Video Card, Motherboard, Processor

[Andrew]

I am currently looking to upgrade my current system. I have a 1.1g celeron
512 megs ram and an All In Wonder 7500.

If your choices are limited to the following site, what combination of
motherboard,processor, and video card give me a good dvd quality recording
at the best price. The celron is just not quite powerful enough to pull off
a DVD quality recording.

http://www.avalonsoftware.com/pricelist.asp

Thanks

 

[Chastiza]

Over Priced - Go to www.newegg.com

 

[Andrew]

This is a store up the street, prices are in Candian dollars, so I won't be
buying off a website. Also, when I shop around at various computer stores
here they carry a similar line when I look for better pricing.

Thanks

 

[sheer]

ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXE MOTHERBOARD
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 333FSB Retail
DDR400 MEMORY 512MB PC3200
ASUS RADEON 9550 128MB TV/DVI

Here is what I chose at a budget price.

 

[Andrew]

The ASUS RADEON 9550 128MB TV/DVI does not appear to have a TV tuner which
is why I have the ATI All-in-wonder 7500 and was looking at the ati all in
wonder 9600 128mb AGP. Is there a better budget choice with equivalent
quality? Maybe I would be better off with seperate tuner and video cards?

 

[Dreamaker]

This is a store up the street, prices are in Candian dollars, so I won't be
buying off a website. Also, when I shop around at various computer stores
here they carry a similar line when I look for better pricing.

Thanks

It seems to me that this web site ell it stuff way over the selling price in commons store in
canada.

http://www.meilleursprix.ca/list-product.asp?idproduct=49457
check out the xp 64 3400+

vs
http://www.avalonsoftware.com/pricelist.asp?id=2&cat=processors

 

[Good Man]

The ASUS RADEON 9550 128MB TV/DVI does not appear to have a TV tuner
which is why I have the ATI All-in-wonder 7500 and was looking at the
ati all in wonder 9600 128mb AGP. Is there a better budget choice with
equivalent quality? Maybe I would be better off with seperate tuner
and video cards?

hey buddy

i live in toronto, just put together a new system (went for an
AsusP4P800S board @ $100, P4 2.8E processor @ $230 or something). i've
had All-In-Wonder cards since they came out, and up until last week had
the original 32MB Radeon AIW.

i went with the ATI 9600 All-In-Wonder (not Pro, not XT).... i can say
that i'm *totally* thrilled with it. videocapture is perfect even at
full screen, while i'm running other applications. two-monitor-output
is something i'd been waiting for forever... i've always been hesitant
about adding a second video card to my system for the second monitor
because of the driver horror stories i heard.... the fact that this card
runs two CRT monitors out of the box was a big plus (though it does NOT
have DVI out if you care).... tv quality is clearly superior to my old
AIW card.

i am simply loving my 9600AIW. i'm not into doom3, but I play a lot of
sports games and run them at close to max settings on a high
resolution... totally thrilled.... and at a price of $239, there's no
way i could have picked a better card. plus, it doesn't have or require
a fan, so it's a totally silent addition to yr system, and you'll never
have to junk the card because the fan went screwy.

keep in mind that video-editing, DVD production, video processing, video
capturing, etc. depends on your processor and RAM, *not* your video
card, but as per the other AIW cards, you get composite, cable, and s-
video inputs. if you want firewire, you'll have to get a PCI Firewire
card.

loving the 9600AIW. LOVING IT!!!!

 

[Andrew]

This is one of the more painful parts of posting to a newsgroup. While I do
appreciate you looking for a better price, please don't. You are pointing
out places no where close to newfoundland and when I buy something I like to
drop by the store and get it myself.

What I am looking for is a minimal system to produce good dvd's from the tv
tuner . Stores here carry pretty much the same brands and I will bargain
hunt later for the best price once determining the general direction I am
headed with processor, motherboard and video card. Not even interested in
RAM, plan on starting with 1gig for the time being.

 

[peter]

Andrew
I understand your dilema..I live in a Small BC town with only one computer
dealer and the closest large city is 2-2/12 hours away.
So this is what I do..........I spec every part of the system and then ask for
quotes from various stores...online and off line.
I take this quote to my local store and ask them to explain why they are higher
in price.They respond by saying online stores less overhead,etc etc but in the
end by being persistant but friendly they do come down in price.
I get the system I want at a price I can afford with local service.
You just have to do the homework and decide what you want and how much your
willing to spend.There are quite a few online sellers that let you build and
price a system.
I am quite happy with my 9600 pro video card and Hauppage 250 PCI TV card with
Snapstream Software.This works exceptionally well on myASUS A7N8X del ver 2.0
mobo with 1024 DDR 3200 ram .I picked this board because it has onboard 5.1
sound,2 network cards USB2.0 plus firewire,SATA HD drive plus space for 4 more
drives...either HD or CD or DVD burner or all of them.I run an AMD Barton 2500
chip slightly OC'd to actually run at 2500 insysnc with the ram speed.
Whatever you decide upon there are a lot of choices out there and as soon as you
purchase your system something better hits the
marketplace...................good luck
peter

