Please advise on $2500 PC for videowork

[DJ-CHRIS]

Mmm Opterons. So how do those chips compare to a MP2800+ ? Are they worth paying more than twice as much for? and would II have the issue with windows where I have to pay loads extra for a special license permitting more than 2 processors?

That Seagate isn't SATA! Do you think 2x 250gbMaxtorDimondMax10 in RAID0 would be good?

Yeah the Opterons are quite a bit better than XP based chips, a much better artechtechture and alot better media instructions.

If you do end up getting maxtor drives, remeber to ALWAYS backup everything somewhere. Maxtor hold a slight speed advantage over seagate and western digital, but are nowhere near as reliable.

Just get something like apokilyspes system, get 1 gig of ram now and pick up anther gig later.

 

[glasseye]

Hmm. Okay, thanks apokalipse. I'll look into Seagates then, are they really more reliable? I had no idea.. I just saw the bigger cache and NCQ on the DM10s and thought yay..

Alright, I'll get the 2nd GB of RAM later.

Any idea about issues I might have with the CPUs coming up as 4 virtual CPUs (I would need that license wouldn't I?)

And this Tyan Thunder K8W is the only one worth looking at?

 

[grego]

What kind of video work are you doing? If it is not some VERY intensive 3-d creation work then you definitely dont need a 6800GT or Ultra. A 6600GT would be more than enough. I edit video at work and we have something like a Radeon 9200 that handles the 3-D transtions just fine. You'd be WAY better off investing in 2gb of ram. The video card wont be doing all that much unless you are using a lot of 3-d graphics.

 

[glasseye]

I make videos that fall somewhere between home-video enthusiast and broadcast standard. Using Premiere Pro to edit projects usually between 30 mins and 2 hours for local organisations or community projects. Probably not going to be doing much 3D stuff, I just hoped my budget would let me get a card that not only let me do simple 3D design in After Effects and stuff but also let me play some games..! I have to prioritise the work side of this system, it's not for my pleasure. For dual monitors, do I need anything but a reasonable graphics card such as the Radeon 9600 or Nvidia 6600 or something?

 

[Apokalipse]

Hmm. Okay, thanks apokalipse. I'll look into Seagates then, are they really more reliable? I had no idea.. I just saw the bigger cache and NCQ on the DM10s and thought yay..

Alright, I'll get the 2nd GB of RAM later.

Any idea about issues I might have with the CPUs coming up as 4 virtual CPUs (I would need that license wouldn't I?)

And this Tyan Thunder K8W is the only one worth looking at?

I've heard about many Maxtor drives failing, and only a couple about Seagate

there are other dual socket 940 motherboards available, but I think this one is one of the better ones. Tyan always have very good motherboard architecture, and it is harder to find dual socket 940 motherboards with AGP

 

[glasseye]

I'm just writing up the final draft for the component list now, I'll post it today.

The only thing I'm still in 2 minds about now is graphics cards. It WOULD be a shame not to be able to take advatage of this meachine in the gamesworld, as well as openGL 3D work..(!) But I'm just not even going to drown myself in that market, I'll just do whatever you say. You know my budget doesn't have a huge accomodation for graphics, but yeah. It's all choices isn't it. PCIe/SLI? or ATI?..

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Really a graphics card is not that important.

Still, because of the artechture of that machinne (dual CPU, ECC RAM) it will not be a top peformer in gaming, games are not written for 2 CPU's.

 

[glasseye]

I see. Well that said, will it run Half Life 2, Doom 3, Swat 4 for example? and if so, tell me which card you recommend and I'll get it!

 

[jnev_89]

a 6600gt is an awesome card and is only $200, so you'll have enough $ left for more important parts

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

I see. Well that said, will it run Half Life 2, Doom 3, Swat 4 for example? and if so, tell me which card you recommend and I'll get it!

It still should be able to run them, not as well as a dedicated gaming PC.

Expisally if you like doom3, get a 6600GT, does dual monitors as well

Note: If you want to use TV as well, you can only have 1 TV + 1 monitor or 2 monitors