Some advice for building two new systems

What are your budgets for each machine? This really determines what to recommend. Get the budget for each machine, would guess you're willing to spend more on yourself. Then cost the stuff you know that you want and subtract that from the total. Then list the parts you're undecided on and how much you have remaining. If your camcorders have firewire connections, it's best to get a board with onboard firewire but these generally have onboard video or SLI but given you'll only likely have 3 PCI slots no sense in taking one up with firewire. If you need an OS for each machine include that in your budget. You may want to consider XP, Vsta still has some compatibility issues, e.g., make sure you won't have problems with your video editing program. Regardless of what OS you decide on, get the OEM version. Would suggest you go to newegg.com and create a couple of Wish Lists for each machine, easy way to track costs. Depending on your budget, you may want to consider AMD, which is still less expensive than Intel, especially for your in laws. Couple of good referrences
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html
http://www.tomshardware.com /2007/08/06/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/

I would go with the GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3L because it's a newer chipset than the 965 and has 3 PCI slots. For onboard video would go with the MSI P35. One advantage of MSI is that it is really easy to update the onboard drivers and BIOS, can do the whole thing on line. Might want to consider something like this Antec, more expensive but better PSU or a Cool Master Centurion with something like an Antec, Enermax, or FSP Group PSU with at least 450w, 500 to 550w if it fits your budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129158

Neve r had a Hitachi drive so can't comment. I usually get Seagate. You might want to consider a smaller hard drive for the OS and programs and a 2nd larger for date, you don't have to worry about backing up data when the OS goes south. You can get an 80GB Seagate for less than $50. I recently got a Samsung 18x DVD burner and really like it, very quiet.

Given that most boards now only have one ATA connector, 2 devices, and there is really no price difference, I think you'd be better off getting a small SATA rather than ATA drive. In reading the various postings there seems to be a lot of problems associated with PSUs and sufficient power. While both Intel and AMD are working hard to reduce power consumption, and AMD seems to have the lead in this, the power demands for the system as a whole is increasing, no doubt in part because programs are doing more and demand more resources. While I haven't done a formal survey the consensus on this board seems to be that it's best to have at least a good 450w PSU. As I'm sure you're aware, even light DVD work requires a lot of resources for capturing and especially rendering and when you combine this with the demands of security programs, and the fact most of us are running multiple programs at the same time there is a cumulative increase. The companies I mentioned about, Antec, Enermax, or FSP Group, all make good PSUs. As for cases, the one thing I'd look for would be a 120mm fan because they are quieter. I have a couple of Antec Sonata II cases, which I really like because they are quiet and very easy to work with. They have recently been replaced by the Sonata III, which is a nice case with a good PSU but kind of pricey, between $130 and $140. I'm probably closer to your in laws age and I'm seriously considering an aluminum case the next time I buy one, which likely won't be for several years because they're lighter. But if they pretty much set up a computer and aren't often moving it or doing a lot of upgrades, this really isn't an issue. Weight is likely more of an issue for us old "geeks"

Processor ($65)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103068
Motherboa rd: ($80)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138081
Video card: ($160)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127284
PSU: ($55/$80 w/case combo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817182017
Ram: ($90)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098
Hard drive: ($75)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136074
DVD ($30)
(Get a SATA drive! Not IDE)


You will not find a better performing build for under $600 (+OS). Will overclock to 2.5GHz easily. Runs oblivion fine with max settings, 1280x1024. Hell I figured it would take another year or two before anything under $600 could run oblivion at max settings!

This would handle video editing. I'm currently using a 939 X2 4200 for capturing, editing, and rendering/burning. No matter how you cut it capturing and rendering/burning takes a long time and shaving a few minutes off it really won't make a whole lot of difference. If you're capturing, you don't want to do anything that will throw the audio/video sync out of whack so you probably wouldn't want to do anything that was particularly resource intensive like playing games, on the other hand you want to be able to surf the net, listen to music, lighter stuff and the AMD X2 will handle that. Most of the time I render and burn over night although I've created mpg files from Adobe Premier Essential projects while surfing and listening to music. Right now if I were building for myself for video editing, which is the most intensive thing I do, I would go with E 6400 with 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM, and a P35 mobo. I currently have a 7600GT card but depending on the price if I were to get a new one would probably go with the 8600GT because it can handle DX 10 but again I don't game so the video card isn't that important. However, on a tighter budget I wouldn't hesitate to go with AMD. If I were building for someone else like you are for your in laws, I'd go with AMD AM2 X2 4200 or 4400 with the ASUS M2NPV-VM board, have a couple of these and they have a DVI connection and have been rock solid. As for the support you referred to in an earlier post, once the machine is up and running any problems will likely be software. If it is hardware, you're not likely to solve it over that phone anyway.

Nice system, wish my kids were this generous If you're not going with a smaller hard drive for the OS/programs, would partition the drive so they can put their data on a separate partition from the OS/programs. In addition, if you're installing any programs, e.g., word, photo, or video, I'd set the defaults for the data partition. You don't want to run into a situation where you have to do a clean install of Windows and worry about saving their data.

nforce 7050 board for $10 less
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157116