Parts for my New System - Recommendations??

[tequilaeby]

Hi Everyone,

I am going to build a new system shortly that will be used for a variety of things, but it needs to be able to do HD video capture and editing. I have an HD camcorder, hours of HD video, and need a system that will handle the HD captures and editing without a problem. I have been out of the hardware game for years and things have changed SO much and I am asking for your help to figure out my final hardware list. I have done some initial research and this is what I currently have for my main system components:

Case
$129 - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Power:
$179 - ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ700 700W ATX12V / EPS12V Patent Piperock Modular Power Supply 100 - 240 V TUV, UL, CE, CB, FCC, Semko, Nemko, Demko, Fimko - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817814015&Tpk=ABS+Tagan+BZ+Series+BZ700+700W

Processor:
$359 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9115042&Tpk=Intel+Core+2+Quad+Q9450+Yorkfield

Motherboard:
$289 - ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail (includes decent sound)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131284

Memory – 8GB Total
$129 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
$129 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

Graphics Card
$244 - EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...GA+512-P3-N841-AR+GeForce+8800GTS+(G92)+512MB

Hard Drives – (1 plus 2 for data – RAID1 or just backup)
$109.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$109.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$109.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

The parts are currently all retail and the prices are from NewEgg.com. If you have any recommendations about any changes in hardware to cater to my end goal of HD video capture and editing, or about where to get the parts from, please jump right in!

I appreciate any help that you can provide!

Thanks!

 

[Silverion77]

Looks great....u kno ur stuff

Only thing id change is the PSU to the Zalman 850. Same price, but more power and the Zalmans are very good

Leave everything else
Save money by using DDR2800 instead

 

[jpdykes]

Couple of comments:

- Change for a different PCU, Corsair are good. Try 620HX or 750TX.

- If you are intending to go with SLI later you need and NVidia motherboard. You cannot put two NVidia cards into the X48 chipset.
- If you are not intending to go with SLI you can reduce costs by running a P35 board (gigabyte DS3L/R) or X38 board.
- X48 and X38 would support XFire (2 ATi cards)

- Wait on the graphics cards. New cards are due in the next couple of weeks. They are rumoured to be a considerable improvement over current cards. You could also expect a price war as both NVidia and ATi are set to release at similar times.

Hope that is useful
Jeremy

 

[aevm]

Sounds good to me.

Q9450 - smart choice. The SSE4 instructions will help a lot when you have software that uses them.

PSU: I like the Silencer 750W, and it's only $120 at newegg.

Whatever MB you buy, you probably want one with FireWire if your camcorder uses that.

 

[modode]

The Asus Rampage you chose has a firewire.

Agree on changing the PSU to the PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 or the Corsair 750TX.

No need for SLI.

Agree you may want to wait 2 weeks until the new GPU's are launched - though the 8800GTS512mb you chose is very much up to the task of some heavy video editing.

 

[aevm]

I mentioned Firewire because the DS3L/DS3R mentioned above my first post don't have it.

Is this PC supposed to play games at all? Which games? If it's only for video editing, it could get by on an 8600GT and a 550VX PSU. That part about waiting for the new ATI/nVidia cards makes sense if it's a gaming machine. For editing there's plenty of cheap good cards out there already.

 

[tequilaeby]

This is a video editing machine...primarily. It's possible that I'll play games down the road, but with my 1 and 4 year old I am definitely not going to find any time to play a lot of games for the next few years. I don't plan on using SLI or Crossfire technology. I just want a high performace video card for HD video capture/editing and possibly a game here and there, but nothing that has to kick butt in the game arena. When I hand down this computer to my kids in the next few years that's when I'll consider the kick butt gaming system. :lol:

So far, it seems like my list is pretty solid for what I want to use it for other than the PSU, which I will change to one of the recommended ones above.

Any other thoughts before I make the order??

Thanks for all the help so far!!

 

[Silverion77]

If no Crossfire than u can definitely save some money and go P35....instead of the monster rampage

 

[mihirkula]

Yes ditch that rampage ... get the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L for $85 instead.

That would lower your PSU costs too, since you don't need more than 550W for a single GPU rig .... get the Corsair 550VX ($70 at buy.com)

Apart from that great choice of CPU, GPU and Hard drive. Though since you mentioned you won't play many games you could cut costs and get 9600GT instead of the 8800GTS.

 

[Shadow703793]

Case
$129 - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021

Power:
$179 - ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ700 700W ATX12V / EPS12V Patent Piperock Modular Power Supply 100 - 240 V TUV, UL, CE, CB, FCC, Semko, Nemko, Demko, Fimko - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 700%2b700W

Processor:
$359 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] bYorkfield

Motherboard:
$289 - ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail (includes decent sound)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131284

Memory – 8GB Total
$129 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
$129 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231166

Graphics Card
$244 - EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 2)%2b512MB

Hard Drives – (1 plus 2 for data – RAID1 or just backup)
$109.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$109.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$109.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218

Looks good . But a few questions...

1. Are you planing to OC?

2. Did you check to make sure your RAM will not have issues with your motherboard? Most DDR2 1066 RAM are very sensitive to compatibility.

 

[Shadow703793]

Yes ditch that rampage ... get the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L for $85 instead.

That would lower your PSU costs too, since you don't need more than 550W for a single GPU rig .... get the Corsair 550VX ($70 at buy.com)

Apart from that great choice of CPU, GPU and Hard drive. Though since you mentioned you won't play many games you could cut costs and get 9600GT instead of the 8800GTS.

DS3L doesn't have FireWire, RAID, and has only 4 SATA ports. Other than that it's a great board for a budget/OCing build.