Proposed spec - comments/suggestions requested

[techfuzz]

I'm thinking about upgrading my current PC to something a bit more potent and capable of handling an X2 down the road. I very rarely play games and only recently got into video capture/editing. Any comments, suggestions, criticisms are welcomed.

I'll reuse 1GB (2x512MB) of Kingmax memory, 2x80GB and 1x120GB ATA hard drives as well as my case, DVD writer, and other assorted odds and ends. Here's what I was thinking of upgrading to:
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail ($110)
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail ($190)
GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128D Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail ($160)
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail ($89)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380817AS 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM ($61)

techfuzz

 

[Kenazo]

So, you already have a video capture card? Or have you been using Firewire exclusively? I wouldn't bother with that extra hard drive if you already have 400gb of storage, if you need more space go buy a 200gig Seagate.

 

[techfuzz]

Yes, I have a Hauppauge WinTV-150 MCE that I recently bought to do some beginner type VHS to DVD conversions. I don't have any Firewire devices like a DV camera yet. The extra hard drive is because I want to separate the OS from the rest of my drives. Plus a figured a newer SATA drive wouldn't be a bad investment considering the other drives are all a couple years old now. I'll eventually replace the other 3 drives with, like you said, 200gb+ drives at some point down the road.

techfuzz

 

[Kenazo]

So, why not just get a 160-200gig hdd now and use one of the 80gig's you have to run your OS, or run them in RAID and run your OS on that. A 160gig Seagate is about $0.54/gig while the 80gig is $0.76/gig.

 

[techfuzz]

That is a possibility, but the existing drives I have are all ATA, not SATA. My thought was I could stand to gain some performance by going with a newer generation drive which also happens to be SATA and has NCQ some of those other features that I haven't really looked into yet. When I get around to doing the upgrade, I just might go ahead and get a large drive like you suggested.

techfuzz

 

[Kenazo]

The improvement from ATA to SATA will be almost nil. It is faster, but not really "I want to go out and buy a new hard drive" faster. If you're buing a new drive do it b/c you need the space.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: Kenazo
The improvement from ATA to SATA will be almost nil. It is faster, but not really "I want to go out and buy a new hard drive" faster. If you're buing a new drive do it b/c you need the space.

While the performance improvement may not be ideal, the reliability is more of my concern. Like I said before, my other drives all have some years on them and replacing them with a new generation SATA is more along the lines of my original thinking. They hard drive is the least of my concerns with this new computer though. I'm more concerned about the motherboard, processor, and video card as well as making sure I get an appropriate PSU for the job.

techfuzz

 

[techfuzz]

Anyone else?

techfuzz