help me plan a system...

[Kartajan]

This is the deal:
Use: DV Capture/ Encoding, 3D Gaming system, (WinXP Pro (= 512M Ram))
Peeves: want onboard LAN, Sound, IEEE-1394a, USB 2, and would like SATA to boot.
Also, interested but not set on a DVI LCD and a color Laser printer.

Budget: less than $3900

Timeframe: plan to order this week, but wil wait up to end of the month for a significantly better plan.

Special Limitations: Have to order from somewhere that ships to FPO-AP addresses. (Stationed overseas)

Hit me up.

 

[Kartajan]

nobody want's to answer this, eh?

this is what I'm thinking right now:
P4B533 E (L/1394), P4 2.26G 533MHz, 2x 256M Corsair PC2400 C2 for $661
<or, wait for>
------>A7N8X, Athlon XP 2100+, 2x Corsair 256M PC3200 C2 for somewhere around $650
------>whenever it decides to be available. (based price on A7N266E, added $25)
Western Digital 80GB SE hard drive
Plextor PX-W4012TA CD-RW
Pioneer dvr-A04 DVD-RW
Asus GF4 Ti4400 (or any gf4 ti4400 w/ dvi out)
Hercules Prophetview 920 LCD (? or Samsung 19" Monitor??)
Antec SX635 Case? ---- i think it is good for both options- front panel access to 1394 & USB would be useful
(cheap color laser?)

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: Kartajan
nobody want's to answer this, eh?

this is what I'm thinking right now:
P4B533 E (L/1394), P4 2.26G 533MHz, 2x 256M Corsair PC2400 C2 for $661
<or, wait for>
------>A7N8X, Athlon XP 2100+, 2x Corsair 256M PC3200 C2 for somewhere around $650
------>whenever it decides to be available. (based price on A7N266E, added $25)

I would go the AMD route personally

Western Digital 80GB SE hard drive
Plextor PX-W4012TA CD-RW- very nice choice
Pioneer dvr-A04 DVD-RW- don't know much about these
Asus GF4 Ti4400 (or any gf4 ti4400 w/ dvi out)- 128mb version
Hercules Prophetview 920 LCD (? or Samsung 19" Monitor??) - never heard of hercules
Antec SX635 Case? ---- i think it is good for both options- front panel access to 1394 & USB would be useful - good choice
(cheap color laser?)

- cheap and color laser in the same sentence:Q

 

[CrazySaint]

Did you just say your budget is less than $3900?!

*floored*

* picks self up *

Get a P4 2.53GHz, P4B533-V, 1GB Corsair XMS PC3000 CAS2, Radeon 9700, Samsung 900NF, 2 120GB WD 'SE' drives in RAID, a couple SCSI drives also in RAID, and whatever else you can think of.

 

[Kartajan]

yes I did, but that includes a:

17" LCD Monitor with DVI in
and a
COLOR Laser printer.

That takes care of at least $2500 to start off.

I wonder if I should experiment with water cooling on this?

 

[xpr8]

With a budget of $3900, you really don't need to plan much.

Just buy the best of everything! 🙂

Like:
XP2200
Ti4600 128 Meg
100 gig 7200 RPM drive
Raid.

Dude, go for the gusto.... you're rich! 🙂

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: Kartajan
yes I did, but that includes a:

17" LCD Monitor with DVI in
and a
COLOR Laser printer.

That takes care of at least $2500 to start off.

I wonder if I should experiment with water cooling on this?

OK, that leaves about $1400 for the PC, not including monitor. Given that, your previous spec looks good, except I'd got for at least Corsair XMS PC2700CAS2 if not PC3000, or maybe Samsung Original PC3200 CAS3 (will do 2-2-2-6 timings @ DDR400), I'd get a Lite-On CD-RW instead of a Plextor since they are VERY good drives and are cheap. I'd still try to wait and get a 9700, though.

 

[cmdrdredd]

if you're doing video stuff I'd stay with Intel for the stability of the entire system. I know how frustrating it could be to be encoding a video and then have your system go boom because of a VIA chipset ;-P

 

[amdskip]

I've had no problems with via chipsets so I say he should go the amd route🙂

 

[Kartajan]

the thing about it is that if I can stand the wait for NForce2, (Which is, of course, NOT a VIA chipset), is it better to do the P4 or the AMD? I have not had any experience with either one myself, so I have to rely on others who have seen both. Obviously, nobody has personal experience with NForce2, so I am stuck guessing there.

 

[Technonut]

Use: DV Capture/ Encoding, 3D Gaming system, (WinXP Pro (= 512M Ram))

You may want to consider a dual processor rig such as:

MSI K7D Master-L (MS-6501-030) AMD760MPX Dual Athlon 266MHz ATX MOTHERBOARD With Onboard LAN. (Comes with USB 2.0 card) Board has Vcore/FSB/multiplier adjustments. Also mounting holes for waterblocks. 😉

IEEE-1394a card

2 AMD Athlon MP 2000 1.67GHz PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL BOX. DUAL CAPABLE SERVER CHIP. (HSFs included)

3WARE Escalade 7210 Two Channel RAID Controller RETAIL BOX

2 WD SE HDs

Antec 550W TruePower PSU

128MB retail Radeon 8500 AIW (If ordering now)

 

[karmasalad]

Originally posted by: Kartajan
the thing about it is that if I can stand the wait for NForce2, (Which is, of course, NOT a VIA chipset), is it better to do the P4 or the AMD? I have not had any experience with either one myself, so I have to rely on others who have seen both. Obviously, nobody has personal experience with NForce2, so I am stuck guessing there.

Well, from what I've read, the P4 is better at multimedia tasks like video and sound encoding (~10% faster?) while the Athlon XP is better with intensive floating point calculations like AutoCAD and Photoshop (~15%?). It's mentioned in this month's PC World, and I've read it elsewhere as well. So by those numbers, I would imagine the P4 is the better choice for you.

 

[Kartajan]

OK.

I ordered everything except the CPU, MB, and RAM.

I still can't make up my mind........