Suggestions on Building a PC

[mfenn]

Looks fine, except for the PSU. I would get this combo instead. Saves you $10 AR and gets you a higher-quality PSU and HDD.

 

[muskie32]

Looks nice!

Yup, i switched it to that

Anything else?

 

[mfenn]

Looks nice!

Yup, i switched it to that

Anything else?

One other thing. I would definitely get the Agility 2 over the Kingston V series. The Sandforce chipset in the Agility 2 is basically the best thing out there right now. You will need to buy a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter with the SSD though.

 

[muskie32]

How bout this SSD? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-542-_-Product I dont really need one that big...

 

[fffblackmage]

There's also the 60GB Vertex 2 for $144 (or $124 AR). And then there's also the 50GB Vertex 2 for $150 (or $130 AR), but I'm not certain what the difference is, other than capacity. (Can anyone clarify please?)

Vertex 2 > Agility 2 >>>>>>>> Kingston V series

 

[mfenn]

There's also the 60GB Vertex 2 for $144 (or $124 AR). And then there's also the 50GB Vertex 2 for $150 (or $130 AR), but I'm not certain what the difference is, other than capacity. (Can anyone clarify please?)

Vertex 2 > Agility 2 >>>>>>>> Kingston V series

The Vertex 2 has a "tweaked" firmware that allows it to get more IOPS in certain conditions. Otherwise it is identical to the Agility 2 which uses the normal Sandforce firmware.

OP, all of the Agility 2's should perform about the same, so buy the one that best fits your budget.

 

[muskie32]

Is this a good deal AMD Eyefinity/LG20" LED Kit


And what about a HDD like this over a SSD?

 

[mfenn]

Is this a good deal AMD Eyefinity/LG20" LED Kit

Not really since you won't realistically be able to do anything with Eyefinity on a 5770.

And what about a HDD like this over a SSD?

That's a SAS drive, so you wouldn't be able to use it without an expensive controller card.

 

[muskie32]

I seem to have taken to wanting to get this case The Antec Twelve Hundred.

Is this a good option?
It looks like it has a very good airflow!
Has plenty of expansion!
Has a side window!
And it looks cool!

Is there a better case out there?

 

[Davidh373]

I'm gonna give you some advice on current parts and hand you off a build of my own.

$100 mobo (ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard)

Or this mobo GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Either/ Or

$177 CPU (AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz)

Absolutely!

$75 Case

Good case all and all.

$159 RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)

Good Choice.

$64 1 TB HDD HITACHI Deskstar

Alright...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product

That's $6 cheaper and has better performance.

$139 SSD Choice # 1 Choice #2 Kingston SSDNow V Series or OCZ Agility 2

Definitely Agility 2.

$30 CPU cooler Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 Hyper 212 Plus

I'm kind of confused why you need this. It didn't say anything in the OP about Overclocking. If you are new to building PCs then you'll probably want to avoid "OCing" the first time around anyway. The CPU comes with a cooler capable of cooling the CPU at the default clock speed. No need to worry yourself attaching aftermarket coolers both physically and economically.

$139 Windows 7 PRO 64 Bit System Builder 1pk

Good.

$3 Arctic Silver Compound

Ok (Thermal paste is thermal paste as far as this build goes)

$30 Tool Kit Belkin 36-Piece Demagnatized Computer Tool Kit

I like Magnetized just in case you lose a screw in the case or something.

$20 Optical Drive SATA DVD Burner - Bulk LightScribe Support - OEM

A DVD drive is pretty much a DVD drive .

$79 OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (I will find a use for the video card somewhere... i just thought it was a good deal.. )

HUGE issue with this. OCZ is a no-no. Good Brands for PSUs are Corsair, Antec, and sometimes XFX.

1. With exception to the PSU, yes.

2. Yes, refer to below, I probably won't even find the best. Your price is pretty standard for what I normally see however.

3. Not a question in my mind. You can do better for CS5 in the Graphics card department however for Premiere Pro CS5, and After Effects CS5. There is a part of the software called the "Mercury Playback Engine" and it uses nVidia Cuda for processing real time previews for up to 4K footage. Normally this would be reserved for Quadro FX cards, but their is a very simple way around this for most nVivia cards. Follow the directions below IF you get an nVidia card instead of your current ATI 5770.

http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20elite%20335

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-005-_-Product

Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-851-_-Product

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-647-_-Product

Ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-311-_-Product

G-Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-391-_-Product

SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-604-_-Product

Storage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product

CD/ DVD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106276

$1114.88 total with shipping (exactly)

Keep some things in mind.

1. Much better Graphics card with added features for Video Editing.

2. More reliable and more efficient PSU

3. Better and less expensive HDD

4. You didn't add shipping or the extra $0.99 onto those numbers. I'm pretty sure they'd come a lot closer if you had. Mine would be ~ $50 more expensive I think because of the Graphics card and the additional savings off your list.

