Time to build my next PC.

Well my current PC is on its last legs so it is time to build the next beast.

I am primarily going to use it for home video editing. Currently I am using Pinnacle Studio under XP. I have no intention of down grading to Vista at this stage. However, I am dabling with Linux (Ubuntu and Kubuntu) and have found Kdenlive. However, I have not been able to get this to work for me yet (maybe someone can recomend better linux video editing software). So I plan to dual boot XP and Linux with a view to using Linux for everything except video editing until I can find a suitable alternative (I have tried to run Pinnacle Studio under Wine with no luck).

What I want is a system that is stable, reliable and reasonably fast. I do not need an overclocked monster as I am not gaming.

So, this, in a nutshell, is my vision.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to provide me advice on the best hardware (PSU, MOBO, RAM, GPU and HDD - I have everything else from the old system) to enable this. We need to take into account a number of questions including:

Does Linux run better under AMD than Intel?

Does Nvidia provide better drivers for Linux?

Will I get any significant benefit from quad core or will I get better value for money using dual core?

And I am sure you all have many other questions and, hopefully, answers as well!

So, the journey starts here and I look forward to the the many debates, answers and, eventually, the new system that will arrise.

Regards,

Glyn

What's the budget?

Good

AMD

• CPU: Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (3.2 GHz) Retail - $160
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 (AMD 790X) AM2+ - $123
• Memory: Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 2x1-GB - $48
• Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s - $70
• Video Card: GeForce 9600 GT 512MB (PCIe) - $144
• Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power 650W - $120

Total - $655.00

Intel

• CPU: Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66GHz) Retail - $185
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (P35) - $90
• Memory: Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 2x1-GB - $48
• Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s - $70
• Video Card: GeForce 9600 GT 512MB (PCIe) - $144
• Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power 650W - $120

Total - $657.00

Better

AMD

• CPU: Phenom 9600 Black Edition (2.3 GHz) Retail - $240
• Cooling: 3rd-party HSF - $50
• Motherboard: ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe - $225
• Memory: 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-8500 (TWIN2X2048-8500C5) - $115
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB SATA - $187
• Video Card: GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB - $455
• Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power 650W - $120

Total - $1,392.00

Intel

• CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0GHz) Retail - $245
• Motherboard: ASUS P5E - $220
• Memory: 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-8500 (TWIN2X2048-8500C5) - $115
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB SATA - $187
• Video Card: GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB - $455
• Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power 650W - $120

Total - $1,342.00

Best

AMD

• CPU: Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition - $175
• Cooling: Thermalright IFX-14 - $80
• Fan: 3x Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM - $45
• Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair - $240
• Memory: OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB - $155
• Hard Drive: 4x Seagate 7200.10 320GB - $340
• Graphics: 2x GeForce 8800GTX 768MB - $920
• Power Supply: Ultra X3 800W - $200

Total - $2,155.00

Intel

• CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 Retail Box - $240
• Cooling: Thermalright IFX-14 - $80
• Fan: 3x Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM - $45
• Motherboard: ASUS Striker II Formula - $330
• Memory: OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB - $155
• Hard Drive: 4x Seagate 7200.10 320GB - $340
• Graphics: 2x GeForce 8800GTX 768MB - $920
• Power Supply: Ultra X3 800W - $200

Total - $2,310.00

Hi SpywareDr,

Thanks for the reply. These look like realy good systems. I will be opting for the better or best end. With the best end (4 x HDD) I could set up a RAID 5.

Any advice on AMD vs Intel for Linux?

Regards,

Glyn

You're welcome :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GlyndwrBartlett

Any advice on AMD vs Intel for Linux?

---

Afraid I wouldn't be much help on that subject. :(

Might find some good discussions using this Google search string:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...ms&btnG=Search

Falcon-NW Mach V
They have 3 versions, so see if one other fits your wants.
http://www.falcon-nw.com/config/machv.asp

Sticker shock, may well be there too! :eek:

OK SpywareDr I will try the Ubuntu site and post back.

Hi, Train, Unfortunately this site did not suit my needs as it would not let me opt out of hardware I already have. Thanks anyway.

Regards,

Glyn

his is the advice I got from badfish591:

Re: Building a new Ubuntu/Kubuntu PC

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I may be wrong but i don't think AMD vs Intel is going to matter, whatever your preference is.

I would definately go for Nvidia over say, ATI i've had tons of trouble with ATI driver support.

And from what you say that your going to be using your computer for i would go with a dual core. Unless your running some high end 3d rendering software (3d studio max, or maya) your probably not going to really use those four cores, and for the same money you will be able to get a dual core (which is probably all you will really use) with a higher clock speed, and unless you run programs that actually use all four cores, your computer will actually seem slower with the lower clock speed quad core than the higher clock speed dual core.

Regards,

Glyn

Sounds like reasonable advice to me. :)

As for video editing with Linux. I use Kino with the Gnome desktop manager and Ubuntu. But, I have to caution you here. I have not had good success with DVD's playing on set top DVD players when edited and burnt from Kino or the K3B burning software. Maybe your experience will be better than mine. For most of my DVD editing and burning to disk I use Windows 2000 pro and Pinnacle 9 home studio. Look in the Synaptic Package manager for Kino. I also use DVGrab for capturing DVD's from camcorder to PC. That proggy will be in Synaptic as well.

http://www.kinodv.org/

GlyndwrBartlett, the idea was to eyeball out what they use in their setups.
That would give you a starting point.

I use XP and a 400 MB .avi takes a bout 20 minutes to convert to VOBs using a AMD 64 3200 with 1 GB of ram.

Hi jmtjet,

Yes I use Pinnacle 9 as well and realy like it. Everything just works. However, I have not been able to get the same success from Linux. I might have to set up a VM under Ubuntu as an alternative as I can not get Pinnacle to work under Wine. I think this PC setup should be able to handle it.

Hi Train,

OK thanks. They have some interesting harware.

In the past I have favoured AMD. However, they seem to have slipped significantly behind recently and Intel now give better value for money.

Regards,

Glyn

A dual boot setup using Ubuntu and XP might solve your problem better than a VM setup. VM's seem to be slow and quirky to me and video rendering is a CPU intensive operation requiring just about all of your computers resources.

Video renndering will slap the cpu to 100% and it will stay there until the job is done.

Check http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/p...max-9,369.html
Ok so it is a tad out of date.
And go through the bench marks for the cpus as one or two are related to the video work you do.
And should you do a lot, I suggest building/getting a dedicated rig. I did and networked it and use a KVM switch to control it. Well worth IT to me.

Alienware's Area-51 desktops are now offered with a GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, which provides a full 1GB of graphics memory.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2320293,00.asp

http://www.alienware.com/products/de...source=ECH0032

<drool> :)

Here is a good place to start for video editing software for Linux.

As to Ubuntu, I can tell you that the latest release is pretty good. There is a difference in look and feel as to windows but you get use to it pretty quickly.

My suggestion to you is to create a dual boot between Windows and Ubuntu and compare how it goes.

Good Luck.

Doc

Hi SpywareDr, Train, jmtjet & Doc,

Yes, I have been mulling dual boot vs VM and I will go with your advice. Or maybe a mixture. Dual boot for when I am doing my video work and try VM, for convenience sake, for low powered Windows applications that I can not find Linux alternatives for (should not be many now).

A dedicated rig is not an alternative at this time due to space, money and household bliss (you need how many PC's!!).

The GeForce GTX 280 graphics card look sweet. However, at ~$900 a bit too pricy for me as I am not doing gaming. I have decided on the Palit 9600 GSO Sonic 768MB @ $185 (as well as the best recomended by Doc). Unless anyone has a good argument why I need something more powerful (below $450 please).

Ubuntu, and its many variants (i.e., Kubuntu), have certainly come a long way and we are certainly that much closer to completly replacing Windows. If I could just get a video editing and DVD burning package as good (easy to use, feature rich and reliable) as Pinnacle Studio I would be there now.

If I had the time and money I would also be building a HTPC using Ubuntu and MythTV. However, this would need a separate box until it was up, running and stable as having the HTPC down for more than a reboot is a cataclismic event resulting in my hide being nailed to a barn door. However, I do not have the time and money to invest in this at this time.

Anyway, I am sourcing suppliers and getting quotes for the hardware. So I should start building in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted.

Regards,

Glyn

Dual boot will give you less hassel that tne VM ware.

I just go into the BIOS and select which hdd to boot to. Just the option I prefer since I got tired of boot managers goofing up.

Thanks Train,

That's an interesting way to dual boot.

Regards,

Glyn

You're Welcome!

I use a Trois hard drive selector switch to change between hard drives. Unfortunately, they are no longer made. The switch give me the option of booting to any of my three hard drives. HD #1=Windows 2000 pro., HD #2=Ubuntu 8.04, and HD #3=Linux Mint. An alternative to dual booting from the same drive would be a hard drive caddy system, were you would shutdown, remove one drive and replace it with another, reboot. The reason I went to the Trois HD selector was to get away from the problems of having a bootloader.

http://www.technoyard.com/hardware/m...os/page_1.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...addy&x=19&y=34

currently available hard drive selector switches - pricey though:

http://www.industechnologies.com/tec...nformation.asp

Thanks jmtjet and jdc2000,

This is realy good stuff. Definately going into my swag of tricks. However, as I am going for a RAID 5 this would not be appropriate for me.

Many thanks,

Glyn

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the tardiness in replying. I have finally built the new machine with the specs below. I had some initial trouble with it recognising my WiFi card. However, all is AOK now and I am very happy with it. I am now re-installing all the software. Once this is done I will install Linux and start video editing once more.

All the best and thanks for everyones advice.

Regards,

Glyn

Transfering video files from one computer to another is why I went to a wired gigabet lan.

Takes time to get everything needed, sometimes, to build a computer.

Thanks for the update!