Please Recomend Me A Computer Configuration

[baqai]

Hello all,

I want your opinion and suggestions, I am about to get my self a new computer which would be dedicated to graphics/multimedia development as well as gaming, as far as development is concerned I am going to use it as a video editing studio (like premier and all) , graphics, animation, 3d graphics (e.g. maya and 3d studio max) keeping these things in mind what system do you suggest? The things which I have in my mind are

<b>Processor</b>

AMD 2.3+ Ghz / P4 2.3+ Ghz (I currently have a AMD 1.4 Ghz machine and I am happy with it apart from the loud cooler master fan sound which can be annoying at times, I am told that when it comes to multimedia applications P4 is a better platform to work in)

<b>Motherboard</b>

Asus motherboard (I am a happy ASUS customer from my CUSL2 to A7V and than A7V133, I would prefer Asus but if you can recommend some other motherboard please let me know, I can get my hands on Aopen and Gigabyte motherboards in my city along with ASUS)

Should I buy one of those motherboards with a built in firewire input or should I avoid such motherboards and go for a dedicated capture card like matrox 2500? Is there any difference as far as performance is concerned? If I can live with the motherboard firewire than why spend about 1000$’s on a capture card umm!

Is AGP 8X Important? or should i stick with 4X mobo?

<b>RAM</b>

1 Gigabyte SDRAM / 512 DDR / 512 RDRAM (now I know RDRAM is supposed to be very fast and all but which configuration would be better? Incase of DDR which one should I take there are so many around and things get confusing)

<b>Harddrive</b>

Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive 40GB
Seagate Barracuda Ultra ATA 100 80GB

<b>Sound Card</b>

Sound Blaster Audigy (Is it worth buying or should I stick to getting a Sb Live Gamer or something like that?)

<b>Video Card</b>
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (although I am happy nvidia user but I have heard this card kicks some serious ass, will it help speading my video editing stuff?) or should I stick with geforce 4 ti4600 and wait for the next nvidia card?


By budget is about 3000 – 4000 $’s

waiting for reply

 

[letdown]

I don't have time to go over everything right now, but real quick:

1. Although they're somewhat overhyped, Western Digital's JB hard drives (8meg cache) supposedly really do smoke when it comes to video editing. I might get a couple of those and RAID em if I were you.

2. The audigy depends on whether you have/want 5.1 speakers. If not, don't bother. If you do have them, it is a pretty nice card but I guarantee you'll have to put up with some driver headaches to get it working.

3. If you're seriously into video editing, the new 9700 All-in-Wonder looks great for about $500. You should be able to find it for less than that within a few weeks. And no, the AGP 8X really isn't very important.

 

[sonoran]

You're the second person I've mentioned this link to today: <A HREF="http://www.videoguys.com" target="_new">http://www.videoguys.com</A>

I know squat about video editing, but those guys have been at it for years. That site will probably answer a lot of other questions you didn't even know you had...

 

[icy_oblivion]

I realize you are trying to build a system but to get a good idea for what a good DV system has in it I would recommend using AlienWare's configurator. <A HREF="http:// http://www.alienware.com/main/configurator_pages/roswell.asp " target="_new">http:// http://www.alienware.com/main/configurator_pages/roswell.asp </A>

In a world without <font color=red>walls </font color=red>or <font color=green>fences </font color=green>, what use have we for <font color=red>Windows </font color=red>or <font color=green>Gates.</font color=green>

 

[icy_oblivion]

If you are in NorthAmerica I just noticed that <A HREF="http:// http://www.monarchcomputer.com " target="_new">http:// http://www.monarchcomputer.com </A> has an 80GB 8MB WD HD in the clearance section. You might want to look into it.

In a world without <font color=red>walls </font color=red>or <font color=green>fences </font color=green>, what use have we for <font color=red>Windows </font color=red>or <font color=green>Gates.</font color=green>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Recommandations:

Athlon XP 2200+ or faster (2400+ is now available)
Volcano 7 cooler
MSI KT3 Ultra2-R mobo (if not using RAID, then MSI KT3 Ultra2)
512 MB Kingston PC2700 CL2.5 DDR ram
Two Western Digital Cavier 80 GB (7200 rpm, ATA-100, 8 MB Buffer) in RAID (if not using RAID, then buy one instead of 2)
Sound Blaster Audigy
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (Built By ATI)

<b><font color=red> Long live piracy! </font color=red></b>

 

[Col_Kiwi]

A P4 2.4 w/ the 533 bus is a better choice then the athlon in this case for a few reasons.
-The P4 has benchmarked higher in multimedia consistently
-The intel included cooler is very reliable and dead quiet

I'd reccomend:
-P4 2.4 w/ 533 bus
-Asus P4S8x, not because AGP 8x matters (it doesn't) but because its got IEEE1394 I believe
-512MB DDR333 (PC2700)
-One or more WD 8MB drives in RAID or not
-Audigy

Video card is a more complex issue. If what you have now is a Geforce2 or 3 or equivilant, I'd reccomend keeping it for now and getting a new NV30 when they come out around christmas. If you have an older card and really need a new one now, its your call, but in my opinion:

-Geforce 4 Ti is marginally slower; but still very fast
-Radeon 9700 is known to have driver problems
-I don't trust ATI support as far as I can throw them due to past difficulties I've had

I'd go for a Geforce 4 Ti if you <b>must</b> get it now, if your old one is good enough for now then wait for NV30 to upgrade.

-Col.Kiwi

 

[ejsmith2]

"Video editing"


That's a P4 you're wanting then. And your budget is about right for a p4 system.

Setup a raid0 with the largest drives you can get. WD is good for that.

DDR will save you a bit of money, and is very close to Rdram, if you get PC3200 or higher.

P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!

 

[baqai]

thank you all for your input, i am from Pakistan and today i checked we don't have AMD 2400+ available here and prcies here are CRAZY !!!

my current system is

Amd Athalon 1.4 Ghz
512 MB RAM 133 Mhz
Asus A7V133 Mobo
Sb Live Value
Asus CDROM 50X
Plextor CDRW 12/10/32
Aopen DVDROM 16X
Seagate Barracuda IV Ultra ATA 100 80GB
Seagate HDD (Normal) 40GB
Hercules Geforce 2 Ultra 64 MB
Gateway 2000 EV900 19" Monitor
Microsoft Natural Pro Keyboard
Microsoft Intel Pro Explorer

i am going to keep this system as a backup system and getting a totally new one for me,

I am confused here with couple of things

AMD and its 2200+ and 2400+ always confuses me (call me a dumbo) what will be the "actual" speed of the damn thing?

Is DDR worth going for (either AMD or P4) or would RDRAM will make a difference (after reading some articles on tomshardware i came to this conclusion on my own that future of RDRAM is still uncertain or did i got the wrong idea?)

Firewire build on motherboard Vs Firewire video card, what's the difference? if i am getting firewire enabled mobo does it makes any sense to spend more on a video card which does the same thing? or am i missing something here?

to me the battle of video card giants is going to be never ending, right now i can spend to buy the best and i think so i will settle for ATI, apart from being a fan of nvidia coz i don't see NV30 coming soon (atleast december or so)

Which motherboard to get? so many options out there, this motherboard for p4 looked intresting to me ASUS P4T533

which would be the best DDR board for P4 or AMD (i have decided i will go with DDR instead of RAMBUS) i am looking for USB 2.0, Firewire and perhaps builtin gigabyte ehternet would be nice .. ULTRA 133 doesnt intrests me at all


thank you all again for taking out time for me