Need Expert Advice

[shailenderb]

I am placing order for a custom built PC. I will be using it mostly to process
media files (like converting etc) and storing them. Of course browsing and other internet activities go with it.

I am giving below the specs given by my supplier. Can someone please
suggest any better alternates or additions or removal of components,
including the cabinet.

Amd Phenom Ii Processor X4 ( 920) 2.8 Ghz,
2 Mb L2 Cache , 6 Mb L3 Cache Memory,
Asus M4a78-Em/1394 Motherboard,
4 Dimm Slots, 2 Pci Slots,
1 Pcie X 16 Slot,
Integrated Ati Radeon Hd3220 Upto 256 Mb Shared,
1 Dvi, 1 Vga , 1 Hdmi ,1 External Sata,
1 1394a Port, 6 Usb Ports(Back Panel),
High Defition Integrated 8 Channel Audio Card,
Transcend 2 X 2gb Ddr2 800 Mhz,
Viewsonic 22 Wide Tft Monitor With Dvi Port( Va 2233 Wm),
Seagate 1 Tb Sata Hard Disk Drive,
Logitech Mm Keyboard,
Logitech Optical Scroll Mouse,
Sony Dvd Writter Drive,
Atx Tower Cabinet.


Regds / Shailender

 

[teky]

To me the processor seems to be a overkill for the purposes you've mentioned to be using. Also doesn't your Board support DDR3 RAM - Wouldn't it be wise to invest on DDR3 as I think the cost difference isn't that high.

 

[shailenderb]

Thanks for your response.

I really don't have much knowledge about these technically. When I told him I need a very high speed processor, he suggested this. It may also be useful for gaming once in a while. I believe this is going to be a 64 bit m/c. How does that help me practically? Pl give your expert opinion.

As for the RAM, does DDR3 enhance the performance in anyway? I am anyhow going to ask him to change it to DDR3 as suggested by you.

Thanks once again.

Regds / Shailender

 

[asliarun]

I am placing order for a custom built PC. I will be using it mostly to process
media files (like converting etc) and storing them. Of course browsing and other internet activities go with it.

I am giving below the specs given by my supplier. Can someone please
suggest any better alternates or additions or removal of components,
including the cabinet.

Amd Phenom Ii Processor X4 ( 920) 2.8 Ghz,
2 Mb L2 Cache , 6 Mb L3 Cache Memory,
Asus M4a78-Em/1394 Motherboard,
4 Dimm Slots, 2 Pci Slots,
1 Pcie X 16 Slot,
Integrated Ati Radeon Hd3220 Upto 256 Mb Shared,
1 Dvi, 1 Vga , 1 Hdmi ,1 External Sata,
1 1394a Port, 6 Usb Ports(Back Panel),
High Defition Integrated 8 Channel Audio Card,
Transcend 2 X 2gb Ddr2 800 Mhz,
Viewsonic 22 Wide Tft Monitor With Dvi Port( Va 2233 Wm),
Seagate 1 Tb Sata Hard Disk Drive,
Logitech Mm Keyboard,
Logitech Optical Scroll Mouse,
Sony Dvd Writter Drive,
Atx Tower Cabinet.


Regds / Shailender

I suggest:
1. Downgrade your CPU as you really don't need more than a 2-core CPU. An i3 would be a good option to consider, although in the low end range, AMD is equally good. Only difference will be that Intel CPUs will encode/convert your media files faster. However, this will not make any difference during playback, which is more important.

2. Get a separate sound card (mid-range or high-end depending on your affordability).. your audio quality will directly depend on the quality of the sound card. I'm not very knowledgeable on this, but there are several threads with sound card recommendations. With a good sound card, you will actually get sound quality levels of a decent hi-fidelity stereo system.

3. Get a separate video card instead of integrated graphics. Low-end card will do, like an ATI card costing about 5k. This will make a difference in your 2D and 3D rendering performance, or if you are trying to watch high definition video. Again, some money spent on this is well worth it. Don't go for a high end card though, as it will only benefit you if you are into gaming.

4. If you are going to store all your content in a single hard drive, please ensure that it is backed up as hard drives do fail. A DVD writer might be worth the investment here. Else, if you want to save this hassle, get 2 hard drives and RAID them (this ensures that even if 1 drive fails, your data/content will be safe). The guy installing your PC should be able to do this. In any case, do you think you will really need 1 terabyte of space? You might be better off buying a smaller hard drive. In some price points, hard drives are really cheap. After a certain capacity, prices shoot up. Ask for a price list, and figure out the golden capacity/price point. With the savings, you can buy 2 hard drives, and RAID them for probably the same cost as a single larger drive.

Again, if you go for a RAID solution, you don't need a DVD writer. A simple and cheap DVD/CD drive is enough.

By the way, if you want a decently fast system, make sure your hard drive is 7200 rpm.

5. Make sure that you get a good power supply. A thumb rule in this is to go for a high efficiency one (if I recollect, anything more than 80% should be decent).

Edit: One more thing: If you are planning to listen to music through your PC, and if you don't already have a stereo system, please make sure that the sound is properly amplified and fed to decent speakers. Audioengine A2 and A5 are quite decent speakers for the cost, and much better than most other PC speakers.

Edit2: Enermax enjoys a decent reputation in the PSU market. You can look at: http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_59&products_id=171

 

[asliarun]

Thanks for your response.

I really don't have much knowledge about these technically. When I told him I need a very high speed processor, he suggested this. It may also be useful for gaming once in a while. I believe this is going to be a 64 bit m/c. How does that help me practically? Pl give your expert opinion.

As for the RAM, does DDR3 enhance the performance in anyway? I am anyhow going to ask him to change it to DDR3 as suggested by you.

Thanks once again.

Regds / Shailender

High-end CPU - not needed. Will only improve performance significantly if you are trying to do reall heavy duty technical stuff like numerical analysis. Go for the cheapest Core i3 you can get: AnandTech: The Intel Core i3 530 Review - Great for Overclockers & Gamers

64bit - All modern CPUs are 64 bit. What matters is if your OS is 64 bit or not. The only benefit of 64 bit is that it will be able to use more than 3GB of memory. My recommendation: Install Windows 7 32bit and install 3GB RAM. This is more than sufficient. Don't install Win7 64 bit.

DDR3 - No added value over DDR2. No significant performance improvement. However, if prices are somewhat the same (+-2k), you can go for DDR3.. basically, don't pay too much for DDR3.

Gaming - Gaming performance almost purely depends on your graphics card, not your CPU. For average gaming performance, go for an ATI card and spend between 5k to 15k depending on your budget. In this price range, you will get linear performance increase for any additional money you will spend.

 

[shailenderb]

Thanks Asliarun and Teky for your inputs. Am noting down all that is being suggested by experts like you to revise the config.

Yes, good quality Sound and video cards are being considered. Not planning
to use the onboard type. Is this dedicated sound card only for listening or
does it help while your processing your sound files too? Pl clarify.

Thanks again.

Warm Regds / Shailender

 

[teky]

If anything helps please look into my post here, Mine was a similar requirement but wanted a beefy processor as my OH works on Photoshop & few testing tools.

http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/8565-post-your-htpc-music-pc-configurations-here-2.html#post114052

The Motherboard I had picked up was an all rounder with decent Onboard graphics & Onboard Audio decoding for a Normal HTPC. May be you can get the AMD Phenom X2 5xx series which are going to be cheaper and fits your bill. Also you can sacrifice on the Cabinet & PSU and get a decent iBall with inbuilt PSU.

I recommended DDR3 RAM as there isn't any much of price difference and also on the reason of DDR 2 will be phased out soon. So if you were to upgrade the memory it would be easier.

Also please indicate your Budget and we might be able to give you the exact configuration.

 

[shailenderb]

If anything helps please look into my post here, Mine was a similar requirement but wanted a beefy processor as my OH works on Photoshop & few testing tools.

http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/8565-post-your-htpc-music-pc-configurations-here-2.html#post114052

The Motherboard I had picked up was an all rounder with decent Onboard graphics & Onboard Audio decoding for a Normal HTPC. May be you can get the AMD Phenom X2 5xx series which are going to be cheaper and fits your bill. Also you can sacrifice on the Cabinet & PSU and get a decent iBall with inbuilt PSU.

