Help me out

[dwdty9]

I'm a college student working in Communication and Digital Media. I want to build a new PC. I do digital photo editing with Photoshop, very light if any video editing, lots of audio mixing/editing. I love surfing the internet, that's probably what I do the most! But I multitask like crazy and love having many windows open at the same time (who doesn't?!) And I'd like to play Madden and NBA Live as well. Also, I want this to be a relatively quiet PC, hense the Seasonic PSU and the Gigabyte (heatsink, NO FAN) video card. My last requirement is I'd like to be able to record the television on this PC. In order to watch some of my favorite shows I don't have time for. I'm working on a PowerMac Dual 2ghz G5 at the moment, but I think I'm going to sell it because it cost me $2,000, I would have to spend even more to get an External TV-PVR card and there's no Adobe Audition/Cool Edit Pro!!!! Would I see an upgrade in performance with the Pentium D or X2? I'd like to get this system a little bit under $1,000 maybe a few dollars more, but not like I have configured them now. Thanks for the help on the long post!!

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW
$44.99

LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1693S Black OEM - OEM
Model #: SOHW-1693S Black OEM
$37.99

ECS 945P-A (1.0) Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: 945P-A (1.0)
$80.00

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD1600JS
$79.99

pqi 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Unbuffered System Memory Model PQI25400-1GSB - Retail
Model #: PQI25400-1GSB
$91.44

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 - OEM
Model #: M93-00091
$124.95

SeaSonic S12-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: S12-430
$99.00

Intel Pentium D 820 Smithfield 800MHz FSB LGA 775 Dual Core, EM64T Processor - Retail
Model #: BX80551PG2800FN
$246.90

GIGABYTE GV-RX80256D Radeon X800 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: GV-RX80256D
$189.00

Hauppauge 1042 PCI Interface Win TV150 PVR-MCE Tuner Card for MCE - Retail
Model #: 1042
$67.00

TOTAL
1,102.53 after $41 shipping

OR

ALL the other components are the same except the RAM, CPU and Motherboard.

GeIL Value Series 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model GE1GB3200BSC - Retail
Model #:GE1GB3200BSC
$97.44

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail
Model #:ADA3800BVBOX
GIGABYTE GA-K8VT890-9 Socket 939 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #:GA-K8VT890-9
$416.01

TOTAL $1,156.37

 

[tylerni7]

Alright well I'm not a total expert but when you consider this you have to realize how much all the software will cost you also. Because if you need to buy all those programs then that will add a lot more money...
The dual core processor seems like overkill to me. It adds a lot to the price and while it may make a drastic increase in speed, I don't think you'd really notice it with what you'll be doing. The AMD will run at about the same speed but you should be able to overclock it to perform better. The Pentium D isn't really close to performing as well as the AMD.
Also keep in mind that unless you are using the 64-bit edition of Windows you arent really using the full power of your processor...
If you want to get the price down a little look around for a case with a good power supply, they are usually cheaper than buying a case and power supply seperate.
I don't know how much help I was again I'm not that great on the subject :-/ but I hope I was some help...
Goodluck!

 

[dwdty9]

thanks for helping out a little. i do have the software already, so that will be good. so are you saying I should get like a regular P4? I had the AMD 64 3000+, I wasn't too thrilled with it's multitasking performance

 

[VeganThug]

dwdty9,

i don't know how much you know, but i'll share my limited knowledge. seasonic power supplies are certainly quiet and efficient, but your system is only as quiet as its loudest component. you're going to have to fine tune a lot of your hardware before you notice the noise from your power supply fan. you're not planning on using the stock cpu fan are you? the zalman 7000B AlCu is a quality heatsink/fan that easily runs quieter than my antec aria (piece of junk) power supply fan. i don't know about your specific harddrive, but last i heard samsung still makes the quietest hd's. if you haven't already found it, there's a lot of information at www.silentpcreview.com . don't forget to research your case fans and optical drive (the nec dvd burner i have is pretty quiet, but i don't have anything legit to compare it with)...because nvidia is the only one that makes working drivers for linux, i would never consider buying ati, but does your software really require a video card that costs that much? i'm guessing that the games you mentioned don't need that much video card; i don't know about the rest...as far as multi-tasking, having a bunch of windows open doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the processor, but if your system with 2 gb of memory is bogged down, you're probably one of the few individuals that would actually benefit from a dual core processor. i really don't know much. i would recommend making sure that your software and o.s. can actually take advantage of your new processor's capabilities (dual core, 64 bit, hyper-threading or whatever).

p.s. if you do buy the gigabyte mb, feel free to post your comments on its reliability. i'm planning on building dual boot systems, and i'm looking for a reliable, stable motherboard. i'm starting to have some serious doubts about abit and especially asus mb's.

p.p.s. if you ask me a question i might not respond because i don't do much foruming (is that a word?).