New build with Ubuntu

Trompette

My 3 PC are at least 10 years old (I found them in a bin few years ago), just a new video card GT240 and a wide 22" in one of them. I use to dismantle and put back parts together.


1. What is your budget? €600 - €700

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Video transfert from S-VHS, editing, authoring, watching HD video + day-to-day

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? What is that? OS? I use Ubuntu

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? I have 1 hard drive 2TB and more small + monitors + keyboard, mouse
I have a DAZZLE DVC100 USB2.0 video capture.

5. Do you need a monitor? No, I have 1 x wide 22" and 2 x 4/3 19"

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080 and 1280x1024 no upgrade planed.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? no need for Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers but I want a SSD HD.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? Bank Transfer/Credit Card

9. When are you purchasing? Within 3 weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Athlone BTW let me know if you are based here as well.

So far I use AMD CPU and Nvidia video card and would be happy to have again the same. But maybe you have good arguments in favour of Intel or ATI.
I would like a Video card with 2 x DVI-I connectors.
I'd be glad to have a case with USB3 for future need.
I don't need any geek stuff, any blue flashing light, nether window in the case, just a good, quiet computer. I will keep this computer at least 10 years.

As I don't know the new techno I need your help.

Thank you for your help

Unregistered.

What do you use for video editing on Ubuntu? I'm sure intel + lots of RAMZ will do the trick, but I think AMD's bulldozer is worth looking at as well.

oxo_

Just a little input from my own experience - Nvidia seems to have better and more stable drivers for Linux than ATI, so just keep that in mind when picking your graphics card.
Things may have changed since I last went through all the hassles myself, maybe someone else could comment on that if they know so but for me, Linux wise anyway, I'd only use nvidia.

Unregistered.

oxo_ wrote: »

Just a little input from my own experience - Nvidia seems to have better and more stable drivers for Linux than ATI, so just keep that in mind when picking your graphics card.
Things may have changed since I last went through all the hassles myself, maybe someone else could comment on that if they know so but for me, Linux wise anyway, I'd only use nvidia.

Never had problems with a modern ATI card (HD 4*** series) over the last 2 years. I think thee proprietary drivers are fine, can't speak for the open source one.

Trompette

Hi,

Could you explain the specification for the case in hardwareversand site.

Exemple:
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=53198&agid=631

Extract:
Cooling System
Front : 120 mm fan x 1 / intake ¦ Rear : 120 mm fan mount x 1 / exhaust ¦ Side : 120 mm fan mount x 2 ¦ Top : 120 mm fan mount x 2

How many fan are pre-installed in the case? Not clear for me.

Many thanks

oxo_

Sounds like 2 fans preinstalled and mountings there for 4 more.

Opinicus

Sounds like there is only one installed to me as it says the rear is listed as a fan mount.

Trompette

Not clear for everybody.

I just sent them a mail.
I'll let you know

Thanks

Unregistered.

None, by the looks of it.
http://www.revoltec.net/revoltec.net/index.php?StoryID=7&ArticleID=328&websiteLang=en#

Trompette

This is my first build configuration attempt

Item|Price
Total build cost: €602.49 + €30 shipping
ASRock 970 Extreme4, AM3+, ATX|€87.71
AMD FX-6100 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€131.52
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9|€39.81
A-DATA S511 60GB SATA 6Gb/s 6,4cm (2,5")|€95.43
Point of View GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1024MB DDR5|€110.37
Revoltec Seventy 3, schwarz, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€48.13
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€52.68
Scythe Mugen 3, für alle Sockel geeignet|€36.84
Some questions:

1- I could add around € 30 in the bill. With the purpose of this computer in mind, what could I change to improve the config?

2- I don't want to overclock but I want a quiet PC. Is the stock cooler good and silent enough? I hesitate between 2 coolers. The second is Scythe Ninja3. What do you think? Your experience?

3- I hesitate between 2 cases. The second is Xigmatek Midgard II Midi Tower. What do you think? Your experience?

