Planning to Build a New System

It's been two and a half years since I built myself a new computer.
A few weeks ago I encountered a very large Hi-Def video file that
refused to play properly on my system. Could be that I needed a new
codec, but somehow I don't think so. The file was 1080p and it would
play, but oh so slowly, with sound unsynchronized. And now I am
getting into editing High-Def as well as standard definition TV and
other video. Processing video from avi to mpeg2 or whatever to author
a DVD does take a while. I sure would like to cut down time required
for that sort of process. I don't play video games anymore, but I
confess I'd like to have a system that is capable of running new high
definition games if I ever see some game I've just got to try. So
yeah, I have the itch to build a new system. And as I've always
favored Asus motherboards, unless somebody points out a good reason to
change loyalties, this one will be Asus too.

Here's what I'm running now:

(To be replaced)
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe mbo
Pentium 4 3.2 ghz
One gigabyte RAM
ATI All-in-Wonder 9600XT video card
Creative X-Fi sound card (P4C800-E onboard sound died)
(To be kept)
ATI HDTV Wonder card
PCI Modem
Four 500 gigabyte SATA hard drives
Two IDE Plextor DVD burner optical drives

For various reasons -- some maybe not so valid, but what the heck -- I
have a quadruple-boot system. Win2K is my C: partition. D: and E:
are both WinXP Pro, configured with different ATI video drivers. And
F: is Vista Ultimate, which runs semi-OK even with Aero Glass. I once
used Win2K as a testbed, but I seldom boot it anymore. I plan to drop
it when I configure the new system.

I capture Hi-Def movies from my cable box via firewire, and I capture
standard-def video with my All in Wonder. I must drive two monitors
-- both standard VGA with no HDMI available. One of the monitors is
my HDTV plasma screen. It has VGA input but it's over four years old
and has no HDMI input.

I'm willing to spend between $1K and $2K for my new hardware. No need
to buy anything I don't need, but no need to skimp if paying a little
more would make significant improvements. Here are the improvements
I'm thinking about:

Motherboard $249.99
Asus P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131181

Processor $480.00
Either: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA
775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz $222.90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

Memory $275.99
Crucial 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartsp...270E2AA5CA7304

Video Card $399.37
Sapphire ATI Radeon X2900XT 512MB 2DVI/VIVO HDCP PCI-Express
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=AT-2900XT&c=pw
or
SAPPHIRE 100210L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit $149.99
GDDR4 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...PHIRE%2b2600XT

Cooling Fan $55.99
ASUS Arctic Square 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=asus%2barctic

Power Supply $414.17
PC Power and Cooling TURBO-COOL® 1KW-SR
http://www.pcpower.com/products/view...hp?show=T1KWSR
or
PC Power and Cooling ULTRA-QUIET PSU: SILENCER® 610 EPS12V $147.25
http://www.pcpower.com/products/view...hp?show=S61EPS

TV Tuner/Capture Card $71.99
Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface Tuner Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116625


The new P5K3 board will have three PCI slots. I plan to use them for
the HDTV Wonder, the modem (for fax capability), and the video capture
card.

There'll also be a spare PCIe slot, which I may eventually need. I
seem to be hard on sound cards for some reason. It seems every year
or so I have to get a new card. I've lost onboard sound on two
motherboards and my Creative cards seem not to last for more than a
year or two. I always lose a left or right channel and a new card
fixes things right up. I don't know what, if anything, I'm doing
wrong. I understand Creative has or is coming out with a PCIe sound
card which the P5K3 board should be able to accommodate if or when the
need arises. I don't plan to install dual video cards.

I plan to use my current case for the new system. It's an Enlight
horizontal layout case. My computer cabinet doesn't accommodate a
tower very well, but it has a nice sliding drawer for a horizontal
case. I have plenty of case fans installed -- enough so that I
haven't experienced a heat problem with my current setup.

Now for anybody who's read this far, here are some questions:

1) Do you think the new components will cause a heat problem with
everything packed tightly in a horizontal case? Even with lots of
fans?
2) Is it possible to multi-boot with 32-bit and 64-bit boot partitions
without having to make BIOS changes whenever I want to switch?
3) Will having four gigabytes of RAM cause problems with 32-bit OS
installations, or will the extra memory just be ignored?
4) Would I be better off with the more or less expensive options
mentioned above?
5) Do you see any obvious flaws in my planning? Am I about to do
something stupid? If so, warn me, please.

Thanks.

BTW--Please send any offline replies to

--
Bill Anderson

I amt the Mighty Favog

On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:07:34 -0700, The Mighty Favog
<> wrote:

