Video and Photo editing machine

Not incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to this but would like to have a new computer built for video (Premiere) and Photo (Photoshop) editing. I will use it for browsing and e-mail, office, etc. I've been watching the forum for a couple of months, things change fast so this is what I have come up with so far and would like your input and suggestions please.

I don't have a set budget but would prefer to stay under $2,000.00 Canadian. That doesn't necessarily include the monitor information I'm askig about but would be nice if it did.

Here's the list with questions,

CASE – Antec 900
MOBO – Asus P5K – E
I don’t need wireless in this build as it will be directly attached to my router. I do need standard hard wired network card and firewire for video camera input.

CPU – Intel 9450
RAM – Corsair X 8GB (2GB X 4) - Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory 2GB DDR2 800 Kit (4-4-4-12) E.P.P. - TWIN2X2048-6400C4 – little expensive other suggestions, difference and importance between Cas4 and Cas5

PSU – Corsair HX Series 620W PowerSupply, ATX, EPS12V ---- CMPSU-620HX
Should I consider 750W and does anyone know about their TX Series.

HD – X 3 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500gb, 750gb X 2
GPU – ATI Diamond Radeon HD 3850 Video Card - Viper, 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, CrossFireX Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, HDMI Support, Full 1080p
What is the difference other than price between the Sapphire, HIS and Diamond cards. Does it matter if I go with GDDR3 or 4?

CD/DVD Burner - Lite-On LH-20A1L-05 CD-RW/DVD+/-RW (+/-R DL) / SATA
OS – my preference at moment is XP Professional should I go Vista? No matter which one I go with do I need the 64bit OS to use the 8GB of memory?

Cooling Fans - Suggestions here please, don't know what I require?

Sound Card - Should I bother or just use MOBO on board?

LCD Monitor – I would like to go to LCD, I've seen a few suggestions on the forum for Samsungs and BenQs... What do I need to know about motion. Was thinking probably a 24".

Any thing else I need?

You'll need a 64 bit OS to be able to use the full 8GB of RAM. Premiere Pro CS3 is only certified for a 32 bit OS, but will run on a 64-bit OS and can address up to 3GB RAM. See this Adobe page here for more details and other Premiere FAQs:

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/faq/

I'd probably go for Vista Ultimate 64 bit so that you can address the full 8GB RAM.

Make sure that motherboard has a FireWire input; I wouldn't want to have to hassle with a PCI FireWire card.

I'd also consider dual monitors. You can get 24 inch monitors for as low as $350, and it's really great to have all that screen real estate for video or photo editing.

do not get a sound card. they're virtually useless unless you have a really expensive and good speaker setup.

i find samsung monitors to be the best, IMO. but i have seen the 24" gateway with some touchpanel on the side. the monitor was great , but it broke down after a month and was replaced by an equally awesome if not better hp.

os, yes to use all of 8gb of ram you will need a 64bit os. xp pro 64bit is very stable, but most people seem to be getting the vista 64bit home premium. missing drivers is a problem of the past when it comes to 64bit os.

wow. lots of hard drive space. maybe you can raid the 500gb drives to get better performance . don't know how u want to set up your hard drives, but they are excellent drives. i've had no issues with my 500gb and 750 gb drives.

most of the hd3850 are based on the reference model, so that means they are exactly the same. the different companies just rebranded it. there are mostly likley ones that have been designed by those companies, but i'd suggest gettting the cheapest one and then overclocking if you have a need to do so. gdd4 is faster and has more bandwidth. i have it on my 3870, and sorry to say i was not aware that they have 3850 with ddr4 memory. if your not gonna do gaming, then you don't even need this graphics card, you could get away with something like 3650.

as far as ram, get cas4, as they are little faster than cas5.

Thanks guys, hope to get more input before it's over.

