

What about this HD guys?

SEAGATE ST3500320AS 500GB SATA300 Barracuda 7200.11 7200rpm; 32MB; NCQ, 5 yil garantili - $110

Ok, I'll go with a Q6600 and MAYBE OC it a little as I read it is very OC'able. This kinda brings back the question about PSU though, will I need a better PSU?

 

[boomhower]

I would go with that or one of the 750GB samsung F1. Your PSU is going to be based off of your graphics card. If you go with a single GPU go with a Corsair 520HX. If you go dual GPU step up to a 620HX. You really don't need more than that unless you go 2X8800GTX or double up on either of the new X2's.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Turkish
Blazing fast programming and video encoding PC built.

If you really want blazing fast performance, we can get you there... For a price.
How about giving us a "blazing fast PC" budget to start from?

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: Turkish
Blazing fast programming and video encoding PC built.

If you really want blazing fast performance, we can get you there... For a price.
How about giving us a "blazing fast PC" budget to start from?

$1000, give or take an hundred. I'd like to keep my money on things that speeds up non-gaming use. So a high-end video card is not my priority.

 

[gsellis]

Go with the quad.

And look at Maya requirements for your video card. CS3 should like nVidia cards well, but I think Maya may be picky about it more so than CS3.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: gsellis
Go with the quad.

And look at Maya requirements for your video card. CS3 should like nVidia cards well, but I think Maya may be picky about it more so than CS3.

I am thinking of a 256 mb 8600 GT as a video card. It's affordable and should be good enough for my needs. What do you think?

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Turkish

$1000, give or take an hundred. I'd like to keep my money on things that speeds up non-gaming use. So a high-end video card is not my priority.

Video cards aren't the only costly items that go into building a "Blazing Fast PC".
You need to up your budget or settle for less than blazing fast.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: Turkish

$1000, give or take an hundred. I'd like to keep my money on things that speeds up non-gaming use. So a high-end video card is not my priority.

Video cards aren't the only costly items that go into building a "Blazing Fast PC".
You need to up your budget or settle for less than blazing fast.

Ok obviously when one says blazingly fast on an internet forum and gives you an idea of what their needs are, blazingly fast becomes relative to what their purpose and budget is. Though it may be late, I have declared a budget so how about we start talking about the best I can get for my budget and not the wording of the title

 

[Blain]

You've got a $276 dual core CPU listed...
For the tasks you're asking this system to perform, you should base it around a Q9300.

After all, you said yourself...
"I encode videos and stuff but wouldn't a quadcore be useful if I encode couple videos at the same time or do a few high CPU performance tasts at once like photoshop, maya, etc. at once?"


If you're doing a lot at the same time, the higher clocked dual core won't keep up like the Q9300 would.