That G-card really adds a lot onto the build. I didn't put Windows on there so that's another $100 and an extra ~$75 for the tool kit and everything. I'd say hit things where it really matters and swap your HDD and PSU for the ones in my build. If you want a graphics card that costs a little less than the 5770 and gets Cuda acceleration the GTS 450 is $140 and will get you there, but is not as proffered as the GTX 460.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-394-_-Product

Another good way to trim off $50 would be to get the 60GB Agility 2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...227542&cm_re=agility_2-_-20-227-542-_-Product

It has enough for the apps you listed plus a few more. With the saved money between the graphics card and the SSD, get another 1TB HDD. It's best to have more HDDs for editing video. I do mine like this:

Program - Velociraptor HDD (in your case SSD)

Save Files and Assets - HDD1

Capture Files - HDD2

 

[Davidh373]

Just a recap of my post, I know that was a lot to read.

1.Swap the HDD for the Samsung f3

2.Swap the PSU for the Corsair

3.Buy the Agility 2 60GB

4.Buy a GTS 450 if you can't afford the GTX 460 for the Cuda Acceleration.

5.With $ saved get a second 1TB Samsung.

600th Post!

 

[muskie32]

This video card looks pretty solid GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770
But... I could be wrong...

 

[Davidh373]

This video card looks pretty solid GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770
But... I could be wrong...

Again, there isn't much difference between the 5770 and the 450 in standard performance. The 450 however is ~ $20 cheaper than the newegg price for a 5770 and is around the sale price for the 5770. The nVidia offerings however (AKA 450, 460, 470, 480) offer Cuda support which unlocks the Mercury Playback Engine inside Premiere Pro and After Effects CS5 . This engine offers realtime playback of layered HD content, and does not run off of ATI cards (AKA 5770, 5850, 5870, 5970). You are better off going with an nVidia card for a workstation build.

Price of a 450 (Cuda) - $139.99

Price of your 5770 (no Cuda ) - $149.99

Price of the 460 (Cuda) - $229.99

 

[mfenn]

David, did Adobe ever come out with that patch to enable CUDA on more cards than just the Quadro's and GTX 285?

 

[Davidh373]

No, but you can literally add your Cuda enabled card (All the way up from 8800) to a txt file and it works. I'm guessing it's just a way for nVidia to make major bank on the Quadro FX Cards...


Here's the link to enable Cuda on different cards.

http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

They put lots of crap in there to make sure you KNOW you have an nVidia card and that it isn't a single PCI card so it has adequate cooling. Apparently Mercury makes things nice n' toasty...

 

[muskie32]

I think i am going to go with this card ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU TOP/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTS 450

 

[Davidh373]

I like the single review that card has

"Pros: Great Card"

"Cons: None really"

"Other Thoughts: I Like Cheese"

lol

I'm sure you'll love it. I'd wait for mfenn to elaborate on what he thinks of the 450 and please post your decision for your final build please (as long as you don't have any other questions of course).

 

[muskie32]

I like the single review that card has

"Pros: Great Card"

"Cons: None really"

"Other Thoughts: I Like Cheese"

lol

I'm sure you'll love it. I'd wait for mfenn to elaborate on what he thinks of the 450 and please post your decision for your final build please (as long as you don't have any other questions of course).

Yes, Strange review

 

[mfenn]

I think i am going to go with this card ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU TOP/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTS 450

The GTS 450 is fine for what you want to do. For gaming, the 5770 is a better value, but the GTS 450 is the obvious choice in your price range if you're going to heavily use CUDA.

 

[muskie32]

And again is this case overkill?

I want a case with a side window.
Lots of fans
And lots of space for expansion.

And also should i go with 16GB or RAM? Is it overkill? I like to run alot of stuff at the same time. Such as 4-7 internet pages open. A Virtual Machine (in virtual box) And Photoshop CS5, Lightroom, Bridge, and video editing.
-Isaac

 

[cmmenke]

the asus mobo, only has 2 fan connections FYI....besides the main CPU one. So you will have one fan after you plug both the CM fans in. I just got that board. Works well for me. i pretty much just got the same system, for a little cheaper

 

[muskie32]

the asus mobo, only has 2 fan connections FYI....besides the main CPU one. So you will have one fan after you plug both the CM fans in. I just got that board. Works well for me. i pretty much just got the same system, for a little cheaper

I was planing to go with this mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128443

 

[cmmenke]

this is the build i just got. the Mobo is only dual channel, so either get another gig of ram, like i did, or just get 4GB. i already had a case, and a PSU. So it saved alot

RAM - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ

SSD - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Graphics card - MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

HD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Motherboard - ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

CD/DVD drive - SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223C - OEM

 

[Davidh373]

And again is this case overkill?

Yes, get the 300 you planned on originally.

You shouldn't need over 8GB RAM.

 

[muskie32]

Ok