Help me with a build?

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Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
368
Hi I'm Alex well I need help preparing a new pc..I wanted to upgraded from my mac mini and Imac's are just too expensive right now..So maybe I'm looking to try out building a pc.

It will mostly be used for listening to Itunes, watching movies, and surfing. I will not game at all. I do lots of video encoding and huge music library so I want to manage all of that. If possible I want videos to be done quick for example. It takes about 2 hours on my mac to convert my movies into Itunes format. So it will be great if that can go down to 30 min or less.

Some info that may help is that I got a "15 monitor,but I also will want to connect it to my "32 720p hdtv for when I watch video. I'm really looking at a maximum budget of $750. (Awesome if you can go like to $400). In the future I will also like to add a Blu Ray Drive (like when there $100). For a case it really doesn't matter, but I wouldn't mind a small nice looking one. I hate load times when clicking on a song (Anyway to fix that). I also have some logitech z-5500 and will love to get the most out of them.
So I don't really don't know a lot about pc's. The only thing I can think of is

Processor:
IntelQ6600
Or is it overkill?

Video Card:
No Idea

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

Mother Board:
No Idea

Ram:
Crucial Ballistix 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

Sound Card:
No Idea

So yeah I need lot's of help..perhaps I will be better off buying a prebuilt system?
 
A Q6600 will not be overkill since you mentioned video encoding. You will benefit alot from the 4 cores especially if the program is written to take advantage of the 4 cores.

On the video card, since you don't play games at all, an ATI Radeon 2600Pro or a Nvidia 8600GT will be fine for under $100. If you want even cheaper then go with an ATI 2400Pro or Nvidia 8500GT. Any of these cards will do fine as they have bit stream decoding for HD/Blue Ray movie playback and are HDCP(High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) ready. Also, some have a HDMI port on the cards as well so.. you can connect it to your 32" LCD/TV

Harddrive - Encoding videos etc. takes up space. Get a good 400 - 500gig SATA 300 drive. The 250gig is considered small nowdays.

Mobo - A P35 mobo will be ideal as most people get this mobo with the Intel P35 chipsets. A good example is the Gigabyte GAP35DS3L mobo.

Sound Card - Use the onboard audio for now. It should be sufficient.

Power Supply - Since your not into gaming, a 400 watt PS such as this one from Silverstone will be ideal and adequate for your system setup. Those cards I mentioned above don't use up much power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256032

System build:
Case - Not sure if you like this case but, I personally like Coolermaster cases. - $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119094

CPU - Core 2 Quad Q6600 - $255
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Mobo - Gigabyte GA-P35DS3L - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

Memory - DDR2 800 is sufficient - $35 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

Sound Card - Use the onboard audio for now. They should be sufficient.

Video - MSI Geforce 8500GT w/HDMI port - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127301

HDD - 500gig SATA 300 - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136178

Optical Drive - Samsung 20x dvd burner - $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151161

PS - Silverstone 400watt - $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256032

Total: - $674 w/o shipping

Note: Since you don't game and don't know much on pcs, maybe you should consider just buying a prebuilt system. It should be sufficient for your needs. Plus, it comes with an O/S already. Most PCs come with Microsoft Visa O/S and most of the older programs that run in XP won't run on Vista. Make sure the programs you will be using, will work in MS Vista O/S.
 
Looks solid, how long do you think it will take to encode a 720p .xvid video and convert it to .mp4 on a similar system? I'm also looking at pre built
systems right now too. Most don't offer quad cores will something like a AMD 5000+ be sufficent?
 
Yeah, an X2 5000+ will be sufficient. It's a Dual core 2.6ghz cpu and should fit your needs. The specs of a Mac Mini you have is not that powerful compared to an X2 5000+ desktop PC. Where do you plan on buying this prebuilt system? Acer has an X2 5000+ on Circuit Citys website for $479.99

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer...99863/catOid/-12962/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Or... for $90 more, get an Acer X2 6000+ with a Dual Core 3.0ghz cpu, 500gig drive and 3gigs of RAM for $569.99

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer...99864/catOid/-12962/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

If you do plan on buying any of these, you should purchase online and then pickup in store. The price in store would cost more than online price. This route will be cheaper because the system already comes with an O/S, keyboard, mouse and speakers. There are also Dual Core Intel cpu systems in this price rangle also such as the E2140, E2160 and E2180. But, those will fall shy in performance to the X2 5000+ or X2 6000+. I would get the X2 6000+ system.
 
Oh yah, I forgot to mention, these 2 Acer systems use integrated video graphics. Later on, you can install a cheap video card with HDMI out to connect to your 32" LCD/TV. Or, use the DVI port on the video card you install and get a DVI to HDMI cable to connect the pc to the LCD/TV. Then, connect your Logitech speakers to the built in audio on the PC.
 
Great I'm going to circuit city today to pickup a router I'll look at those systems while I'm there thanks.
 
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