Computer rebuild

[skribetm]

Another question.  I was looking over the board and noticed 1 EIDE connection.  Customer has 1 hard drive, 1 CD, and 1 DVD.  Can any of the above be plugged into a SATA with an adapter?

look at newegg, they have ide/sata adapters there too.

[Dragon]

Ordering 1 from Egg.  Thanks.

[Fulmar]

Ordering 1 from Egg.  Thanks.

Occasionally I've seen compatibility problems with some IDE to SATA converters.  Drives not being recognized etc.  Quality amongst these can vary greatly.  $10-$25+.  For $22, you can get a brand new DVD-RW drive, either IDE or SATA.  The new drives may be faster and they will be newer equipment.

[Dragon]

Finished build this morning.  Ended up with an Asus M2N72 MB due to a backorder on the one originally posted.  All went well, runs good, another happy customer.

[TilDeath]

OEM will have no software that I know of.  However!  The software needed for Lightscribe is a download and not included in a Retail package anyways.  Lightscribe software is an optional thing and is easy to download/install, and does not require Itunes/Windows Media Player.

Both DandH and ASIpartner offer OEM Optical drives with software (Nero etc) and some have the lightscribe option within the software

[Getback]

Both DandH and ASIpartner offer OEM Optical drives with software (Nero etc) and some have the lightscribe option within the software

Never heard of those optical drives. I had to download even the drivers for my Samsung DVD drive. At first I thought it was a bad drive. However, I reinstalled after about a year sitting on my table thinking I may have not had it installed correctly. Then got the brilliant idea of checking for drivers on the samsung site and walla it worked.

[Skuzzy]

you cant go wrong with an amd quad for transcoding and video editing.   =)

The following are the times it took to run a standard HD encoding test.  All CPU's were at stock clocks.  The test clip has a runtime of 15 seconds.

AMD TL-60 510 seconds
AMD X2 5000+ 380 seconds
AMD FX-60 357 seconds
Intel E6300 313 seeconds
AMD Phenom 9850 194 seconds
Intel E8400 166 seconds
Intel Q6600 142 seconds
Intel Q6700 121 seconds
Intel Q9450 99 seconds
Intel i7 920 70 seconds
Intel i7 940 58 seconds

Anyone serious about videographer work does not consider AMD an option at all.  I am very familiar with that industry as I spend a lot of my free time working on videos.

[Fulmar]

The following are the times it took to run a standard HD encoding test.  All CPU's were at stock clocks.  The test clip has a runtime of 15 seconds.

AMD TL-60 510 seconds
AMD X2 5000+ 380 seconds
AMD FX-60 357 seconds
Intel E6300 313 seeconds
AMD Phenom 9850 194 seconds
Intel E8400 166 seconds
Intel Q6600 142 seconds
Intel Q6700 121 seconds
Intel Q9450 99 seconds
Intel i7 920 70 seconds
Intel i7 940 58 seconds

Anyone serious about videographer work does not consider AMD an option at all.  I am very familiar with that industry as I spend a lot of my free time working on videos.

For real, nobody who really does it for a living using AMD.  When Apple started using Intel chips, it was a big win for them in their graphic design market.  Much quicker over the IBM chips.  My first GD job out of college I was pretty disappointed that when they gave me a new computer, the IT department went budget.  An AMD chip with only 512mb of RAM.

[skribetm]

NEWEGG PRICES 3/2/09

core i7	x58 motherboards
920- $289 / 940- $560 / 965- $1,009	asus p6t6- $369 / dfi jrx58-t3h6- $229
phenom2	am2+ motherboards
940be- $229 / 920- $189	asus m3a79-t $194 / dfi dk790fx-m2rs- $119

amd phenom2 940be(not even overclocked) doesn't look to shabby to me in anand's reviews. the total system cost really tips me to amd platforms when i consider price/performance, as it really highlights value. they were also using ddr2 on amd boards, not ddr3 memory, which would have affected the times by at least a few seconds. now i don't mind waiting a few more seconds to get an encoding job done, specially if it saves big $$$. also, am3 will bring in support for ddr3, and you wont have to change motherboards to do that, just a bios update and drop in the new chip. upgrading intel platforms would mean buying new motherboards, everytime.

