Azure Dream
Member
Update on #1744, which I didn't spot any replies to, which is understandable. The post wasn't well-prepared and pretty vague. Anyway, today we intend to go out and do the proper buying on most or all the parts for her PC, ordering the ones at NewEgg we don't get at Microcenter probably. As I stated before, this was a gift to her from her husband, and the long wait has already made him uneasy. He's the type that wants to go out there and buy it at sticker price, and be done with it for years. That's why I was emphasizing lastability earlier on, even though I know Brainstew and others were trying to push me toward the better budget-oriented approach of spending less now, and saving the money for upgrades later. That's just not quite the nature of this situation.
Here's the theoretical rig as it currently stands. The big questions are if everything is intercompatible, and are there any really bad product lines included? Suggestions are welcome, but like I said, pretty much all the major parts need to be something that can be bought or ordered today. Ordering online is ok, however.
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz
Motherboard: ASUS M4A77TD
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) x2
Sound Card: HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus+ (Alternatives, I've seen this topic and showed it to her, but she is an audiophile, if there's any question about getting better sound from her music with it, she was intent to go with it)
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit for System Builders
Video Card: HIS H587F1GDG Radeon HD 5870 (Alternatives, I thought about pushing her more towards the HIS H585F1GDG Radeon HD 5850, but the core and clock speeds are slower than even the HIS H577FM1GD Radeon HD 5770)
Blu-Ray Drive: Pioneer Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE (Although I keep waffling on whether or not she should get a burner, or go for a cheaper read-only drive.)
CD/DVD Drives: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW (Alternatives)
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM x2
Case: Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX (A bit extravagent, but this is a key asthetic decision for her, any big reasons why she should not buy this one?)
Power Supply: We figured that partially depends on case, even if they're mostly standardized (I know mine wasn't), what do you recommend for wattage with all of this going on?
We didn't have a lot of luck with the video capture device question, it's looking like Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate. She also found this WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit, but this seems to be more oriented specifically toward TV broadcasts, instead of taking general inputs from devices. The other alternatives were this AVerMedia AVerTV PCI-Express card and this $450 matrox MXO2MINI/NC+PCIE/ADP (Or the L version, the only difference I can see being one including a Matrox MXO2 PCIe x 1 host adapter, the other a Matrox MXO2 PCIe host ExpressCard/34 adapter, not sure which is more suited for a PC). I have a feeling the $450 isn't worth it for the limited amount of capture work she'll probably do.
So not including the fans and power supply and some other software, and a few special combo discounts of $10 and $20 here and there and some rebates ($40 on the Pinnacle for example), we're looking at approximately $1881.87 before tax. The video card's a big hurt, but she's anxious to have one that won't be useless a year or two down the road. Still, maybe we should consider one of the cheaper ones?
On a side note, as if this wasn't already enough to think about, she intended to spend the remainder of the gift money (give or take) on a netbook/laptop. We started leaning towards a $700-800 Sony (I think it was this VPCCW21FX/L, but the urge to go for the better processor pushed us toward this VPCCW27FX/L. (Link doesn't seem to agree with GAF.) We've tried it out a little bit in a few stores, she likes the asthetic and power, the fact that it has a Blu-Ray drive (not as common yet as you'd expect), and even the color. I suggested this Alienware series to her, but she hasn't had good experiences with Alienware's owners, Dell, and she doesn't like some of the negative reviews she's seen. Any big red flags with the Vaio book?
If we get too tight toward the budget, things like the Pinnacle can wait a bit, so it doesn't need to absolutely be at the $2500 mark. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Here's the theoretical rig as it currently stands. The big questions are if everything is intercompatible, and are there any really bad product lines included? Suggestions are welcome, but like I said, pretty much all the major parts need to be something that can be bought or ordered today. Ordering online is ok, however.
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz
Motherboard: ASUS M4A77TD
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) x2
Sound Card: HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus+ (Alternatives, I've seen this topic and showed it to her, but she is an audiophile, if there's any question about getting better sound from her music with it, she was intent to go with it)
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit for System Builders
Video Card: HIS H587F1GDG Radeon HD 5870 (Alternatives, I thought about pushing her more towards the HIS H585F1GDG Radeon HD 5850, but the core and clock speeds are slower than even the HIS H577FM1GD Radeon HD 5770)
Blu-Ray Drive: Pioneer Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE (Although I keep waffling on whether or not she should get a burner, or go for a cheaper read-only drive.)
CD/DVD Drives: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW (Alternatives)
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM x2
Case: Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX (A bit extravagent, but this is a key asthetic decision for her, any big reasons why she should not buy this one?)
Power Supply: We figured that partially depends on case, even if they're mostly standardized (I know mine wasn't), what do you recommend for wattage with all of this going on?
We didn't have a lot of luck with the video capture device question, it's looking like Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate. She also found this WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit, but this seems to be more oriented specifically toward TV broadcasts, instead of taking general inputs from devices. The other alternatives were this AVerMedia AVerTV PCI-Express card and this $450 matrox MXO2MINI/NC+PCIE/ADP (Or the L version, the only difference I can see being one including a Matrox MXO2 PCIe x 1 host adapter, the other a Matrox MXO2 PCIe host ExpressCard/34 adapter, not sure which is more suited for a PC). I have a feeling the $450 isn't worth it for the limited amount of capture work she'll probably do.
So not including the fans and power supply and some other software, and a few special combo discounts of $10 and $20 here and there and some rebates ($40 on the Pinnacle for example), we're looking at approximately $1881.87 before tax. The video card's a big hurt, but she's anxious to have one that won't be useless a year or two down the road. Still, maybe we should consider one of the cheaper ones?
On a side note, as if this wasn't already enough to think about, she intended to spend the remainder of the gift money (give or take) on a netbook/laptop. We started leaning towards a $700-800 Sony (I think it was this VPCCW21FX/L, but the urge to go for the better processor pushed us toward this VPCCW27FX/L. (Link doesn't seem to agree with GAF.) We've tried it out a little bit in a few stores, she likes the asthetic and power, the fact that it has a Blu-Ray drive (not as common yet as you'd expect), and even the color. I suggested this Alienware series to her, but she hasn't had good experiences with Alienware's owners, Dell, and she doesn't like some of the negative reviews she's seen. Any big red flags with the Vaio book?
If we get too tight toward the budget, things like the Pinnacle can wait a bit, so it doesn't need to absolutely be at the $2500 mark. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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