>It's been two and a half years since I built myself a new computer.
>A few weeks ago I encountered a very large Hi-Def video file that
>refused to play properly on my system. Could be that I needed a new
>codec, but somehow I don't think so. The file was 1080p and it would
>play, but oh so slowly, with sound unsynchronized. And now I am
>getting into editing High-Def as well as standard definition TV and
>other video. Processing video from avi to mpeg2 or whatever to author
>a DVD does take a while. I sure would like to cut down time required
>for that sort of process. I don't play video games anymore, but I
>confess I'd like to have a system that is capable of running new high
>definition games if I ever see some game I've just got to try. So
>yeah, I have the itch to build a new system. And as I've always
>favored Asus motherboards, unless somebody points out a good reason to
>change loyalties, this one will be Asus too.
>
>Here's what I'm running now:
>
>(To be replaced)
>Asus P4C800-E Deluxe mbo
>Pentium 4 3.2 ghz
>One gigabyte RAM
>ATI All-in-Wonder 9600XT video card
>Creative X-Fi sound card (P4C800-E onboard sound died)
>(To be kept)
>ATI HDTV Wonder card
>PCI Modem
>Four 500 gigabyte SATA hard drives
>Two IDE Plextor DVD burner optical drives
>
>For various reasons -- some maybe not so valid, but what the heck -- I
>have a quadruple-boot system. Win2K is my C: partition. D: and E:
>are both WinXP Pro, configured with different ATI video drivers. And
>F: is Vista Ultimate, which runs semi-OK even with Aero Glass. I once
>used Win2K as a testbed, but I seldom boot it anymore. I plan to drop
>it when I configure the new system.
>
>I capture Hi-Def movies from my cable box via firewire, and I capture
>standard-def video with my All in Wonder. I must drive two monitors
>-- both standard VGA with no HDMI available. One of the monitors is
>my HDTV plasma screen. It has VGA input but it's over four years old
>and has no HDMI input.
>
>I'm willing to spend between $1K and $2K for my new hardware. No need
>to buy anything I don't need, but no need to skimp if paying a little
>more would make significant improvements. Here are the improvements
>I'm thinking about:
>
>Motherboard $249.99
>Asus P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131181
>
>Processor $480.00
>Either: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA
>775 Processor
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017
>or
>Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz $222.90
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003
>
>Memory $275.99
>Crucial 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module
>http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartsp...270E2AA5CA7304
>
>Video Card $399.37
>Sapphire ATI Radeon X2900XT 512MB 2DVI/VIVO HDCP PCI-Express
>http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=AT-2900XT&c=pw
>or
>SAPPHIRE 100210L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit $149.99
>GDDR4 PCI Express x16
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...PHIRE%2b2600XT
>
>Cooling Fan $55.99
>ASUS Arctic Square 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=asus%2barctic
>
>Power Supply $414.17
>PC Power and Cooling TURBO-COOL® 1KW-SR
>http://www.pcpower.com/products/view...hp?show=T1KWSR
>or
>PC Power and Cooling ULTRA-QUIET PSU: SILENCER® 610 EPS12V $147.25
>http://www.pcpower.com/products/view...hp?show=S61EPS
>
>TV Tuner/Capture Card $71.99
>Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface Tuner Card
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116625
>
>
>The new P5K3 board will have three PCI slots. I plan to use them for
>the HDTV Wonder, the modem (for fax capability), and the video capture
>card.
>
>There'll also be a spare PCIe slot, which I may eventually need. I
>seem to be hard on sound cards for some reason. It seems every year
>or so I have to get a new card. I've lost onboard sound on two
>motherboards and my Creative cards seem not to last for more than a
>year or two. I always lose a left or right channel and a new card
>fixes things right up. I don't know what, if anything, I'm doing
>wrong. I understand Creative has or is coming out with a PCIe sound
>card which the P5K3 board should be able to accommodate if or when the
>need arises. I don't plan to install dual video cards.
>
>I plan to use my current case for the new system. It's an Enlight
>horizontal layout case. My computer cabinet doesn't accommodate a
>tower very well, but it has a nice sliding drawer for a horizontal
>case. I have plenty of case fans installed -- enough so that I
>haven't experienced a heat problem with my current setup.
>
>Now for anybody who's read this far, here are some questions:
>
>1) Do you think the new components will cause a heat problem with
>everything packed tightly in a horizontal case? Even with lots of
>fans?
>2) Is it possible to multi-boot with 32-bit and 64-bit boot partitions
>without having to make BIOS changes whenever I want to switch?
>3) Will having four gigabytes of RAM cause problems with 32-bit OS
>installations, or will the extra memory just be ignored?
>4) Would I be better off with the more or less expensive options
>mentioned above?
>5) Do you see any obvious flaws in my planning? Am I about to do
>something stupid? If so, warn me, please.
>
>Thanks.
>
>BTW--Please send any offline replies to

I have a PK5 Deluxe and a double slot video card like the X2900XT
blocks the PCI slot beneath it. The size of the video card also makes
it difficult to access my first two SATA ports. I don't know if the
PK3 has a similar layout, but it may be worth checking if the two
mobo's will have similar problems.

no_email@please wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:07:34 -0700, The Mighty Favog
> <> wrote:

>> 5) Do you see any obvious flaws in my planning? Am I about to do
>> something stupid? If so, warn me, please.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> BTW--Please send any offline replies to
>
> I have a PK5 Deluxe and a double slot video card like the X2900XT
> blocks the PCI slot beneath it. The size of the video card also makes
> it difficult to access my first two SATA ports. I don't know if the
> PK3 has a similar layout, but it may be worth checking if the two
> mobo's will have similar problems.

Well that's VERY helpful information. I do need three PCI slots, so I
will check that out. Looks like I will be getting the P5K, not the
P5K3, as I was mixed up on DDR3 and DDR2 memory. I have that straight
now. I suppose if the P5K3 PCI slot layout works better though, I might
go with a P5K3 and DDR3 memory after all. As I said, I'll check it out.
Many thanks.

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog