Posted February 7, 2006 yes with a bit of cash i have money to buy my pc. im hoping for it to be a 3 screen system, that is able to run programs like maya and editing software without a hiccup. and also play games at a satisfactory rate (not bothered about 100+fps gaming, anything above 60fps will do me fine) so now, here is what i shall buy case(i will be a different psu sometime later) http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=99444 cpu http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=91327 RAM(i will eventually have 4 gig) http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=65719 HDD (should have 2 400gig ones + plus my 200 gig one from my old pc for a combined total of a terabyte of hdd space) http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=94515 im hoping to have this card, except i dont see anywhere that sell em http://www.ati.com/products/radeonx1900/aiwx1900/index.html now i need a bit of help with the mobo, i need it to have 5 pci ports, because i will end up with 2 gfx cards, wifi card (dont want inbuilt wifi) and any extras i may need. e.g sound card. the idea is to have freeview connected so i can watch tv, record ec etc onto the hdd, have lots of desktop space and other stuff. so far im scheduled to buy the main parts in 3 weeks time, i already got the main monitor (or at least its on its way) and i will gradually continue building it over time. i just need some expert opinions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 7, 2006 Asus mobo is probably a good choice. I had some bizarre crashing problems with MSI but when I changed to asus there has been no strange crashes. Abit mobos are good as well. That's almost a dream setup... What are you doing with it? Start an indie movie workshop? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 7, 2006 Asus mobo is probably a good choice. I had some bizarre crashing problems with MSI but when I changed to asus there has been no strange crashes. Abit mobos are good as well. That's almost a dream setup... What are you doing with it? Start an indie movie workshop? haha almost, well i want to be able to build the pc and not have to upgrade it (other then the gfx card) for atleast 3 years or so. after pc i get camcorder and i will start making movies. its just i dont have the patience to do movies on slow pcs. now about the mobo, many people have recommended abit or asus due to the nforce chipset for one. however i cannot find any with more than 3 pci ports, for what i need is 5 pci ports justified? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 7, 2006 Well the mobos seem to have PCI express. And because of that there seems to be no room physically for more than three PCI ports to fit the atx standard. As your graphics card doesn't have an AGP variant, you really have no choice. And are you going to get second x1900 for the another graphics card, if you are, get the crossfire version of the card. The wifi is easilly solved, get a USB dongle And here's a mobo that meets the requirements: link edit: it doesn't have the nforce chipset, but as you're not getting a SLI card, and want two graphics cards, there's no point in an nforce chipset. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 7, 2006 well the secondary graphics card will need to be dual dvi, but again, not as extravagent, no more than £100 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 7, 2006 I think that some older matrox (G450?)cards would do the job nicely. That is if you can find one. But I'm not really sure how 2 "independent" graphics cards would work in a system. There might be some problems there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 7, 2006 well roadkill uses a voodoo and a 9800 and they seem to work fine for him. and i did find a dual dvi x1300 card for £90 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 8, 2006 The x1900 all in wonder isn't out over here at the moment, should be released pretty soon. Nowadays, you wont find a mobo with 4 pci slots, as most tend to split them up between pci and pci-e Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 8, 2006 Is that ram double sided? If it is you wont be able to have more than 2 of them in a four slotted mobo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 8, 2006 how can i tell if it is or isnt? it should be 1 sided also in the reviews, some people say how they have 4 fitted Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 9, 2006 Is SLi definitely not an option? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 9, 2006 how can i tell if it is or isnt? it should be 1 sided also in the reviews, some people say how they have 4 fitted Find a picture of the actual ram. If it has chips on both sides, it's double sided. If there's only chips on the other side and solder joints on the other it's one sided. And you can check your mobo's manual where it should be specified how much and what kind of ram it can handle. Edit: Just checked, the x1900 is quite a power hog. 341 watts for the xtx version. Though the AIW will have silightly lower clock rates, don't know how that will affect the power consumption. So I'll recommend that you get a 450-500w power supply right from the start. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 Hey bogbas, will the mobo u recommended take 2 non crossfire cards, and also, will the x1900 aiw fit in the pci-e ports? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 4 gig of RAM? Sounds a bit overkill... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 4 gig of RAM? Sounds a bit overkill... my philosophy is that u can never have too much of something Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 my philosophy is that u can never have too much of something Especially RAM, computers love it. You might as well put it in now to save you upgrading in a years time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 Hey bogbas, will the mobo u recommended take 2 non crossfire cards, and also, will the x1900 aiw fit in the pci-e ports? Eh? Do you mean will it run SLI? The answer is no. And yes the x1900 aiw will fit in one of the pci-e slots. Or are you thinking of getting one x1900aiw non crossfire card and another pci-e non crossfire as the secondary card? That I don't know. But a non ati pci-e card like geforce 7800GT(X) will work but not in sli configuration. And wouldn't it be cheaper to get the x1900 aiw and a pci card as the secondary card? And having more memory is probably good as it's going to be used for video editing/3d modelling (one minute of DV- quality video takes a little more than 200Mb,). Just for games 4gig would be overkill. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 Eh? Do you mean will it run SLI? The answer is no. And yes the x1900 aiw will fit in one of the pci-e slots. Or are you thinking of getting one x1900aiw non crossfire card and another pci-e non crossfire as the secondary card? That I don't know. But a non ati pci-e card like geforce 7800GT(X) will work but not in sli configuration. And wouldn't it be cheaper to get the x1900 aiw and a pci card as the secondary card? And having more memory is probably good as it's going to be used for video editing/3d modelling (one minute of DV- quality video takes a little more than 200Mb,). Just for games 4gig would be overkill. Make sure your case is big enough for the AIW, as it is a lot longer than most cards and struggles to fit in some cases. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 2gb ram is most definately enough. My computer has never even used half of that,even when playing f.e.a.r. You can always upgrade later on Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 ok heres a pic of what i mean basically i got sound card as it says it only has a codec for 6 channel audio, unless someone wants to explain that to me. the secondary card was to be a x1300 dual dvi card. and the x1900 u lot know about Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 It'll be a bit tight, but according to a picture in this page there should be room below for the card. The xtx version of the x1900 would take 2 spaces, but the aiw seems to take only one. But you'll need to think how to cool those graphics cards properly. As the fan from the x1900 would be sucking air from the bottom of the x1300. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 i could seperate them, altho i wont get the secondary card straight off, im pretty certain it is recomended that i have liquid cooling once its all done correct? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 Well that's one option. It having a major downside if your computer suddenly wants to become an aquarium... Basically first I'd try to get as far as possible with just air cooling. I have a zalman fan/heatsink combination for the cpu, which has a sort of a handle that you can attach fans. It allows for example one 8 or 12mm fan to be right next to the graphics card. So that way the fan would be blowing air towards the mobo where the graphics card is. And also you'd have to think about proper airflow, all the cables in neat packets and a fan at the bottom blowing cool air in, and a fan at a high point of the case blowing hot air out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 sounds like a good idea, i recieved my case today, when i get other components ill keep u guys posted Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2006 ok heres a pic of what i mean the secondary card was to be a x1300 dual dvi card. Why the heck would you put a secondary graphics card into an old PCI slot? Have I missed something here? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
