New Build - Advice wanted

[szhjcn]

Looking at building a new PC and wanted to know if I am close to the best for my needs. Biggest 'black hole' for me is the Graphic cards.

System will be mainly used for Video processing/editing and to convert my 1000+ CD's to FLAC with EAC.

Dual networks would be useful to have a second segment. Also like the 'greenpower' hard drives and new 45nM processors (lower power). Not sure if I need to add extra cooloing for the CPU.

Will go for 2 harddrives in either RAID 0 or 1 config (I can back tp a NAS that I recently bought).

Anyhow this is the list I have so far:

GigaByte X48T-DQ6, X48, ATX,*FSB1600,DDR3,SATAII,1394,GLAN
Intel CORE2Quad Q9450 ,*QUAD-Core,1333MHz,12MB,Box
Patriot DDR2 4GB Kit, PC6400 ,*800MHz,CL4,(Kit-of-2)
500GB,SATA-II,WD5000AACS,*GreenPower, 7200/ 8,9ms/ 16MB
GigaByte NX8600GT, 512MB,*Passiv, TV-Out, 2xDVI, DDR2
Thermaltake Shark, Black,*2x 21db Fan,Alu,NO Power
Thermaltake TR 550W V2.2,*ATX, PFC, 14cm Fan, PCIE
Plextor PX810SA, SATA, ±R, BOX,*DVD 18/18/8/8/8,TurboPlex,Black
Sony DRU190A, IDE, ±R BOX,*DVD 20/20/12/8/6, LightScribe
CardReader 3.5",black,USB 2.0,*16-in-1,CF/SM/MM/SC/MD/MS-Pro

Would be greatful for feedback. Thanks.

[Licaon]

> Thermaltake Shark, Black,*2x 21db Fan,Alu,NO Power
i would recommend the Antec Solo myself, which is the 2nd favourite case around SPCR

> Thermaltake TR 550W V2.2,*ATX, PFC, 14cm Fan, PCIE
do you really need 550W?
i would recommend the Corsair VX450W myself, or if you want bigger try the Corsair HX series

[Ross1]

and to convert my 1000+ CD's to FLAC with EAC.

if you plan to do that, i recommend a case without a door.

[angelkiller]

Hi,

First, I would completely agree with Licaon. The Antec Solo is one of the best cases to build a silent PC with. The Corsair 450VX is also an extremely quiet and high quality power supply. And generally speaking Thermaltake has a bad reputation here at SPCR. Thier products rarely take noise into consideration.

Second is your components list. I have some suggestions.

1. Do you really need an X48 motherboard? They're one of the most expensive on the market today. You could save a load of money by getting a P35 motherboard instead. Have a look at the Abit IP35 Pro and the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R and GA-P35-DS4.
2. You haven't listed any CPU cooling. The stock CPU cooler isn't acceptable for a quiet system. I would consider the Xigmatek HDT-S1283, which SPCR has reviewed.
3. Is 500GB enough for 1000+ CDs? The WD GreenPower also comes in 750GB and 1TB also.

[NeilBlanchard]

Welcome to SPCR!

Show me a quiet Thermaltake product, and I'll show you some very nice real estate in New Orleans or Myanmar -- take your pick!

[Licaon]

[*]Is 500GB enough for 1000+ Cd's? The WD GreenPower also comes in 750GB and 1TB also.[/list]

depends on the music actually, but you can get a CD ripped at around 350Mb as FLAC ( on average ) so they'll barely fit

[Alex]

You might consider to use dBPoweramp for ripping instead of EAC.

I like dBPoweramps interface better and it seems to be about equally good at ripping (sometimes even better).

Here is an article comparing (testing) the two.
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/secure-ripper.htm

[Plekto]

Each CD runs about 600 gigs uncompressed, on average. 256Bit or VBR 1 is good quality and is roughly a 3:1 compression ratio, so I get 1000 CDs fitting into about 200 gigs, give or take. It'll easily fit.

I like Audiograbber with the latest LAME codec. I set it to VBR 1(max quality) and sual channel stereo/max quality. This nets files in the 256K size/range(15-20 megs per music file), but closer to 320K sound quality. Since HDs are so cheap now, it's not an issue, really.

[Licaon]

but he wants FLACs not MP3s