I recommended DDR3 RAM as there isn't any much of price difference and also on the reason of DDR 2 will be phased out soon. So if you were to upgrade the memory it would be easier.

Also please indicate your Budget and we might be able to give you the exact configuration.

Thanks. He has quoted around 35k for the config. I can stretch by another
10K and more if I can get something really good out of the additional expenditure.

I won't be using this PC to play or stream music (to my PS3).

As for DDR3, my supplier says this processor doesn't support it.

I will definitely go through your old thread. Thanks again.

Warm Regds / Shailender

 

[asliarun]

Thanks Asliarun and Teky for your inputs. Am noting down all that is being suggested by experts like you to revise the config.

Yes, good quality Sound and video cards are being considered. Not planning
to use the onboard type. Is this dedicated sound card only for listening or
does it help while your processing your sound files too? Pl clarify.

Thanks again.

Warm Regds / Shailender

You're welcome
Glad to share what little I know about this subject.

Conversion of audio files from one format to the other is handled purely by the CPU. Considering that this is usually a one-time activity, this is not much of a concern, unless you plan to rip/convert hundreds of files a day. Again, i3 gives you best in class performance.

When you are actually listening to an audio file, the work is jointly being done by the CPU and the audio card. I'm actually not an expert on this, but a good audio card will take on most of the work that the CPU does, and most importantly, will do a really good job in converting the digital source signal encoded in your mp3 or FLAC or divx into a output (analog) audio signal that can be fed into an amplifier or headphone. Here, you should focus on clarity of sound, not how many channels of audio it can support. Frankly, in my personal opinion, all this 6 channel and 8 channel audio is mostly gimmickly to raise prices of audio cards. The quality of the DAC is important however. Basically, focus on stereo performance if you want good quality sound.

Overall, remember, a PC is a system built of many parts. Like an audio system built from separates, it is more important to find the right balance (match components of similar quality and performance) rather than use some outstanding components while compromising on other components. It would be the metaphorical equivalent of fitting a car with a superb set of tyres and wings for aerodynamic stability while keeping a really weak engine or a bad suspension... or vice versa. Much of the stuff that system assemblers try to palm off is more gimmickry than of real value.

 

[teky]

Thanks. He has quoted around 35k for the config. I can stretch by another
10K and more if I can get something really good out of the additional expenditure.

I won't be using this PC to play or stream music (to my PS3).

As for DDR3, my supplier says this processor doesn't support it.

I will definitely go through your old thread. Thanks again.

Warm Regds / Shailender

Shailender,

Don't you have any friends who could assemble it for you, instead of you going through a dealer? You should be able to get a better configuration and tweak it as much as possible. Since you're saying your PC is going to be used only for general video conversion etc I wouldn't spend 35K on a machine.

Look into this thread on TE which has a wealth of information, Also there are dealers within TE where you can buy online and save money.

PC Buying Guide

 

[asliarun]

Can I make a completely different suggestion? Why don't you look at laptops? Your purpose seems to be mostly general purpose, and laptops are in good enough price points. Advantages are of course space saving, easy storage, much less wiring, and portability. The increase in cost is actually not all that much. You can get a laptop with a decent graphics card that will allow you to do moderate gaming.

Dell has decent options, and if you especially want multimedia features, Dell Studio should give you most of these options.

I use a Lenovo Thinkpad T500 laptop at home with a Logitech riser, wireless keyboard and mouse. I really value compactness, and this combo works quite well for me.

Anyway, this is only a suggestion

 

[shailenderb]

Thank you both.

From Teky's link I find that most of the suggestions contain AMD processors, but I think I'll go with i3, as per your advice.

Though I have a laptop, I find desktops more convenient to operate.

Warm Regds / Shailender

 

[asliarun]

Thank you both.

From Teky's link I find that most of the suggestions contain AMD processors, but I think I'll go with i3, as per your advice.

Though I have a laptop, I find desktops more convenient to operate.

Warm Regds / Shailender

I used to think so too, especially as I hate laptop ergonomics.
Have you looked at the Logitech package?
Stands

It allows you to use your laptop like a desktop.