Building my Last Computer, Questions !

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe H
  • Start date Start date
J

Joe H

Over the years I have put 4 together, and now 66 and going for my most
likely last one.


I'm Really doing some research on my most likely last Home brew computer.

I have a DV 16.9 widescreen Mini canon Camcoder and a Cannon Digital 4.1 Pixel
still camera, so I'm looking for Processing speed when I convert the Tape to
making DVD compatible Movies. I'm using Pinnacle 9, works good, but with my
old Hard Drives and AMD 1.6 the wait is long and the HD run's a long, long
time.

So Which CPU do you think for that work ?

I'm thinking the Maxtor SATA 160 gig so I can use the serial round cables and
a maybe 150 MBps transfer.
400 watt power supply.

4- 51/4 slots, one being a Dock for Backup (Norton Ghost).

Easy access case ????

I was up to my Old Mutiwave site, but no free shipping, so need a good
reliable Wholesale Place ???

I'm very serious here, as I'm going down hill on my breathing little by
little, but got to keep going.
Jan 16 will be three years without my 3 packs of Cigs a day, haven't drank in
almost 20 years, I got to spice things up a little you know !

PS: I've seen the 3.4 Intel Cpu run and am not too Thrilled, and leaning
toward the AMD 64.???
 
Go to the PC Magazine or Computer Shopper web sites and look for product
reviews of the stuff you're intersted in.
 
Joe said:
Over the years I have put 4 together, and now 66 and going for my
most likely last one.


I'm Really doing some research on my most likely last Home brew
computer.
I have a DV 16.9 widescreen Mini canon Camcoder and a Cannon Digital
4.1 Pixel still camera, so I'm looking for Processing speed when I
convert the Tape to making DVD compatible Movies. I'm using Pinnacle
9, works good, but with my old Hard Drives and AMD 1.6 the wait is
long and the HD run's a long, long time.

So Which CPU do you think for that work ?

I'm thinking the Maxtor SATA 160 gig so I can use the serial round
cables and a maybe 150 MBps transfer.
400 watt power supply.

4- 51/4 slots, one being a Dock for Backup (Norton Ghost).

Easy access case ????

I was up to my Old Mutiwave site, but no free shipping, so need a good
reliable Wholesale Place ???

I'm very serious here, as I'm going down hill on my breathing little
by little, but got to keep going.
Jan 16 will be three years without my 3 packs of Cigs a day, haven't
drank in almost 20 years, I got to spice things up a little you know !

PS: I've seen the 3.4 Intel Cpu run and am not too Thrilled, and
leaning toward the AMD 64.???
Click to expand...


I suggest looking at the following sites and searching (using Google, etc)
for the products you are interested in..

For Pricing/Opinions/Reviews on various products:
- http://www.tomshardware.com/
- http://www.epinions.com/
- http://www.dealsites.net/
- http://www.pricewatch.com/
- http://www.techbargains.com/
 
Hi,

I just built my PC recently as I wanted something that could handle
processing of a digital camcorder DV tapes to burning a DVD of it.
Spacewise, I upgraded from an 80GB to a Maxtor Serial ATA 160GB like you
mentioned and lets say there plenty available now!

I went for an Athlon 64 3200+, (used to have an Athlon 2600+) as I wanted
something that would last and reduce the process.

Its all gone great although I've had problems with my Gigabyte motherboard
not liking a perfectly good 512MB DDR 2700 memory and when installing XP it
doesnt recognise the Serial ATA drive at all! Having to find a driver floppy
disc to insert during installation! Proving troublesome as I didnt get one
with the motherboard! Solution was to keep both my original IDE and Serial
ATA inside and install Windows on my IDE and everything else on the Serial
ATA drive until I've found the driver.

I've gone for an XFX Geforce FX 5200 256MB, nothing amazing here, just
wanted something that had a bit of grunt but not too expensive.

I went for a 500W power supply as I had a lot of cards, fans and possible
things that may get plugged in. Found ebay was useful here for these, and
got a QTEC branded gold one :) its quiet (ish).

Overall, its quick and I always find its great PC to start with boots up in
seconds until you start putting software on it and then the boot up time is
obviously slower. But it doesnt hang around it seems to manage loading
software without a problem and will give the DV->DVD burning a go soon. I
would recommend at least 1GB of memory, I've got 512MB at the moment until I
get my other 512 up and running. Its managing on it but I can soon see it
all being used in the future!

