Building Multimedia/entertainment pc

[PCaddict7]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. It will be used *mostly* for photoshop/animation/video and photo editing/movie entertainment/download hog and most of all heavy multitasking


2. What YOUR budget is. somewhere around $1700 without monitor and speakers


3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. USA


4. IF YOU have a brand preference. What ever fits the bill, quality brand is of importance
if anything Intel would be my top choice for cpu

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts. No, everything will be brand new


6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. have looked yet similar threads seem to always talk about gaming, which is not what I intend this new system for.


7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. I will OC this system


8. WHEN do you plan to build it? ASAP (its for work *comic book publishing/magazine advertising company*) have only this whole week till next week to decide

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'd consider running at stock instead since it's a work PC -- crashes and data corruption of work in memory is not a good thing.

A fast intel quad core, vista 64, 8 GB DDR2 RAM (4 x 2), 2+ WD 640 GB disks. RAID-1 for your work files? An extra scratch disk (WD 320 GB single platter?)

Blu-ray drive?

Intel P45 should be fine for the motherboard, maybe a P5Q Pro. The video card doesn't matter too much except for HD video acceleration. ATI 3xxx/4xxx or nv 8xxx/9xxx.

 

[DSF]

Since all he needs the video for is HD acceleration, there are more cost-effective choices than mainstream gaming cards.

Edit: NM, I see you were not specifically recommending the high-end models in the 3xxx/4xxx and 8xxx series.

 

[PCaddict7]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I'd consider running at stock instead since it's a work PC -- crashes and data corruption of work in memory is not a good thing.

A fast intel quad core, vista 64, 8 GB DDR2 RAM (4 x 2), 2+ WD 640 GB disks. RAID-1 for your work files? An extra scratch disk (WD 320 GB single platter?)

Blu-ray drive?

Intel P45 should be fine for the motherboard, maybe a P5Q Pro. The video card doesn't matter too much except for HD video acceleration. ATI 3xxx/4xxx or nv 8xxx/9xxx.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (a good choice for heavy multitasking?) and since you recommended that I dont need to OC, would it still be beneficial if I got a aftermarket cpu cooler?
Motherboard: PQ5-Deluxe? (Saw the reviews on it plus it only has 1 PCE-slot since I will just be using 1 card, preferably a 1GB Video card)
Videocard: 9800GX2 or HD4870 1GB? *heard their is a 1GB version now*

No Blu-ray drive will be needed

As for PSU, would a 750w or 850w be enough? Thinking of getting Zalman or Corsair

Memory: it would either be OCZ reapers or MUSHKIN

Since the monitor was not mentioned in the budget, the company will provide me with a 26" inch SAMSUNG, not sure exactly what model it will be for I only know the size as of now. If I could recommend, to my manager, of another monitor what would be a better monitor?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Videocard: 9800GX2 or HD4870 1GB? *heard their is a 1GB version now*

Those are gaming cards, using more power and generating more heat and noise, but not speeding up normal applications (aside from one GPU-based video encoding application). 1 GB helps more with gaming with AA/AF than work applications.

A dual-slot cooler-running card like an 8800GTS 512 or even a 9600 would be fine. Your programs will just be using it as a dumb frame buffer, right?

Memory: it would either be OCZ reapers or MUSHKIN

don't overspend on this though, cheap & reliable DDR2 800 from them or Crucial is all you need.

 

[PCaddict7]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Videocard: 9800GX2 or HD4870 1GB? *heard their is a 1GB version now*

Those are gaming cards, using more power and generating more heat and noise, but not speeding up normal applications (aside from one GPU-based video encoding application). 1 GB helps more with gaming with AA/AF than work applications.

A dual-slot cooler-running card like an 8800GTS 512 or even a 9600 would be fine. Your programs will just be using it as a dumb frame buffer, right?

Memory: it would either be OCZ reapers or MUSHKIN

don't overspend on this though, cheap & reliable DDR2 800 from them or Crucial is all you need.

Oh, guess I didnt really notice the real difference, thought that a powerfull videocard would do the job (animation/video editing/movie presentations) and thought that 1GB is enough to push everything forward without a problem

As I will be using a single slot PCI-E (dual slot) video card some of my co-workers suggested a HD4870 since its only $300-$320.

 

[DSF]

With a single card you don't need a 750-850W power supply. 650W would be more than enough.

Edit: And if you opt for something lower power than a GX2 or 4870, 500W is plenty. I would go with Corsair over the Zalman, but there are other good choices from Seasonic, OCZ, BFG, Coolermaster and Antec.

What exactly do you mean by multitasking? If you mean running multiple CPU-intensive applications at the same time, like processing an image in Photoshop at the same time that your animation and video programs are crunching away, then yes, a quad core would probably help.

If you just mean having several browser/chat windows open while you're editing a photo, quad core is unlikely to make much difference. That's mostly a question of RAM.

Depends on a lot of things though, like how many cores each of your programs can use.

 

[poisonthewell]

OP, what Operating System are you planning to use? I'm guessing Vista since you'll quickly max out your system RAM with a high-end GPU, but it will help to clarify.

 

[PCaddict7]

Originally posted by: DSF
With a single card you don't need a 750-850W power supply. 650W would be more than enough.

What exactly do you mean by multitasking? If you mean running multiple CPU-intensive applications at the same time, like processing an image in Photoshop at the same time that your animation and video programs are crunching away, then yes, a quad core would probably help.

If you just mean having several browser/chat windows open while you're editing a photo, quad core is unlikely to make much difference. That's mostly a question of RAM.

Depends on a lot of things though, like how many cores each of your programs can use.

I am considering a Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W, would that suffice? and when when you mentioned about multitasking, what you have said is what I will be doing from time to time on a daily basis, especially when deadlines come to pass.

Originally posted by: poisonthewell
OP, what Operating System are you planning to use?

I will be using Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit