Need help with computer build..

[chopnhack]

Thanks all. No problem Parnelli, I understand those days. Thanks for keeping up with me. The Corsair was chosen for its reliability and efficiency, its also only 29.99 after rebate. I try to keep rebates out of the equation because sometimes they are expired before I can build the system or other times there visa cards or gas cards, etc...

DVR setup is what I am doing, I was able to successfully record the woodsmith shop today off of pbs. The picture and sound were perfectly synched and picture looked good until it was made full screen and you can see the graininess of the picture. At this point I am trying to figure out what software to use to correct it or better yet what filters and settings. I downloaded a freeware called virtualdub, but I am out of my realm on this stuff.

[parnelli]

Thanks all. No problem Parnelli, I understand those days. Thanks for keeping up with me. The Corsair was chosen for its reliability and efficiency, its also only 29.99 after rebate. I try to keep rebates out of the equation because sometimes they are expired before I can build the system or other times there visa cards or gas cards, etc...

DVR setup is what I am doing, I was able to successfully record the woodsmith shop today off of pbs. The picture and sound were perfectly synched and picture looked good until it was made full screen and you can see the graininess of the picture. At this point I am trying to figure out what software to use to correct it or better yet what filters and settings. I downloaded a freeware called virtualdub, but I am out of my realm on this stuff.

Ok- so you are doing a DVR... I suppose the first question should be how many channels do you plan to record at a time? I ask because instead of the HDHomerun, you could go with one of the Hauppauge variants that would include both analog and digital in one PCI card.

My quick reading on the dazzle is that it makes the computer do much of the work- as opposed to the PCI card encoders. I'm afraid that I'm just not familiar with the dazzle. If you can find a good link on it, I'd be happy to read up on it, but my quick google search didn't find much helpful. Perhaps someone else can join in??

You'll still need software to record the shows when you're not around though- won't you? I currently (for about the last 5yr) use beyondTV(windows), but have also built purpose built boxes with MythTV (linux based). I've heard nice things about GB-PVr (windows) which might work nice for you. Another option- since you were already contemplating a new OS, is that most (all??) of the vista and win7 versions have PVR and tv listing software included. I've not used them personally, but have a friend who uses and likes.

[chopnhack]

Definitely only one channel at a time. Its a toss up, most of the times I want to record stuff on pbs, norm, woodsmith, etc. to watch at a later time occasionally though there will be stuff on non clear Qam stations that I will want to watch, but will be at work or unavailable. The Dazzle is nothing more than a usb cord internally connected to s-video and audio inputs. As you said all the work is being done by the computer. As for software, it comes with Studio 10, which you can use to edit and capture. For now I can use this setup, but its incredibly a pain in the arse as I have to remember to leave the stb on at the right channel at the right time and be around to start recording on the pc. I have read great things about beyond tv and it looks like some really great software!

[parnelli]

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.

I would also suggest not having a precariously placed styrofoam cup of coffee nearby, but that's a story for another time

[woodturner]

I see you are in FL- are you near one of the CompUSA's?

FWIW, the same company owns both CompUSA and TigerDirect. Often one can find the same pricing on both company's web sites, and presumably the same or better pricing than found in the stores.

[woodturner]

Good advice but I've never bothered to do so. Never fried anything either.

Static electricity causes damage to any and every electronic part - including memory. Often we get the "walking wounded" - where the part is degraded and not destroyed. It can be very difficult to discern these types of problems - the problems are often attributed to software, operating systems, etc. For example, the BSOD is often blamed on windows, but can be a result of mishandling memory strips.

The most likely result from handling a memory strip without proper grounding is that the error rate increases slightly. Over time, the memory may fail. The increase in memory access time as a result of the error may be difficult to discern, but the damage is still there.

[Kristofor]

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.

I would agree with your observations that you'll rarely see a spark and find that your CPU, GPU, or RAM is now dead. I am also guilty of never wearing a grounding strap when working on personal machines at home (I will try to touch the chasis when opening/handling a mobo, card, CPU or RAM as best I can), and to my knowledge that has yet to cause a serious problem.

That said, I worked for a PC manufacturer doing tech support in college (back when college kids were the cheap labor, rather than folks on the other side of the world) that also manufactured RAM chips.

Those of us who never even walked through production areas still spent hours in training related to the risk of ESD. Then procedures were used that slowed work down some but minimized the risk of ESD. The same thing held true at a medical device manufacturer, where again significant time was spent on training, and then even more time/dollars spent on avoiding the issue on the floor.

So, what's my take home? Since I have yet to work for a company that wasn't trying to maximize yield/profit/etc, I assume there must be a good reason for spending this much time and money on ESD prevention, even if I've never run into a serious example of the problem at home...

[Alex Franke]

This is related, but I don't mean to hijack your thread. I just ran across it and thought some of you would be interested in it.

Here's a recent podcast that discusses the windows experience index (WEI) and other topics in an effort to build "the ultimate developer machine" for $3k. It's a good discussion about trade-offs when building a machine and even touches on things like video encoding.

http://hanselminutes.com/ -- Show #220.

Also, two thumbs up for newegg -- Newegg totally rocks.

[woodturner]

Problems with NewEgg

Here are a couple of links where people describe the problems they have had with NewEgg.

http://www.resellerratings.com/forum...ms-newegg.html

http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/arch...p/t-11924.html

NewEgg reportedly ships untested product returns as "refurbs". In addition, they have shipped counterfeit parts, notably i7's.

