Considering this PC setup, any changes to suggest?

[Furah]

Before I begin I would like to remind people that I am Aus, and so to keep to Aus sites, or atleast give me the full name of the product so I can look it up on StaticICE.

 

 

 

I am looking for a new desktop to do photo/video editing with, and also some gaming too (not so much on the gaming as I love consoles more for gaming, although being able to use Steam Games would be preferable) and I have this here setup, and was wondering of any changes you guys could suggest? I would prefer to keep it under $900, but would be willing to go a bit over if needed.

 

 

 

(note that I do not need a monitor as I already have one, but need to replace the power cord, I also have a mouse, and already have a keyboard and am being sent a slimmer one thanks to my good friend Da_Latios, who is at some camp for a week or so)

 

 

 

Processor: 2.4GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L

 

Memory: 2x 2GB DDR2 PC6400 800MHz RAM

 

Graphics Card: Galaxy GF8600GT-E2 (512MB Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT)

 

Hard Drive: 2 x 1000GB Samsung HD103UJ SATA2 (am thinking about only gettin 1 HDD)

 

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-115DBK DVD Burner PATA

 

OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit

 

PSU: Antec NeoPower 550W

 

Case: Antec 'LS-100' MiniTower Case

[pryomancer]

Depending on how much video editing you do, it might be handy to have a 2TB hard drive. Raw camera footage takes up about one gigabyte per 10 minutes of film, so I've been told.

 

 

 

I don't see anything majorly wrong with that setup, get Vista 64 bit and 4GB+ RAM to make your video editing easier.

[JoeDaStudd]

I would look for a E4400 or higher, without your overclocking.

 

Nice motherboard.

 

Ram, 4 gb would be more future proof. If you go with 2gb make sure its a single stick.

 

Graphics Card get a 9600GT or a 4830 if you can spare the cash.

 

Harddrive get 1tb its a lot of space trust me.

 

Optical Drive go with SATA as its smaller, uses less power and costs about the same.

 

OS, make sure you get the 64bit version.

 

 

 

Case/PSU: Antec case are really nice as are there power supplies. Look for a Sonata III its a nice case/psu combo.

[OnIIx]

500W Powersupply for anything below 9800GTX+.

 

650W Powersupply for new cards.

 

850W Powersupply for future Proofing.

[OldJoe]

500W Powersupply for anything below 9800GTX+.

 

650W Powersupply for new cards.

 

850W Powersupply for future Proofing.

 

 

 

Uhm...

 

 

 

You can run a 9800gtx+ on 450w with a quad cpu and some hd's.

 

650 for new cards? You could run 550w with a 9800x2 +quad without any problems.

 

850 for future proofing? Wtfk are you talking about. Nvidia/AMD/Intel are going down in manufacturing-size on their chips every year, they will consume less - not more (ok maybe when the 16 core cpus come it will be another thing, but that's nothing to worry about now).

 

You can run a 9950BE (which uses about 145w or something) and 2 GTX 280's on 750w.

 

 

 

I think you're one of those who have fallen for the "psu marketing myth".

[Doomster]

For video, you may be better off with an ATI Radeon HD4 series card, as the supplied software can support GPU assisted encoding/transcoding. To do GPU assisted encoding with Nvidia, you have to buy an extra program.

 

 

 

Several articles suggest the E5200 as the minimum CPU unless you really cannot afford it at all, as the performance falls away faster than the price as you move lower, and the price tends to rise faster than performance as you go up.

[OnIIx]

500W Powersupply for anything below 9800GTX+.

 

650W Powersupply for new cards.

 

850W Powersupply for future Proofing.

 

 

 

Uhm...

 

 

 

You can run a 9800gtx+ on 450w with a quad cpu and some hd's. <- Try O/Cing it.

 

 

 

650 for new cards? You could run 550w with a 9800x2 +quad without any problems. 9800GX2 is an old card. New E.G. GTX series, 4870, 4870x2, etc.

 

 

850 for future proofing? Wtfk are you talking about. Nvidia/AMD/Intel are going down in manufacturing-size on their chips every year, they will consume less - not more (ok maybe when the 16 core cpus come it will be another thing, but that's nothing to worry about now). Tri-Sli, most people I know will be doing it when the GTX series starts to fall alot more.

 

 

You can run a 9950BE (which uses about 145w or something) and 2 GTX 280's on 750w. - 9950BE? Whats that?

 

 

 

I think you're one of those who have fallen for the "psu marketing myth". - 750W-850W are similarly Priced, I'd just pay 10% more for 100W more.

[Nadril]

That's great and all OnIIx, except were looking at what I assume is an average user here. I don't think he's going down the "Tri SLI" route or even SLI period. A 550W-600W PSU is more than enough for anything he wants to do, including overclocking.

