Help: need advice on building a PC

[Wiglaf]

I'm building a PC for the first time and wanted some opinions. My primary use of the PC will be for high quality vid capture, video compression, mpeg2 playback, DVD and SVCD burning, and some video editing. This PC is for the most part not for games.
I'm thinking of the following system (PCProgress.com or CompUSA prices:
(1) 1.4G Athlon $149
(2) Asus ASA7M266 Mobo $185
(3) 2x256MB Corsairmicro 32x64DDR RAM PC2100 2x$67
(what's the diff. between this DDR RAM and 1600/2100DDR or 32x72?)
(4) Maxtor 100G $300CompUSA
(5) Plextor PX-W1610TA (16/10/40) $189
(6) Que! IDE/ATAPI Internal DVD-R/DVD-RAM Drive QPDVRPN1 $549.99CompUSA
(7) All-In-Wonder Pro AGP OEM 32MB $104
Is this capture card too powerful or could I get even higher quality vid capture with another card? Are there any elements of this system that I should consider changing?
I appreciate any advice.

 

[ChipNOW]

Hey wiglaf2 and welcome to the AT forums!

There's a few little things you may want to change on your system.

The fact that you mention video capture cards indicates to me you're doing some kind of video editing, and in this case your hard disk subsystem is a major factor.

I agree with the choice of the 1.4GHz Athlon - I wouldn't go for anything else!

I've never heard of the ASA7M266... I'm guessing by the S, and the A, that it's an ALiMagic board with on-board SCSI? If so, I'd reccomend you get a VIA KT266 or SiS735 based solution instead

The 100GB hard drives are one of the biggest ripoffs in recent history - I would go for 2 40's, 45's or 60's... this allows you to run a RAID stripe for increase hard drive speed (which as I mentioned is crucial) for no more than the 100GB

You're probably being charged just a little too much for the CDR, as Plex and TDK 24x's can be had for not much more. Also, I don't know why you need a CDR and a DVD-RAM - you should just go for a single DVD-RW at a similar price.

Finally, if that's the All-in-wonder Radeon then it's a good choice.

Anyway... hope this helps.

Chris

 

[ChipNOW]

Oh... and get your RAM from Crucial.com - arguably the best RAM you can buy and 256MB PC2100 is only $37.79 plus shipping - 37.79 * 2 = 75.58, $50 less for better RAM, can't go wrong with that!

Edit - 2nd day shipping is freeeee

 

[virulent]

i agree w/ chip that u should opt for multiples of smaller hds. u can get 40gig hds 7200rpm for ~100$, at least i did (3 of them). thats 20 extra gigs for the same amount of money or even less. plus think if your big 100giger plops on you thats all of your data. im sure 100gigs will be mainstream in a couple yrs and ill be saying this to ppl who want to opt for a 300giger vs 3*100gigs. to each his own i guess. and cant you buy a pioneer dvdr drive for about 50$ more? i mite be wrong or u prefer the ram drive. gl.


edit
crucial ram yes

 

[waytoomuchcoffee]

Actually, Corsair can be o/ced higher than Crucial. Although if you don't plan to o/c, crucial is your best bet now, as either will be great for a stock 1.4

Do you mean the A7M266?

1600DDR only rated up to 200Mhz, 2100 up to 266. You want 2100.

What case and HSF are you planning on? The 1.4 gives off a lot of heat; you will need a good internal cooling system. You will need at least a 350w power supply (Enermax always good choice), but maybe 400w with all the stuff you have. Comments anyone?

The main question here is: are you planning to overclock?

 

[Wiglaf]

Thanks ChipNOW and virulent,
1. I'll keep the RAID in mind. But in a RAID, if one drive goes down doesn't that bring the entire array down and you lose all data? Seems like you have 2x as many moving parts and so 2x the rate of crashes, no?
2. With the RAM, Crucial sounds good. Hadn't planned on overclocking, cause I've never tried . Mebbe I'll try.
3. oops. yeah, I meant the A7m266

 

[Wiglaf]

waytoomuchcoffee,
started to address you in the last post.

I have absolutely no idea as to the case and cooling. Can you offer any specifics cases or HSFs that I should consider. I was hoping that two case fans would be enough -- is this the case?

 

[virulent]

i didnt mention raid. *points to chip* well thats true u do have twice the chance of losing all your data in a raid 0 config but u get the performance boost. but if u want the fault tolerance u can setup a raid 1 and if one drive fails u have the other one as a backup. or if u have 4 hds u can have the best of both worlds and setup a raid 0+1. anyways, i just use my raid controllers as a regular ide controller and utilize all of my gigabytes.

 

[ChipNOW]

Yes virulent I was the one that mentioned RAID!!

It's true that you have twice the chance of failure, but the fact that you're now a 2 in a million chance as opposed to 1 in a million shouldn't be a problem. Plus you're getting a seriously big removable storage medium in either DVD-RAM or DVD-RW, so I wouldn't worry

 

[virulent]

*points to chip* hi chip sorry didnt mean to offend.

 

[LanEvoVI]

First of all, is that chip you are buying a retail box or an OEM chip? If it's retail it will already come with a heat sink and fan that are decent if you keep it at 1.4 and don't overclock. Oh and what case will you be using for this comp? I'd recommend the Antex SX series for really great cases w/ good cooling. And just as a sidenote, I use the 300 W antec power supply that came with the Antec SX830 case that I have and have no problems running my 1.4 w/ a lot of components, but it never hurts to have more wattage.

Oh, and one more thing, is PCProgress the only e-tailer you're considering? I'd like to recommend newegg.com. This site has great prices and support and I order 3/4 of my parts from there to save on shipping. (The OEM 1.4 Athlon was only $107 last time i checked!)

If you're gonna go OEM, some heat sinks you may want to look into are the SVC Golden Gate, Thermalright SK-6, or the GlobalWin CAK38 or WBK38 (if you want to order from newegg).

 

[Hyudra]

I second the Antec SX series, don't skimp on the casing.

 

[waytoomuchcoffee]

Antec cases are just fine, and LanEvo is right any HSF that comes with the retail is fine if you don't o/c (any HSF that is OK'ed by AMD to support 1.4 Athlons will work). You can spend a LOT on a case if you are into that, there are pretty nice all-aluminum cases that are very good looking and have good case cooling (like my Coolmaster, or lian-li's), but might be overkill if you decide not to o/c. If you do plan to o/c, you will need more than 2 fans probably, and a good HSF (the ones mentioned by LanEvo are all very good, I see he reads HardOCP lol, but all are VERY loud).

 

[SpecialEd]

Wiglaf- I second shopping at Newegg... you really can't beat the prices and service for most parts. you can easily save yourself 200-250 dollars compared to you prices you have listed if you buy some of your parts there.