Rate my new Video System

Dezine wrote on 6/23/2004, 1:31 PM

I want to upgrade my system from my 1.6 GHZ Sony Vaio Pioneer Desktop worstation. I am looking to have a video only system to run Vegas5+DVDR2.0.

I am thinking about finally building my own system to save money.

Cheiftec Dragon ATX Case w/Ultra 600 Watt Power Supply $99.00
Asus P4P800-E Motherboard $109.00
Intel P4 3.0 GHz HT Processor $209.00
Aerocool X-Blaster 80mm Cooling Fan $10.99
PNY NVIDIA Quadro NVS 280 Video Card $163.00
Kingston VALUERAM 184-Pin 1GB DDR PC-2700 $246.00
Drive #1: Maxtor 80GB 7200 IDE Hard Drive $76.00
Video Drive: WD 250GB 7200 IDE Hard Drive $180.00
Pioneer 8X DVD +/- DVR-107D $89.00
Windows XP Professional OEM $135.00

Total: $1316.99

Please leave me any additional suggestions for anything I might have missed as this is the first system that I would have built.

Thanks,
Dezine

Comments

Jsnkc wrote on 6/23/2004, 1:42 PM

600 watt power supply seems like a bit of overkill for this system.

Might want to get 2 - 512MB sticks of RAM instead of one 1GB chip, usually a lot cheaper that way. You can probably find them for $60 each.

Chanimal wrote on 6/23/2004, 1:43 PM

Not sure if your board has a firewire card--in which case you need to ad one. Also, depending on your needs, you may wish to throw in a sound card, versus the on-board sound. I would just get two wd 250's ($149 at CompUSA this week--no rebates)--since you can use the extra space over time (if anything just to store your completed projects.

I also assume you would get a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Otherwise looks good.

DavidMcKnight wrote on 6/23/2004, 1:48 PM

I don't see a sound card listed - you'll definitely need that. For doing 5.1 work you need a good interface and most importantly, a good speaker system for authoring. You could get by with a soundblaster audigy for the card, but don't skimp on the speakers if you're serious about the work.

Video card - sounds like a good one. May be overkill for video editing. I use a dual head ATI that I got from newegg for about $40, and it works great in Vegas. Surprisingly, the newest hi-tech gamers cards have features that are lost on video editind (maybe some of the 3D add on fx packages make use of them?)

Asus mobo - good
fast proc - good
gig ram - good
2 drives - good
XP - good

GTakacs wrote on 6/23/2004, 1:50 PM

Also, two 512MB momory moudules can be accessed twice as fast as a signle 1GB due to the dual channel.

I have similar system that I just put together this month.

Asus P4P800-E Deluxe Motherboard. It has on board firewire and a 1 gigabit netowrk connection as well as the 8 USB ports.

P4 3.0 GHz with 1MB cache and HT. I'd say get a Retail version of the CPU, not an OEM and don't waste money on an aftermarket cooler. Most aftermarket coolers will be louder and will not cool as good as the OEM fan. It might sound weird, but the OEM Intel cooler with the copper core (all 3.0 GHZ+ CPUs have copper core coolers) is great. I made the mistake of accidentally buying an OEM CPU not a Retail one. I regret it dearly! I use a Vantech cooler on mine, it cools as good as the OEM, but it is much louder.

I went with an ATI All-in-wonder Radeon 9600XT video card for analog capture. I am pretty pleased with this video card. It has dual head support, so I am running a 19" CRT and a 17" LCD off of it. You would want dual head for video editing, once you have dual head it's hard to go back to a single monitor and ALT+TAB.

The rest of the stuff is all just fine!

BTW, I bought my stuff from NewEgg and I could not be happier!

bbcdrum wrote on 6/23/2004, 2:54 PM

If you are going to run an 800 MHz FSB and want to run dual channel memory, I think you might want PC-3200, not the PC-2700 you listed. I agree that 2 sticks of 512 each is better than a single 1 GB stick.

winrockpost wrote on 6/23/2004, 2:56 PM

DDR PC-2700
you should use 3200 ram for the system you describe,,

GTakacs wrote on 6/23/2004, 4:43 PM

Oh, right, I completely missed that part about the 2700 DDRs, yes you definetely want 400FSB DDRs.

MyST wrote on 6/23/2004, 6:00 PM

Soundcard...INCREDIBLE deal at Newegg is the M-Audio Delta 410.
It's discontinued so they're letting it go at $113. That's a Pro level card by the way!
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=29-121-105&depa=0
It comes with a lite version of Ableton Live and also Maximum Audio Tools.

600watts? That seems a little high, doesn't it? That must be peak output.
I got the Antec Sonata case with 380 watts Truepower. It's supposed to be a quiet case and the 380 watts is REALLY 380 watts.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-129-127&DEPA=0

I'll let you know how quiet it is when I finally have it running. My sytem isn't assembled yet.

Mario

BillyBoy wrote on 6/23/2004, 7:34 PM

I agree a 600 watt power supply for most would be over kill. Ditto, get two 512 MB memory sticks, cheaper, faster and the higher speed memory if you can find it at a reasonable price.

RexA wrote on 6/23/2004, 11:01 PM

It is a small detail, but on the last tower system I put together I opted for a better case. It doesn't matter often, but if I say, I want to add or swap a drive, I can get in without screwdrivers, remove the drive holder section with a lever and get access to all important screws.

It also has a good air filter, extra fans, and room to add more fans if needed. Oh, yeah, ports for 1394 and USB on both front and back.

It wasn't that much more money and I think was well spent.

Dezine wrote on 6/24/2004, 5:27 AM

What case did you settle on?

Dezine

GTakacs wrote on 6/24/2004, 7:08 AM

Antec P-160WF is a great case!

mrs_smiths_lad wrote on 6/24/2004, 8:08 AM

This and all the changes suggested sound peachy ... buy me one as well... :)

jkrepner wrote on 6/24/2004, 8:38 AM

First time poster, long time snooper. I bought a Dell Precision 350 workstation, identical to what Dezine has spec'd out. I paid almost 2,000 a year ago for it. Today the same system can be had for around 1,700. Or, a Dell Desktop (similar to a workstation) for 1,200. I will say that I bought my Dell for Avid Xpress Pro, but now use it for Vegas. It's perfect. I have built at least 4 machines for editing - I know what I'm doing. I do not recommend building your own machine. For games and tweekers, fine - editing, no. Why bother? Dell (or whom ever) has teams of people, millions in R&D, and what they call a 'warranty' at their disposal. I miss building my own machines - but the time to build is nothing compared to the time spent keeping them running. Maybe I just value my time more now than I used to, but keep in mine all the bios settings need to be set to get your own grown machine running at top performance. One proc/mobo combo needs bios setting X, to be set to 123 and another mobo/proc combo needs that setting set to 213. I enjoy building them - so if this is a fun project then by all means run with it. If you are trying to make money, or save money, pay the extra 300 and buy a machine that has been tested and comes with a warranty. I am partial to Dell (Precision 340s and up) but many companies make good machines too. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish, like I was. Anyone else see my point?

Be well,
-Jeff
(for the record - all of my hand built machines are stilling running, so there...)