The Ultimate Dream Computer

opps I better start over.

All right here is a challenge for you dreamers. I am actually going to be buying a new system, starting from scratch...and I am a newby when it comes to this as I have always had a basic pc. To the extent possible, I want to do it right the first time and not have to keep adding stuff I didn't know about or think about. I want to use my new system to:

1. Run Windows,(XP?) basic stuff...spread sheets, etc. I will want a scanner and will network to an existing printer

2. Run Adobe Photoshop, scan slides and pictures and link to a Epson photo printer

3. Run Adobe Premiere Pro for video authoring. With this authoring I want to be able to integrate sound tracks (ie music background over video sound), text, and still shots in the video. I will link to a flat screen tv I plan to put on the wall above my work area. I will want to burn good DVDs. I plan to store video footage by changing out disk drives.

4. I don't play computer games unless you count bridge and poker.

I know I will need lots of memory and plan to have multiple disk drives and a back up hard drive. I want a large monitor with good resolution and quality color. I know I need to be concerned about cooling and I will need a video card and someone said something about an array maid (made(?))?

I have someone to install all this stuff, but am unsure as to buying the components separately or just having it ready made...if I go for ready made, I am looking for recommendations for the maker.

I will choose quality over cost issues.

One person recommended Dell because if things don't work, he said it is fairly easy to have Dell send you a replacement. Another person recommended Dell because of ease of ordering

I saw one system like I want and that person had a Sony computer and monitor.

How would you build this dream system? Please talk to me like the semi literate, not up on techie talk lingo person I am...

 

PS: What is Matrox?

 

Sophocles - you were right. I now understand that it is impossible for an AMD based mobo to be configured to support DDR2 memory because the reason DDR2 was created in the first place is because intel procs are lame compared to AMD's so they tried to make things faster for intel users by adding a faster memory option. AMD's bench way more than intels and therefore do not need to utilize the memory like intel is trying to do. So basically, the way I understand it, even though DDR2 is faster then the best memory of AMD, the overall speed of AMD is far superior.

 

zeph

I'd say you have it just about right. Because the AMD's have their L2, memory controller, and front side bus on the chip it runs at the speed of the chip. AMD's are better at utilizing memory than Intel Chips are and they run just as fast as DDR2 does on an Intel system at lower clock speed. Rumor has it that the Venice and San Diego cores are DDR2 ready and that AMD is just not publicly admitting it.

I've done some more memory tweaking since my last post to 2.5-3-3-8 T1 the real booster is the T1 setting. All at stock voltage. Although by no means the best you can find, here's my latest memory bench.


http://www.zentarium.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3649&postcount=4

 

Yeah, my buddy JoeJack was saying the same thing today as far as DDR2 being utilized by the new AMD's - which will be oh so fast! Without any "tweaking," my memory is running at 2.5-3-3-7 and my mobo only allows PC2700 even though I have PC 3200 installed.

 

A friend of mine just got an insurance claim through (the front of his house fell off, literally) and he managed to wangle a new PC out of it. Quite how he persuaded the company that he needed one of these
http://www.chillblast.com/product.php?productid=16895&cat=166&page=1 I dont know.

It was delivered last week, unfortunately the courier dropped a box and the cooler came off, dragging the CPU with it. Its now been exchanged and another gig of memory added for good feeling

 

I don't believe the story, but the system looks nice.

 

No problem with the configuration although there's always room for improvement. I'm curious about it including Raptors that with TCQ working along side of a Seagate drive that has NCQ. I've heard over the net that there's a conflict between them when they're installed on the same system, perhaps that was the same channel because this system includes them together.

 

Finally my ultimate dream PC is finished!

All I need now is a waterblock system.

 

Hey Sophocles - you seem quite knowledgeable about PC's so I have a question for you: I recently upgraded my system and switched to a small form factor case which needed a micro atx mobo. I used to have a amd xp 2000+ and a Radeon 9200 with 120 GB HD. Now, I have a Barton 2600+ and a GeForce 6600 GT with 250 GB HD. Here's the question (finally), my old system enabled me to play Age of Empires 2 and listen to music simultaneously but the new system will not. Winamp in the new configuration lags and skips to the point that it isn't worth listening to. Any ideas on how to fix it? Also, my new HD is a Maxtor 250 GB 16 MB cache but only 125 of it is being utilized. I have gone to the site and tried all the patches to no avail. Any ideas concerning this?

