Building my own PC

My name is Clinton and I am building my own computer. I run my own company (Jackson Flagg Ent.) and I do video marketing production. I, guess a better way to say it is that I am starting my business. I have experience in this field, however, my knowledge extends to software not the hardware. I have built computers in the past, but none to the specs that I need this one. I suppose I should say the only steadfast hardware I have found is the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD2900XT 1GB DDR4 2DVI/VIVO HDCP PCI-Express Video Card. Aside from this I really am at a loss for what I need. I was thinking of running the [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=2]Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor[/SIZE][/FONT] (Thoughts? How about the AMD?) And as far as sound card the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic. As for motherboad's I am totally lost. I have done research, but everyone benchmarks them by gaming and I am not really sure how that translates into my industry. I am wanting to have the ability to put out HD quality products, but most of my stuff is just going to be local companies having me manipulate already captured video. I do not record the video myself, I merely edit existing works together. A very good example of this is Movie Trailers. I do not have a giant budget, but I am working a second job to save up for the computer. I don't want to have someone else put it together really; I want to know my computer inside and out. Not just set down at it and push buttons. Call it crazy, but I have always felt that when you put time and effort into anything, you reap a lot better reward from the product you put out. Not trying to sound to ZEN here, but it gives you a relationship beyond just a keyboard with the computer. Anyway, Any help that you all can give will be greatly appreciated. If any of you would like to contact me and offer advice or just to say hello my email is **Removed**

Thank you all once again and have a great day.
Clint

Okay, if the main usage is going to be video editing/production. Then you'll require a lot of storage, the more ram the better, quad core cpu won't give you any benefit at the moment as I don't know of any editing software that uses 4 cores currently.

The gpu is very much overkill, even for a gamer. Even upto a res of 1920x1200 1gb of ram is ridiculous.

If going for the 2900XT, go for the 512mb version, even if your monitor has the aforementioned resolution. You're not a gamer, so even the 2900XT (regardless of which version) is overkill. But it's obviously your choice.

As you haven't mentioned budget, overall, i'd be looking at this spec:

Core 2 E6750/E6850.
4gb ddr2 6400 (800mhz) ram, or should you purchase a motherboard that recognises 1066mhz ram then that would be better. The more bandwidth the better to be frank considering your stated usage.
I'll assume you're streaming your video at the highest possible quality so I'd be looking at 2 or 3 500gb drives. Cost per gb when compared to a 750gb or 1TB hdd is a lot better. If you don't keep hard copy's I'd also think about setting two of the hdd's up on a RAID 1(mirror) format.

Also, regarding the graphics card I'd be looking at Nvidia's Quadro series of cards as the architecture of these is more geared to your quoted usage.

Awesome thank you so much. The only reason I chose that video card was because of the reviews that I had read. I am wanting to stream the video at a the highest that I can. However, I love to learn and if I need to change my thinking then by all means advise away. I will check into this Nvidia one that you spoke of. Thanks again.

In that case your main points of focus are going to be the ram and the cpu. And to a lesser degree the motherboard.

If you're running large files (I'll assume you are) then the E6850 is best bet. 1066mhz (PC 8500) ram is also best bet but check any motherboard's spec's that you look at to confirm it will default this speed ram to 1066mhz and not 800mhz or 667mhz.

For the ram, go for A-Data as your brand, some of the best 1066mhz ram out there. And the best I've seen for price. That could change though considering DDR3 is on its way in.

Regarding that, don't go for DDR3, the latency will kill you and it's also still very very pricey for what it is and it's (supposed) benefits currently over DDR2.

Alright, this video card does look like what I am going for . . . can't believe I hadn't heard of it. Guess I was blinded by the pretty flames on the other one hahahaha. So okay, The processor looks great too and I was going over motherboards and it would seem that[SIZE=3] ASUS P5K-VM LGA 775 Intel G33 uATX Intel Mot[/SIZE][SIZE=3]herboard ([/SIZE]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131187) would work great for me. However what do you think?

Anyone have any thoughts on this mother board?

Asus P5-K? Any revision. Yup. .

My experience of this series of mobo's (so far) is nothing short of superb. Very stable and easy to build off.

I have a P5K-E. I was a first time builder and found it a great board to work with, and had virtually no problems. It overclocks easily too. overall I can say that I'm happy with it.

A few people have had a some problems with this series related the sata ports and cables, though I didn't experience any. These boards also run hotter than most because of the positioning of the motherboard sensor. its not a problem, but just to make you aware. When I got the board the temps were close to the cpu temps so I was a little worried about this, when I checked on the asus forums I found out about the sensor positioning.

Thanks so much for the advice and information. This is awesome you guys are the bomb!

okay, so I have looked high and low for 1066 2gb memory and have come up with only packs of two 1gb chips. I really wanted more than 4 gbs of memory because I am going to be running vista and the video card will take up a gig it says. So that would leave my system to run on 2 gb, but then again I always try to be the boyscout and get more than I really need. I just don't want to build a nice computer and then cheat myself on performance because I skimped on memory. Any suggestions?

I think you've misunderstood what you've been quoted regarding the memory on the videocard.

Nothing will 'take' the memory, if we're still talking about the cards mentioned earlier, the memory for the card is resident on the card. It's totally separate of the system ram.

The sweet spot for any pc running Vista is 2GB, so generally you'd be fine with that.

I quoted 4GB ram because of your quoted usage. Vista will only 'see' 3.5GB anyway, but you'll still have that bit much more when streaming your video.

If you can't find 1066mhz ram, it's not a big problem. Go, instead, for 800mhz ram. Corsair XMS2 would be my choice considering it's quality and low price.

You'll see various types of XMS2 800mhz ram, so just to save you confusion go for the type that's quoted as 'CL5' or 'CAS5' (both of these quotes mean the same thing by the way).

ALright you have been so helpful! You are such a blessing. I have one more favor to ask of you all. I have listed out below the items that I have selected for the new computer. Are these good? Do they match? And how about that cooling fan for the CPU?

Case:
NZXT Zero (Black/Silver) Full Tower Case with Side-Panel Fans
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=cs-211-110

CPU Fan:
Masscool 8WA741 92mm Ball Bearing CPU Cooler For Socket 775 / LGA 775
http://www.eaglebit.com/ProductDetai...00130&Click=14
25.00

Power Supply:
Tagan 1100W TG1100-U96 TurboJet Quad Quiet SLI Ready Power Supply
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?id=2209&catid=142


Video card:
nVIDIA QUADRO FX 3400,FX3400 PCI-Express,256MB,Dual DVI,CAD,DCC
http://compeve.com/index.php?main_pa...0&currency=USD


Sound Card
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtermeMusic Audio Card
http://www.antaresdigital.com/custom...cat=263&page=1

Processor.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 http://www.memorylabs.net/inco2duoe631.html


Memory
CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184
(qty 2)

Monitor:
--KDS K-22MDWB Black 22" 5ms
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824155047


--Motherboard
ASUS P5K WS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131185


HDD:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073
(qty. 2)

Case:
NZXT Zero (Black/Silver) Full Tower Case with Side-Panel Fans
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=cs-211-110

Good case, the aluminium construction makes it a tad pricey though, the side panels are a bit on the thin side so ensure they're tightly fitted to the case when the build is all said and done as you may get 'shudder' from the fans should you attach them to the side panel. The design of the connections for the expansion cards is of the screwless variety, it actually works quite well on this case but it doesn't have separate clamps for each card so you might have a bit of trouble fitting multiple cards (just get someone to hold them while you move the clamp in place).

The drives are mounted sideways at the bottom of the case, usually I'd be slating this arrangement but it works well in this case as there's two 120mm exhaust fans at the rear of the case, tie these in with the (filtered) 120mm fan at the front and you have decent airflow.

On the downside all the fans in the case are powered by molex's, so to control their speed you'll need a fan controller, but should you not want one they are rather quiet so it's not a great concern. If you do get one you can mount it in the top bay and it will show behind the semi-transparent plastic triangle at the top of the door on the front of the case. (Oooooh, nice...).

The fans can all be daisy chained when connecting to your psu, but making all the wires tidy is a job in itself.

I'd remove 2 of the 4 side panel fans, it's massive overkill, you'll also reduce any shudder. My recommendation would be (as you look at the side panel with the fans) would be to leave the two left hand side fans and remove the others.

CPU Fan:
Masscool 8WA741 92mm Ball Bearing CPU Cooler For Socket 775 / LGA 775
http://www.eaglebit.com/ProductDetai...00130&Click=14
25.00

Not liking this, running at close to 40dba, thats really not good. Thats probably the peak volume, but it speaks, ahem, volumes for the noise levels when it's running slower. Nope, not impressed. Get an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. Absolutely superb cooler, cheap, light and quiet, tie that in with great cooling prowess and you've one of the best hsf's (HeatSink and Fan) in the market.

Power Supply:
Tagan 1100W TG1100-U96 TurboJet Quad Quiet SLI Ready Power Supply
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?id=2209&catid=142

Too much power for your setup, waaaay too much. It's also only cooled by two poxy 80mm fans and it's in a standard sized ATX psu case. That thing will run hot and loud, all those heatsinks crammed in there to get rid of the waste heat from a 1.1kw psu.

Get an enermax Liberty 600w. Very stable, very efficient. Or if you want to future proof a bit further get an Enermax Infiniti 650 or 720w.

Video card:
nVIDIA QUADRO FX 3400,FX3400 PCI-Express,256MB,Dual DVI,CAD,DCC
http://compeve.com/index.php?main_pa...0&currency=USD

Perfect.

Sound Card
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtermeMusic Audio Card
http://www.antaresdigital.com/custom...cat=263&page=1

Looks good.

Processor.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 http://www.memorylabs.net/inco2duoe631.html

Good choice.


Memory
CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184
(qty 2)

Good choice.

Monitor:
--KDS K-22MDWB Black 22" 5ms
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824155047

Looks good.


--Motherboard
ASUS P5K WS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131185

P35 chipset. Asus P5-K. Definately. (As you can tell, I'm an advocate).


HDD:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

Decent drives. My preference, and it's simply that, would be Hitachi Deskstar's.

Thank you once again for the help. I found one of those fans and they look great, also as to the power supply, my only concern is that it won't be enough. Guess I have been scarred by the "Get all you can" crowed, but I tried one of those calculation things for how many watts you need and it was like 800. I just don't know anything about the power stuff except that if you don't have enough you are messed up. lol

power supply you should be aiming for is 500 wat or above.



regards