Greytop senior needs advice re: 2008 build

[mcurtin]

I'm looking to gather components for a new build (an expert assembler/builder will actually do the build). PC is to be used for: high def video editing, surfing with multiple windows open, management of large digital photo database, and finally for occasional but high end video game playing (when my son's come over to the house), so I don't want the PC to be a slouch at gaming.

No specific budget...I can afford most of the higher end components. Will buy all components in USA via net. As below, guess I'm a fan of Intel, ASUS, WD and until Radeon 4870 was nVidia fan. Have searched other forums and threads but not knowledgeable enough on newer mobos to get that choice right. If overclocking were simple via built in MB software, I might try it. Hope to be starting build in 4 weeks or less.

I already have various components from birthday and Father's Day gifts: Dell 2407 monitor from a previous build, Cooler Master's Cosmos 1000 case, DVD optical drives, and two (2) of these:

Patriot 2GB (2 X 1GB) 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Desktop Memory

For video, I thought Radeon 4870 (any thoughts on the Powercolor brand?)

My idea was to get Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 or Q6700 (if anyone thought it was worth the extra $80. Please advise on any heat sink or fan to purchase instead of, or in addition to, what is included in the retail box. Or is there a better choice or value?

Really need advice re: mobo. I plan to have 4 SATA drives (500 G or 640 G, not sure which and set them up as Raid 01 (0 + 1) or Raid 10 (1 + 0) so mobo should support those and ideally be very easy to set up. Don't need SLI support. I think I prefer Intel chipsets...should I be choosing an X38, or P45 board? I've had great luck in past with an ASUS board (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) that also had wi-fi. I wouldn't mind having that wi-fi capability but it's not crucial. Down the road, I might upgrade to lower speed DDR3 memory so if board could support both, that would be great.

Finally, would 750 ? 800 watt PSU be sufficient? Please recommend products (manufacturers) that have high reliability and ease of connection as well as good value per watt.

Re the hard drives: do number of platters matter in reliability and speed (e.g., the 640 WD has 2 320 G platters. I don't know how many the 500G has?

Also thank you in advance for any other suggestions, additions or criticisms.

 

[DSF]

Combo boards are a waste of money. There isn't any real speed increase in moving to DDR3, and you end up handicapping your total RAM capacity.

If you're not overclocking, using the stock heatsink is fine.

Hard drives with fewer, larger platters tend to be a little bit faster, but they also have the advantage of using less power since the motor has to do less work.

A 750-800W PSU is well more than you need for a computer that's only running one video card. A PSU in the 550-600W range would power your setup without any difficulties.

 

[videogames101]

For motherboard, P45 is an excellent choice, if you don't need Crossfire go for the standard Asus P5Q: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131295


If you really want DDR3 and wi-fi - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131218

DDR3 is a waste of time atm, the memory you already have is great, but i'd suggest picking up another 2x1gig sticks.


GPU - The 4870 is a great pick, and brand doesn't matter a whole lot, but visiontek has a lifetime warrenty, and I personally like Asus's gpu build quality.


CPU - Definitely the Q6600, the $80 is certainly not worth it.

The Xigatek S1283 is the best price/performance cooler on the market. (only needed if ocing)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003

if you do get that, make sure to get the retention bracket- http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233019
and some Arctic Silver 5


PSU - I would suggest either the Corsair 650TX or 750TX, 650 and 750 watts each.
650 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139005
750 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139006

650 watts should be more than enough though
(750 would be needed if you have any plans for crossfire in the future.)


The WD 640 SE16 is pretty much the cheapest fastest 7200rpm drive out there, I highly recommend it.

 

[MarcVenice]

The ram, hmmm, 2x2gb is better, but 4x1gb works too. Just get the same 2x1gb kit, if you can't, considering giving it away or selling it, and buy yourself 2x2gb for $70-80 or so.

Video, good.

Q6600, extra $70 not worth it. Overclocking is as easy as this, your bump the fsb from 266 too 300 and your q6600 runs at 2.7ghz, or, your bump it to 333, and it runs at 3.0ghz. The latter might need an aftermarket heatsink though, and a MINOR voltage adjustment, if even that though, a lot of q6600's can do 3.0ghz on stock vcore. I'd get this heatsink, cheap, very good performance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003

Nice mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131299 but no wifi. This one does: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131196 I doubt you'll notice a diff between the two boards tbh. If you want wifi, go with the latter. No ddr3 support, because upgrading to ddr3 won't net you any performanceboost, so forget abt it.

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...E16817139001&Tpk=520hx You don't need more then 500w, this one is modular too, so cables you don't need won't be cluttering your case. $80 ain't bad I think, but you should shop around for better deals. If you are deadset on more wattage, try a 650tx or a 750tx. Those go pretty cheap now and then.

Number of platters could affect reliability, i mean, less platters means less chance of failure, no? But then again, I'm not sure. Less platters does mean higher density though, and thus faster read and write speeds. The WD 640gb are nice, but so are the samsung f1 750gb HD's. Btw, re raid, are you sure? It's quite the hassle, and often doesn't net much if any performance.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: mcurtin
high def video editing,
management of large digital photo database

What programs will you be using to edit the HD video?