building my own need feed back

[LORI]

I'm going to build a system mainly for video editing and
digital photography but also for listening and recording
music, watching movies (DVD and TV)and games. I researched
some components and here are my first choices. Since what I
know is a drop in the bucket compared to you guys, I was hoping
you could look it over, and tell me what you think. Thanks
Motherboard-Abit SA6-R I like the raid.
PIII-933-I can go to 1G.
Ram-Max. is 512 I'll start with 128,minimum for video editing
Full tower case-Addtronics ET6890A-will still fit on my desk,might
have to get one with more bays since sound blaster uses a bay.
CD-DVD Drive-Creative Labs Encore 12x-first choice have to see more.
CD-RW Drive-Plexwriter 16/10/40
Sound Card-S/B Live Platinum 5.1
Video Card-Ati All-In-Wonder Radeon
Have not looked at monitors and speakers yet any suggestions.

[Rick]

I'd start with at least 256 meg of ram.
128 isn't enough for editing Photos.

When you start editing video you will be waitng for the hard drive writes using virtual memory.
When it comes to Photo and Movie editing MAX out the Ram .

I have 256 meg in both the system I use for photo editing.
It's still not enough

[tjaymadison]

Doesn't sound like a "drop in the bucket" at all! Not sure about the RAID, seems like overkill for a home/personal system. RAM is so cheap now, I'd get another 128. Watch your power supply and cooling. Not sure if you need an "Intel-approved" power supply, but get at least 300 watts. Keep the RW at the top of the stack -- they can generate some heat. I'd have to agree with more 5-1/4" bays. If you get a 7200RPM hard drive, you might want to put it in a larger bay with its own cooling fan. Probably a case fan too, if the case you get doesn't come with one. I have the Creative DVD w/hardware decoder card, and the ATI AIW (not the Radeon), and find they work well together. Get a good 19" monitor if you can, and look at those Creative 5.1 Digital (Soundworks?) speakers.

When you assemble your system, start small. Just the CPU, RAM, floppy and hard drive, CD or DVD drive (probably the RW), monitor, keyboard and mouse. Double-check all your connections -- most especially the fan on the CPU heatsink. Read the motherboard manual a few times and make sure you understand how to get into the BIOS setup program, although your system may go there automatically on the first boot. After you get the OS installed, I'd recommend running "small" for a few days, just to make sure everything is stable before adding the sound card, DVD, etc. There are many really good areas of The PC Guide at www.pcguide.com/index.htm (http://http://) -- you can't go wrong reading those.

[Paleo Pete]

I don't think Intel requires an Intel Approved power supply, but I agree at least 300W is a god idea. A secondary case fan is also a very good thing. Make sure it moves air so that it continues the path set up by the power supply. In from the power supply, out from the other one.

128-256MB RAM should work, anything over 256 usually doesn't make any noticable difference. I edit photos on a P-233MMX with 80MB and it works great. No noticable hard drive activity. At most it blinks for half a second...

tjay has some good points. Start with a very basic system and build from there. Every component you add for the first boot is one more you have to disconnect to troubleshoot any problems. Start with Motherboard, CPU, memory, video card and keyboard. Make sure you get video and POST, then add floppy. Add one component at a time from there.

Keep ribbon cables out of the air flow as much as possible. I've seen then split with a hobby knife and bundled with tie-wraps. I trashed about a dozen cables learning how, don't even think about it unless you have a good supply to work with. I split mine into groups of about 4 wires each, this makes a bundle slightly larger than a pencil, lots less surface area to impede air flow. Again, don't even think about it unless you have a steady hand and plenty cables to trash out...

After installing Windows, take it for a test drive for a day and make sure it's stable before adding any other software. Back up the registry before adding anything else. Copy system.dat and user.dat to a separate folder and you have a clean copy for later.

