System Upgrade

[chriskb]

I am in the process of building a new system and would like the opinion of more experienced folks that have been doing this for awhile. I would like to know what motherboards and processors you recommend for getting the best performance and quality for copying movies I own. I am not a gamer so that is not a concern for me. I will also be transfering some digital movies to burn to DVD as well. I currently have a K7s5A ECS board and a Duron 1 Ghz processor. Any sugestions would be appreciated.

[Ramirez]

How about this one? :cool:

Mainboard:Asus A7N8X Deluxe (http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-d/overview.htm)
CPU:AMD Athlon 3000+ Barton core (http://www.amdworld.co.uk/bar3000.htm)
Cooling: Termalright SLK-800 Cooper Heatsink (http://www.techtastic.ca/reviews/slk-800.html)
Memory:two Crucial CMX3200 LL Cas-2 DDR-400 memory sticks (http://www.corsairmicro.com/xms/xms_modules.html)
VGA Card:ALL-IN-WONDER® 9000 PRO (http://www.ati.com/products/pc/aiw9000pro/index.html)
Disk Subsystem: One WD 7200 40GB system drive (http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=36&Lang=1) + 2 Raid-0 WD 7200 120GB HDs (http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?
DriveID=27&Lang=1)
DVD-Ripper/burner: Pioneer DVR-105 (http://www.dvdwriters.co.uk/reviews/pioneer/dvr105p1.htm) -now also free of rip speed limit (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?
s=&threadid=49711&perpage=20&pagenumber=1)
Tower:Thermaltake Highest Xaser III V1000A (http://www.thermaltake.com/products/xaser3/v1000a.htm)

Try it; you won't be disappointed (only one drawback,you might be need to sell your car. :D )

[kaitsuburi]

Ramirez's system is awesome, but also pretty expensive I think. What matters the most in your case will be the CPU. Athlon XP will give you best price/performance ratio. Wait until the end of this month and get either a 3000+ or 2800+, Barton core of course:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20030412102437.html

Asus A7N8X Deluxe is a great solid well-performing mobo, I have it too, go for it! Then get 2 sticks (for dual DDR) of PC2700 for a 512Mb or 1Gb total. If you can spare the money, go for brand name, high quality, expensive DDR. But I think it'll be better if you invest in faster CPU and a good mobo. Hard drives -- WD1200JBs (120Gb 8Mb cache) are not too expensive and perform very well, get a pair, maybe get a 40Gb or so boot drive. For grafix, since you don't care about gaming, get a Matrox or something, you don't need expensive 3D cards.

If you have the budget, you might also consider a Dual CPU setup...

Anyhow, just my 2 yen.

-kaitsuburi

[SVCD4Me]

If you want to throw a little value at your monster, you could consider:

Mobo - Epox 8RDA+
It performs virtually the same as the Asus, costs 2/3 the Asus, but only has 1 onboard LAN and no USB 2.0
RAM - Kingston HyperX 256 MB PC333 2-2-2-5-1T
Same timings as Corsair XMS and about 40% cheaper. BTW, 333MHz FSB w/333MHz RAM is supposed to run better than w/400 MHz RAM.

I just purchased the 8RDA+, 2 HyperX and an Athlon XP 2500+ for just under $340 US (plus I got a free T-shirt :)).

[kaitsuburi]

Originally posted by SVCD4Me
Mobo - Epox 8RDA+
It performs virtually the same as the Asus, costs 2/3 the Asus, but only has 1 onboard LAN and no USB 2.0

I agree this is a good substitute. I never use the second LAN on the Asus (use the Nvidia NIC, it's better), but I like USB 2.0 since I do a lot of scanning and graphics work.

-kaitsuburi

[Ramirez]

OK, it's looks like I have some explaining to do.

Why I prefer Asus A7N8X Deluxe over Epox 8RDA+

1. I am a big fan of Asus in general
2. A7N8X Deluxe = amazing mobo plus truly Top Performer
3. proven as super stable, suitable for extreme overclocking mobo
4. Loaded with very nice futures which I most certainly must have
5. The price diff between A7N8X and Epox 8RDA aren't so great
it's around 30/40 bucks only,so do I really need to drop it over that reason only?.

However I must admit that speaking performance wise,the differences between these two are marginal and it's really a matter of the personal taste which one to get.

Now about my memory selection, Corsair XMS memory modules are build with performance and overclocking in mind, and if you're ever to decide to enter this area I'm afraid that the cheaper memory just ain't gonna cut it()now why I prefer DDR-400 over DDR-333?.Yes I know that asynchronous mode operation will result in serious performance hit,so what's the big deal?,run it synchronously i.e. in DDR-333 mode,Plus as soon as AMD will release their new Bartons 400mhz FSB CPUs, you're set,there is no need to upgrade your memory modules also.

Just my 2 Israeli shekels guys :)

Happy encoding.

[chriskb]

Thanks for the input everyone, with all the choices out there it was getting a little overwheleming. One question I had concerns the new Sony DVD Burner DRU-500A that supports all formats, would you still choose the Pioneer over this one?

[SVCD4Me]

No explaining needed Ramirez. I was just putting in alternatives. It's all about what you want vs what you want to spend. I was just about to order the Asus board but I saw a review that said Asus has poor customer service and Epox was rated as great. I have been building new computers every year now and just recycling my hard drives and video card, so I didn't necessarily plan on what I will be using down the road. A good idea though, except that the RAM timings for 400 are higher than for 333, but then again they will most certainly run more aggressive at the lower freq. I have Kingston value ram DDR 2100 now and it runs great. It definitely doesn't overclock though :).