OT- Anyone Build their own PC?

[Gdad]

Okay- emboldened by all the good advice I got plus a lot of reading over the weekend I went ahead and ordered some stuff last night. I started off thinking about a kit but could not find one anywhere that was exactly what wanted- (they seem to toss one poorly rated part into each kit for some reason…) So I ended up just kind of picking and choosing the stuff I wanted. Mostly from Tigers Direct but a few things from Newegg also.

-Roomy Mid Tower Case with space to grow and some cool looking red led’s
-1100W Power Supply (way oversized- turns out I’m a sucker for red led’s I guess)
-Intel Core i5 650 & ASUS Motherboard Bundle
-Hitachi 1TB Hard Drive (big enough since I store & backup pictures on external drives)
-4 GB DDR3 SDRAM (enough for now- may add some more later?)
-Cheap DVD Drive, Card Reader & Network Card
-Windows 7 64 Bit Home Edition OEM

Still no video card- I may pick a cheap one up locally between now and when all that stuff shows up later in the week. Not sure I even need one since I’m not really into gaming or anything. Anyway- thanks for the help all. Hopefully I can get it all put together now.

 

[Evad]

If anything Jeff don't go cheap on the video card you will regret it later. Right now you may think you don't need it but down the road you will end up wishing you had.

 

[Bstanley]

Good on ya' mate!

Not knowing which ASUS motherboard you bought I'm a bit surprised that you needed to buy a separate network card (maybe you're building a server though). Also unless you need a video card because you don't have built-in Intel video - (which would also be a surprise since the i5/Clarksdales that I'm aware of have the video built-in) you can always wait until the system is up and running to pick your video card.

Take your time - use a magnetic screwdriver (those little screws are a pain) - and it'll be a piece of cake, really.

 

[photo_chick]

If you work with any type of photo editing program you will see some benefit from a decent video card as opposed the average motherboard to on board video. And the cards that are best for photo and video work are not necessarily the ones that are best for gaming, just as 3D work takes an entirely different type of video card..... this is why we have so many computers in our house. LOL.

 

[Gdad]

Not knowing which ASUS motherboard you bought I'm a bit surprised that you needed to buy a separate network card (maybe you're building a server though).

Really? I bought THIS one. I don't see anyplace to plug a cat-5 into my router. I figured I needed one of THESE also. "PCI Adapter"- I probably called it the wrong thing- I'm not much of a computer guy.

 

[Gdad]

If anything Jeff don't go cheap on the video card you will regret it later. Right now you may think you don't need it but down the road you will end up wishing you had.

If you work with any type of photo editing program you will see some benefit from a decent video card as opposed the average motherboard to on board video. And the cards that are best for photo and video work are not necessarily the ones that are best for gaming, just as 3D work takes an entirely different type of video card..... this is why we have so many computers in our house. LOL.

So which ones are good for mainly photography and video?

 

[boBQuincy]

So which ones are good for mainly photography and video?

Don't know about video but here is a list of video cards that were tested with Photoshop CS4:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405711.html

 

[blackjackdelta]

Go look at the build articles on tomsharware. A wealth of info.

Jack

 

[oregondaddyof2]

So which ones are good for mainly photography and video?

I have an Nvidia 9800GTX and it is great with CS3... I am a big gamer too, and it is an amazing card for that also... I am looking at getting the NVidia 260GTX... You really can't go wrong with any of the middle range cards... Like the comment above, check tomshardware.com for more info... That site tests all sorts of different PC components including video cards...

 

[photo_chick]

So which ones are good for mainly photography and video?

If you use Photoshop CS4 I'd consider a card with Open GL 3.0. I've read Lightroom 3 may make good use of it as well, but I haven't kept up there. Consider more memory over processing speed if you have to make a choice there. But that's my approach.

 

[Evad]

So which ones are good for mainly photography and video?

As mentioned above the Nvidia 9800GTX is an awesome card. My son has the 9600.

You can't go wrong with Nvidia!!

 

[Bstanley]

Sorry, I was away from the computer for awhile.

Really? I bought THIS one.

The ASUS P7H55-M Pro is an excellent socket 1156 motherboard, good choice (multiple Video outputs ... very nice). It also includes 1 GB ethernet (covers 10/100MB as well). The RJ-45 connector is normally stacked on top of some USB connectors - yes it's there.

That picture is from the photo gallery, the red circle is the network connector.

You can return the network card and buy some film . Also since the motherboard supports multiple monitors all by itself under Windows 7 (you will need to connect the two monitors to two different connectors, VGA and DVI for example) you can experiment with that setup and then decide if you need a higher performance video system or not.

Fun fun fun!

 

[Groucho]

So which ones are good for mainly photography and video?

I would not spend much on a video card - in fact, I'd get a basic $30-50 card. The expensive cards can be grouped into two categories - gaming and CAD.

2D matured years ago and hasn't changed much. The stuff CS4 is doing is fairly simple 3D rendering and shouldn't take much guts - and if you believe Google search results, seems to be causing more headaches than anything else and lots of people are having to disable it. At its best, it's just some basic UI tweaks, and if you don't spend much time zooming more than "fit to window" and "100%" then you probably won't even notice them. That being said, it doesn't hurt to make sure that you can support the standards.

Even the cheapest video cards have halfway decent 3D performance now, easily enough to meet the needs of Win7 Aero's. As long as you get one with a new enough architecture, you shouldn't need to spend much to get one that supports all the standards. Something like a 9800 would be a total waste for you. Even a $30 Radeon HD 3450 meets or exceeds the requirements for CS4, and supports HDMI. Historically AMD's Radeon line has had slightly better 2D image quality than nVidia's GeForce (most home theater PC owners would choose Radeons) but the difference is realistically fairly slight, it might even be nonexistent by now. Radeon vs GeForce is kind of like Ford vs Chevy; often a topic of bitter debate. I've used plenty of both and I tend to prefer Radeon but I usually am buying a gaming card and which is the best buy changes regularly, so I go back and forth.

Honestly - I would recommend not buying anything at this point, since the mb you chose has onboard video including HDMI and DVI. Assuming that those are true separate outputs, those should be your first choices when connecting multiple monitors. Going to an separate card will not make your pictures look any better - you might see a slight (slight!) increase in the "Aero desktop" performance and possibly smoother zooming in CS4, assuming your onboard video doesn't meet the specs - which it may already.

 

[Zoesmama03]

Still no video card- I may pick a cheap one up locally between now and when all that stuff shows up later in the week. Not sure I even need one since I’m not really into gaming or anything. Anyway- thanks for the help all. Hopefully I can get it all put together now.

Fry.com had some pretty good specials on video cards. I picked up a $70 one for 39.99. Its a GeFoce 210 way better than my previous Geforce 5200(dunno about the aero didn't have 7 on my last system but the zooming in CS3 is much improved). It had a rebate too but I didn't realize it was expiring 2 days later and was busy with plans for spring break and didn't get to it. Well it was $15. I may print it off and sent it anyway. I know that when I was processing rebates in the past for a company they sometimes let them slide for awhile after. I have got rebates from them in past(on a video card to be exact LOL I purchased it for my brother) and they are quick with them.


It works great with Windows 7.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I agree that you should start with the built in video. Don't buy a video card that you don't need. If you start playing games and can't get good video performance, go looking at video cards at that point.

I do, however, disagree with the notion that just any video card will do for video editing. If you do a lot of video editing, it is worthwhile to purchase a good graphics card designed for that purpose. These aren't the typical gaming cards. I'm talking about cards like the NVIDIA FX 1800. With the right software, it will substantially improve your rendering times and allow you to preview more complex filters in real time. I don't have one and my Blu-Ray render times run overnight. I'm thinking about getting one to shorten my cycle times so that I can experiment more.

 

[Bstanley]

If you do a lot of video editing, it is worthwhile to purchase a good graphics card designed for that purpose. These aren't the typical gaming cards. I'm talking about cards like the NVIDIA FX 1800. With the right software, it will substantially improve your rendering times

Very true - 10x or maybe a bit faster rendering, but the trick is that the entire pipeline of hardware and software has to be synchronized. The right version/level of Adobe Premiere, a particular set of codecs, the right 3rd party software, and the right $600 to $1800 worth of video hardware (and that 1,000 Watt power supply may come in handy yet).

 

[photo_chick]

Keep in mind with a video card that it's not just the chipset either. (since we're getting more specific) The BFG Nvidia 8800 in my husbands "gaming" computer stomps the Biostar Nvidia 9600 in my sons box. Both machines have similar processors (my sons is actually faster) the same amount of memory and similar motherboards. You get better textures, smoother frame rates in demanding games, better particle effects from the older card. But that's comparing a $500 BFG card with lots of extras to a $70 Biostar bought on special to get the job done card.

And video cards do make a difference, especially when you render large videos like Mark pointed out. I put an Nvidia Quadro 4800 in my husbands "work" computer (which has an older CPU/Mobo in it but similar in speed and specs to the other machines we have). He's a game dev and does heavy work with Maya, Photoshop, Zbrush and a lot of video editing in Vegas.

It is a phenomenal difference over the Nvidia 9600 in my son's box (that I use from time to time and have some of the same software on), which was built for gaming. Render times are super fast on the Quadro, and Photoshop effects and filters do render better. Not just faster, but actually better results in the fine details... but it's a high end, professional card. Though the Quadro blows for gaming. Totally and utterly blows.

My point... I think video cards are a lot like lenses. There are some better suited to certain tasks than others. A cheap one can get the job done, and many people will be satisfied with that. But some people want more. Will an L series lens do better? Almost certainly. Do we all need an L series lens to be satisfied? No.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

What software do you put on a new PC?

1. Daemon Tools (mount ISO files on virtual drives)
2. UltraEdit for editing text files
3. Photoshop & Lightroom
4. Microsoft Office
5. DVD Shrink, AnyDVD (only for non-US computers, of course), and Handbrake for DVD/Blu-ray handling
6. Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, After Effects, Encore, and Encoder for AV work
7. Firefox w/ Ad-Block
8. Avast anti-virus (it's free)

 

[oregondaddyof2]

I would have to suggest superantispyware... it is a free spyware blocker that works well... I was suggested that by my local computer shop... I have used it for years and never had any issues....


I second the suggestion by Mark for Avast... I have also used that without any issues, and it runs great in the background of your system... it does not tie up any resources like Norton or McAfee do... i get Norton Utilities for free through my cable internet provider... I tried it for a day, and took it off cause it slowed my computer way down... I am a big gamer, and my system wqould lag badly, but it runs smooth with Avast...

People may think, how good can it be for free? Avast is a virus software built for big businesses, so they offer it to residential customers for free... It is awesome!!

 

[Gdad]

Thanks so much for the good advice all. UPS says everything will be delivered tomorrow so everyone please be ready to answer even more questions...

You can return the network card and buy some film .

Okay that made me laugh- thanks.

My point... I think video cards are a lot like lenses. There are some better suited to certain tasks than others. A cheap one can get the job done, and many people will be satisfied with that. But some people want more. Will an L series lens do better? Almost certainly. Do we all need an L series lens to be satisfied? No.

Yeah I think I know how people who are buying their first dslr and ask "What lens?" feel now. Lots of good input most of which I kind of understand- but for now I think I will just wait and see how the machine works first. My 'old' computer is a lot slower and never had a video card at all- and I only found it mildly annoying some of the time (usually with Lightroom.) I'm sure I'll upgrade the ram and add the video card in a few months though.

What software do you put on a new PC?

That is a good question which I have been thinking about a lot. One nice thing abut this process should be it does not show up preloaded with a bunch of junk from Dell like my last couple of machines have. Definetly MS Office and Firefox. For photography I will have Lightroom, maybe finally upgrade from CS3 to CS4 and some scanner software. For video I am just scratching the surface and don't really have anything yet- I'll probably just pick up something inexpensive like Premiere Elements 8?

Thanks for the tip on Avast- I actually loaded that on my other machine this morning and uninstalled Norton which has been harassing me for being expired for the last few weeks.