Sounds like a pretty good system, good luck with it.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[LORI]

Thanks for the info. tjaymadison I chose the Cambridge Sound
works Desktop Theater 5.1 DTT2500 Digital speaker system after
my last post. Now all I have to find is a good monitor. I'll
be using this system for work and for entertainment, sort of
a two in one deal. This is why I wanted to try and build with everything I thought I would need. The case comes with the option of 4 8x8cm fans and 1 9x9 cm fan. Since I want something with the option of adding more hard drive space, I chose the Abit SA6-R with its
raid capabilities. And for this I thought I should make sure
there would be enough fans. Thanks for all your help. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[tjaymadison]

Those are the ones -- I've read nothing but good things about those DT speakers, especially when paired up w/ the Creative Platinum. I guess the RAID setup makes sense in a work scenario, particularly if you have sensitive client data or something similar. The only drawback is that the second drive is only available as a mirror, not for independent storage. If it's just adding more HD space in the future, you could always get a Promise controller. Not sure how much more the RAID motherboard costs over the non-RAID, but to take advantage of it you'd have to have the two HD's from the get-go. I read somewhere that you'll encounter fewer problems if you get two of the same-model HD's, ensuring better compatibility.

Pete I'm pretty sure most ATX power supplies exhaust air, so wouldn't you want the front fan set up to be intake?

[CLTEK]

Hey there Lori...

This was stated earlier in the thread. However, I would suggest that you didn't skimp on the RAM. By the same token, I don't know how extensively you plan on editing video and digital photography either. With that being said... A friend of mine does graphic arts and photography for newpapers in SoCal. Granted, he is a pro. But he says you would need atleast 512MB RAM if you were going to be doing much of anything with Photoshop/Bryce...

He said Video editing is a whole different world. You need MASS quantities of RAM for that stuff. 1.5Gigs or whatever your machine will hold.

I'm not expert on this stuff though. Just regurgitating the things that my friend told. Good luck.

Cory

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Age and Treachery will forever triumph over Youth and Skill.

[sleddog]

How times have changed... I captured and edited video, added soundtracks and produced a multimedia travel CD back in 1992 -- using a 486DX-2, Windows 3.1 and 16mb ram. Not that I'm recommending that of course http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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sleddog
[sleddog.f2s.com] (http://www.sleddog.f2s.com)

[LORI]

Thanks guys
Pete, I still have a lot to learn about RAID but since it
can be disabled, I would rather have it than not. I know the
cost for non RAID and RAID is close. Anyway just an option.
This Addtronics cases I want has fans all over the place. I'm
still checking out specs and making sure things flow the right way and putting this all on paper to make sure everything is ok before I start buying. With the info you guys give me I can adjust.
Which brings me to my next question. The front bays on my case
will be filled with /Floppy Drive/CD-RW/CD-DVD/Sound Blaster I/O
Box/Maybe a Fan/and a Zip Drive or ORB Drive. I know,why a Zip if
I have a RW. I have the Zip, and everything on Zip disks, so I
thought I would keep using it. But, is all this possible, will I
run into any trouble with all these drives and things set-up like
this?
Thanks Lori

[mjc]

I've been looking at the RAID issue for a while now and it seems that the price of Raid and non-RAID MOBO of the same chipset and comparable features from the same manufacturer are about the same in price, most of the RAID on-board controllers are ATA-100, also, so why pay $120+ for a MOBO and then turn around and add another $30 or so for another controller. If you are going to do pro or semi-pro photowork RAID may not be a bad idea.

Graphics do require one thing above all else---memory. If you try to use a graphics program that keeps going to the swapfile you'll be at one picture all day!

As for the bays, shouldn't be a problem if you keep cable routing in mind and lay out how you want the drives before you start putting them in. The Craetive front panel is mostly just a space filler with the connections to the card and stuff so it is going to have the most cables. The cd-rw is a good heater so it should go on top(somebody else said that) then maybe put the SB panel in between it and the DVD......


Pete, I think Intel approved ps means that it is usable for a P4. (you know AMD did it so we've got to too)


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mjc
To ME or NOT to ME....

[Paleo Pete]

Pete, I think Intel approved ps means that it is usable for a P4. (you know AMD did it so we've got to too)

Sounds typical...and I wouldn't doubt it a bit.

Do I detect a "monkey see monkey do" syndrome? Politicians and beaurocrats are looking more like little boys every day...

"I saw it first". "Did not". "Did too".



------------------
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)