New Pc Build

[EWS]

Hi Everyone,
I am currently in the process of building a new nle pc. It will be used mainly for audio and video and some compositing. I have been a pc guy for a long time, so I have decided to stay pc. I plan on probably using Premiere as I am fairly used to the Adobe line, but haven't 100 percent settled on which programs I will use. I have been checking out Combustion for compositing and really like it once I got over the initial interface learning curve.
Anyway I already have a 24/96 audio rig that I am very happy with so I won't be using the onboard audio of the mobo.
Here is what I have so far.

Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe 2.93
Asus P5B Deluxe Mobo
NVIDA PNY Quadro FX-560
4 gigs Corsair DDR2 800 memory(CM2X1024-6400)
Thermaltake WO106RU 700 Watt Power Supply
4- WD 250 Gig SATA 3gbs Hard Drives( Ist Drive Op Sys/2nd and 3rd at Raid O/ 4th for storage)
Antec Mid Tower P180B
Dual Layer DVD Burner plus extra atapi drive or floppy.

I had considered the quadcore, but have not found enough info regarding multi-threaded programs to know if the extra cores are a wise decision at this time. Anyway if Intel doesn't make some drastic architecture change, I imagine at some later date these migh actually be affordable. Temperature and quietness are also a factor, as I do a lot of audio recording in the same room without an ISO booth. The Core 2 extreme runs pretty cool at low voltages, but can definitely be OC'ed.
This machine hits right at the top of my budget so every item counts as far as price goes.
The motherboard seems pretty solid except for a lot of audio issues, which I will disable onboard in the bios anyway.
The Nvidia PNY quadro FX 540 was listed on the Adobe site as compatible with Premiere, but has one analog and one dvi out. I have had issues color matching my two Gateway 21" HD monitors with that configuration, so I am hoping the 560 with two DVI outs will be compatible. I currently have a DVX 100B and will probably stay SD for a while, but would like to be shooting HD by the end of this year.
I chose to go ahead and get 4 gigs of ram while I am buying so at least it will match. I understand Windows XP 32 bit will probably only recognize 3 gigs, but later I will probably move to 64 bit anyway.
The ram is DDR2 800 and is mainly for overclockers, but as always there have been many times with my old computer that there just wasn't enough memory. The mobo seems pretty picky when it comes to timings, so I have picked this Corsair off of Asus's qualified vendor list.
Hard drives are SATA 3gs. There are alot of other choices I could have made upgrading hard drives, but this keeps within my budget. Some people hate WD, but I have never had one fail, even with my old PCI Raid config. I even have a few extra external drives around that I could use for storage as well.
That just about does it.
I would love to hear from anyone who has built a system recently, or is in the process of building one like I am.
Any thoughts on anything that I might have have overlooked would be appreciated.
Thanks
EWS

 

[Interpolator]

Just some general thoughts about your build:

The Antec box is really nice but a real PIA to build. First the motherboard is upside down so you need to make sure that the cables from your power supply are long enough to tie into the motherboard. Additionally cable routing is very difficult and time consuming due to all the little compartments in the case. I do not like the door either as it is flimsy, gets in the way and sags if it is not locked all the time. It is a nice case however being quiet and functional. I put an extra fan in the front to improve circulation.

The graphics card. The FX 5XX is barely functional especially if you are going to use a bigger sized monitor. It will not work with a 30 inch monitor and is not HDCP capable. Consider FX 3450 for more capability and use with the bigger monitors. If you are not using After Effects and do not require Open GL capability go with a cheaper consumer graphics card. If you are looking to upgrade to Vista and want HDCP compliance with your graphics board consider the new NVidia 800 series just released or the ATI R600 which is days away from delivery. These new generation graphics cards raise the bar for performance substantially.

Operating system. Consider VISTA if your build is a month or two out. Your computer appears to meet the min recommended spec for all VISTA versions.

Program disk. Consider upgrading the speed at a 10K hardrive. You can reduce the size to save some money as it is unlikely that you will max out the program drive sizewise.

4th drive. Not much more you can get a 500gb drive for backup.

DVD drive. With that board you may be stuck (I do not recall for sure) with a newer SATA DVD drive due to lack of the old style connectors on the board.

CPU - Overclock the pants off that expensive CPU.

If you want to save, go with cheaper RAM. Not much of a performance drop by going with "value" RAM

You may have already done this but Videoguys forum DIY 5 is similar to your machine and has numerous tips.

 

[EWS]

Hi Interpololator,
Thanks for the reply.
I actually placed the order today, so I hope everything works out, Anyway I had read that someone with the same mobo had success with that case, even though it was rather snug. We will see. I really hit the wall with my budget on this box and the 3450 was way more than I could swing. I really would like to think that the 560 would handle my two 21' Gateways just fine with an external NTSC mon. If not ...back it goes.
I opted for the open gl performance of a quadro because I really am not a gamer and I will be doing some After FX and compositing. It seemed like the VideoGuys liked all of the Quadros. Hopefully it will work out. I really don't expect to be getting into HD until much later this year.
Considering Vista I probably will go 64 bit when all of my devices have driver support. I am currently using a EgoSys 24/96 audio rig that works perfect, but I am not sure if they are going to update drivers for Vista. If not I will probably get a Motu rig.
I passed on the 10k drives because the raptors are quite noisy and I do alot of recording at my workstation and I do not have an ISO booth. So the quiter the better.
I would eventually like to go SCSI. I have some extra drives (EXT) that I can use for storage as well, so that is not a problem.
This mobo has one IDE channel to cover the two drives/burner etc....
I opted for the ram on the mobo Qualified Vendor List. It really seemed like alot of people were having issues with the cheaper value ram...but who knows..maybe just operator error(mishandling or op sys 32 bit not seeing it all).
Anyway thanks for the heads up... I hope it all works out. This box is quite a lot for the budget I had set aside...I also purchased an Arri Softbank kit and a new NTSC poduction monitor today, so I am tapped out fora little while.
Thanks
ES