Regards,
Simon
 
Anyone who would buy or build anything with a Pentium 4 in it at this point
is time should
have their head examined. The AMD64 runs cooler, is faster in most
applications, and is ready for the
64 bit version of Windows. Add to that the vast superiority that
Hypertransport has over hyperthreading,
the on-die memory controller eliminating the traditional bottleneck of the
FSB...I could go on with numerous
other advantages, but there is a clearly superior technology here, and it
isn't Intel.
I personally have two AMD64 machines (3200+ and 4000+), and both of them
smoke my P4 machines
(3.02 and 3.4 GHz; both Hyperthreaded). I have built systems for myself
based on Intel Technology since the
early days of the P3, and I will probably never build another machine based
on an Intel chip.


Bobby

Simon Jefferies said:
Hi,

I just built my PC recently as I wanted something that could handle
processing of a digital camcorder DV tapes to burning a DVD of it.
Spacewise, I upgraded from an 80GB to a Maxtor Serial ATA 160GB like you
mentioned and lets say there plenty available now!

I went for an Athlon 64 3200+, (used to have an Athlon 2600+) as I wanted
something that would last and reduce the process.

Its all gone great although I've had problems with my Gigabyte motherboard
not liking a perfectly good 512MB DDR 2700 memory and when installing XP
it doesnt recognise the Serial ATA drive at all! Having to find a driver
floppy disc to insert during installation! Proving troublesome as I didnt
get one with the motherboard! Solution was to keep both my original IDE
and Serial ATA inside and install Windows on my IDE and everything else on
the Serial ATA drive until I've found the driver.

I've gone for an XFX Geforce FX 5200 256MB, nothing amazing here, just
wanted something that had a bit of grunt but not too expensive.

I went for a 500W power supply as I had a lot of cards, fans and possible
things that may get plugged in. Found ebay was useful here for these, and
got a QTEC branded gold one :) its quiet (ish).

Overall, its quick and I always find its great PC to start with boots up
in seconds until you start putting software on it and then the boot up
time is obviously slower. But it doesnt hang around it seems to manage
loading software without a problem and will give the DV->DVD burning a go
soon. I would recommend at least 1GB of memory, I've got 512MB at the
moment until I get my other 512 up and running. Its managing on it but I
can soon see it all being used in the future!

Regards,
Simon
Click to expand...
 
I'd agree with everything you've said,

The AMD have always been in my opinion cheaper and perform far better and
give much more value for your money.

On a side note, I bought the AMD64 3200+ with apparently Hyperthreading, but
from some tests think it was using a program called Sandra or similar said I
didn't have Hyperthreading?! Is there anything I need to do or is it only
available in the 64-bit version of Windows?

Regards
Simon Jefferies
mailto:simon[nospam]@cooltoolsonline.co.uk
-- remove [nospam] to email me --


NoNoBadDog! said:
Anyone who would buy or build anything with a Pentium 4 in it at this
point is time should
have their head examined. The AMD64 runs cooler, is faster in most
applications, and is ready for the
64 bit version of Windows. Add to that the vast superiority that
Hypertransport has over hyperthreading,
the on-die memory controller eliminating the traditional bottleneck of the
FSB...I could go on with numerous
other advantages, but there is a clearly superior technology here, and it
isn't Intel.
I personally have two AMD64 machines (3200+ and 4000+), and both of them
smoke my P4 machines
(3.02 and 3.4 GHz; both Hyperthreaded). I have built systems for myself
based on Intel Technology since the
early days of the P3, and I will probably never build another machine
based on an Intel chip.


Bobby
Click to expand...
 
AMD64 chips use Hypertransport. Much more efficient. Hyperthreading only
works with a few apps that are "Hyperthreading" aware. Photoshop is one.
with 95% of apps, you will get between 5 and 10 percent performance hit, due
to memory contention and long branch prediction errors. That is the reason
that Dell and Gateway ship their models with Hyperthreading disabled.
Hypertransport is a hardware solution, so no need to "enable" it. You
should load the Chip drivers and then enable Cool n' Quiet. That is a
technology that will throttle the CPU voltage and frequency on demand. It
is very effective and allows your computer to run much cooler and quieter
when it is performing tasks that are not CPU intensive.


Enjoy your new processor!

Bobby

Simon Jefferies said:
I'd agree with everything you've said,

The AMD have always been in my opinion cheaper and perform far better and
give much more value for your money.

On a side note, I bought the AMD64 3200+ with apparently Hyperthreading,
but from some tests think it was using a program called Sandra or similar
said I didn't have Hyperthreading?! Is there anything I need to do or is
it only available in the 64-bit version of Windows?

