Maximum PC

I am looking to build a new PC. It will occasionally be used for games (but I don't care if they're run at 1 zillion fps in ultra-wowza resolution), but not very often.

I would like some basic video editing and DVD writing capability.

My budget is less than $750, including shipping for parts. I would prefer to avoid Intel parts if at all possible, but if not, that's OK. I have the following items that I plan to recycle (reuse) into this machine, unless someone makes a cogent argument why I shouldn't (most likely directed at the HDD?):

Recycle List
Monitor
Modem
NIC
Soundblaster Live with LiveDrive
Keyboard/Mouse
Windows XP
120 GB PATA HDD
60 GB PATA HDD
IEEE 1394 card

I think I need the following:

MoBo
CPU
Memory
VidCard (I'd appreciate guidance on whether a separate card is really needed for my purposes)
Case/PS
DVD writer
Anything else?

Its been four years since I built a PC, so all advice is appreciated.

how big is the monitor, for video editing you want a bigger monitor, who knows how detailed your editing is.

Monitor is 17 inch. The video editing is home movie editing only, nothing fancy.

Thanks.

you'll want a video card. Even if your not playing games,You'll need a decent video card for video editing, not great, but decent. i would also shoot for a case/ps combo. Otherwise, don't skimp too much on components, cause you'll be pissed if crappy stuff fails, and then you have to spend even more money.

MoBo $100 to $150
CPU ---- $200 939 AMD 64 3200
Memory - $82 1 gig = Mushkin - 2x512 pc3200 Cas Latency: 2.5
VidCard - $200
Case/PS
DVD writer
Anything else?

NIC - usually built into board
Soundblaster Live with LiveDrive - Integrated sound may be better than this card
IEEE 1394 card - built into board

As you see, I'm estimating. The mobo can be found for a little over $100 if you want an Athlon 939 Nforce 3 board with agp. If you want something with PCI-e, then the price goes up. The cheapest at newegg is $132, an Asus, which I wouldn't suggest due to tech support.

I can suggest cases, but have no clue what you like. Is there anything you require from a case?

Post back if it matters that you go PCI-e or will you go for agp?

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Venice Core (Rev. E) CPU $151 shipped

Chaintech VNF4/Ultra Nforce 4 Ultra mobo $85.50 shipped

1GB (2x 512MB) Corsair Value Series RAM (CAS 2.5) $83 shipped

Chaintech 6600 (Vanilla) PCI-Express w/128MB 128Bit DDR Memory. $121.50 shipped

NEC 3520A (Beige) 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+R Dual Layer, 48x CD-R, 24x CD-RW, 48x CD-ROM, 16x DVD-ROM $54 shipped

Maxtop Signature Series ATX Steel Case (No PSU) $47.50 shipped

Thermaltake 420w PSU $46 shipped

Thermaltake Venus 7 HeatSink and 70mm Fan $24 shipped.

Vantec 120mm Case Fan (for rear exhaust) $17 shipped

Vantec 60mm Case Fan (for cooling HDDs) $11.50 shipped


Total Cost: $641 USD, shipping included

Dan O.

Edited for clarification.

My thanks to both of you for your genius replies. A few questions:

Am I right in thinking that I don't need a SATA HDD for a while? The HDDs I'll be using are both ATA/100.

What is the difference between nForce3 and nForce4 on the 939 boards?

If I'm not planning to overclock anything (my apologies if this is sacrilege in these fora), do I need all of the fans?

It seems like PCIe is the wave of the future as far as graphics are concerned, yes? If so, then to eek out as much performance/life out of this thing, I think I'm better off going with PCIe instead of AGP. Agree?

As far as case goes, I have no interest in anything that looks like a samurai head or some sort of alien. I'm pretty much a khakis and polo kind of guy and this machine will go in the office and be used mostly by my wife.

Again, thanks for the input and continued help.

hi albatross,

AGP is phasing out and its better to go with PCI-e indeed. one differ between the nforce3 and the nforce4 motheroboards is that nforce3 is still using agp while on the other hand, nforce4 uses pci-e and not only that, nforce4 supports sli-mode for graphics cards.

Yeah, there's no real advantage to SATA right now other than it's easier to wire and allows for better air-flow.



The primary difference is that Nforce 4 has PCI-Express, Nforce 3 does not.

Also, Nforce 4 has SATA 3.0Gb/s



I'm no longer sure which fans you should buy. Newegg seems to have botched up that item listing. The photos show the same case that I bought last year, the Signature Series II (grey), but the Manufactuer's link and model number show something different.

I'm waiting on the Newegg Webmaster for a response on this.



Yeah, buying a 9800 Pro would cost you about the same amount, but it will be a much poorer perfomer.

Not to mention, the next generation of graphics cards may not support AGP at all.



Did you look at the case I linked you to? I've still got to figure out if it's really the Signature Series II case, or some other case. I'm waiting on the Newegg Webmaster on this one.



No problem.
Dan O.

a $50 video card is more than sufficient for this purpose. decent by quality? sure! decent by power? unneeded, all work is done by the cpu for video editing.

Belboz99, I did take a look at the case you suggested and since my only real area of expertise is on aesthetics, it passed with flying colors. My case comments in my preceding post were directed to Blondie's question.

I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know what newegg's webmaster tells you.

Regards and thanks.