Need help with computer build..

[parnelli]

If I reuse my existing case and go with a mATX mobo I can get to about $413. This would mean keeping my existing drives and OS. The parts that would be replaced:
Phenom II X4 945 Black AM3 3.0Ghz CPU $145.95
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H MB $102.99
Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400-Watt PS $49.99
Kingston ValueRAM - Memory - 4 GB mem $114.74

There is a $20 rebate on the PS so this would put us at around 390. Do you think I will run into problems doing this? As others have said, xp sp3 will run the other cores. The mobo still has support for usb 3.0 and has pci-e expansion. I might not need that video capture card, that HDhomerun mentioned earlier would be awesome for clear Qam, for already converted channels, i.e. whats being watched on the set top I have a leviton decor media center that send analog signal over cat5 (send/receive unit) so I can send that into the computer and perhaps with the right software, record. I am not sure what app I would use in XP, anybody?

Thanks again

I'm headed outside to work before it gets to hot- so I'll post more later, but in the meantime, the system seems really nice. But if you keep your computers for 6 years, then I'm not so certain that you need to jump to the higher end of the market. (Meaning the black p955/945)

The Athlon II 620/630 are the new "value" quad cores from AMD and run something just under $100 and would do akin to 80% of the speed of that 955. If you don't want to go that route, look at the X3's that you can 'unlock' to quads.

The price you found on RAM is good- I'd be inclined to check RAM with better timings and 2G to see how they compare.

Overall, I think that there's probably some more money to be saved here and there-

When the sun goes down or I collapse from exhaustion I can look up more and post...

[sparkeyjames]

Here is a link with a search page done on newegg.com for 2x2gb (total 4gb) DDR3 1600 ram sticks. Enjoy. I see some good name in there for very little $$. (OCZ, Mushkin etc)....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e=&srchInDesc=

And I really like this deal which is on the above page link....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226103

As far as power supplies the names to look for are Antec, thermaltake, OCZ and Enermax.


Friends don't let friends buy computer equipment at any place but newegg. Yeah it sounds like an ad
but I don't buy computer equipment from anyone else unless it's something so old I have to buy used.
Neweggs customer service has for me been outstanding. I just can't say enough good things about them.
Let me qualify that if your in a pinch and you have to have it now it is acceptable to buy from a MicroCenter store.
Or as me and my computer geek friends like to call it the wallet black hole cause if you go there you the place will
suck all the money out of your wallet. There just so much stuff there. Ohh look shiny I'll take two.

[chopnhack]

Thanks Parnelli for the cpu recommendation. Thanks Sparkey, the G.Skill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277
should help me shave another $15, the mobo is rated at 1.5v so alot of the others were off the list.
The list looks like this now:

AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz CPU $99.99
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H MB $108.00
Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400-Watt PS $49.99
G.Skill Ripjaw F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL mem $99.99
Barracuda 7200 1.5 TB HD $89.99
Microsoft Win 7 Pro OS OS $79.99

If I use either vista or xp that I have on hand and reuse my existing two hdd (pata 70GB and 102GB) I can keep the cost to about $360, upgrading both os and hdd would get me to about $530. The only thing I would have to do is fix the power button on this existing case as it sometimes sticks! Parnelli can you give me some more info on video capture. I have a way of sending my unencrypted analog signal to my pc, but would I still need a capture card? I have a dazzle 100 and the software that comes with it seems to be maxed out at 720x480. Is this solely a software issue? Any recommendations for software?

Thanks again guys, lots of great info and its really appreciated

[sparkeyjames]

Thanks Parnelli for the cpu recommendation. Thanks Sparkey, the G.Skill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277
should help me shave another $15, the mobo is rated at 1.5v so alot of the others were off the list.
The list looks like this now:

AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz CPU $99.99
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H MB $108.00
Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400-Watt PS $49.99
G.Skill Ripjaw F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL mem $99.99
Barracuda 7200 1.5 TB HD $89.99
Microsoft Win 7 Pro OS OS $79.99

If I use either vista or xp that I have on hand and reuse my existing two hdd (pata 70GB and 102GB) I can keep the cost to about $360, upgrading both os and hdd would get me to about $530. The only thing I would have to do is fix the power button on this existing case as it sometimes sticks! Parnelli can you give me some more info on video capture. I have a way of sending my unencrypted analog signal to my pc, but would I still need a capture card? I have a dazzle 100 and the software that comes with it seems to be maxed out at 720x480. Is this solely a software issue? Any recommendations for software?

Thanks again guys, lots of great info and its really appreciated

Personally I would get the Mushkin memory. (see my post on memory above) It's an extra $9 over the gskill but worth it. It's also a tad faster than the gskill. Mushkin makes good products. Also I think you should get a minimum 500 watt power supply. If you later add a good video card to that mix you will need the extra juice. Because you'll find as did I that the on board video sucks down some of your system ram and it never really equals the performance of a true 16x pci-e video card.

