R & D for New Computer

[ronbo613]

Hello everyone - I'm building a new computer and I'm interested in any information or insight people might have.
The computer will be used primarily for video capture and editing, graphics and imaging, and web building and management. I also enjoy a game or two, mostly when I should be working. Stability gets the nod over speed.
I haven't decided AMD or Intel, don't really care either way. I would prefer onboard RAID and USB 2.0. Whichever system does what I want at the price I can afford gets the call. I'll buy everything I can from newegg.com. Here's what I have so far:

Pentium 4 System:
Chieftec DX-01W-420W case with three Enermax UC-8FAB case fans
1.8G P4 512k CPU - Gigabyte GA-8IRXP motherboard
512MB of unbuffered, non-parity DDR2100 Crucial RAM

Athlon XP System:
Chieftec DX-01W-420W case with three Enermax UC-8FAB case fans
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-7VRXP or GA-7DXR+ Both have RAID and USB 2.0. The GA-7DXR+ has the AMD 761 chipset, the GA-7VRXP is ATA133. Maybe the MSI KT3 Ultra ARU.
CPU: Athlon 1800+(at least), DDR RAM.

Either system will use an ATI All In Wonder 7500 Raedon 64MB video card, Maxtor 7200rpm ATA100 and/or ATA133 hard drives, DVD and CDRW recorders, firewire card, LAN. I'm transferring some components from my current computer to save money. The DVD burner will be added as formats get stabilized and the price comes down.

I'm a little soft on the P4 system because the new Northwood CPU needs a motherboard with a 533MHz FSB to run PC1066 RDRAM. I think only boards based on the Intel 850 chipset carry this FSB speed. These boards should carry Northwood CPUs in excess of 3.0GHz, since they will probably be introduced at 2.6GHz. I don't know about Rambus RAM, and this setup will most likely cost a fortune. P4 with DDR RAM not as good.
On the AMD side, the new Thoroughbed should work with most current AthlonXP motherboards, how fast will these chips go? A little more economical with DDR RAM.

I don't want to start any AMD/Intel debates, but both are coming out with new products that make the computer building decisions a little tougher. I'm interested in information and insight to help make the right decision and maybe save a few bucks.

Thanks in advance - Ron B

[saphalline]

Hmm... not a bad set up, but you wanted some comments? Ok, here goes...

About the case, Chieftec makes some good cases, in fact they make them for Antec. The reason Antec cases are more expensive is because of the included case fans and Antec brand high quality power supply. With that said, if you want stability, you'll probably want to swap out the bundled power supply with the Chieftec case for a brand name one. There really is a difference between power supplies! So you can save yourself some money and get the same Chieftec case with a lesser power supply, since you're just going to replace it anyways. An Antec power supply would be good, but you can choose anything from Enermax and Sparkle, as well (on Newegg's site). Actually, as I look at the site, the very first listing (cheapest) for Chieftec is the DX-01BD, which is an Antec SX1030 black case with more drive bays than the one you listed and no bundled power supply that needs to be thrown. I have this case myself and you'll love it! The price can't be beat for your purposes.

About the motherboard, onboard RAID is great! I love mine, even though I use the extra IDE connectors for separate channels for all my devices http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif. USB 2.0 onboard is definitely a good idea, don't wanna keep your system back because of bad planning! As to the whole AMD/Intel & RAM combo, if you don't want to buy RDRAM then you might as well skip the Intel idea. The P4 really does need RDRAM when it goes over 2GHz (I've seen several benchmarks from different people and they all show the same story) so if you're planning on using DDR RAM at 2.6GHz+, forget it! Because of the pending CPU upgrades from both AMD/Intel and your DDR RAM strategy, you'll probably want to go with the AthlonXP, because many current motherboards will merely require a BIOS upgrade to support the new core. This will tide you over until not only the new P4's on 533MHz bus come out, but also until they get cheap enough for a mid-range budget http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif. So now the question becomes "who will get me my BIOS upgrade first with the most stability?" Go for MSI, whose support reputation has increased while others' have decreased since 9/11. I know it doesn't come with onboard RAID, but an IDE PCI card will solve that. (On a side note, I have an unused ATA/100 PCI card laying around...)

About the DDR RAM, Crucial is the only choice in my mind http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif. I have ordered from them several times and they have been exemplary in their service. I always get my modules on time (or once, the next day with 2-day shipping), they always work flawlessly, and their prices are on par with most others while their quality is unmatched. Maybe I should be their new spokesperson http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif! 512MB is minimum for any computer today, IMHO, make sure it's all on one module.

About the graphics card, good choice on that one, at least for what you're doing. But if you're gonna be running WinXP, may I suggest getting an older Matrox card and hooking it up to an old 14" or 15" monitor? I recently read this suggestion in some magazine, doesn't matter, the idea is sound. Get a 16MB Matrox card (or around there) and use it with the old monitor for extra desktop space. Matrox cards work well in a dual-graphics card situation and have good 2D image quality, which means you can use your primary monitor at almost full-screen for image editing work and the old monitor for the desktop. Newegg doesn't seem to offer older Matrox cards, so this suggestion is just something for you to throw around for awhile, see if you like it, see if you can get a hold of these older parts.

Well, that's about all the basic recommendations I can fit into one post (mental limitations) so I'm done now.

[rond36]

You may want to look at this thread (http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000958.html) it is real close to the system that you are building and it is for the same uses. I bought about half my parts from Newegg the other half from Googlegear.com.

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[This message has been edited by rond36 (edited 03-20-2002).]