In my case, they offered a product with a rebate, then refused to honor the rebate because "they have decided not to offer a rebate on that product". The "second strike" was when they charged me twice for the same order but would not credit the duplicate charge.

One could also check the Attorney General - they can provide information on the enforcement actions taken against NewEgg (I had to file with the AG to get the rebate issue resolved).

I don't mean to bash NewEgg, but people might want to have the information to decide if the risk is worth it to them.

[sparkeyjames]

Here are a couple of links where people describe the problems they have had with NewEgg.

http://www.resellerratings.com/forum...ms-newegg.html

http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/arch...p/t-11924.html

NewEgg reportedly ships untested product returns as "refurbs". In addition, they have shipped counterfeit parts, notably i7's.

In my case, they offered a product with a rebate, then refused to honor the rebate because "they have decided not to offer a rebate on that product". The "second strike" was when they charged me twice for the same order but would not credit the duplicate charge.

One could also check the Attorney General - they can provide information on the enforcement actions taken against NewEgg (I had to file with the AG to get the rebate issue resolved).

I don't mean to bash NewEgg, but people might want to have the information to decide if the risk is worth it to them.

Based on the website resellerratings.com you provided a link for Newegg has the following rating.... 31966 reviews with a lifetime rating of 9.77 out of 10. For a company that does as much business as Newegg does to have a rating that high they must be doing something right. Lands End who I have never done business with has a lifetime rating of 8.75, LL. Bean another company I hold in fairly high regard because I like and own some of their products has a lifetime rating of 7.13, Amazon.com who I have ordered some small products from has a rating of 6.76 lifetime, Sears.com has a lifetime rating of 1.61 thats just a small sampleing there are many business's there who do hold a solid 10 rating. I didn't see any that I have dealt with with a 10 rating.

I have bought dozens of items from Newegg and once and only once have I had to return a product. That was back in 2003 when I got a dead motherboard. They shipped out the new one that day with a return shipping label for the old one so I did not even have to pay for the return shipping. For one thing I don't buy refurbished items. Only retail or OEM packaged items. That counterfeit i7 processor, that also got extensive web coverage, was eventually traced to a company Newegg used as a supplier. Newegg promptly terminated their business arrangement with that company.


I'm sure that some of the problems attributed to Newegg are the fault of how they run their warehousing system. Some business even contract out some of the warehousing and shipping portions of their business. I'll bet that Newegg probably does it. I know Amazon does it extensively. Newegg monitors a lot of the online complaint and review boards and bends over backwards to fix problems. I have seen said action a couple of times in the past. (don't ask me to provide a link it was years ago and a few of them are now defunct). Some people are just ***holes (your excluded from this Woodturner as I see you have a legit beef) and no amount of bending over backwards to fix a problem is going to please them. Yet despite the sellers best CS effort they will spew their venom all over the web because they got shipped a dead item while conveniently ignoring that the sellers CS department bent over backwards to try and make them happy. Now I'm sure there are problems all business's have problems. But to hang a "they totaly suck" label on a business because a few problems didn't get handled correctly and received extensive online coverage is no reason to run them into the ground over and over again.

[Alex Franke]

Yeah... just to back up my "Newegg rocks" claim, I thought I'd mention that I've ordered from them probably 20 times over the past 7 or so years, spending thousands of dollars, very frequently on stunningly great deals and often on rebate offers. I've never had a single problem. Everything has always arrived exactly as expected, well packaged, in great condition, and usually very quickly. I've always gotten my rebates -- even the Newegg-only rebate offers.

Since I discovered them, Newegg has almost always proven to have the best prices and usually informative reviews, and as a result they've earned nearly all of my computer electronics business.

There are other big companies that I've happened to have a issue with, but often with the big names, I came to find that it was just a fluke.

[parnelli]

NewEgg reportedly ships untested product returns as "refurbs".

I had forgotten all about it, but I bought a refurb board that was a return from someone else. Didn't work for me either. They switched it out with another board. A little hassle, and more than a bit misleading- but that was years ago and I still buy something from them every couple of months.

[woodturner]

Woodturner - I am looking for ddr3 1066 ram, if you can find that at those prices, please provide me a link!

TD is running a sale/rebate, $70 AR
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2119376

[chopnhack]

Just an update, I pulled the trigger and said Merry Christmas to myself....

Antec Sonata III 500w Earth Series Quiet Super Mid Tower ATX Case (Black)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB
GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H
kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3GHz

$399.94

Now to agonize over whether to spend more and get win7 or wait and convert in the future. Another question that comes to mind, how do you setup windows to use another drive as default for programs and data? i.e. if os is on c:, but you want programs to install on another drive?
If I just wanted to run a small ssd drive in the future for the os, how would I go about doing that? I figured the 1tb hd would be sufficient for progs, video processing, windows swap file, but I wouldn't want to dump programs and temp files on the os drive.

[Warren]

Usually the install will ask you where you wish to load the program. Select the larger drive for the majority of your programs. I have the OS on the C drive (boot) and some other programs. Games and such are on my D drive which is a terabyte. I'm heavy into photography and maintain two large exterior drives, F is for photos raw and processed, the G drive is simply a backup for all photos.

Take the plunge and migrate to Win 7. I was a dyed in the wool XP type. 7 is a fast, fine program these days.