System Recommendation?

[zahidhafeez]

Dear All,

I am interested in building a new system to give me the speed, performance and stability. The system will primarliy be used for Photo Editing, DVD Authoring, etc. (No Gaming at all) based on Windows Vista Ultimate (32 Bit). In this regard I made few seacrhs on various forums and developing interest towards Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R due to flexibility on types of RAM (DDR2 or DDR3) it can take. In this regard I have multiple questions, given below, seeking the expert opinions of the anandtech's forum members.

1. Intel Core2 Extreme QX6850 Processor - Open to suggestions!
2. Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R - Open to suggestions (please list make and model)
3. Fastest RAM with lower latency either from Corsair, Kingston or Mushkin (Additionally suggestion on type of RAM e.g. DDR2 or DDR3) - Off course should be compatible with the motherboard.
4. Video Adapter (PCI Express) - preference is towards ATI based board however open to suggestion linked to performance. ATI Chip based adapters by other manufacturers will be appreciated. No plans to add another video adpater however can be conisdered in consideration of performance gain.
5. Hard Disk WD Caviar SE16 (Is it advisable to go for RAID (stripping) to get performance?)
6. Sound Card : Sound Blaster X-Fi? XtremeGamer
7. Casing
8. PowerSupply (Make and Watts)

Moreover, I will also appreciate your suggestions on migrating to 64 bit version of Windows Vista? Is it worth considering to have performance gain.

Your suggestions and comments in this regard will be highly appreciated. For this system, for a moment ignore any budget limitation.

Cheers,

Zahid Hafeez

 

[WildHorse]

Well I don't have experience using most of the items you listed, so I can't give a good comment about them.

One thing that might help you would be the AT Guide on top-end systems.

The guide which this link points to is getting a little bit old, but it may still give you some good ideas.

I hope some more people post here to help you.

Good luck building your new system!

 

[NXIL]

Dear Zahid,

it looks like you want to put together a top end system, as the QX6850 costs ~ $1500 at Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...16819115026&Tpk=qx6850

The P35C is about $150, ~$100 or so for 2GB RAM, $100-$200 for video card, since you do not game, ~200 for two good size hard drives, $80 for sound card, estimate 100 for a nice case, $100 or so for a decent power supply (includes tax, shipping on that.)

That's about $2380, call it $2400, not including Windows Vista. (DVD burner about $30 or so, too, but, that doesn't even register given overall price....)

So is this:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-M...2XYSxUC1Czzd57C/3.?p=0

The advanatages for the Mac Pro: no 4GB memory limit. Lots of pros use them just as you intend to, i.e. DVD, photo, etc. Very stable, good OS, but, you can dual boot Vista without issues.....OS already essentially 64 bit (no flames please, yes, I know....lots of stuff runs in 32 bit mode, etc.)

And, 32 bit versus 64 bit Windows: seems that there is no big advantage of going to 64 bit, unless you have software that needs 64 bit capabilities, i.e. lots of memory.

So, working backwards: the software you are going to use should really help dictate the hardware...Macs are really good for photo, DVD work....and, the high end macs are in what appears to be your price range.

As for striping hard drives in RAID 0: I think it can speed things up somewhat, at the risk of the loss of data from bothdrives if one fails.

The Mac Pro can do Raid 0, 1, or 0 + 1:

http://www.apple.com/macpro/expansion.html

Anyway, for such a high end system, I do think getting a pre-made one is not such a bad idea....and, I do recommend thinking software first, then making sure the hardware fits....

HTH,

NXIL

 

[rara112]

well Core2 Extreme QX6850 Processor for photo editing&dvd authoring is a little too good in my opinion. the motherboard and other parts are fine, but i think a quad q6600 Processor is fairly enough....PERSONAL OPINION ONLY