Seeking feedback on components for a new budget build

Starting with my background: I guess I would qualify as a prosumer. My editing is going to be primarily single camera home movies, church events, whatnot. I had a short film in a festival once and am hoping to get back into that, but my stuff is usually talky dramas, so nothing terribly effects-heavy. My video is 1080/60p recorded to H.264 on SD cards, so I don't think I need a capture card. I cut my short on Final Cut, but my Mac can't handle the HD stuff and I can't justify the price of a new one, so I'm defecting back to the PC world. My budget is small (I'm hoping to keep the core components under $750, but that's somewhat flexible), so I'm looking for bang-for-buck type things. Since I'm not doing this for a living, I don't need to be in the top 20 on PPBM5, but I also don't want to have to sit all day. I've put together a PC before, but just for general use and almost a decade ago, so I know how to do it, but I'm out of touch with components until a few weeks ago when I started researching.
Here's what I'm looking at, though I'm open to any suggestions:
CPU: i7 960. (The Sandy Bridge stuff has scared me away from the 2600. This is only about $10 more than the 950 now - is it worth the upgrade?)
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth X58
RAM: Patriot Signature 1600 4 GB sticks (this seems like a better deal than the 1033 4 GB sticks with lower latency, but I don't know a ton about memory)
GPU: GTX 550 TI (I picked up on this from another thread here as a good bang-for-buck suggestion - I'd be open to spending less money if there's one that doesn't have a significant performance drop-off)
Boot Drive: Seagate Baracuda 1 TB 7200 6Gb/s (I feel pretty comfortable with the project disk setup, but I've read widely varying opinions about size/speed requirements for the boot drive. My biggest concern is using up one of my 6Gb/s slots if it's not going to add anything.)
PSU: 700W (the eXtreme calculator said that this would be plenty, though Newegg was suggesting 950W. Is that just because they're trying to sell me stuff?)
Case: NZXT GAMA-001
Am I missing anything for the tower (other than optical drive and project disks)?
Thanks for your help!

Thanks! (Thanks also for the guides you wrote - they were indispensable in
getting me to this point.) Overclocking scares me a bit, so at this point I
don't plan on it, though I would consider it if the system doesn't perform
well.
I noticed that almost none of the other components (RAM, GPU, even Hard
Drive) were on Asus' official compatibility list. How much should I be
concerned about that?

Similar Messages

Looking for a new budget laptop

Hi there, our laptop broke recently and we need to replace it. We have several tablets and will purchase a more expensive laptop for work purposes later on, so right now we just need something for the following purposes: Internet surfing with a number of browser windows open at the same time, Word and Excel, movie streaming, Skype and that's it. Nothing fancy or expensive - which I thought would make the choice easy, but it seems there's a ton of different models in the "budget laptop range. Many are really similar and I just can't get myself to pick at random. I'm getting tired of looking and comparing, so somebody please make the choice for me! This are the specs I've been using for my searches, but I'm open to suggestions if you think they should be different, based on what we'll be using the laptop for: - i5 processor - 4gb RAM - Windows 8 64-bit - screen size between 14 and 16 inches - webcam - bluetooth - HDMI output (husband likes to watch shows on big tv sometimes, but it's not really necessary) It seems there's a lot of different models with these specs. Maybe somebody knows more about screen resolution or graphics to narrow it down to the best choice. I was thinking to spend between $500 and $700 - we could spend more, but that seems overkill considering this will just be the everyday-throw-around-let-the-kids-play-with kind of laptop!? Thanks for your input!

In my opinion, pretty much all the machines in that price range(that have the specs you're looking for) are going to be pretty much the same when it comes to quality/durability.
I prefer the brand ASUS(and most of the other's on here will chime in to that effect). I'm very partial to them, and would toss this out as a recommendation : http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+K-Series+15.6%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-...
Thought it has Windows 7 on it, I can't say I consider that a bad thing.
If you like my post, or solution to your issue/question, go ahead and click on the little star by my name and/or accept the post as the Solution. It makes me happy.
I'm NOT an employee of Best Buy, or Geek Squad, though I did work as an Agent for a year 5 years ago. None of my posts are to be taken as the official stance that Best Buy will take on your situation. My advice is just that, advice.
Unfortunately, that's the bad luck of any electronic, there's going to be bad Apples... wait that's a horrible pun.

Looking for a new budget mono Laser printer

Hi,
I was originally looking at the HP LASERJET P1005 but have read that there are a few problems with drivers for Leopard. Had a quick scout around and found a Samsung ML-2240 which is 10.3 - 10.5 compatible.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Cheers

In my opinion, pretty much all the machines in that price range(that have the specs you're looking for) are going to be pretty much the same when it comes to quality/durability.
I prefer the brand ASUS(and most of the other's on here will chime in to that effect). I'm very partial to them, and would toss this out as a recommendation : http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+K-Series+15.6%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-...
Thought it has Windows 7 on it, I can't say I consider that a bad thing.
If you like my post, or solution to your issue/question, go ahead and click on the little star by my name and/or accept the post as the Solution. It makes me happy.
I'm NOT an employee of Best Buy, or Geek Squad, though I did work as an Agent for a year 5 years ago. None of my posts are to be taken as the official stance that Best Buy will take on your situation. My advice is just that, advice.
Unfortunately, that's the bad luck of any electronic, there's going to be bad Apples... wait that's a horrible pun.

