Advice on proposed build

[Devadaru]

Hi,

We're planning to build a machine for, among other things, website maintenance, audio and video archiving, light video editing, and graphic design work. The heaviest load on the graphics might be Photoshop or video editing. No games. We also want to install the plusdeck to archive cassettes (needs a serial port). We were trying to keep the price below $500, then raised it to $650. But we've exceeded that too. Your advice greatly appreciated.

CASE ANTEC 300 with front dust-filter and 2-5 fans $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

POWER SUPPLY PCPowerCooling 500W $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703015

RAM CORSAIR MATCHED PAIR 2x2GB DDR2 800 DUAL CHANNEL KIT $87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184
(I know, XP can only use about 3GB)

DVD Burner Plextor IDE $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249033

HARD DRIVE Western Digital 3-yr warranty 500GB $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

XP 32-bit Pro SP3 OEM for system builders $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116515
(got to keep this legal)

plusdeck tape digitizer, $100
http://www.amazon.com/BTO-Co-PlusDeck2-PlusDeck-2c/dp/B0002ICAGC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1217820077&sr=8-1

But our quandary is: the heart of the matter--motherboard and processor, and can we get by with onboard video? We are thinking Asus + AMD. (Remember, no games, but video editing and photoshop).

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core $66
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103211

ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard $110
(with ATI Radeon HD 3200 video )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131325

Would this pair do the job?

Or go for a board without video, like:

ASUS M3A-H/HDMI AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131289

And a video card like:
ASUS EN8600GT MAGIC/HTP/512M GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121231

Anything we missed? Any bad choices? Any frank advice?
Thanks.

 

[BigBurn]

Change the dvd burner, any one in the 25-30$ will do the job.

And, all 780G motherboard got onboard video, just look at the back panel connectors from both motherboard you mentionned, they got the same ports.

And why not get the 32bit version of windows vista home premium? It's 40 cheaper. Just put off all services and eye candy stuff you won't need to off and it will be as fast as exp
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116485

 

[timaahhh]

Y not Xp 64 bit or Vista 64 bit?

 

[BigBurn]

Ya true, i missread, i thought you took only 2GB ram.
And XP can take more than 3GB, you just need the 64bit edition.

here is vista home premium 64bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

 

[BlackKnight7891]

A qaud core CPU will give you the most benifit in this usage i would also suggest a radeon 3850 512mb graphics card, should be able to find it for under $150.

i do think your budget for this machine is a bit low video editing requires similar builds to games machines lots of ram, good GFX card.

32bit operating systems will only recognise 3.2gb of ram you would be better off with a 64bit system.

 

[inspector71]

Y not Xp 64 bit or Vista 64 bit?

Ummmmm! Did you think that it may be out of that persons budget.

 

[inspector71]

A 32 BIT OS works quite well.[/quotemsg]

 

[rockyjohn]

You can save $40 by going with the Antec Sonata III case with the Earthwatts 500w PSU. Both are excellent components - the case is quiet and has eSATA on front.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024

 

[rockyjohn]

Looking at the THG cpu charts, an e8400 performs about 33% faster than the AMD 5000 on the Adobe benchmark and about 20% faster on the Pinnacle and Premier video editing one. (Surprisingly, the e8400 beats both the Q6600 and Q6700 of both of the former benchmarks, but loses by about 30% on the Premier benchmark.) Is that kind of time saving worth the extra $100 for the faster processor? You could get an Intel based mobo for about $20 less than you show above for the AMD board - so would still need another $80.

 

[BigBurn]

@inspector: both 32bit and 64bit version of vista cost the same.

 

[inspector71]

@inspector: both 32bit and 64bit version of vista cost the same.

I have to appoligize then i just seen that myself.64 bit os used to be a little more i havent check the prices in a long time until a moment ago.

 

[inspector71]

Hey BigBurn is that the Apevia case in your Avator, is so i have the same black one with the 3 LED gauges on the front that opens. very nice case i love mine but its a bit tight.

 

[Devadaru]

Appreciate the feedback very much.

cd/dvd burner: we wanted the Plextor, thinking it would last longer and be more reliable than a cheaper one. We'll have to burn cds regularly.

Vista: I'm not yet ready for that. One important piece of software we use won't run on Vista. Needs lots of tweaking, I gather, to run fast.

64-bit: know nothing about it. Don't you need specially designed programs to run on it? Or will it run anything that 32-bit can run? I heard that drivers are a problem; can we get a driver for the plusdeck that will run on 64-bit?

Quad-core: yeh, don't know if our budget can manage it. I think the motherboard can accept a quad-core too; so in future we could upgrade. We don't plan to do heavy video editing (though of course the more one gets into it, the heavier it gets...)

Thanks for catching that one--both 780G motherboards have onboard video.

 

[BigBurn]

As for the 64bit, "everything" should run on it. But in some case I have seen some obscure program only running in a 32bit environement. Your best bet would to ask the software/hardware vendor you buy from if they support 64bit. But nearly 99% of the things can work in a 64bit OS now.

And +1 for rockyjohn for mentionning the Antec Sonata III with the 500w psu. I used it in a build for my friend and it works like a charm.

Off-topic @ inspector: Yes it is the Apevia X-Cruiser with the Apevia Iceberg (green) as a power supply Pretty neat in the dark ^^

 

[Devadaru]

I see some software available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Is that required in all cases?

 

[rockyjohn]

Most but not all software will run in 64-bit version. And older versions are less likely to work. I wanted to go 64 bit to support more memory but did not because one key application - Dragon Natural Speaking voice recognition software - did not support it and have not reported if and when they will.
You should check each application you have to see if it works in 64 bit or if there is an upgrade to make it work. Also, you need to make sure that hardware works with it - most current will but for some older hardware they might not have upgraded the requisite drivers.