Please help

[choba07]

Hi guys. I am planning to build a computer in few months. I have already chosen most of the hardware, of course on cpu I will wait until the price goes down. I want my computer to be for heavy duty video editing and do some web and graphic design work on it. These are my choices so far. Let me know what you think. Thank you very much.

Cases: Either one of those two Thermaltake soprano DX or Thermaltake shark, which is a full tower case. I am kind of worried that mid tower will be too small. What do you think?

MotherBoard: Asus p5k3 deluxe

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor QX6850 (4x 3.0GHz/8MB L2 Cache/1333FSB. It is extremely expensive, but I will wait for the price to go down. (Sticking to Rob's six month rule).

Graphic Card: 2x nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 768M DDR3

Power Supply: I haven't decided on that yet. Maybe you could help with that.

R.A.M. Haven't decided yet but looking for 4 gig minimum.

Thank you very much and please have in mind that I want to invest into this computer so I can use it for four years minimum.

[The Wise Monkey]

For a rig like that, you are looking at about 700W minimum for the PSU - I'd recommend an Antec or Hiper. Actually, Hiper do a 730W modular PSU that is very good.

I'd go for the larger case, simply because you can put more stuff in it. :D

[choba07]

Thank you very much WiseMonkey. I also have forgotten to add that I want to watch cable TV on this computer, so what video card would you recommend.I also want to try for this computer to be quite and also WiseMonkey and others as far as power supplies go do I have to be care full when it comes to compatibles with my choices, meaning will it fit in the case if I go with 730W or 1000W and any other issues that can come along. Thank you very much.

[The Wise Monkey]

PSUs are usually a standard size, so you shouldn't need to worry about that.

As for TV input/output, it depends on the brand of card e.g. XFX cards may have it while eVGA don't. You've chosen a good card there, but you need to check the manufacturers specs for TV out ports.

[Jamie Nixx]

I had the Hiper 730w, it has a lot of problems with it.

They do two different versions, get the Hiper type R 730w not the other version as you may regret it when it takes half your system down when it blows up.

OCZ also do a very good 700w psu.

Also if your running windows XP only go for a maximum of 3GB of Ram, it your using Vista 4GB is fine.

[choba07]

I am planning on putting XP professional x64. I have tried vista on my brother's computer and I didn't like it. It seemed to me that all of those user friendly options slow the system.

[Jamie Nixx]

I wouldn't recommend 64bit windows, it has a lot of driver issues.

[The Wise Monkey]

You can use 4 GB with XP, but you have to hack the OS a bit to let it be used. I recommend saving some money and only buying 2 GB of memory now, then getting another 2GB later on when you will actually need it.

[Rob]

I'm not sure that will save money. RAM prices are low at the moment. Makers are oversupplied because they thought there would be greater demand for Windows Vista, which could use more memory than Windows XP. But people have been slow to switch to Windows Vista.

[Jamie Nixx]

WM let him build the thing first before you talk about hacking windows LoL.

Buy 4GB now and run 2GB in your machine, then when Vista is decent enough switch to that and stick the other Ram in.

Ram prices go up and down all the time so if its cheap buy it now because in a few months it could be a lot more expensive.

[choba07]

That really helps. Thank you very much everybody.

[choba07]

I just checked the prices of DDR3 ram and it is two times more than DDR2 ram. It was close to $400 for 2gig. Maybe I should find mobo that supports DDR2?

[Jamie Nixx]

Asus P5N-E SLI board, can't go wrong for the price, one of the best Intel boards available.

[choba07]

Ok guys here is my little chipper and final config. What do you think?

Mother Board: ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel

Processor: E6850

R.A.M. G.Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

Case: ThermalTake Shark full tower case

Power Supply: Thermaltake W0116RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 750W Power Supply

Graphics Card: GeForce 8800GTX 768MB

Video Card: EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Hard Drive 2: Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJB 320GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

Optical Drive:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional

And final question how can I watch cable television on the computer. What kind of connector do I need? The cable that goes from TV into cable box is called BNC cable, so how do I connect that to my computer, so I can flip the channels and watch the TV on my rig? Thank you very much guys.

[The Wise Monkey]

I was just saying what you needed to do to have all 4GB recognised in XP... XD

Anywho, looking good - sorry I can't help with the TV question.

[Jamie Nixx]

I was just saying what you needed to do to have all 4GB recognised in XP... XD

Anywho, looking good - sorry I can't help with the TV question.

Someone forgot their coffee this morning eh WM ;) :D

All looking good.

You could buy a TV card and then plug your cable into that, might work although i am not sure.

[choba07]

I understood what you were saying WiseMonkey. i just took your advice and went with it. These configs. come a little bit over two grand. I did only look at the prices on newegg.com