Lots of HD, I was going to get about a 160gb for OS but don't see them advertised too much, if they have a smaller one I'll get it. The other for scratch disk and storage... I've noticed many people debating the raid format and it seems to me RAID 0 is the suggested for video editing?

I haven't played games on line in a number of years but I wanted an adequate video card was just in case, who knows.

Would like to hear from some more of you guys please?

Well.. here it goes.. let's go through this bit by bit.

First off all- I would go RAID 5. RAID 0 is good, but this sounds like a work machine. The problem with RAID 0 is simply if one of the drives die all the data is lost. RAID 5 gives you the speed of RAID 0 with a failsafe. One drive can die and the whole operation isn't a total loss. This requires three hard drives.

I would put the OS on it's own drive. 160GB is fine. but 250GB is only $10 more:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148262

Then go with the Seagate drives (make sure to get ones with 32MB cache) x3

I would look at the X38/X48 chipset boards over P35. Official FSB1600 support for better overclocking among other things.

Not a bad setup though. Like others say make sure you pick up CAS4 RAM.

Thank you, good idea about RAID 5... RAID 0 is suggested by ADOBE for video and I don't know much about it. I understand the losing DATA part of it but not the speed part, probably should do some more reading on RAID when I get the chance...

The HD, I like the idea of smaller OS drive, I'm in Canada and Newegg is in California. I was looking at online stuff here and agree that I'd go with something smaller than 500GB if I can. The 500GB is $89.95 here and the 750 GB are $129.95 each.. Is 750GB X 2 too much.. maybe I should go with a 250GB if I can get on here and 500GB X 2?

I've seen a lot of different opinions on the MOBO on line here.. seemed like the P35 boards kind of got the nod, more stable? Maybe you could help me out trying to understand the big differences? Would I be limiting upgrading with a P35 over X38/X48?

Thanks again for your reply..

For RAID 5 you need THREE drives of the same size.

X38/X48 are newer chipsets and have more support going forward.

I've been looking over the X38/X48 chipset boards and I really don't understand the differences, can anyone clarify?

Thank you.

I've been looking at the Asus P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP. It's an X38 board as suggested... I don't really care about the wireless at this point as this computer will connect directly to my router for network set up, etc. It appears the board has both hardwired LAN as well as wireless.

From the specs on this board I'm not sure if I can use the DDDR2 memory, will it take the DDDR2 memory?

Any other MOBO I should consider?

What am I missing?

Thank you.

Don't buy that board, just get the regular P5E which uses DDR2 memory, but lacks the wireless function you won't use. P5E is what I run now, and it is a very nice board.

Hi Shadowduck, the reason I looked at the X38 board was on your suggestion... I looked and after I posted I saw the post about repeated posts on new builds and the new CPUs coming out saying a new mother board would be needed anyway to upgrade so I was thinking it might be wise to stick with the P35 board?

Just looked at the prices.. the P5E is only another $80.00 anyway.. what the heck.. as long as everything else still goes on it, might as well go that way.

I guess I have to get a couple of 120 mm fans too?

Thanks for all your help by the way.

P35 is a good idea if you plan to upgrade to the new system with a year. The CPUs are rumored to be expensive ($500+) as the new platform will start in the Extreme category of Intel's lineup then migrate downward. It is really up to you.

I went with X38 because of the better OC potential, and the fact I won't be buying a new setup within the next 2 years probably anyway other than a new video card.

I probably won't buy a new computer for another 3 to 5 years after this... I've never OC but it might be something I'd try, getting braver as the years go by..

Really just want the best performance I can get for video editing, photo editing and maybe the odd game (although I haven't played many in a few years). I tend to multitask as well and want the computer to last...

Thanks again.

x38/x48 board then for official FSB1600 support, and PCI-E 2.0 support. That does not matter now, but it might within your timeframe.

How you perceive sound is subjective. I can say for a fact that I can tell the difference between on-board sound and add-on sound even with mere "decent" speakers. On-board sound is kinda flat and "h