Are You A Computer Geek - Please Help Me

[Anthony]

i'm building a dedicated video editing rig (which will also be used for PC gaming, but i'm not going too crazy with that, it'll be 70/30 editing to gaming ratio). i need to know a good motherboard/processor combo. obviously the motherboard determines which chipset you can use. what is a good package to get? i'm not going extremely high end mind you - i'm talking something in the $200-$300 range. i'm leaning towards Intel, but if you can think of a sweet AMD 64 combo then let me hear it.

help. my wife is giving me a deadline to submit my christmas list by 12/13/05, afterwhich she'll just buy me whatever she wants. help a brutha out yo'.

[Anthony]

dammit, you people are good for nothing.

[sovereignstar]

psyche

[Anthony]

i hate Minnesotans.

[sovereignstar]

Cool, cause I'm a North Dakotan.

[vtbub]

patience kind sir

[vtbub]

try tiger direct

[Desmond]

Im building a dedicated Rocket, which will also be used for coloring.

[Senator]

We need a song about this.

[Antmeister]

Damn...within that price range, have you considered these sites:
http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

With that said, the most important things to get, for what you want to do, is memory (make sure it is only one stick, for stability reasons) and a huge hard drive. You probably already know this, but if you don't, 1 minute of DV video is about 200 megabytes, so hard drive space is real important. The memory would be good for when you are rendering and/or previewing a scene. Of course, you really need a somewhat decent processor, but anything over 1.5 gigahertz will be sufficient.

[gottimd]

I'm building a suit out of household meat.

[duckman]

I'm building a suit out of household meat.
You'll be a dog's best friend if you do.

[gottimd]

You'll be a dog's best friend if you do.
Fat Women dig suits made out of meat.

[Anthony]

dammit - save the comedy for another thread. you people aren't as funny as me anyway. more posts like Ant's.

thanks Ant.

[Anthony]

here are the parts i already have:

HP DVD740i 16X Internal Double Layer DVD Writer (https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=170669)

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000/Laser Mouse (https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=211160)

Western Digital Raptor 74GB (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101222)

my bro in law said he'd give me his 3.2 Intel Prescott chip, but i heard there are better mobo's (that's PC geek-speak for "motherboard"), like the Socket T. what be the dilly? should i just get a mobo to go with that Prescott chip, or should i be a man and get something better?

[Anthony]

Damn...within that price range, have you considered these sites:
http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

With that said, the most important things to get, for what you want to do, is memory (make sure it is only one stick, for stability reasons) and a huge hard drive. You probably already know this, but if you don't, 1 minute of DV video is about 200 megabytes, so hard drive space is real important. The memory would be good for when you are rendering and/or previewing a scene. Of course, you really need a somewhat decent processor, but anything over 1.5 gigahertz will be sufficient.

that monarchcomputer.com site is very nice, just about what i was looking for. i want a site that lets me know what mobo's go with what processors. good stuff Ant. my bro in law is gonna help me build this rig, and has some good spare parts that he's gonna give me (1GB of RAM, for example). i read that there isn't any applications out there that really take advantage of Intel's Dual Core processors - do you think that's overkill and not a necessary chip to get (in your opinion)? that isn't my price range, that's what my wife has left in my christmas gift funds, so i'd rather she get a mobo/processor combo and all i need is to buy my case and a 400 GB HDD for storage.

[Antmeister]

here are the parts i already have:

HP DVD740i 16X Internal Double Layer DVD Writer (https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=170669)

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000/Laser Mouse (https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=211160)

Western Digital Raptor 74GB (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101222)

my bro in law said he'd give me his 3.2 Intel Prescott chip, but i heard there are better mobo's (that's PC geek-speak for "motherboard"), like the Socket T. what be the dilly? should i just get a mobo to go with that Prescott chip, or should i be a man and get something better?

To be honest with you, I never heard of the Prescott chip, so I haven't heard anything good or bad about it. I would look about on the net to see if anyone else had any problems with video editing using this chipset. Plus my strong suit is not hardware. I just know what I need when I put it together. I am usually the type that usually purchases a computer bare bones (with just the board, memory and processor already installed into a case) and then add what I want from there myself. But since you got a free chip and you are trying to save money, I would consider getting a motherboard if the research indicates that chip is okay. Just my 2 cents.

[wishbone]

You could get an Abit AN8 and Athlon 64 3200+ for $200 - $250 from newegg. The motherboard will support much faster processors so you may be able to upgrade down the line.

[Antmeister]

that monarchcomputer.com site is very nice, just about what i was looking for. i want a site that lets me know what mobo's go with what processors. good stuff Ant. my bro in law is gonna help me build this rig, and has some good spare parts that he's gonna give me (1GB of RAM, for example). i read that there isn't any applications out there that really take advantage of Intel's Dual Core processors - do you think that's overkill and not a necessary chip to get (in your opinion)? that isn't my price range, that's what my wife has left in my christmas gift funds, so i'd rather she get a mobo/processor combo and all i need is to buy my case and a 400 GB HDD for storage.

I think I agree that Dual Core is overkill. It does improve performance, but only slighty, so it is not worth the price. But memory really is the key here. You will see a huge difference in rendering speeds with this. A gig of RAM is pretty good.

[cthomer5000]

here are the parts i already have:

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000/Laser Mouse (https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=211160)
Whew, at least you got the big stuff out of the way!

[Anthony]

thank you wishbone. what do you know of Intel chips?

if Ant hasn't heard of the Prescott chip, that tells me it doesn't have much name recognition among PC geeks. i can't necessarily afford hard core high end parts (this is more for hobbies than for anything else) but i don't want to go walking into the steam room with the smallest cock either so i want a chip that's got some "meat", dig? on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being ultra high end prices and 1 being hardware from like 1995, i want something in the 6-8 range. i want a nice machine with hardware that will be "current" for the next 2 years. thanks for all the advice here.

btw, i'm not exactly adverse to AMD, i heard they have the best value, considering they provide similar results to the more costly Intel options. it's just that Intel is the leader in the market and most software has Intel in mind.

[Anthony]

Whew, at least you got the big stuff out of the way!

LOL, i know. ever since i finished saving for my wife's Christmas gifts early in November (thanks to my fantasy baseball winnings i hit my goals much earlier than expected), i was using $200 out of every paycheck for buying parts. since i was on the fence about which mobo/chip to get (the most important decision out of this whole mama jama), i wanted to feel like i was accomplishing *something* so i panicked and went with the keyboard/mouse cuz it was right around $200. i'm also having a hard time deciding which case to get, so many decisions.

[Antmeister]

thank you wishbone. what do you know of Intel chips?

if Ant hasn't heard of the Prescott chip, that tells me it doesn't have much name recognition among PC geeks. i can't necessarily afford hard core high end parts (this is more for hobbies than for anything else) but i don't want to go walking into the steam room with the smallest cock either so i want a chip that's got some "meat", dig? on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being ultra high end prices and 1 being hardware from like 1995, i want something in the 6-8 range. i want a nice machine with hardware that will be "current" for the next 2 years. thanks for all the advice here.

btw, i'm not exactly adverse to AMD, i heard they have the best value, considering they provide similar results to the more costly Intel options. it's just that Intel is the leader in the market and most software has Intel in mind.

Just because I haven't heard of it means nothing. Once again, I am not a hardware geek at all and I only look into hardware whenever I want to purchase a new computer. So you may actually have a kick ass chip and don't know it. I don't keep up with all the new chips until I need one.

[MizzouRah]

Newegg's site is down right now, but they did have a deal where you buy the 7800GT video card and you get an Athlon 64 bit processor (I believe it was 3.4 Ghz) and the motherboard. Considering the 7800GT video is a premeire video card, it was a good deal for those wanting to build a gaming pc.

You already have the HD for it, those raptors are great.

Check on newegg when it goes back up.

[Anthony]

wow, i'm totally gonna check that out. thanx.

[MizzouRah]

Sorry, it didn't include the processor and the sale is over, BUT I did find it here at better price:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1644233&Sku=E145-7810

This is one heck of a deal.

[JeeberD]

HA is following Icy into the porn biz?

[Anthony]

ok, i narrowed it down to 2 different processors, so help me out:

AMD 64 4000 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103529):
Pros - highly rated processor, got rave reviews from actual users.
Cons - single core, costs more than a dual-core Intel.

Intel Pentium D 830 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819116212):
Pros - a dual core processor; regarded as more stable due to Intel brand name; dual core will be much more utilized in several years' time.
Cons - i don't necessarily need dual core right now, and there isn't much software out there that takes advantage of dual core.

this PC will be a dedicated video editing rig (with some gaming in there). i will have my current PC on the same desk to use for more common usage (internet, text sim gaming, Photoshop, etc.). i'd pretty much want the dual-core chip to have a dual-core chip, especially one made by Intel. i'm leaning towards that AMD chip, for the record. it's much more practical.

if you guys like that chip, can you recommend a nice mobo to go with it (under $150, i'm having my wife purchase my mobo and case). thanks.

[jeff061]

AMD 64 X2 3800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562)

It's a dual core, AMD's dual cores are a better implementation of that technology than Intel's, Intel just threw it together to compete while they work on getting the real solution out there. The whole stability thing is a remnant of AMD processors from 2+ years ago. No longer accurate.

Seems to me that a dual core will help with video editing immensly in the near future, if it doesn't already. I'd have to look around to back that up though.

[Anthony]

i heard that when MS comes out with Windows Vista next year, it'll heavily utilize dual core chips. have you heard any inkling of that?

i didn't know the Pentium D was more of an afterthought. AMD is getting a reputation as the better "bang for your buck" chip, i don't have any problem going that route.

[jeff061]

First thing I found with both Intel and AMD processors in question compared against each other in Video encoding. Honestly know zilch about video editing, so not sure how much this applies.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-7.html?tag=lnav

[jeff061]

i didn't know the Pentium D was more of an afterthought

Heh, some of my bias may come through a bit. It's still not a bad processor and your not hurting if you get it. Intel's Hyperthreading is still(after several years) a very good technology that AMD does not have an answer for. But in the end, from what I've read, your better of with an AMD.

I pesonally don't think AMD can stand with a freshly designed Pentium that Intel put all their resources into. We haven't seen that since the P4 first came out a LONG time ago. I think eventually we'll see AMD and Intel switch soon, but right now AMD has the edge pretty much everywhere.

[Anthony]

Heh, some of my bias may come through a bit. It's still not a bad processor and your not hurting if you get it. Intel's Hyperthreading is still(after several years) a very good technology that AMD does not have an answer for. But in the end, from what I've read, your better of with an AMD.

I pesonally don't think AMD can stand with a freshly designed Pentium that Intel put all their resources into. We haven't seen that since the P4 first came out a LONG time ago. I think eventually we'll see AMD and Intel switch soon, but right now AMD has the edge pretty much everywhere.

thank you for your feedback. i'm actually leaning towards that X2 processor you recommended, because this is the 2nd time someone has recommended that one to me. i'm leaning in the sense that i'm confident going with that X2, and i'm just waiting another hour or so to let someone make a case for another processor. in a couple hours i'll start researching which mobo's best go with Athlon 64 X2s (i'll probably look somewhere in the Asus family) and shoot my christmas list off to my wife.