[chopnhack]

The one that is $9 more is not compatible? It operates at 1.65v. The PS is flexible I have to try and get a good list together and wait for it to float into $range. Any ideas on video capture resolution of analog signals?

[sparkeyjames]

The one that is $9 more is not compatible? It operates at 1.65v. The PS is flexible I have to try and get a good list together and wait for it to float into $range. Any ideas on video capture resolution of analog signals?

Some of these will capture up to 1080i so here ya go...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...es+qam&x=0&y=0

[sparkeyjames]

The one that is $9 more is not compatible? It operates at 1.65v. The PS is flexible I have to try and get a good list together and wait for it to float into $range. Any ideas on video capture resolution of analog signals?

You can set the memory voltage in that motherboard from 1.3 volts all the way to 2.3 volts so 1.65 volts is not a problem. It says so in the manual which I got from gigbytes website.

It's an 18 megabyte pdf. Here's the linky........

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList...2h_v.2.0_e.pdf

[chopnhack]

Thanks sparkey i totally did not read far enough to see the voltage spec! Plus the mushkin silverline is cas 7 so that should work better.

[woodturner]

Friends don't let friends buy computer equipment at any place but newegg.

FWIW, a LOT of people have had issues with NewEgg. I personally have had significant customer service issues - not honoring rebates, double charging my card and refusing to fix it, etc. I would advise my friends not to shop there, as I would like to keep them as friends.

PC Connection seems to be broadly accepted as a good vendor. A lot of people, myself included, have received wonderful service from Tiger Direct. Some complain about TD, not sure why, when I have asked the answer is usually "I just don't like them". Tiger Direct usually has the lowest prices around.

[LCHIEN]

i have used both Tiger Direct and newEgg each multiple times with out problems.

Just don't use Buy.com! Really bad vendor.

[cabinetman]

i have used both Tiger Direct and newEgg each multiple times with out problems.

I've used Newegg many times without problems.
.

[parnelli]

The list looks like this now:

AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz CPU $99.99
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H MB $108.00
Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400-Watt PS $49.99
G.Skill Ripjaw F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL mem $99.99
Barracuda 7200 1.5 TB HD $89.99
Microsoft Win 7 Pro OS OS $79.99

If I use either vista or xp that I have on hand and reuse my existing two hdd (pata 70GB and 102GB) I can keep the cost to about $360, upgrading both os and hdd would get me to about $530. The only thing I would have to do is fix the power button on this existing case as it sometimes sticks! Parnelli can you give me some more info on video capture. I have a way of sending my unencrypted analog signal to my pc, but would I still need a capture card? I have a dazzle 100 and the software that comes with it seems to be maxed out at 720x480. Is this solely a software issue? Any recommendations for software?

Sorry for the late reply- one of those days yesterday- 4 trips to ACE, 2 to Lowes, one to the BORG... and then my net connection disappeared as I was getting ready to post this.

I personally think the list would make a very nice system.

I'm not personally sold on Win7 yet myself. I've got 4 computers in the house and they're all still on XP.

I see you are in FL- are you near one of the CompUSA's? They have a nice thermaltake 430 PS for 24.99 after rebate. Not 500W, but can't beat the price. http://www.compusa.com/applications/...rkey=T925-2060

Just looked it up and it's 29.99 after rebate at newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153023

As for the video- I guess I'm not certain what you are trying to do. I'm guessing a DVR setup? If so you'll definitely need more space. On mine, a 1 hour HD show with 2 minutes of padding on both sides comes out to about 4.5G. The same show in SD comes in a little under half that.

You mention a way of sending the analog to the computer- is it the dazzle you're referring to? As far as resolution, 720 *is* the SD resolution, so that's all that it's going to be.

I'm not familiar with the Dazzle- I'll go read a bit on it.

Also- the only problem I've ever had with newegg was a board that was bad. They officially don't cross ship, meaning I was supposed to wait for mine to ship to them before they'd send out the replacement. After a bit of wrangling, we were able to work it out to my satisfaction.

[BobSch]

I've used Newegg many times without problems.
.

As have I. As a matter of fact, I don't remember anyone I know having problems with them.

[Aimlesssoul]

Two good resources are....

pricewatch.com for any kind of electronics etc

anandtech.com to get tech info

Both have been helpful when building systems, have built 6 since 2001 and besides the crappy OS troubles over the years the machines have performed well. One big thing to remember keep yourself grounded when playing with the CPU, memory, etc.

[sparkeyjames]

One big thing to remember keep yourself grounded when playing with the CPU, memory, etc.

Good advice but I've never bothered to do so. Never fried anything either. Careful handling can avert those problems. Don't shuffle your feet on the carpet, pet the cat or rub balloons on yourself and you should be fine.