[Georgelemmons]

Depending on how much video editing you do, it might be handy to have a 2TB hard drive. Raw camera footage takes up about one gigabyte per 10 minutes of film, so I've been told.

 

 

 

I don't see anything majorly wrong with that setup, get Vista 64 bit and 4GB+ RAM to make your video editing easier.

 

 

 

Whatever you do, don't take raw screen video.. I took a 2 minute clip at 10 fps and found a 90 GB file on my HD >.<

 

 

 

But yes, 4GB RAM can make a big difference, and is only a bit more. Get that, and you're good.

[Furah]

Following some people's advice I have made some changes to my setup

[OldJoe]

500W Powersupply for anything below 9800GTX+.

 

650W Powersupply for new cards.

 

850W Powersupply for future Proofing.

 

 

 

Uhm...

 

 

 

You can run a 9800gtx+ on 450w with a quad cpu and some hd's. <- Try O/Cing it.

 

 

 

650 for new cards? You could run 550w with a 9800x2 +quad without any problems. 9800GX2 is an old card. New E.G. GTX series, 4870, 4870x2, etc.

 

 

850 for future proofing? Wtfk are you talking about. Nvidia/AMD/Intel are going down in manufacturing-size on their chips every year, they will consume less - not more (ok maybe when the 16 core cpus come it will be another thing, but that's nothing to worry about now). Tri-Sli, most people I know will be doing it when the GTX series starts to fall alot more.

 

 

You can run a 9950BE (which uses about 145w or something) and 2 GTX 280's on 750w. - 9950BE? Whats that?

 

 

 

I think you're one of those who have fallen for the "psu marketing myth". - 750W-850W are similarly Priced, I'd just pay 10% more for 100W more.

 

 

 

There would be no problem ocing a 9800gtx+ on a 450w psu.

 

[hide=W][/hide]

 

Running a GTX 260/280 or a HD 4870 wouldn't be a problem at all. 9800x2gtx still uses more than those cards. 4870x2 and 9800x2 are in a different leauge of cards so you can't really compare them.

 

Tri sli? Yeah... For what? 3dmark 06 points? Because it's totally pointless in games. And i don't think people who are asking about computers on TIF even barely knows what tri sli is. Recommending a 850w psu is totally and utterly useless.

 

Phenom 9950 Black Edition.

 

I really dunno why you would be using a 850w psu when i can clearly see that you don't know very much about hardware.

[JoeDaStudd]

Mage_Man0103 can you post a link to the sites your getting the parts from, so that we can see if there are any betters parts at the same price. As I have very little idea on good AU parts sites.

 

 

 

OnIIx, either your buying really low end branded psu's or your just relaying a message from somewhere else. A 450w psu (a good brand one) is more then enough for this build, hell a 380w one would be an overkill.

[Jason321]

MSY Cheapest prices. I don't have any experience with them but they're queues are meant to be huge and their customer service is rather bad apparently.

 

 

 

CentreCom I have had great experience with these guys. They're a little more expensive but they have great service, IMO.

 

 

 

Scropion Tech No experience with them but I've heard from friends that they're pretty decent.

 

 

 

PcCaseGear They only deliver now and I haven't had any experience with them.

 

 

 

Those are the major 4 that I can think of off the top of my head. Though it depends on where abouts he lives.

 

 

 

EDIT: There's also ITEstate and Umart but I don't know much about those.

[Nadril]

Mage_Man0103 can you post a link to the sites your getting the parts from, so that we can see if there are any betters parts at the same price. As I have very little idea on good AU parts sites.

 

 

 

OnIIx, either your buying really low end branded psu's or your just relaying a message from somewhere else. A 450w psu (a good brand one) is more then enough for this build, hell a 380w one would be an overkill.

 

 

 

I would still hover around the 500-550W personally, they seem to be in the best "price range". A great 500-550W will cost around $60.

[Furah]

Mage_Man0103 can you post a link to the sites your getting the parts from, so that we can see if there are any betters parts at the same price. As I have very little idea on good AU parts sites.

 

 

 

OnIIx, either your buying really low end branded psu's or your just relaying a message from somewhere else. A 450w psu (a good brand one) is more then enough for this build, hell a 380w one would be an overkill.

 

 

 

I am actually using the PerfectPC program from the PC User magazine, it is rather easy to use, I just put in what kind of PC I want (all-rounder, gaming, video editing/ripping, Linux), the price range I am willing to pay upto (I put slightly higher as I don't need a mouse, keyboard or monitor) and whether I want my CPU to be Intel only, AMD only, or either Intel or AMD.

 

 

 

Another question is this: I have the Vista installation disk for my Dell laptop, and I want to run Linux on the laptop when I get the PC, is there a way for me to install Vista onto the PC and upgrade it? Is it also possible to upgrade it to 64-bit? If so then this will save me some money, which will be a really good thing :P