Regards
Simon Jefferies
mailto:simon[nospam]@cooltoolsonline.co.uk
-- remove [nospam] to email me --


NoNoBadDog! said:
Anyone who would buy or build anything with a Pentium 4 in it at this
point is time should
have their head examined. The AMD64 runs cooler, is faster in most
applications, and is ready for the
64 bit version of Windows. Add to that the vast superiority that
Hypertransport has over hyperthreading,
the on-die memory controller eliminating the traditional bottleneck of
the FSB...I could go on with numerous
other advantages, but there is a clearly superior technology here, and it
isn't Intel.
I personally have two AMD64 machines (3200+ and 4000+), and both of them
smoke my P4 machines
(3.02 and 3.4 GHz; both Hyperthreaded). I have built systems for myself
based on Intel Technology since the
early days of the P3, and I will probably never build another machine
based on an Intel chip.


Bobby
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for your Input there Simon, I always used a ABIT board, but this time
maybe will go the AV8 ASUS.

Simon Jefferies said:
Hi,

I just built my PC recently as I wanted something that could handle
processing of a digital camcorder DV tapes to burning a DVD of it.
Spacewise, I upgraded from an 80GB to a Maxtor Serial ATA 160GB like you
mentioned and lets say there plenty available now!

I went for an Athlon 64 3200+, (used to have an Athlon 2600+) as I wanted
something that would last and reduce the process.

Its all gone great although I've had problems with my Gigabyte motherboard
not liking a perfectly good 512MB DDR 2700 memory and when installing XP it
doesnt recognise the Serial ATA drive at all! Having to find a driver floppy
disc to insert during installation! Proving troublesome as I didnt get one
with the motherboard! Solution was to keep both my original IDE and Serial
ATA inside and install Windows on my IDE and everything else on the Serial
ATA drive until I've found the driver.

I've gone for an XFX Geforce FX 5200 256MB, nothing amazing here, just
wanted something that had a bit of grunt but not too expensive.

I went for a 500W power supply as I had a lot of cards, fans and possible
things that may get plugged in. Found ebay was useful here for these, and
got a QTEC branded gold one :) its quiet (ish).

Overall, its quick and I always find its great PC to start with boots up in
seconds until you start putting software on it and then the boot up time is
obviously slower. But it doesnt hang around it seems to manage loading
software without a problem and will give the DV->DVD burning a go soon. I
would recommend at least 1GB of memory, I've got 512MB at the moment until I
get my other 512 up and running. Its managing on it but I can soon see it
all being used in the future!

Regards,
Simon
Click to expand...
 
BadDog, good input, I have the need for speed even though I'm over the hill,
never had much watting patience.

If I go that ASUS AV8, it will take several of the AMD cpu's, so I could go
cheap and upgrade when they come down.

Good input there, One guy said the amd 64's are really smoking, I hope so.

NoNoBadDog! said:
Anyone who would buy or build anything with a Pentium 4 in it at this point
is time should
have their head examined. The AMD64 runs cooler, is faster in most
applications, and is ready for the
64 bit version of Windows. Add to that the vast superiority that
Hypertransport has over hyperthreading,
the on-die memory controller eliminating the traditional bottleneck of the
FSB...I could go on with numerous
other advantages, but there is a clearly superior technology here, and it
isn't Intel.
I personally have two AMD64 machines (3200+ and 4000+), and both of them
smoke my P4 machines
(3.02 and 3.4 GHz; both Hyperthreaded). I have built systems for myself
based on Intel Technology since the
early days of the P3, and I will probably never build another machine based
on an Intel chip.


Bobby
Click to expand...
 
BadDog, I forgot to ask will a 400 watt power supply be good enough, or should
I go bigger ?

I want one with a low ripple (Clean output) under a good load.

NoNoBadDog! said:
Anyone who would buy or build anything with a Pentium 4 in it at this point
is time should
have their head examined. The AMD64 runs cooler, is faster in most
applications, and is ready for the
64 bit version of Windows. Add to that the vast superiority that
Hypertransport has over hyperthreading,
the on-die memory controller eliminating the traditional bottleneck of the
FSB...I could go on with numerous
other advantages, but there is a clearly superior technology here, and it
isn't Intel.
I personally have two AMD64 machines (3200+ and 4000+), and both of them
smoke my P4 machines
(3.02 and 3.4 GHz; both Hyperthreaded). I have built systems for myself
based on Intel Technology since the
early days of the P3, and I will probably never build another machine based
on an Intel chip.


Bobby
Click to expand...
 
$00 may be adequate, but I would recommend 480, or as I use, 550 watts. The
critical factor is the +12 volt rail...make sure it delivers at least 18
AMPS...I use Antec True Power 550 in all my builds. It have more than
enough amperage on the +12, supports all the latest connectors, is
relatively quiet, and are extremely reliable.

Bobby
 
Back
Top