4- Graphic card: Is PoV a good brand?

5- For the Intel aficionados. With the same amount 87 + 131 = € 218 What could be an Intel configuration, MOBO+CPU? In this case do I need to change something else?

6- Any other remarks are welcome.

Many thanks

marco_polo

Not certain you need the €110 video card? Are you using any GPU intensive programs?

Even with the 550ti that you probably only needs a good 400-450W PSU, even smaller again if a lesser card like a GT520 would suffice.

Serephucus

Here's mine:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €582.84 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2300 Box, LGA1155|€161.09
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€41.84
8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 CL9|€35.49
be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER BQT E9-450W 80+Gold|€74.24
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€98.69
EVGA GeForce GT 520 passiv, 1024MB, PCI-Express|€45.09
Cooler Master Silencio 550 black, ohne Netzteil|€72.41
Noctua NH-U12P SE2, Sockel AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1366/1156|€53.99


Far better PSU, extremely quiet.
Much more powerful processor, and an extremely good cooler with it.
Less powerful GPU - not that it matters with what you're doing with it - and passive.
Much better case in terms of noise as well.
Much faster solid state drive.

I'm a noise freak as well, and I can't find anything that would be loud in this case. If you hook all the fans up to the motherboard, and run them at about 50%, you should get a virtually silent PC, that will still perform excellently.

Trompette

Hi

Thanks for your answer. However I have few comments:

CPU, According to some tests Intel Core i5-2300 roughly equivalent to FX-6100 but more expensive
http://www.behardware.com/articles/842-23/amd-fx-8150-and-fx-6100-bulldozer-arrives-on-am3.html
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-2300+%40+2.80GHz

MOBO, ASRock H61M-HVS is far behind ASRock 970 Extreme4: LAN Ethernet 100M, SATA2 only, USB2 only, DDR1333, but not the same price. Is there any other with these options?

SSD, Crucial m4 is slower not faster;
A-Data S511
Read: Up to 550MB/S
Write: Up to 500MB/S
4K Random Write (Aligned): 60,000 IOPS
Maximum 4K Random Write: 80,000 IOPS
http://www.adata.com.tw/index.php?action=product_specification&cid=3&piid=130
Crucial m4
Sequential Read (up to) 500 MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)
Sequential Write (up to) 95 MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s) <==== Very slow !!
Random 4k READ 45,000 IOPS
Random 4k WRITE 20,000 IOPS
See specifications attached
Could you give a link for your info?

PSU, with your experience I'll keep this brand and serial, 450W or 500W

Graphic, need, Video editing and HD video viewing. Do you this GT520 is enough? I am surprised. I have a Zotac GT240 and have sometime hiccup with HD video. Is it the graphic card or the PC? According to the following test GT240 is better than GT520.
http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

Case, Good look, good I/O Panel, good ventilation. Just I don't really like front door. But it's a personal choice. Unfortunately there is not identical case without door in the serial. I could add some soundproofing in another case if needed.
Any experience with Xigmatek or Revoltec?

Cooler, very good point, I change it in my list

Conclusion: As I want to keep this PC for at least 10 years even if I don't need a gaming machine, I would like some up-to-date technology like Ethernet 1GB/s, USB3, SATA3.
For my needs I am not convinced yet to switch to Intel and I am very puzzled for the graphic card.
And good choices for the PSU and cooler.

Thanks again and waiting for your answer.

Serephucus

While the M4 is slower, it's much more reliable. SSD you've chosen is based on the SF2281 controller, which is notorious for BSODs, corruption, data loss, etc. That's why the M4 is recommended so much here.

As for the processor, from BeHardware, 118 vs. 111 in apps, and 139 vs. 104 in games. I wouldn't call that the same at all. As for the motherboard, this one has USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s.

The graphics card: It depends, what video editing software are you using? If it doesn't use GPU acceleration, you won't see any difference with a higher-end video card. If you're just going to be watching HD video, then it's probably just the fact that you're doing it on a ten-year-old computer.

