First Build

[pfeffer1534]

I just recently upgraded to an HD camcorder and my old system won't be able to handle editing HD video. I need a new PC that can handle working with HD video and all the other bells and whistles in Adobe's CS4 master suite. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128409) GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214)Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz

Ram (http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=919AA894A5CA7304)Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 memory module

Hard drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319) Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache

OS Windows XP Pro 64bit (already own)

and I have some questions on the rest...

Video Cards
One (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562)- EVGA 768-P3-1360-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Two (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434)- EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Not sure as to what the real difference between these two is and looking for the one that be better suited for rendering and processing video

Case and Power Supply
One (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129064)- Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply

Two (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119221)- COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKA700 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case 700W Power Supply

Big thing for capturing video, I need a Firewire port. Are these cases/power supplies acceptable for my current build and is the COOLER MASTER worth spending an extra $100 on? I'd also be open to any other suggestion of separate cases and power supplies but I am trying not to spend too much as my camcorder already set me back a nice amount.

Finally I'm looking at a Blue Ray burner in order to get the most out of my 1080i video and am looking forward to burning my own Blue Ray discs, but not sure if there are any that come highly recommended or if any of you have had good or bad experiences with certain brands.

Again trying not to spend too much money if I can avoid it but don't want to kick myself later on for being too cheap. Thanks in advance.

[RickyTick]

The Antec 900 has a firewire port on the front of the case. I would say go with the 900 and save the $100 and put that towards a new operating system. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit for System Builders runs around $120, iirc.

Between those two video cards, definitely go for the 460. They are essentially the same price and the 460 is much more powerful and provides DX11 for a better gaming experience. Now if you're not a gamer, I would probably recommend a Radeon HD 5770.

Oh and lastly, step up the cpu to the i7-870. They are the same price, so it only makes sense.

[pfeffer1534]

Thanks for the input, I was hoping the Antec would be a sufficient case and don't know how I failed to look at the i7-870.

What exactly would be the major difference between getting Windows 7 Pro versus the Home edition?

[RickyTick]

Win 7 Professional has XP Mode that lets you run XP productivity software that doesn't run in Win 7.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode