Media computer and home server?

FXB

New Member
I want to build the ultimate computer for my needs.

I will be running CS5 Master collection
Doing some programming
Media streaming
running linux distros on separate hard drives

AND

I want to be able to use this computer as a server so I can have access to files on different computers in my house.

Any suggestions as to what kind of hardware I should be looking at?

will my OS by an issue with the server? At this point I have snow leopard and windows 7 on my network.

Thanks
 
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I don't think networking will be a problem...either the windows machine or the mac (or both) will have some way of interfacing with the other.

You're going to want a fairly beefy system to do all of that effectively and efficiently, but HOW beefy depends on your budget. What are you planning on spending?
 
Budget isn't really a factor I want to use an AMD processor to save on cost there and I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount on my case either but for the rest anything goes.
 
Hmm... what is your max price?
do you need peripherals?
OS?
Mid tower or Full tower?
What will you be doing with Master Suite CS5?
How much space do you need for storage?
 
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Hmm... what is your max price?
do you need peripherals?
OS?
Mid tower or Full tower?
What will you be doing with Master Suite CS5?
How much space do you need for storage?

I wont be needing peripherals at the moment I already have a monitor keyboard and mouse with a few external drives.

I will be using windows 7 pro either 64 or 32 bit
With Master i will primarily be using photoshop and premiere pro in the future I will be using more of the software like flash, soundbooth and dreamweaver.

for the time being I need about 1,5 TB of HDD for my personal data will I need more if I want to access other computers? I will also be running linux distros on this computer so I'm thinking i will need a drive for my different partitions.

I think a full tower would be best as far as upgradability goes and what not.

I will be buying components as money becomes available to me but my rough estimate for this build was about 1 000$ CND.
 
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I wont be needing peripherals at the moment I already have a monitor keyboard and mouse with a few external drives.

I will be using windows 7 pro either 64 or 32 bit
With Master i will primarily be using photoshop and premiere pro in the future I will be using more of the software like flash, soundbooth and dreamweaver.

for the time being I need about 1,5 TB of HDD for my personal data will I need more if I want to access other computers? I will also be running linux distros on this computer so I'm thinking i will need a drive for my different partitions.

I think a full tower would be best as far as upgradability goes and what not.

I will be buying components as money becomes available to me but my rough estimate for this build was about 3 000$ CND.

I personally think it would be better to build a second PC for a server.
 
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^ If he did anything like that separate, it should be some form of NAS...much cheaper than building a new rig.

So is this rig work-related, or is it more or less a toy? If the former, I'm assuming you won't be overclocking or anything?
 
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^ If he did anything like that separate, it should be some form of NAS...much cheaper than building a new rig.

So is this rig work-related, or is it more or less a toy? If the former, I'm assuming you won't be overclocking or anything?

NAS would be cheaper, but a machine would be more simple... for me.

Just a cheap setup. Athlon II X2, $75 mobo, $50 case, 80 Plus Gold PSU, 3-6 500GB-1TB HDDs, maybe a cheap graphics card for transcoding, Some big ass fans, noise reduction foam, Rubber fan mounts, etc.
 
The rig is going to be for school and work eventually I might overclock it if necessary.
 
That's a ~$600 rig minimum...nearing $850 with all the drives and a GPU.

Well he has 3000 Canadian, which is close to 3000 USD AFAIK.

You don't need too much for components.

I'll make a wishlist later- It can't get much more than $550, but I'd be surprised When you include noise dampening foam and what not, It could probably get expensive.
 
well I was looking at a AMD phenom II x4 965 180$
MOBO Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 AMD790X 150$
HDD 2tb (i will need more with time) 110$ (each)
Antec Two Hundred Mid Tower Gaming Case 50$
4 gb of RAM 85$



give me your input I know i'm missing alot of components but this is what I like. It overkill or does it have to be more powerful?
 
Cheapo case...the cable management is awful. I think you could get a better mobo for the price as well.

Programs like these often take up very large amounts of RAM...I'd at least consider an 8GB kit. Mushkin has a good price on this kit right now:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

Also, if you're going to spend $180 on a CPU, add the extra $10 and get a 6-core model.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851



How much are you willing to spend on the GPU? Adobe products have GPU acceleration, which can speed things up immensely, but premiere itself only supports very high end Nvidia cards. Photoshop can use weaker cards from both ATI and Nvidia, though some plugins are only coded for one brand.

That really bugs me about Premiere...it's fully capable of using lower end nvidia cards, and non-CUDA stuff is capable of using ATI cards, but they've apparently disallowed it so people will buy the expensive cards. :/
 
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Cheapo case...the cable management is awful. I think you could get a better mobo for the price as well.

Programs like these often take up very large amounts of RAM...I'd at least consider an 8GB kit. Mushkin has a good price on this kit right now:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

Also, if you're going to spend $180 on a CPU, add the extra $10 and get a 6-core model.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851



How much are you willing to spend on the GPU? Adobe products have GPU acceleration, which can speed things up immensely, but premiere itself only supports very high end Nvidia cards. Photoshop can use weaker cards from both ATI and Nvidia, though some plugins are only coded for one brand.

