Building My First PC

[jldodge]

This summer, I will be building my first PC. I plan to use SCSI in a full tower setup including CD-RW, DVD-RW, high end sound and video cards, a video editing capability, and the "other" standard peripherals.

What "top-of-the-line" motherboard, case, SCSI adapter, and video card would you all recommend? I may not be a techie but I am willing to learn. Also, what type of removable storage technology and equipment would you recommend? I have been looking at optical disk but don't have any experience. I would need large volume, reliable storage and hardware.

A few additional questions ....

Do I order the motherboard with the SCSI controller already installed or should I buy an Adaptec controller board and use one of the available PCI slots?

How do I ensure that the motherboard, SCSI controller, RAM all work together? Should I purchase them all from the same vendor in case I need to swap/return? Do the vendors work with me to ensure that I am purchasing "compatible" components?

I will be documenting all of my trials and tribulations for someone else to benefit from in the future.

Tall order, hope you can help. Thanks in advance .....

 

[StrangeRanger]

How much are you looking to spend? What are the main purposes of this rig?



<< including CD-RW, DVD-RW, high end sound and video cards, a video editing capability, and the &quot;other&quot; standard peripherals. >>


Why do you want both cd and dvd-rw? What do you mean by high end sound? Sh!te, you could spend thousands alone on a sound or video card if you wanted.



<< What &quot;top-of-the-line&quot; motherboard, case, SCSI adapter, and video card would you all recommend? I may not be a techie but I am willing to learn. >>


The first step in learning is research. Do some searchs and on this forum alone you will find a huge amount of great info.



<< Do I order the motherboard with the SCSI controller already installed or should I buy an Adaptec controller board and use one of the available PCI slots? >>


Again, do some digging. See what ppl are saying. Think about what you want out of your system and compare to what others are saying/doing.



<< How do I ensure that the motherboard, SCSI controller, RAM all work together? Should I purchase them all from the same vendor in case I need to swap/return? Do the vendors work with me to ensure that I am purchasing &quot;compatible&quot; components? >>


Again, you know the answer, if you want to learn you have to do some digging on your own. But pretty much any pc stuff will work with other pc stuff, and any noteable hardware incompatibilites i'm sure will be mentioned noted on these forums, along with solutions most of the time. Same goes for hardware/software issues. As for the vendors, they don't care what you buy as long as they get paid. You can ask them general questions but that's about as helpful as they will get. And generally there is no reason to buy everything from one vendor unless you are considering shipping costs. Use something like pricewatch, check prices and compare shipping. Shipping is where the fu*k you over.
I'm sorry to seem kind of vauge and not offer much info, but you really need to have a very clear idea of what you want to do with your rig before asking for input/advice. It sounds like you have a large chunk of $$$ to blow, so think carefully about what you wanna do.
j

 

[rowcroft]

Just a tip, the DVD-RW Pioneer drive will burn cd's as well if I'm not mistaken. Also, I would recomend buying a board with on-board SCSI and if it isn't sufficient get a card. You can also use both if need be. The premium will not be noticable considering the cost of the rest of your system. Check out some of the boards that will be coming out with the 760MPX chipset, that's the direction I would recomend you going if price isn't a concern.

Rowcroft

 

[Duvie]

By looking at the components you want I am gathering you want to do some heavy work...then I think the athlon 4 MP chips maybe dual 1.2 or dual 1.4s and the tyan mobo maybe a great solution...so far looks like the best performing smp setup besting dual 1.7 xeons in anandtechs latest reviews.

Talk to a user named pabster in about a week or so...He just got this sytem and could give you some feedback as well...

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Goddness, like I always say, if you're going to do it, do it right! My understanding is that the DVD-RW drives also do CD-RW at like 12X which is pretty good. I would also suggest a dual processor system if money is no object. Might as well get the SCSI built into the board if it's available. Whatever you do, make sure you have fun!

 

[agg123456789]

lol....well again...money is no object....wow...this could be fun......

Tyan K7 Master
2x AthlonMP 1.2 GHz
2x 256MB DDR PC2100 32Mx72 184 pin registered DIMM
Whatever SCSI HDD you want
GeForce 3 with VIVO
Pioneer DVD-RW (does cd's too)
Lian-Li Aluminum Full Tower case
550 Enermax PSU (if this works with the K7 Master cant remember)
FUn!


agg123456789

 

[dowxp]

why stop there

dual xeons [the p4 kind]
intel mobo probably
1gb + ram
3x x15's cheetah in raid 5
=)
gametheatre
promedias 5.1
oh i dont know, sony 24&quot; monitor.


haha. sorry i cant help. thats too high end for me. i would not go athlon dual if you are looking for reliable and all that junk people will scream at me for. dual athlons havent been out that long and i dont really know if they are &quot;stable&quot; perse..

 

[Flat]

From my personal experience, DVD-r works much better in W2K &amp; on Intel, for video editing. DVDR is really great for me because I am in lighting for TV/Movie industry, and we use CG models to play around with different lighting. If your doing anything like that though, I would probaly go with a Mac. For the most part, with the mac, things will be quicker and easier. (733 model). A P4 setup would be a close second, and considerably cheaper also. You probaly also want to go with SCSI HDD, Seagate is superior here, definetly. Also, 1.5 gigs of RAM or so with a mac, atleast .5gigs with a P4, 600mhz RAM will save you some money hear, and it will easily do 800 (unless you plan to OC, then get 800), get whatever is cheapest, as its all pretty good quality.

 

[jldodge]

Thanks a bunch ... The responses were very valuable. I am still in the planning stages so this focused me on some very important points, e.g. CD-RW and DVD can be handled with the same peripheral.

I have more research to do on the components which I can do on my own.

Can you give me some advice on the actual purchasing process? Who do you recommend as vendors? What about warranties? I don't feel I will need technical support but I obviously want to be able to replace defective merchandise. What is the best way to manage the vendor process? Fewer vs. many; go for the cheapest, they are all the same or what .... Do factories sell direct?

Thanks in advance ....