My last build was last year.I loved it.Works great.(Many thanks on that build from you guys) I now want to build one for security surveillance that can record.(with 3-4 cameras for drive way and front and back door) and music player(I want really good sound quality from it). Thats the 2 main thing I want this PC to do.I can spend about 1200$ (though I think I may need to spend more on it?)Thanks for any advice.
As far as surveillance goes, I don't know a great deal about what's good to buy - best bet would be to do some google research for exactly the sort of setup you're likely to use and see what sort of options you have, what reviews they get etc. Obviously you will want quite a lot of storage so you can record to it. Depending on whether you want absolute data security you may want to consider setting a RAID array up to make sure you never lose your footage - that's quite expensive to do right, though. As for music, the main thing you need is good speakers and a half-decent sound card. If there's nothing else you need from the PC then you don't need especially powerful hardware for the rest.
Do you have cameras yet? This is your starting point...you will need to determine what kind of cameras to use (IR, nightvision, heat vision, BW, Color?). Once you know this, you can start searching for the cameras themselves. You can usualy get analog cameras for a bit less than digital ones, but the card required to connected them will negate the savings. If you just need color, you might consider getting some cheap USB webcams and some long USB extension cables and some cheap USB hubs to extend the cables more. If you need nightvision, IR, etc...then you are proably best getting a quad-tuner card and analogue cameras, as the digital versions of these cameras tend to be very expensive or very unreliable. If you need hidden cameras, then you must also take the tuner card route, as most pinhole cameras are either analogue or expensive. RAID is expensive (especialy good, reliable RAID)...but it should be within your budget given your needs for the system. My advice is to shop around for the cameras, and the sound system/speakers/etc that you will be using...once you know these, it is easier to estimate the best system for the job.