That really bugs me about Premiere...it's fully capable of using lower end nvidia cards, and non-CUDA stuff is capable of using ATI cards, but they've apparently disallowed it so people will buy the expensive cards. :/

How much should I expect to pay for a case with good cable management?

What do you suggest for the motherboard?

If I get 8gb of ram, does mean I need a 64bit version of windows 7? I've heard that the 32bit only supports up to 4gb of ram.

For the CPU, does any software support 6-core cpu's?

As far as GPU, I know nothing about them, I want support for HD video. Throw your suggestions. Should I be doing Crossfire?

I don't want to buy parts online.
 
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If you are going to be using premiere, the Geforce Cards officially supported are the GTX 275 and GTX 470. But you can do something else to get other cards in. Send me a PM or something because I'm pretty sure I'm not aloud to post it.

EDIT: I believe most video editing programs support multi-threading.
 
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How much should I expect to pay for a case with good cable management?
About the same. NZXT's Gamma(shown), Beta EVO, and M59 are all either around the same price or cheaper than the Two Hundred. (the M59 is an upgraded Gamma) I would spend a bit more and get a really nice one, though...these are all budget cases, if very good ones. Cooler Master's HAF 912, 690 II, and Storm scout are all very good buys. The 912 is $60 on Newegg.ca, so it's an awesome deal right now. Put a bit more into it, say ~$130, and you can get a really nice full tower case.

In general what you want to look for in a good case are (1)a bottom mounted PSU, (2)sideways mounted hard drives(cables face the right side panel), and (3)holes in the motherboard tray to route cables through. Most important on that last one is (4)a hole right next to the PSU to put the cables in initially. A hole(5) to mount a CPU cooler bracket also helps, as well as (6) tie down points. Some cases have even more features, but these are the basics that a good case should have.
23itik3.png

This thread should give you a good idea of what that's all used for:
http://www.computerforum.com/164335-post-your-cable-management.html



What do you suggest for the motherboard?
Without knowing your options I can't tell you, but you should be able to find something of similar quality for cheaper. Just make sure it's a Gigabyte or Asus (I prefer Giga), and is new enough to have SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0. If you want a particularly nice board, look for one with the 890GX chipset. One with 890FX is even better but they're a lot more expensive and probably a little unnecessary for your build.

If I get 8gb of ram, does mean I need a 64bit version of windows 7? I've heard that the 32bit only supports up to 4gb of ram.
32 bit will actually only use something like 3.25 gigs of RAM. There's really no point in not going 64 bit nowadays. There were some compatibility issues when XP 64-bit came out, but that's largely a thing of the past.

For the CPU, does any software support 6-core cpu's?
All of that editing software should, yes.

As far as GPU, I know nothing about them, I want support for HD video. Throw your suggestions. Should I be doing Crossfire?
Honestly, even though it won't be as fast as a GPU, the CPU won't exactly be "slow" at rendering videos in Premiere, so I'd just get a good mid-range GPU to use with Photoshop and hardware-decoding your movies. This will save you money both now, and later on when you pay the power bill.

The GTX 460 is a good mid-high unit, though the GTS 450 would suffice if you don't want to pay for the 460. If you want to play games, though, get the 460...it'll be worth it. On the ATI side, the 6850 and 6870 are their newest cards and would work just fine, though Nvidia is typically better for this sort of thing.

Crossfire (SLI for nvidia) is usually only useful for upgrading a gaming system, since two cards in crossfire are usually more expensive than a single card that's just as powerful. However, once your current card ages a bit and comes down in price, it's cheaper to throw a second one in than it is to upgrade. Neither are supported by CS5 anyway.

I don't want to buy parts online.
That's going to limit what's available to you, somewhat. Where are you buying from?

I'd consider Newegg for at least some of your parts, though...they have great customer service.
 
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Thanks for all the input I'll look into it.

Does the 1055T have a black edition for overclocking? Would I need to overclock my system?
for the MOBO I really like the gigabyte 890GX thanks for the suggestion Drenlin. Any suggestions for a case.

I get most of my stuff locally.
 
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The black edition Thuban chip is the 1090T. As far as I know they're the best AMD chips for overclocking.

You shouldn't need to overclock, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be fun, and it would speed some things up. :)
 
Here is my build so far based on your input.

Mobo: Asus skt AM3 AMD M4A79XTD EVO
RAM: 8GB at 2000 mhz
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black edition
Graphics: Nvidia GTS 450
HDD: WD Caviar Black 2 tb 7200 RPM
Case: Antec Three Hundred
PSU: ANTEC TruePower New Series 750W Blue Power Supply

I still need:
wireless Ethernet card
Optical drive
Media card reader (I need something that will support Compact Flash cards)
TV tuner card
 
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