 

[Chastiza]

OK so back to the question......
athlonXP +2800, Asus a7n8x deluxe, 1 Gig (in a pair of 512mg), a dc10
capture card or Hauppauge PCI TV capture card, and a pair of 80gb hard
drives set in raid 0 (with settings of AV), and a 20gb+ hd for your os. You
may get away with using your aiw7500 for capture, however a dedicated card
with hardware encoding will give you the best results. Stick with AMD
processor because ALL benchmarks tend to give AMD the big lead in media
encoding. The raid array will give you the ability to keep up with and
speed up the encoding process. The encoding can take hours depending on
file size, so every little bit helps. I've been running the above setup just
for AV encoding and I get the best possible DVD quality, for the bucks
spent.

 

[Andrew]

Thanks sheer, chastiza, dreamaker, peter and goodman

Okay so far looking at

ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXE MOTHERBOARD @ 145
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB Retail @ 280
DDR400 MEMORY 512MB PC3200 @ 115 x 2 ( but will be looking for 1gig sticks)
ATI ALL IN WONDER 9600 128MB AGP @ 270
For a total around $925

AsusP4P800S board @ $115
INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.8E GHZ S478 1MB CACHE 800FSB RETAIL @ $267
DDR400 MEMORY 512MB PC3200 @ 115 x 2 ( but will be looking for 1gig sticks)
ATI ALL IN WONDER 9600 128MB AGP @ 270
For a total around $882

And for anyone interested my budgeted price for these items sits around $900
for anyone that sees a better combination that can pop out some better
results that are noticeable, but will go with the lower price if there is
not a noticeable improvement with DVD authoring or recording from the TV
Tuner.

I am also interested in the hardware encoders if they are available at this
site but am not sure of what does and which do not.

 

[Good Man]

some better results that are noticeable, but will go with the lower
price if there is not a noticeable improvement with DVD authoring or
recording from the TV Tuner.

by dvd authoring, i assume you will be dvd editing.... adobe premiere and
other video editing/encoding programs benefit from the extra processing
instructions on the pentium-4 chips, just to let you know... so if video is
really your bag, go for the pentium-4 hyperthreading chip there instead of
the AMD.

 

[Andrew]

Well, for the most part I'm interested in recording shows off the tuner and
putting them on DVD's with the best quality I can get off digital cable TV.
So the speed I am the most interested in is for recording so I won't be
dropping frames, If it takes longer to edit etc I won't really mind but I
will also enjoy the extra speed if it is there.

Just changed the motherboard on that one,

ASUS P4P800 SE MOTHERBOARD @ $137
INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.8E GHZ S478 1MB CACHE 800FSB RETAIL @ $267
DDR400 MEMORY 512MB PC3200 @ 115 x 2 ( but will be looking for 1gig sticks)
ATI ALL IN WONDER 9600 128MB AGP @ 270
For a total around $904

 

[sheer]

Ok seems you are building a mid range not budget PC. Other things you
definitely need to take into consideration is case quality, cooling and
powersupply wattage/quality. Take a look at Zalmans and Antecs. For the
system specs I would be looking at least a 400watt powersupply for future
proofing.

The question AMD or Intel?

Both are fine but I think you need to rethink your Intel configuration and
look at the 865 chipset ie P4P800-E Deluxe. Whilst I have an Intel platform
with my current system, P4C800-E Deluxe (875 chipset), I still think there
is more bang for you buck with AMD, but you are not after speed more
reliability and some futureproofing. I recommend Intel platform

P4P800-E Deluxe
Dual Channel Memory 1GB (2 x 512 twin sticks)
Intel 2.8 or 3.0 C (not E) Processor

With TV cards I use a digital card so would never consider all in ones, I do
though have a 9600pro and love it.

cheers

 

[Andrew]

INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.8C GHZ S478 512 CACHE 800MHZ RETAIL 1 @ $265.99
$265.99
LG 52X32X52 CD-RW 16X DVD COMBO BLACK 1 @
$64.12 $64.12
MICROSOFT KEYBOARD & OPTICAL MOUSE BLACK 1 @ $35.96
$35.96
OCZ DDR 400 1GB PC3200 DUAL CHANNEL KIT 1 @
$287.51 $287.51
ASUS P4P800-E DELUXE MOTHERBOARD 1
@ $165.57 $165.57
ANTEC PERFORMANCE II SX1040B W/400W PS 1 @
$148.71 $148.71
LG 4120B 12X SUPER MULTI DVD REWRITER BLACK OEM 1 @ $132.84
$132.84
ATI ALL IN WONDER 9600 128MB AGP
1 @ $267.68 $267.68
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL OEM 1 @
$219.24 $219.24
WESTERN DIGITAL 80GB 7200RPM SATA HARD DRIVE 2 @
$117.97 $235.94


- All prices are subject to change without notice. Subtotal:
$1,823.57

Tax: $273.54

Total: $2,097.11

With TV cards I use a digital card so would never consider all in ones, I do
though have a 9600pro and love it.

cheers

Never realized the all in wonder was not digital, can you reccomend
something that is from somewhere on this site?
http://www.avalonsoftware.com/quote.asp?id=50&cat=AddOnCards

 

[sheer]

Hi Andrew

Firstly I am in Australia and not Canada so you will need to help me with
knowledge regarding Digital Television Reception in your area. Things like
High Definition transmission compared with Standard Definition if Digital is
available at all from the Television stations. Best for you to look at the
authority website who controls Digital broadcasts and determine the coverage
in your area. Once you know this will help you make an educated decision on
which Digital receiver, PCI Card Solution or even now External USB Solution
..
In all instances the software will act as your Digital Player/Video Recorder
so it is extremely important to use software that has a good support forum
and is continually developed with improvements.
Just to let you know 2 hours of recorded Standard Digital television on my
PC uses more than 6GB of disk space, so storage becomes another issue when
you wish to keep digital recordings. Unless you are going to use a raid
configuration with your HDDs I would get an 80GB for the Operating System
and get either a 160GB or a 200GB for a storage solution. (My opinion of
latest HDDs is the Maxtor Fluid Bearing is nice and quiet, but for
reliability I would look at Hitachi).

The place I purchased my Digital PCI card from is an Australian site,
www.digitalnow.com.au who provides me with excellent support. You need to
find a similar site in Canada and use the forum to help determine which
digital solution best suites you.

Hope this helps.
Al

 

[sheer]

Another point I forgot to mention is that the All in Wonder is cable ready,
but cable may or may not be digital. Best for you to ask the question on
this newsgroup is the ATI compatible with digital cable if it is available
in your area.

Also there are digital satellite cards too if you do not have digital
available in your area. But you will need to do a fair bit of research.

cheers

 

[J. Clarke]

INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.8C GHZ S478 512 CACHE 800MHZ RETAIL 1 @ $265.99
$265.99
LG 52X32X52 CD-RW 16X DVD COMBO BLACK 1 @
$64.12 $64.12
MICROSOFT KEYBOARD & OPTICAL MOUSE BLACK 1 @ $35.96
$35.96
OCZ DDR 400 1GB PC3200 DUAL CHANNEL KIT 1 @
$287.51 $287.51
ASUS P4P800-E DELUXE MOTHERBOARD 1
@ $165.57 $165.57
ANTEC PERFORMANCE II SX1040B W/400W PS 1 @
$148.71 $148.71
LG 4120B 12X SUPER MULTI DVD REWRITER BLACK OEM 1 @ $132.84
$132.84
ATI ALL IN WONDER 9600 128MB AGP
1 @ $267.68 $267.68
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL OEM 1 @
$219.24 $219.24
WESTERN DIGITAL 80GB 7200RPM SATA HARD DRIVE 2 @
$117.97 $235.94


- All prices are subject to change without notice. Subtotal:
$1,823.57

Tax: $273.54

Total: $2,097.11


Never realized the all in wonder was not digital, can you reccomend
something that is from somewhere on this site?
http://www.avalonsoftware.com/quote.asp?id=50&cat=AddOnCards

Doesn't seem to be anything capable of digital capture on that site. Don't
know of any devices that connect to PCs that allow the capture of the
digital signal that cable companies use in any case--you're generally
limited to analog capture after decoding by the cable company's box. If
you have the HD channels then you may be able to capture some of the HD
content using a QAM capture device.

For digital capture you really need to be looking at
<http://www.digitalconnection.com/> and <http://www.copperbox.com>. You're
dealing with cutting edge technology that most local or chain stores won't
have a clue about.

 

[Andrew]

Thanks,

Since the All In Wonder 7500 performed so well, think I'll go with the 9600
then. The image quality I'm getting now is pretty darn good and the extra
boost in the video card and cpu should give me what I am looking for.

 

[Andrew]

Thanks, allot of info to go over. I have digital cable but for now will
stick with the all in wonder. I think it will give me all I need.

Thanks again for your help.