Small box build for video & audio editing

[SeanFL]

I'm building a new machine in the next month or so and wanted to get some input on how this looks. The machine needs to be housed in a tiny box, and be somewhat portable. If that just won't work, then I'll get a micro atx tiny tower. I won't need sli or dual graphics cards...in fact onboard graphics might work, although I do like a dual monitor setup. Already have the monitors (Dell 2408 and Acer H233H.) Buying everything in the US.

The machine will be used for video & audio editing. Quad core makes quite a difference with video, the audio programs I use don't use 4 cores yet. I might overclock a tiny bit; would like to stick to the stock cooler (and not increase noise).

I'd like to go i7 920 if possible, I realize it'll cost more. Are there other micro atx boards for it that I haven't seen?

Motherboard:
Asus Rampage II Gene LGA 1366 Micro ATX; $235.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131371

Core i7 920; $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115202

HIS Radeon HD 4850; $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161244
(people have said the HIS brand uses quieter fans, that's important as it'll be used in a studio and should be somewhat quiet).

Memory:
OCZ XMP 6gb for $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227388

Hard Drive: Samsung or Seagate; 1TB drive; about $100. Considering Intel SSD.


DVD Burner; either the Samsung SH-S223Q or Sony AD-7241S.

Power Supply: Hoping a 430-500 will be fine (I've used 430s in the past with one hard drive and have been fine). Modular would be great so cable clutter is down. Corsiar 520, 620HX, Seasonic or OCZ?

Case: again, looking for a tiny case.
Thermaltake Lanbox VF1000BWS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811133035

or Lanbox light
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811133044

Apevia X-QPack-BL/420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811144110

What do you think? How can I make it better?

Sean

 

[BaboonGuy]

Get two hard drives, it'll improve performance for video editing. I'd also get the biggest possible.

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

some fool might not like this, but I would not go with Seagate or Samsung 1TB's for your build. I say this solely based on performance. I don't know anything about SSD's but if you can afford a hi-end SSD (like an Intel E or Foremay) you may want to do that. If not, then just get a drive that doesn't totally suck at multi-threaded reads or everything but sequential reads. WD Blacks or RE3's are the way to go. I would also have 2 drives - 1 for OS + Programs, 1 for files.

 

[SeanFL]

thanks guys. I'm planning on using one internal drive for the OS (maybe an SSD) and using an esata dock to swap out various projects on different hard drives. Chai, thanks for the info on WD Black or RE3; both seem to get great praise.

Any comments on case (lanbox, lanbox lite, qpack) and mb?

 

[elconejito]

How often will you be carrying this around?

If you are carrying it around a lot, then the Thermaltake Lanbox and the QPack look better due to the handles. Looks like they all only have room for two internal drives (not including any potential mods). I don't have any other input on the cases...

For the drives, if you are carrying it around a lot an SSD would be a great choice (no moving parts). BUT - your storage space would be severely limited. A good compromise would be 2 conventional drives in RAID1, like 2 1TB WD Blacks for example. That will give you very good performance, and offer "some" security from impact.

If you are not carrying it around a lot then, like BaboonGuy & ChaiBabbaChai mentioned, a two drive setup would be a better performer. You can get two conventional drives, or one SSD and one conventional.

I would not go with Seagate right now since they've had a lot of issues recently (look in memory & storage forums). First choice for me would be Western Digital, and a tie for second place would be Hitachi & Samsung.

Either way, make sure you have a good backup plan (memory & storage forum has a sticky and some other recent topics on this).

If you aren't going to be doing gaming on this computer, you might want to take a look at ATI HD4350 instead of the HD4850. It only pulls about 8-9w at idle and a max of about 15w. Most other video cards pull over 30w at idle. Less power = less heat = less noise from fans. There are a ton of passive cooled options that wont generate a lot of heat in your case.

For PSU, you're right on. Without overclocking or very minimal overclocking you should be fine with a *quality* 400-500w PSU. However, I'd feel better with something at 500w+ for the little bit of overhead "just in case". Corsair & Seasonic are great choices, OCZ isn't bad, but I prefer the other two since they are generally more efficient (80PLUS, etc).

For the cooler, I'd stick with the stock one for right now. Just keep it in the back of your head that you may want to change it if you need either more quiet or better temps. Normally the stock cooler is very quiet at stock speeds and light usage. But it gets pretty loud when it's cranked up at full load and the temps are climbing. I'm not familiar with those cases so it's hard to predict what the temps will be like in them.