The Intel platform is far more upgradeable at the moment. Down the line, you could pick up a quad/hexa-core Ivy Bridge processor for very cheap, and it would use the same socket.

marco_polo

Trompette wrote: »

Graphic, need, Video editing and HD video viewing. Do you this GT520 is enough? I am surprised. I have a Zotac GT240 and have sometime hiccup with HD video. Is it the graphic card or the PC? According to the following test GT240 is better than GT520.
http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

The GT 520 has got the exact same HD acceleration capabilities as the GT550ti for playback/encoding/decoding of MPEG, VC-1, and H.264 etc (Purevideo). A more expensive GPU does not perform this function any better than a low end one.

Unless you have a video editing application can use CUDA GPU acceleration (and I am not aware of any for Linux) then for all intents and purposes there is no difference between the two cards.

FlyingIrishMan

Did you really not know what Windows is?!?

Trompette

Thanks a million Serephucus and marco_polo for your very helpful comments.
After a lot of reading, I have 2 more questions:

SSD; Almost all ssd have a Sandforce controller, Crucial has Marvell and Samsung a proprietary. Crucial has a very slow write. Samsung has good specif. Is Samsung a good one in reliability?
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=52243&agid=1145

Graphic card; What could be the value added by 2M memory instead of 1M or by 1.8 GHz instead of 535 MHz of Effective Memory Clock in GT520? Which parameter is the most valuable as the both are not in the same card?


To FlyingIrishMan
Can you guess what was the computer I stared to learn on?
http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/iris_50.htm
One year later it was take down, end of live.
And my first personal?
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/apple2/h/pcomplea.jpg
In fact a clone of that. I had the 64 KILO extension. Total 128 KILO Bytes!!!!!

So, after 25 years working with Windows I switched to Linux (Ubuntu) few years ago without any regret.
That's live!!!

Serephucus

If you already have the GT 540, you might as well stick with it.

The M4 has slow writes, but odds are you won't notice; the majority of the work you do with an SSD is read. Get whichever is cheaper.

Unregistered.

Serephucus wrote: »

The M4 has slow writes, but odds are you won't notice; the majority of the work you do with an SSD is read. Get whichever is cheaper.

+1. If you're not up-to-sate with SSD's, have a gander over to Anandtech and read reviews of some Sandforce SSDs.

tl;dr: The read/write speeds are the absolute "best case" sequential speedsfor Sandforce SSDs and can only be achieved when processing a certain type of data - highly compressible data. For everything else, they perform no better (usually worse) than SSDs from the likes of Intel, Crucial, Samsung -all of whom have consistent sequential speeds irrespective of whether they data is compressible or not.

Trompette

I don't have a GT540.
Following your advices, I'll go to a GT520. All the brands have similar connectors: 1 DVI-I, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI.

Do you know if it's possible to run 2 monitors 1920x1080 at the same time for video editing?
Do you know if the DVI-I accept a VGA monitor with adaptor? (it should but I am not sure)
I can't find that in the brand' web-site.

Serephucus

Yeah, you'll be able to run two monitors with that video card. I'd use the DVI and HDMI ports though; VGA looks pretty bad in comparison.

Monotype

Unregistered is right about the the performance being related to the type of data. When it comes to incompressible data, the sandforce drives slump way below the M4 including write speeds.
With crucial, their estimate seems to be what you'll usually get and sometimes above (anandtech measured write at 107.9 vs the speced 95) while the sandforce drives are best case scenario - a maximum with ideal data.

Here's a comparison of the agility 60GB with the M4 64GB. The vertex and it's various version would do a little better, but there's no 60GB tested.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/426?vs=402
It could be slightly biased towards the M4, as the sandforce drives do do well in certain favourable circumstances.

The Samsung 830 seems reliable too and trades blows with the M4. Corsair and Intel have drives based on the Marvel controller used in the M4 too, but are more expensive. Corsair's main lines are sandforce though.