Need help with picking out hardware. Experienced builders plz help!

[Str33tR4C3R]

I have $2,500 or less to play with and I already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Primarily, I need help choosing what hardware to run in my box. I'm going to be building this when spring rolls around. But I would just like to have some sort of base knowledge on what I should be looking for according to my requirements.

I'm going to be using this computer mostly for videos. I want to take all of my VHS tapes and my DVDs and convert them to files. I also wouldn't mind recording stuff off TV, but I guess I can just record shows to a VHS tape and then convert that to an mpeg.
I'm also going to be using this computer for gaming, ripping mp3s, and surfing. I download a TON of stuff off the net. I already have a cable modem so that's out of the way too. But again, my main focus is ripping videos and playing games.

I was thinking of going with AMD but that's as far as I've gotten. I don't know if I want a scsi interface for huge HDDs or whatnot. I'm also looking into using liquid cooling to keep my stuff cool. I like the Lian Li PC70 cases.

Should I use DDR or PC800 ram? SCSI or IDE? I've read articles that say that IDE isn't as fast as SCSI and current hard drives are catching up to IDE's limits. So would SCSI prove to be a better choice? I'd like to have a system that will last me a long time and allow me to upgrade when necessary. What about duel processors? Motherboards?

thanks everyone. sorry for my newbiness.

 

[BreakApart]

Well from your planned usage...

-Video encoding = RAID will be a bonus IDE or SCSI, let your budget decide.
-Save a nice chunk of cash for a nice VIDEO-IN card, for the video capture/editing. Some of the nicer cards can eat $400 out of your budget. Get this card settled and picked out way before you begin.-(lots of people do encoding on these boards i'm sure they can help pick the best card for your plans)
-Liquid cooling has a few drawbacks #1 being by the time the system is setup, overclocked, leak-tested and stable, INTEL or AMD will release a chip faster than your water cooled setup. For the average user air-cooled is always the safest bet, easier to maintain and easier to upgrade to the next level. But this is your dream rig so best of luck.
-DDR all the way, even INTEL is finally seeing the light on this topic.
-Dual processor rigs are sweet, this is something you'll have to decide if you'll really use all that power. If you plan to encode more than 15-20 movies, i'd say go dual...

Good Luck

 

[grimzod]

Hmm...

Dual Tualatin P3-S 1.266 512k cache on a P3tDDE (has onboard ide raid)(uses dimms)

or dual AMD 1.2 MP procs the thunder motherboards come with built in scsi channels (uses registered ddr).

By next spring there might be something better, though.

tualatins I love because of their Cache. they really knock the snot out of P4 1.7 ghz xeons and are just a little under the 1.4 AMDs in performance (though amd still owns floating point calcs).

Use SCSI if you can. Ide is slower but WAY cheaper (the above p3tdde board has a ide raid controller built in).

What he said about the video card is true, though. Find the video card FIRST. Build your system around it. Make sure you get people to tell you what works best in what.

I'll think further on this.

 

[TunaBoo]

Dual 1.5+ pallies (spring is a long ways away).
Tyran mp or future board (asus etc)
1 gig of registered DDR
2 160 gig IDE drives in raid 1
1 u160 cheetak 30 gig 15k rpm drive
1 lsilogic or similar SCSI controller



You should be able to get that under 2500. The 2 160 gig drives in raid 1 will provide you a safe place to store movies. And the 15k SCSI drive will give you a fact place to work from. 2 18 giggers would be better, 1 for OS and 1 for swap space.


I may have suggested a TAD too much, if budget limits, back off the raid1 and do the "1 IDE drive and pray method" of data security.

 

[Str33tR4C3R]

Does anyone know where I can read up about raid cards? I have no idea what they are or what they do. Maybe someone can quickly explain to me what they are?

I thought liquid cooling was the best since it was near silent. Are you guys saying that if I go ahead with liquid cooling, I'll have to buy a new one when I upgrade to a better cpu or motherboard? I'll be using this computer an awful lot. I hardly ever shut the thing off as well.
I'm hoping to run the fastest cpus on a duel motherboard. Maybe even overclock it. I know by spring they'll have faster systems.

I also would like to hold an ftp server so people can download my videos and stuff. So maybe I can run IDE and SCSI?

 

[TunaBoo]

<< Does anyone know where I can read up about raid cards? I have no idea what they are or what they do. Maybe someone can quickly explain to me what they are?

I thought liquid cooling was the best since it was near silent. Are you guys saying that if I go ahead with liquid cooling, I'll have to buy a new one when I upgrade to a better cpu or motherboard? I'll be using this computer an awful lot. I hardly ever shut the thing off as well.
I'm hoping to run the fastest cpus on a duel motherboard. Maybe even overclock it. I know by spring they'll have faster systems.

I also would like to hold an ftp server so people can download my videos and stuff. So maybe I can run IDE and SCSI? >>



Yah IDE and SCSI is good.


Umm. liquid cooling takes a lot of work. Either a) go to overclockers.com and spend 2 hours a night for a while reading TONS of articles on it so you undertsand it in depth, or b) get some help when you make your rig.