have questions & need opinion Intel $800 for CS3,video edit & mild game.

[pilgrim]

Hello Forums,

Can I please have your opinion for my build ?
I will use this for Photoshop, light video editing, and some game (age of empire, counter strike, soccer) and my budget around $800 for Newegg.
I have the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speaker, OS.

Any comment and suggestion wiil be greatly appreciate.


Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail $146

ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $117

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail $60

Rosewill R230-P-BK Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $ 18

Lite-on LH-20A1S OEM BK $33

I need opinion from forum for PSU decision,
1. Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail $40

2. FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail $58

3. Antec earthwatts EA430 ATX12V v2.0 430W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, FCC, TUV, CE, CB, C-tick, CCC - Retail $70

4. ENERMAX Noisetaker II EG495P-VE ATX12V 485W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail $ 90

5. XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail$ 60

6. AMS Mercury PP-4603EPS-X EPS12V 460W Power Supply 115/230 V FCC, cUL, CB, TUV - Retail $56


Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $80


Q:
1. Which of these PSU that will not fit the PC case ?

2. quote from newegg mobo feature :..."Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets"
What exactly does it means ? and can I use DDR2 667 instead ? Is it going to effect the performance ?

3. I'm thinking to upgrade the processor down the road to Quad-core. Is this the right mobo ?

4. I read somewhere in this forum that said something like this ; "to have more than 2gb memory on your system will not affect the performance". Comment ?

5. I might have more questions and did I miss anything for the part side ?

[Alaron]

Pretty good list.

For your PSU choice, any but #1 will work. I'd pick the FSP myself. They will all fit into the case.

You can use DDR2-667 on that board no problem.

Yes, the P5B can handle quad cores.

Most people really don't need more then 2GB of RAM. It is plenty.

Check that your LiteOn comes with burning software. OEM versions usually do not. Retail versions do.

[minsonngo]

I agree. Stick with the FSP PSU. They are a great brand.


Any ATX PSU will fit into the ATX case you have. So the FSP will fit fine.

Everything else looks good. Make sure your optical drive is SATA instead of IDE/ATA.

[pilgrim]

Alaron, Thanks for reminder on lite-on retail.

Minsongo, I go with SATA indeed, thanks

And thanks to Mr.Ferrari and Whubbard for Video Card recommendation

[whubbard]

Yep looks good!

Here's a link to the the Sata Lite-On I think you want:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106070

And here is one with lightscribe: (its a neat feature for the price...but not necessary at all)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106073

I put down the OEM versions because I'm not sure what OS your running...nero is picky.

p.s. just in case you want any more reasurance...the FSP is great.

[pilgrim]

whubbard, thanks for the link.
I will go with FSP, certainly.
In my understanding on lightscribe is I can put title on the CD (printing something on CD), right ? Nothing else ? It's not that I can play Blue-ray CD, correct ?

[Mr.Ferrari]

Correct.

And I would highly suggest you get this PSU. Alot more power and more efficient.
Enhance 500w
With free shipping, it makes it only a few dollars more then the FSP.

[whubbard]

yes, its a good PSU, but a heads up that its on a '2 day sale'

[whubbard]

and you can actually burn images with lightscribe as well...not just titles. Its like a printer (basically)

[Cricket]

whubbard, please use the Edit button. Thanks.

Cricket

[whubbard]

yeah usually i do.
can't you forgive me just this once..pretty please

[thaigecko]

Cool, I was wondering what lightscribe was...

T

[Croaker]

I wanted to add a comment about needing 2GB of ram.
It really depends on how you edit in photoshop and how large the images are that you edit.
- If you're editing scans (slides or whatever), then you might need more ram. *Might*
- If you're editing pictures from a high resolution camera (14MP or more) then you *might, maybe... just maybe* need more than 2G. But only if you insist on doing more than editing when you edit.
- If you use a staggering number of layers (not adjustment layers) while you work (and if you do, talk to me and I'll try to set you straight. There are better ways.)

I'm generally able to edit 8MP images with 1G of ram and I rarely have ram problems (I'm processor bound, but I'm solving that.) Just change the photoshop window to display memory usage in the lower left. It's on the picture's window, not the application. It is listed as a percentage - you want it to stay at 100%. If it goes below that then you can view it as having used more ram than you have. You should also watch your system with the Task Manager up and see how much free ram you have.

Now, all of this testing must take into how much ram you have *now*. I have 1G now, but I only use adjustment layers which use little ram (I teach photoshop, so I've got a good system for editing.) I know a good number of pro photographers and only a few have (and need) more than 2G of ram. They all produce poster size prints (or larger) from high resolution side scans.

The vast majority of people don't need more than 2G... heck, the vast majority of people don't need more than 1G (the people here are not your *average* user. My parents are an average user.)

Croaker

[whubbard]

Yeah, what croaker said is true, but I will add that having the extra RAM will be nice. Especially if you have many photos open.

I would recommend 2GB, but after that it all depends on how much load you really think your going to but on your RAM with photoshop.

[Croaker]

I should add that I was referring to having more than 2G of ram. I think having 2G is quite reasonable now a days. I find 1G tight on occasion. For the price, an extra ram just makes your life easier.

Since I've got photoshop open right now, here are the "correct" instructions for monitoring ram usage from within PS.

- Open a picture.
- In the lower left is the percent you're viewing the image at. Next is a little icon that looks like a piece of paper with the corner turned down. Next to that is some text (varies depending on the setting) and then there is an arrow pointing right. Click that arrow.
- The last menu choice in the pop-up menu is "Show". Click that.
- The menu that now appears lets you select what is shown just to the left of the arrow. Pick "Efficiency". Here is what it means:
Efficiency Displays the percentage of time spent performing an operation instead of reading or writing to the scratch disk. If the value is below 100%, Photoshop is using the scratch disk and is therefore operating more slowly.
(from Adobe's help)
Once you've watched that for awhile, change it to display "Scratch Sizes". It is defined as:
Scratch Sizes Displays information on the amount of RAM and the scratch disk used to process the image. The number on the left represents the amount of memory that is currently being used by the program to display all open images. The number on the right represents the total amount of RAM available for processing images.
(also from Adobe's help)

This should tell you if the amount of RAM you're using in PS now is enough. If it isn't, then clearly you should get more for the new system.

Personally, 1G is the absolute minimum I would recommend. I normally suggest 2G. Even with XP. (I've never seen, let alone used, Vista so I don't feel qualified to recommend RAM for it.)

Eric

[minsonngo]

Agreed. 1GB is basically a must now.

I think it is starting to transition to 2GB as the recommended minimum amount of system memory.

*Sigh* I still remember the days when all you needed was 32mb of system memory.

[whubbard]

...and now you can even get that on a flash drive... the lowest is like 128 (which is the amount of ram i have in the oldest pc which i still own)

[pilgrim]

croaker, thank you for your time to post this valuable info. I might have more questions for you in the future (since I knew you teaching PS

minsonngo & whubbard, I hear you