A few questions

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melorock

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Well I've been doing some research, but still got some questions. I gotta ask mostly on your thoughts and preferences on certain things.



Maybe It'll help to list my intended uses in order of importance:
1.) DAW
- music recording and the like. Big #1 Need lots of RAM and excellent processor speed to avoid "skips", lots of Hard drive disk space and

2.) Entertainment/ Media Center
- I don't think I want an HTPC, I want to hook up an A/V receiver to my PC so I can play mp3's and regular sounds at an excellent sound quality
- Hook it up to my HDTV
- blu ray

3.) Photoshop
- Mostly art or cover art and to tinker

3.) some Video editing
- maybe video to help present music performances or maybe a homemade music video, I'm a little iffy and uneducated but I'm not making a movie

4.) some Gaming
- I love RTS games and some role playing games like Oblivion but I'm a casual gamer. I got an Xbox for shooter and other games.




Questions:

1 Which the difference between Nvidia or ATI Graphic cards? One good for gaming, Other for video editing work? How much video memory will I need?

2. Any use over 4GB of RAM? Right now, current software has no capacity, but what about Windows 7?

3. What are some good sites to pick out parts? Other than Newegg or Tigerdirect?

4. I want to build a quiet and a cool PC, which is going to be difficult
silentpcreview.com | Everything about Silent / Quiet Computers - hard drive silent reviews
Motherboard Heatsink > over fan?
Anyone use Zalman silent fan or heatsink?
The Software tool Maxtor which adjusts hard disk's noise/performance
to system requirements?

5. Good quiet Power supply to go with ques. 4?

6. Which processor, Intel or AMD? I am more familiar with Intel and have heard that most audio engineers prefer Intel, although I don't know, what are the differences?

7. Optic drives: A blu ray drive and burner should cover dvd/cd right? plus it sounds like an investment, we might see games and data on blu ray soon. BUT blu ray, player > drive?

EDIT: 8. What is the hardest thing to upgrade? Probably the motherboard or processor so at least get those good and let other things come when the budget increases?

Am I leaving anything out? That's all I can think of right now, but may add more later. Sorry for the long thread, Thank you guys so much for your responses, you all have already been a big help!
Seth
 
1. Think Ford and Chevy. They are different, but they do the same thing. there are some subtle differences between how they do their job, but not anything a normal computer user would ever notice.

2. If you plan on using Photoshop or doing editing, the more RAM the better. You will have to use a 64-bit OS to utilize it, but both Vista and Win7 come in 64-bit (I am using Vista 640bit right now).

3. Newegg is the best, period. Members here not in the US or Canada use Newegg to look for parts, and then look for the parts they chose locally. TigerDirect is not highly endorsed here due to the way they do business. ZipZoomFly is a good one to check. you will find the odd deal here and there, from everywhere to Amazon to Buy.com.

4. Not a lot of help here. Read through reviews and feedback on Newegg would be the best I could tell you. Check the decibel ratings of every fan and heatsink. I can't stand a loud PC, either, but mine is not completely silent.

5. Again, check reviews and feedback. Some PSUs say they are silent, but I have no experience with them.

6. Go either way. Intel currently holds the speed crown with their i7 CPU's, but AMDs bang for the buck is better than Intel's. The newest CPUs from both now use DDR3 RAM, but AMD's AM2+ socket boards can run a AM3 socket chip using DDR2. i7 must be ran on a mobo with its socket only.

7. It should, but BluRay is still pretty new. I would get a player only if you planned on using it to watch movies on your computer. If you did get a BR player, I would get a second drive for CD/DVD usage/burning to save the wear and tear on the BR drive.
 
DDR2 is so cheap right now and especially if your doing heavy editing and using some intensive VST's I would certainly go for 8gb of ram w/ out a doubt. I'd go intel quad although AMD's quad is quite nice too. If you give a budget it would be easier to help you.
To generalize I would get"
Intel Quad
6-8gb of DDR2 ram
4870 or gtx260
Corsair 750w or PC&P 750w
If you give a budget though then we can get specific. Blu ray drives right now are decently priced ($80-100)but Blu ray writers are still around $200
 
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