I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for in a computer, so my
suggestions may or may not be that helpful. You did mention video editing
however and that you want a computer using top of the line components.
Processor: Although you said you wanted top of the line, my own inclination
is to recommend processor just below the sharp rise in price that you see
with the fastest processors. There is a $180 increase in price going from
the P4 2.8C to the P4 3.2, for example. You can save over $100 by choosing
the P4 3.0C instead of the P4 3.2. It really depends on how much money you
want to spend, since all three of these processors are plenty powerful.
Motherboard: Assuming you stick with a major builder, like Asus or
Gigabyte, you still have to settle on a chipset. I think either the Intel
875 or 865 chipset will meet your needs. They are related in a fashion
similiar to how the Celeron and a Pentium are related. The 875 supports ECC
memory and has a slightly faster memory controller (5% difference in
performance). Many of the 865 chipset based motherboards have come with
these accelerated memory timings available, as the manufacturers figured out
how to re-enable what Intel disabled on the 865. I hear that with the
newest batch of 865 chipsets this will no longer be possible, but the
performance difference is not all that great anyway. So, it comes down to
whether you feel you need ECC memory.
Memory: I agree with the 512 mb minimum of memory for a 2K/XP machine. This
much memory, or even more, will become important as programs become
available that actually take advantage of the P4's hyperthreading abilities.
I would look at something like Crucial's PC32000 value line that supports
CL2.5 at this speed. You'll need to buy an identical pair of memory modules
for dual channel support. (You'll see kits of two modules being sold for
this purpose.)
I don't think ECC support is all that necessary for a home computer, and it
does tend to be more expensive. I'm sure this is one of those issues that
some people will hold some strongly differing positions on, however.
Hard Drive (SATA/RAID): There isn't that much difference in speed between
SATA and EIDE when it comes to 7200 rpm drives. The speed of the spindle
and other mechanisms is the real factor determing performance. However,
there are some 10,000 rpm SATA drives available, which will be faster than
your typical 7200 rpm drive. The drawback has been that there was only a
37GB model available, which is smallish by todays standards, and it is more
expensive than 7500 rpm drives. There is a 74 GB 10,000 rpm drive in the
pipeline, which should be available this month, but expenct to pay a real
premium for this drive when it is available. A reasonable compromise might
be to get the 37GB 10,000 rpm drive and use it as the drive for holding the
video that you are actually working on and have a large 7200 rpm drive (EIDE
or SATA) for everything else. 10,000 rpm drives generate a lot of heat, so
look for a case with fans cooling the hard drive bay or plan on adding a
drive cooler of somesort.
Most motherboards only support RAID 0 and 1. 0 provides no mirroring but
increases performance by reading and writing to two drive simultaneously; 1
provides no increase in performance, but it mirrors all data between the two
drives, so if one fails your data is still recoverable. As an alternative
to the single 10,000 rpm drive, you could increase your drive performance
with two 7200 rpm SATA or EIDE drives (depending on what controllers your
motherboard offers RAID support on) running RAID 0. Keep in mind that since
these two drives will be running simultaneously; so, you'll need a beefier
power supply and good hard drive cooling. (You could run two 10,000 rpm
SATA drives using RAID 0 for highest performance, short of going to SCSI.
Again, lots of heat to dissipate and increased power demands.)
Case and Power Supply: I think that Antec provides some of the best Case
and P/S combinations for the money. For example, the Plus 1080AMG is a big
mid tower case that comes with Antec's True Power 430 watt power supply and
runs about $120.
USB, Firewire, GigaLAN: Most Manufacturer offer several models based on the
same chipset. You will be looking at their more expensive "deluxe" models
to find support for all these features. Nonetheless, these features are
fairly standard on the higher end motherboards these days. The 1000 mbs LAN
seems like overkill on a home computer, but it doesn't seem to add greatly
to the price.
HTH
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Greenberg" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 5:54 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] New machine
> I am building a new machine for myself for the Holidays and I am looking
> for some input from those here "in the know".
>
> I am looking to use top-of-the-line components, except for the video
> card. I am not a gamer and don't need to spend $200-$300 on a fancy video
> card.
>
> Here is my plan:
>
> - P4 2.8-3.2 Ghz, 800 Mhz FSB w/HT
> - Minimum of 512MB RAM
> - Still on the fence about SATA or RAID, but will have a 200GB HD for
video
> editing.
> - Good case and PSU
> - USB/FIREWIRE ports
> - 1000MB NIC, or at least a top-of-the-line 100MB card.
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