Anand Tech Review

now for peeps who have to have absolutely the best, i'd say go ahead and get the 965 for $1,000.00. but for me, i'd rather keep some of my money specially now that the stocks are waaaaay down to 1997 levels(isnt today 2009?). saving money for more rainy days right here!

on another note, an overclocked amd940be(3.64GHz) is just as good as an overclocked intel 920(3.8GHz) on my favorite benchmarks.

and have i told you how crazy these chips overclock?



but really, i just use my pc to play aces high 2. and it idles at 32c/25% load while doing so. i absolutely love this game and would like to donate my other kidney if need me for the new patch to come along!!! 

by the way, ati radeon 4870's are getting a price drop soon!

4870 goes down to $149, 4850 to $129. (source) (yes it's fudzilla!)

[skribetm]

finally found this on my browser's history folder; benches with regards to encoding. i think this is why i said amd quads, although months behind production after intel's, offer better value. investing in intel core2 extremes six months ago would have meant paying big $$$, only to be equaled a few months later by a $229.00 cpu. upgrade paths on amd platforms also offer more value,as you wont have to upgrade mobo's. just drop in the cpu and it's a go.

a little oc would bring it to par with the intel c2 extremes.









"Overall though it looks like AMD has a solid product to compete with the mid-range Intel quad core chips. Unfortunately these are the fastest AMD chips and they still can't compete with Intel's higher-end models, but AMD's don't cost $1,000 a pop either. These new processors deliver affordable performance for AMD systems."

SOURCE: Extreme OC

[Skuzzy]

Now you know why videographer professionals do not use benchmarks and do not trust some PC WEB site test-wannabe to make the decisions for them.

The numbers I quoted are from a professional videographer site.  The suite they have collectively developed is the standard for performance measurements in thier field.  It is comprised of real footage and uses real programs for encoding/decoding.  The CODECS are professional grade.  All the WEB sites you listed are using generic CODECS.  There is no way they would pay for the CODECS being used in the professional side of the industry.

These professional videographers will not take you seriously if you are using AMD.  For those who make a living at it, speed is everything.  They also have a "overclocked" comparison as well.  You do not want to know how bad it was for AMD in that list.  An $80 Intel Dual Core CPU blows away AMD's fastest quad core CPU.

[skribetm]

you may be talking about codec optimization. in previous generations, dreamworks skg used proprietary software optimized for amd opterons (instead of intel's underperforming xeons). now that they have signed up with intel's nehalem/core i7, they have re-architected their software for optimation on intel platforms. sure intel has great processors, but for an $80.00 intel core2duo to blow out an amd phenom2 quad would really be a sight to see (and at what codec, too).

is the next patch in two weeks?  i just want to play..

[TheZohan]

phenom II 940 is the way to go unless your gonna shell out money to own a I7. 

also the new AM3 chips are out and are cheaper then the Phenom II 940 but havent seen the benchmarks on those

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

is a list of the current benchmarks

with the phenom II you get

a quadcore at 3.0ghz that people are OCing to 3.5ghz + on air
fits most AM2+ boards 
uses DDR2 1066
about 500 less then owning a X58 + DDR3 memory

[Skuzzy]

Using Flash to display charts?  I don't think so.  How gimmicky is that?  The fact that site requires Flash pretty much wrecks thier credibility with me.

[Masherbrum]

phenom II 940 is the way to go unless your gonna shell out money to own a I7. 

also the new AM3 chips are out and are cheaper then the Phenom II 940 but havent seen the benchmarks on those

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

is a list of the current benchmarks

with the phenom II you get

a quadcore at 3.0ghz that people are OCing to 3.5ghz + on air
fits most AM2+ boards 
uses DDR2 1066
about 500 less then owning a X58 + DDR3 memory

This is the third thread so far with this statement.   Intel is better and SUPERIOR for Video Editing.