Advice sought for a new PC build

Hello,
I could use a little advice about an "as silent as silent can be" system that I am trying to put together right now. I plan to build it myself. I have installed / replaced components in PC systems before but it will be the first time I build a PC from scratch.
Purpose of PC
To blitz anything that CS6 can throw at it right now and still be putting up a respectable fight when CS11 is eventually released. In order of importance, the system needs to excel at:
Video editing and effects using Premiere and AfterEffects
3D animation using Autodesk 3DS Max etc
Multimedia content authoring    (Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Dreamweaver)
Music production     (Propellerhead Reason, REAPER)
Internet browsing, emails, iTunes and all other 21st century time-wasting activities.
Before I place any orders, I would appreciate it if you would let me know if you can see anything that I might have forgotten, any potential incompatibility issues or just any terrible decisions that I really need to rethink.
Components
Windows Professional 64bit OS
Do I need Ultimate?
Corsair Obsidian Series 550D Quiet Mid-Tower Case
Is this case cool and quiet. Are there better options than this that don’t look like either a teenage warrior’s wet dream or a hotel minibar?
Corsair Professional Series AX 760 Watt ATX/EPS Fully Modular 80 PLUS Platinum PSU
Honestly I have no idea. I picked it because it is highly rated for efficiency and should go with the case. Are there better options at a similar price point, especially in terms of heat / noise / known reliability issues?
Intel Core i7-3930K 6-Core Processor
I am definitely going with this CPU. I think.
Corsair 120mm Hydro Series H80i Digital High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
I chose this rather than the 100i because it can exhaust out the back of the case. I think this will be a better configuration for the case I have chosen and the location where the PC will live.
Asus P9X79 PRO Motherboard (Socket 2011, Intel X79 chipset)
It has all the features I want except on-board firewire which is not a deal breaker and has had good reviews. Can anyone recommend something better at a similar price point? Is it worth spending more to get a higher specified / workstation grade motherboard?
Asus Nvidia GeForce 2GB GTX 670 DirectCU II Graphics Card
Supposedly one of the quietest GTX670 cards on the market and ought to be fully compatible with the motherboard.
Pioneer BDR-208DBK 15X SATA Blu-ray writer
Storage Components
Corsair Vengeance Vengeance Performance 32GB DDR3 1866MHz CL10 (4 x 8GB) RAM
I am also considering getting 64GB and using 32 – 40GB as a RAM disk. Good idea? No?
Corsair Force Series 3 GT 180GB SSD
Windows OS, Programs and Pagefile(s).
Corsair Force Series 3 GT 180GB SSD
Caches, Previews, Temporary files for all CS6 programs
4 x WD Caviar Black 1TB in RAID 10 configuration
Media files, project files, exported / rendered files, sample library. Is it worth getting a dedicated RAID controller or should the motherboard be able to handle this without hurting performance elsewhere?
1 x WD Caviar Black 1TB
Everything else.
My budget is reasonably flexible but I do not want to waste money on components that offer only minimal performance benefits. Also, I have no plans at present to get into overclocking etc. Far too scary for a newbie.
If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this and any advice at all would be very much appreciated.
Regards
Michael

Hello
I finished my build at the weekend and installed the OS and so far the process has been much better than I could have hoped for. Thank you for all of your help.
The computer is much faster and quieter than any computer I have ever owned before and (touch wood) is a joy to use. The Windows Experience rating is 7.8.
I am still running through checks to make sure everything is OK before installing the rest of the software but I have come across one issue that I think I ought to double check before I get in too deep.
So far I have connected 4 drives to the Intel SATA controller of my ASUS P9X79 Deluxe motherboard set to RAID mode:
Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD    ---- Not in RAID
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD    ---- Not in RAID
2 x WD Black 500GB SSD in RAID 0
Pioneer Bluray Re-Writer BDR-208DBK
I have a WD Black 2TB waiting to be added to the system for non performance-critical storage once I am certain that I don't have an issue with set up.
I have 32GB of RAM installed.
I have installed and run the Samsung Magician software and the performance benchmarks for the drives are:
Seq Read 128K
Seq Write 128K
Random Read 4K
Random Write 4K
Test Range
Samsung 840 Pro 128GB
533
226
88655
4788
1GB
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
534
263
91169
4956
1GB
2 x WD Black RAID 0
241
265
2610
1462
100MB
The SSD read speeds look fine but write speeds seem to be very low to me, certainly much lower than the speeds quoted by Samsung and confirmed in multiple reviews.
Does this look OK to you and if not, do you have any ideas about how I could improve SSD write performance?
So far I have followed the steps in the following guide to SSD/HDD optimization for Windows 7 to no avail (checked for latest firmware and drivers, turned off indexing, disabled hibernation, checked that TRIM is enabled, shrank page file to 4GB on OS drive, changed power options so drives never sleep .... have I missed anything?):
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdd s
Finally, does the RAID drive's performance look ok.
I am suspicious that the write performance of the SSDs seems to be pegged to the write performance of the RAID, although that might be just coincidence.
One last thing, and thanks for your patience.
I am tempted to switch back to AHCI mode in the BIOS and re-run the benchmarks to see if the SATA RAID mode is the problem. This won't be too much of a hassle as the system is empty at present.
But if / when I return to RAID mode, I shouldn't have to do any pre-installing because the RSTe drivers are now already installed and up to date, is this correct?
My apologies if these issues have been covered before in the forum. I have looked but I couldn't find anything specific.
Regards
Michael

