Best processor for me?

[ttaylor0024]

Hey all, I have a couple quick questions for what would be best for me and my uses...

I am going to make a desktop that will hopefully last me through college (I am a Junior in Highschool now) and will net a netbook to remote in while in classes. The desktop will also be used to record and edit HD gameplay from my xbox 360 via HDMI capture card.

Anyway, I am looking into AMD because of the price mainly. last year I almost bought a i5 machine, but decided not to. I had been using an HP zd8000 laptop with a P4 running at 3.2GHz for years now, but that is being used for my golf simulator now, and got a Dell Dimension 8200 given to me. It has a P4 running at 2GHz and is verrrrry slow. I also recently purchased a PCI Express x1 HDMI capture card for my xbox because it was so cheap, and am now wanting a new desktop bad.

The main processors I am looking at are the AMD Phenom x4 965, x4 970, x6 1090t, and the x6 1055t, however I would also have no problem getting a cheaper i7, or quad i5.

I would be making alot of HD videos with the computer, alot of web usage, MS Office, etc.

Opinions would be greatly appriciated!

Thanks,
Tosh Taylor

 

[ares1214]

When do you plan on purchasing? Budget? Already have a few parts?

 

[hunter315]

Whats your overall budget for the system going to be? If you are going to be doing video editing i suggest trying to get an i7 870 if you can, it will beat the AMD options, and if you live near a microcenter you can pick one up for fairly cheap. I recently discovered one near me so check their site, it can save you a lot if there is one nearby(like $80 on an Intel CPU)

If you are dead set on AMD, i wouldnt get the 965 or the 970, both cost a fair bit more than the 955 which is also a BE and all three are the same chip and OC to about the same level. I would either get a 1090T or 955 from AMD the other options dont really seem to justify their prices to me.

If possible try for an i7 950 build first, then an i7 870, then a 955 build depending on your budget.

 

[Emperus]

If you will be doing a lot of video editing then going for an AMD Phenom II X6 seems like the best option for now.. Pair it up with 8gigs of RAM and a decent motherboard with onboard video and you are done.. Otherwise, if you can wait till the Intel SandyBridge (SB) line of CPU's launch, your options will widen up.. As suggested by early tests, SB CPU's are going to be excellent with heavy processor centric tasks such as video transcoding/conversion.. It just might turn out to be the ideal processor for your usage scenario..

 

[ttaylor0024]

I would like to keep this computerr sub $1000 if I can. I have 2 jobs and have about $2000 right now. After football season I plan on buying this, then I get back to work for my school doing IT work. Summers I work 40-50 hours a week, sometimes more.

I will look into the i7s you guys listed. I am currently on the road to go hunting(don't worry, I'm not the one driving) so if you guys like to part computers togeather and get prices, feel free to list them here.

Thanks, and keep the suggestions coming!

 

[Emperus]

Hunting.!! Isn't it illegal.?? Not to mention unethical.. I hope i am not going ahead of myself here but it surely did not sound like shopping..

 

[ares1214]

I would also suggest an i7 based system.Editing hd video is cpu heavy.

Probably a bit out of budget, get a 1035T or 1055T to save a lot of money.

 

[ttaylor0024]

Lol I'm going bowhunting for whitetail deer in Kansas...

I am looking for a full atx, and not too entirely sure on a graphics card because I don't do a lot of pc gaming, except for the occasional age of empires or civ 4. It will see much more hd xbox 360 footage.

 

[ares1214]

You can assemble a solid i7 920 based system under 1000$.Which would last a long time since you are not gaming.

A build with a 1055T would save atleast $200. i7 under $1000 is a bit wasteful...

 

[Emperus]

Consider this build -

1. CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

2. Motherboard - Gigabyte 870A-UD3

3. RAM - Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz

4. Case - CoolerMaster 690II Advanced

5. PSU - Corsair VX 550W

6. HDD - Seagate Baracuda 7200.12 500GB x 2 in RAID 0 + Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB

7. ODD - Sony Optiarc AD-7240S

8. GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 1GB

 

[dertechie]

Consider waiting. Sandy Bridge based quads hit in Q1 2010 to replace Intel's current mainstream quad lineup. It should be a reasonable upgrade over the current Nehalem crop. While i7-920, while still very potent, is a 2 year old CPU now and Intel has certainly improved on it. Of note, they've stuck a very nice bit of video decode/encode silicon into the SB processors (though you'll need to use an H67 motherboard to use that video processing feature). Since you want this for the next 5 years or so, you can afford to wait a bit.

Don't be the guy who buys a $200 Pentium D in July 2006. Trust me, it sucks (especially when you're stuck with it for 4 years).

I wouldn't worry about the limitations of H67 vs. X68, you won't be using a high end video card, let alone several, and dual vs. triple channel memory gets you jack in most applications.

Now, if you're editing a lot of HD video, you'll be wanting voluminous, fast storage. Microcenter is selling Samsung F3 1TBs for $60 each, which definitely fits the bill there (if you have one nearby).

 

[ares1214]

Consider waiting. Sandy Bridge based quads hit in Q1 2010 to replace Intel's current mainstream quad lineup. It should be a reasonable upgrade over the current Nehalem crop. While i7-920, while still very potent, is a 2 year old CPU now and Intel has certainly improved on it. Of note, they've stuck a very nice bit of video decode/encode silicon into the SB processors (though you'll need to use an H67 motherboard to use that video processing feature). Since you want this for the next 5 years or so, you can afford to wait a bit.

Don't be the guy who buys a $200 Pentium D in July 2006. Trust me, it sucks (especially when you're stuck with it for 4 years).

I wouldn't worry about the limitations of H67 vs. X68, you won't be using a high end video card, let alone several, and dual vs. triple channel memory gets you jack in most applications.

Now, if you're editing a lot of HD video, you'll be wanting voluminous, fast storage. Microcenter is selling Samsung F3 1TBs for $60 each, which definitely fits the bill there (if you have one nearby).

I think you mean Q1 2011 :lol:

 

[dEAne]

I like the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

with 8GB DDR3 1333MHz

the PSU - Corsair HX 650W

for HDD - western digital 640GB x 2 in RAID 0

for GPU - HD 4870 1GB

 

[chriskrum]

Wait for Sandy Bridge benchmarks or...

Go with a Phenom II X6 for video editing if that's you're primary usage. They give close to the same (and occasionally surpass the i7s when rendering video) for less money. Use the cash that you save on the CPU for a video card that your editing software can offload tasks to. Use your status as a student to purchase either Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere Pro (both recommend and can use graphic cards for rendering and come in 64 bit versions). I'd place more weight on the right software video card combination for editing than on what CPU is marginally faster or slower. Most of your time editing, is in fact, not spent on rendering as that usually comes at the end of the process--you start the render and walk away--for most people who are not in production environments ten minutes slower or faster isn't a meaningful difference because it only happens occasionally.

 

[ttaylor0024]

Can you guys explain the RAID system for me? I have never messed with it before...

 

[ares1214]

Random array of Inexpensive Discs. You put a bunch of hard drives together in different combinations. RAID 1 has you mirror them, which gives you redundancy and security, but no performance or added space. RAID 0 has them stripped, giving you theoretically 2x performance and 2x speed but half the security. There are a lot more, with raid 0,1,5, and 10 generally being the most popular.