Putting a new system together

Hi
The system will be mainly used for Multimedia - i.e playing/encoding
xvid/avi, music (converting vinyl, tapes and CD's). I will not be
using it for game playing.
Specs so far are:-
Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop Processor E8400
Coolermaster Black 690 Case
4 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KS hard drives
Sata enclosure bay
Pata enclosure bay
dvdrw sata/pata not sure yet.
2Gb ddr2 memory
xp pro

Advise on these :-
Motherboard - capable of supporting the above plus esata,usb and
onboard audio (if quality of sound is good) with tos link/coaxial
connections to go to 5.1 sound system. I will need at least 6 sata and
1 esata on board.

PSU - capable powering the above with leads long enough to reach every
connection as it will be mounted on the bottom of the case.

Graphic card - 2 vga connections for 17" ws and 15" monitors - may get
24" ws in the future so support for that would be a plus. TVout
(svideo) would be desirable, as would dvi.

Cooling - CPU and any other fans not supplied with the case.

The system needs to be fairly quiet as it will be in the living room
and will be used everyday from a few hours to several days
continuously. The reason for the pata enclosure is to transfer files
from all my hard drives (at least 8 of them) and I have a 500Gb
Hitachi that will be put into system though that may just get put into
the HD bay and the enclosure removed.

Hope someone can help me narrow down the choices.

Cost is not a factor but reliability and system stability is.

Thanks

"Ean" <Iaindcox.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote...
> Hi
> The system will be mainly used for Multimedia - i.e playing/encoding
> xvid/avi, music (converting vinyl, tapes and CD's). I will not be
> using it for game playing.
> Specs so far are:-
> Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop Processor E8400
> Coolermaster Black 690 Case
> 4 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KS hard drives
> Sata enclosure bay
> Pata enclosure bay
> dvdrw sata/pata not sure yet.

> Advise on these :-
> Motherboard - capable of supporting the above plus esata,usb and
> onboard audio (if quality of sound is good) with tos link/coaxial
> connections to go to 5.1 sound system. I will need at least 6 sata and
> 1 esata on board.

Look at something like the Gigabyte X38-DS4
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128080). It comes
with an eSATA header, but that may take up some of the internal SATA slots you
need. You may have to go with the X38-DQ6 at $60-80 more, which has 8 SATA
slots. OTOH, you may be better off with an add-in SATA RAID card in the spare
PCIe 16x slot...

If audio/video encoding is your main purpose, you'll need an add-in audio card.
The on-board audio is not great.


> PSU - capable powering the above with leads long enough to reach every
> connection as it will be mounted on the bottom of the case.

Antec Earthwatts 500
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007). My C2D rig
only pulls about 120 watts with an ATI X1950 video card and 2 HDs...

OTOH, the Coolermaster 690 I found
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119142) includes a
550W PSU with 3 19A 12V rails...

Dunno why they put the PSU in the bottom; seems like the standard of exahusting
the PSU through the top rear would enhance natural convection...


> Graphic card - 2 vga connections for 17" ws and 15" monitors - may get
> 24" ws in the future so support for that would be a plus. TVout
> (svideo) would be desirable, as would dvi.

Depends on whether you're an nVidia or ATI fan... An X1950 Pro (or nVidia
equivalent) is probably plenty for what you're doing, but get what you think
you'll be happy with.


> Cooling - CPU and any other fans not supplied with the case.

Get the "retail box" CPU with heat sink & fan included. That will be plenty, as
long as you don't overclock. If you do plan on OC, you may have to get
fancier...

A good case should include all the fans necessary for normal running. A cheap
case may include cheap (i.e., noisy) fans, so choose wisely. I am very happy
with my Lian Li PC-60B+II
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112100). The "+II"
version replaced a couple of the 80 mm fans with 120 mm, and it's even quieter
(i.e., can't notice it from 3' away) than the older PC60 I have for my other
system.


> The system needs to be fairly quiet as it will be in the living room
> and will be used everyday from a few hours to several days
> continuously. The reason for the pata enclosure is to transfer files
> from all my hard drives (at least 8 of them) and I have a 500Gb
> Hitachi that will be put into system though that may just get put into
> the HD bay and the enclosure removed.
>
> Hope someone can help me narrow down the choices.
>
> Cost is not a factor but reliability and system stability is.