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Building a Computer

LukeC

By LukeC
in Hardware

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LukeC

LukeC

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Iv been asked to build a computer. He has given me a specification - it will b used for word processing, internet, video editing and sound editing. It would be much appreciated if some one could look over the compononts below and give opinions and advice.

 

 

Can people see if i have missed anything off that will be important or if components are incompatible.

 

Many Thanks in advanced

kmount

kmount

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I'd bin the 32bit vista and get 64bit simply if anything to make use of the memory and future upgrade potential.

 

The dynamode firewire card is a bit mickey mouse but if he's not going to use it much (there's an onboard firewire port already) it should be fine.

 

Might be worth considering a second hard disk if he's going to be running anything "critical" uptime wise in a mirrored RAID setup.

 

Might be worth considering faster memory as the board will take it.

 

Other than that, wish I could afford it =)

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kmount

kmount

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Something like this would take advantage of the motherboard's support for 1066Mhz DDR2 RAM. To support the max the board will take of 1200Mhz DDR2 RAM would require a fair bit more investment.

 

I'd wait til you get some more views from other people before proceeding, been a while since I was in a position to order such a beast, I'd hate to say it "should" work together for it not to!

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LukeC

LukeC

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Yeah wont be rushing into it im just doing the research for him before i confirm ill do the job. Looks like we got the same memory at the same time.
tmcd35

tmcd35

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I'd bin the 32bit vista and get 64bit simply if anything to make use of the memory and future upgrade potential.

 

Might be worth considering a second hard disk if he's going to be running anything "critical" uptime wise in a mirrored RAID setup.

 

I'd agree with 64bit vista. I'd then possibly start the more memory vs. faster memory debate.

 

As for a second hard drive. Good idea, but instead of RAID I'd dedicate it to the Audio and Video editing tasks. Perhaps get a smaller 160Gb/250Gb primary drive if funding becomes an issue.

kmount

kmount

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If you buy XP Pro make sure it's the 64bit version (again, for the memory to be properly seen without PAE).

 

I can't vouch these days, but XP 64bit was awful initially, far worse than I've found Vista 64 to be. (Not used it much mind, linux man :))

kmount

kmount

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Or pick up a Raptor for the OS and have the 500GB for storage, and sure, if the difference wasn't the few quid for the memory I'd have said up it; and in fairness that being said, I'd still consider it as the video editing will take a serious chunk. (And that's before I mention vista!)
tmcd35

tmcd35

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Will go with the faster memory option as he has movement in his budget.

 

The reason for suggesting more memory over faster memory is to reduce the chance/amount of hard disk caching (virtual memory), especially with tasks like video editing. I'd expect a machine with more but slower memory to out perform a machine with less but faster memory. Though I haven't seen tests to prove this one way or the other.

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kmount

kmount

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The motherboard has 4 slots, might be worth shoving two 4GB kits in and having 8GB of the faster stuff (few quid in it) and cover yourself for a fair while yet.
LukeC

LukeC

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Thnaks for all the suggestions will discuss the options with the end user. Will the graphics card i ahve specified be adequate and is the case the right for factor. As it says its an midi atx and the motherboard specifies ATX i am unsure on the difference.
alan-d

alan-d

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I was under the impression that XP won't handle more than 4GB of memory.

 

Back to your specs - for video editing I'd double the HD space or allow for a large external drive.

 

A TV card might be useful too.

kmount

kmount

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Case should be fine, ATX comes in a few sizes (normally the issue is when its mATX meaning much smaller!).

 

Only problem may be if the PSU is cheap in the case (for £25 this is likely) it may cause problems down the line with the demand especially with that beast of a CPU, the memory and the GFX Card.

 

GFX card will be fine if he's only using one monitor, if he's using two I'd look at one with dual DVI outputs rather than 1 DVI and 1VGA.

LukeC

LukeC

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Hes only talked about the one monitor. What sort of power supply would you recomend becasue i would prefer a case and a power supply seperate to ensure that it delivers appropiate power for the processor.
kmount

kmount

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I was under the impression that XP won't handle more than 4GB of memory.

 

For a 32bit install without PAE it will see (varies) between 3/3.5GB of memory, but the 64bit version will (according to wikipedia but unable to verify) see far more.

 

Linky doodle.

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kmount

kmount

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Hes only talked about the one monitor. What sort of power supply would you recomend becasue i would prefer a case and a power supply seperate to ensure that it delivers appropiate power for the processor.

 

I'd recommend an Antech or Tagan power supply, not sure on the rating, maybe 500W would be enough.

 

(Someone with a powerful machine will be able to comment more)

LukeC

LukeC

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A few of you talk about PAE i understand that it stands for Power added effieciency but how would you ensure this is running as i havnt dealt with the term before. Still learning many new things.
kmount

kmount

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Physical Address Extension - A technology used to allow 32bit operating systems to address physical memory (RAM) beyond 4GB.

 

Have a nose [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension]here[/ame] but don't get too scared of the text!

 

(I'm off for the night now, take care)

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tmcd35

tmcd35

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Given the GFX Card, hi-spec CPU, decent mobo, possibility of multiple hard drives I'd wade in at a guestimate of around 600watt for the PSU, but look for a quality brand.

 

On the subject of GFX cards it all depends if he wants to play games. If not, then to be honest, IMHO, the choice of GFX card is largely unimportant. Any GFX card, even the cheapest, would be better than an on board chip using shared memory - that's all thats really important.

 

@Kmount - even for dual VDU I'd challenge anyone to see the difference between a DVI and VGA monitor on screen sizes below around 24". Can't remember the max resolution a VGA signal will support, but until you hit that res. there is no difference between the two.

 

@alan-d - WinXP/Vista 32bit can use PAE to see more than 4gb of Ram. This basically 'switches' between the 4gb memory banks. The computer can only see 4Gb at a time, but by switching the banks can access more. obviously this is slower than a 64bit OS that can see all the ram as one continuos block. Think of it like virtual memory on a hard drive, but a bit faster.

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