Building Pc

Lúc Mac H

Hi I'm new to this forum but looking for advice on this pc I put together
It has to be capable of making high quality videos and running top spec games.
Right now it has:
* 2 X 2 stick of ddr2 ram
* 160gb sata hard drive (will bring to 500gb)
* Nvida 720a motherboard (asus)
* Quad core AMD Phenom
* Lg sata disk reader
* Psu 500w

I know ist fairly powerful but am i wasting any power on some components by having weaker ones.

I'm completely new to pc moding but its hell of a lot cheaper than buying from a company so i have to try it............I'm only 14.

Slutmonkey57b

Graphics card is key.
Pick up a radeon 4870 or 4890 if your budget is between 100 and 150. Less than that, you can get a 4850 for ~€85 from germany.
You can use graphics cards for video transcoding, but you're better off with Nvidia in that case as ATI's efforts so far are flakey at best. Problem is that you'll have to spend more money for the same level of performance.

magick

being the completely shallow one on this board, make sure u get a decent case with some good cable managment skills

Amalgam

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

You can use graphics cards for video transcoding.

Decoding or transcoding? I thought transcoding on the GPU isn't widely supported by popular software yet?

Slutmonkey57b

It's supported by minor league stuff by vendors like Adobe, in Premiere. I think CS4 is pretty popular.
There are also freeware apps from ATI and Nvidia.
Cyberlink support it.
In a year's time there'll be freeware open sauce apps that will support it.

Amalgam

I knew Adobe supported transcoding on the GPU, but I thought they.. pushed you towards a very specific (expensive) nVidia card.

karltimber

Hi,
I just got the 1gb hd4870 from overclockers from €150 delivered.

Dell have a sale on monitors at the minute (pos finished today) so check that out.

500w ps may be a bit low - a good 650w will help a lot like here -same as mine.

If you can - put a 200gb hd in for the os and games etc and have another for media/etc so it's easy to format the 200gb and reload the os.

k

Lúc Mac H

I have thought about the graphics card but right now i can't aford it.:DLol
I like the Ati cards but because my motherboard is Nvidia i want to use SLI in the future so i have to get an NVIDIA graphics card. What about the Geforce 9800 gtx+?

Lúc Mac H

Thanks karltimber
Guy in maplin told me that 500w is plenty
unless i wanted loads of drives

Slutmonkey57b

There's no way that system needs a 650w PSU.

Yet another article on real system wattage usage:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/system-wattage.html

NB: the reviewer actually created hardware to measure the juice the system was draining from the PSU itself. It does not get any more definative than this.

Long answer short:
People buying 750w PSUs to power machines with less than 4 graphics cards are wasting money. 450w is enough for 99% of people.

Lúc Mac H

magick wrote: »

being the completely shallow one on this board, make sure u get a decent case with some good cable managment skills

A friend gave me a case that was being thrown out so i striped it of its designs and cover and put two small fans at front and one big fan at back
I think wires are causing air resistance. Is there any tips for that?:(

Slutmonkey57b

Move them out of the way.
HAR HAR!

Seriously, if your case doesn't have cable management (ie you can run the cables behindthe motherboard tray) then your best bet is cable ties, rubber bands, and stuffing them out of the way. It's worth betting that not every drive bay is full, and your hard drive bays have space between it and the case wall. Fold up your flat IDE cables (if you have any) and stuff the spare in between the hard drives. Run power cables against the case wall and keep them in place either by trapping them behind something (like a drive bay) or tying them in place with bands or cable ties, or even the little plastic twist ties.

magick

Lúc Mac H wrote: »

A friend gave me a case that was being thrown out so i striped it of its designs and cover and put two small fans at front and one big fan at back
I think wires are causing air resistance. Is there any tips for that?:(

get some cable managment ties, u can get those little plastic ties anywhere, if ur lookin for tips, google image search "cable management pc"

and you will see what ppl do

leninbenjamin

magick wrote: »

get some cable managment ties, u can get those little plastic ties anywhere, if ur lookin for tips, google image search "cable management pc"

and you will see what ppl do

you can also get those little self adhesive things that you can put a cable tie through to keep cables flush to the case.

Lúc Mac H

Thanks alot
All of this info was really usefull.
If i get stuck i know where to get help.:)

karltimber

would a 360w ps do the trick for ya ???

I have one here for sale that you can have for nought

I even have the 24-20 pin adapter (or 20-24 -whatever)

this is just for the op now :pac:

K

Lúc Mac H

I've already bought a 500w and a 360w might be little low for expansion.
But thanks for the offer:)