Recommendations on a New Build

G

Goliath666

Geek Trainee
soo new computer is being visualized in the close by future. im lookin to build a computer that can handle video editing and graphic design without struggling. ofcourse i will be using it for other things but those are the two major categories. im trying to keep it as budget safe as possible, i dont wana break the bank. any suggestions. here is what i came up with but at 1500 is much much for me.



Blue Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case W/ Ultra X2 550-Watt Power Supply - $129.99
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ATX AMD Motherboard - $154.99
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2000MHz HT Socket AM2 Processor - $121.00
Maxtor ROHS 300GB DiamondMax - $83.00 X 2 - $166.00
eVGA 256-P2-N563-AX Geforce 7900GT CO 256MB - $269.99
OCZ S.O.E 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM - $199.99
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Platinum Sound Card - 185.99
NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI - $35.99
Microsoft Windows XP64 Home With SP2 - $89.99
MITSUMI USB 2.0 Internal digital card reader with Floppy Drive - $19.99
Koutech Black FireWire 1394a+USB 2.0 Combo Front Panel Host Controller - $39.99



TOTAL - $1,412.92


The sound card can actually be dropped which will save me almost $150 by replacing it with something else. please make some recommendations.
 

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Well, if you're not going to need 8 SATA ports and don't have to have the heatpipe cooling, the Asus A8N-SLI regular edition is running about $45-50 cheaper.
I'd also get another brand of hard drives. I've had a number of Maxtors fail on me throughout the years, whereas I've never had issues with Seagate or Western Digital. It might be a little more for a comparable SATAII drive, but they're better built drives. Samsung is also a good choice and might be a little cheaper than WD or Seagate.

If you're not overclocking, you might look into some Kingston ValueRAM or Corsair ValueSelect kits. The Athlon64 isn't really affected by memory timings nearly as much as AthlonXPs or Pentium 4's are. Depending on what you get, you could save $40-60 on a 2GB kit.

I've heard good things about the Chaintec AV-710 sound card. It's incredibly cheap (under $30 at Newegg), and for music playback, it's supposedly very, very good. It uses the Via ENVY24 sound chip. From what I understand, it's rated very close to the Audigy. Also, Creative has been having some issues with the X-Fi's and the nForce 4 chipsets, although this is less of an issue if you're running with a dual-channel memory setup in use. Given your needs don't specify audio production, if you're looking at a 3rd party solution, there's much cheaper options than the X-Fi, including the Audigy 2 ZS.
Lastly, I'm not entirely confident with Ultra power supplies. The X-Connects were a debacle, and given those, I'm going to have to see a proven track record. I'd look to get an Antec TruePower 500 or 550, Enermax EG565P-VE (535W, I have one), Tagan TG480-U22 (480W), OCZ PowerStream 520, Fortron BlueStorm 500, or any Seasonic and Silverstone unit with 500W or better. Yeah, they cost more, but this is one area you don't skimp on.
 
Given the CPU and Memory choices, unless you're someone who has to run 1600x1200 with AA and AF cranked to the max, that card will do the job quite nicely.
 
Sound production even though its not a prerequisite id rather have it incase i do something down the line. instead of buyin a normal card now then payin to get another card later.
Kingston ram was only able to save me 1 dollar on a 2GB kit. unless i didnt look hard enough.
the mother board is still the same one. are the 8 SATA ports trully necesary. how many would be needed for a normality. 2hd, dvd -/+ r/rw, dvd -/+ r/rw Litescribe. the floppy/media card reader, and ummm.... ugh you know what

you and me need to have a conversation Big_B
 
Unless you're planning on a RAID setup or massive fileserver, 8 SATA ports is more than enough.
 
sooo is the list complete, is everything required included.

what is the difference between win xp and the win xp 64 version
 
There's a socket AM2 CPU on the list and there's DDR RAM listed and a socket 939 Motherboard listed.

You'll need a Socket 939 CPU
 
Socket AM2 uses only DDR2 memory, it also has a 940 pin arrangement (Note: It's not compatible with Socket 940 Motherboards)
 
XP 64-bit is only able to be run on 64-bit CPU's. However, if you have a 64-bit CPU (ie. Athlon 64 or Pentium D/4 with EM64T), you do not need a 64-bit OS as they are 32-bit compatible. Not saying it's a bad thing either way from that stand point. However, driver support is, uh, less than impressive for 64-bit XP, so unless you can't sleep or will have to sacrifice your firstborn if you don't run a 64-bit OS, just get XP 32-bit.
 
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