 

zeph317

The skipping could be caused by your hard disk running in PIO mode or as a result of fragmentation. You didn't mention your operating system so I'll give you info on both NT based versions. If you're running WinXP then update to service pack2 and it'll help you to partition your disk. Once partitioned you see an extra drive letter in My Computer. The maximum partition size for a partition with XP is 130gigs. If you're running Win2K then you'll have to use a partitioning software such as partition magic.

 

Thanks a TON, Soph! I am using WinXP. What is PIO mode and how do I know if it is and if so, how do I change that?

 

zeph317

To check to see if your in PIO mode, right click on my computer and choose properties, then at the top choose hardware, then device manager and a window will pop up. Look through the list for IDE/ATAPI controllers then click on the + sign to expand it. This can be different depending on your system but right click on all of the choices and at the top there will be a tab that might say primary or secondary channel, under transfer mode if it says PIO then choose DMA. You might as well do them all because if the choices are not grayed out then you have a hard disk drive or CD/DVD Rom drive and they all work better under DMA.


You will still have to download and update to XP service pack 2 if you haven't already done so.

 

my Specs

AMD FX55
Duel geforce 6800 ultra 512 mb in sli Which pumps Doom3 and Half life 2 over 100fps
2 gigs ram
2 DVD+/- RW DL which now one is broke
800 gb Raid 0
A8S-sli-deluix
ALX Liquid Cooling
960 gb External drives
2 cd/rw external

 

I have my dream computer, check my sig does everything i need and more

 

Hi Wilier nice PC spec your mate has, but such a shame your mate didn't take the plunge and build it himself, far more fun and a lot cheaper. You can build that system for £2500 with even trying for a discount for such a large order. Thanks a £730 saving for not a lot of work. In my experience PC warranties are a waste of time and money, as individual parts are warranted anyway and at least your allowed to open your case without making warranties void. Generally the support staff employed by the larger companies could work out how to wire a plug, let alone diagnose any problem not listed on their flowchart.

 

Totally agree with webhedreg. I bought a pre built PC last October for £1100. It was an AMD 64 3200+ with 512mb Ram and a Radeon 9200 256mb card. In other words not too great for the money. I went out and bought a 6800 Ultra and 512mb ram to make it a bit more decent. So then I'd spent a total of £1700 which is way over the top for the spec. My current PC which I built from scratch has cost me a total of £1700 and it's an amazing rig. Okay so I salvaged a few parts from my old PC but only the monitor, keyboard and mouse. I'm never buying again.

 

Dan1677,
I have no idea what the 1700 is equivalent to in US currency but if you paid the same for the two systems you described then you definitely got RAPED by whoever sold that to you. The proc and GPU's alone would cost around $2,000 and if you paid $2k for a AMD 64 3200+ and a Radeon 9200, etc. WOW! They should be thrown in prison! I could get that system for less than $500 here!

 

@zeph:
Tell me about it dude. I guess in USD it's about $2900 although in the UK we always pay well over the top on prices compared the US prices. It's just the way our economy is. The package did include a 19" LCD monitor though (whoopdedooo!). At the time though I'd never built a system so was afraid of trying and getting it all sorts of wrong. Still you live and learn. The shop is a huge chain of shops called PC World, don't know if you've heard of them but they are the same as all the other places. They give you the worst components for the highest price and call it a 'value package deal'. Value my a**! Also they have a PC upgrade counter and the guys that work behind the counter really do know nothing. Even after building my 2nd sytem I think I know more than all these guys put together...and they call themsleves PC specialists! Ha!

 

@furydog.
Dude never let anyone call you insane for spending that much on something you obvioulsy enjoy. Sounds like an impressive rig you have there. Not too up to speed on how P4's run as opposed to AMD's but I'm sure it runs pretty damn good. My latest 3dMark 03 scored in at 29'537 yesterday. I've got the 2 GPU's Oc'd at 477mhz core and 1.3ghz mem. No cpu OC'ing...........yet!

I'll post the 3DMark 03 results tonight or tomorrow. I'd love to get over the 30'000 mark.