Failed to check for new preview build, please try again later. 0x80248014

Hi
I keep getting error such as "Failed to check for a new preview build, please try again later.0x80248014" and unable to update to a newer build version.
How do I download the latest version build?
Windows Updates?

Hi,
To rename SoftwareDistribution folder, you can refer to the contents of th link below:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_store/how-to-fix-the-purchase-error-0x80248014-windows-8/27c65525-fa28-4048-b11d-b83e86a2dcbc
For your problem, I'd like to suggest you use Windows update troubleshoot tool for test to fix this problem:
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting\All Categories\Windows Update
If failed, please post the detailed information of this tool diagnose results here.
After that, please upload your Windows update log file to your sharing space and post the link here.
C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

Windows Insider stuck on build 9841 - "No new preview build was found"

I am in the insider program and on build 9841. I did this same process on 2 other machines, starting at 9841, running through windows updates, and then upgrading to build 9860. However, on this one particular desktop machine, I have all other windows updates
applied, but every time I check for a new preview build I simply see the following message:
"No new preview build was found, please try again later."
Any idea how to force this thing to detect the newer build which I know is available?
Patrick

I changed my registry to what you said, but I still can't get any update. Do you have any ideas for me? Only have 10 more days :\
thanks
For anything newer than 9926 registry settings must be as follows:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability]
"BranchName"="fbl_impressive"
"ThresholdRiskLevel"="low"
"Ring"="WIF"
"ThresholdOptedin"=dword:00000001
Copy this into the registry file and double-click it to import settings into your registry.
Then restart Windows Update and BITS services for the settings to apply on the running instance of Windows. You may use the following script:
net stop wuauserv
pause
net stop bits
pause
net start bits
pause
net stop wuauserv
Copy the text above into a text file, rename its extension to CMD, and run the command file with elevated privileges (right-click the CMD file and select Run as administrator from the shortcut menu).
Note: the branch name changed since 9926 days. Previously you could have the following settings:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability]
"BranchName"="fbl_awesome1501"
"ThresholdRiskLevel"="low"
"ThresholdOptedin"=dword:00000001
or even
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability]
"BranchName"="fbl_release"
"ThresholdRiskLevel"="low"
"ThresholdOptedin"=dword:00000001
Both did NOT work for me. The fbl_impressive value worked flawless.
Remember the value of BranchName MUST be the same as the keyword found in the name of the ESD file you download from Microsoft when you click
Download now in Update & recovery . The ESD could be found in %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution\Download or in %systemdrive%\$Windows.~BT\Sources.
You can check to see what is the
valid branch name for a particular build on Windows here.
To cut the long story short:
The official Technical Preview releases of Windows 10 are known as:6.4.9879.0.fbl_release.141103-172210.0.9926.0.fbl_awesome1501.150119-1648
10.0.10041.0.fbl_impressive.150313-1821
10.0.10049.0.fbl_impressive.150325-1700
Set BranchName REG_SZ value in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability] to:
fbl_release -- to upgrade to 9879
fbl_awesome1501 -- to upgrade to 9926
fbl_impressive -- to upgrade to 10041
fbl_impressive -- to upgrade to 10049
Well this is the world we live in And these are the hands we're given...

Is the personal budget template monthly or yearly? I am entering data for Jan. How do keep track of Feb? Do I have to make a whole new budget? If not, the formula adds expenses in a category together which would mean Jan. and Feb. would be added togeth

I think the personal budget template is a monthly budget and I have Jan. set up. When it is Feb., do I have to download a new budget?
Also, there is a pie chart and all the pie chart has 6 colors. If you have more than 6 categories, the colors repeat. Is there a way to, for instance, assign 10 different colors when you have 10 categories so you will have an accurate pie chart?
I am using an iPad and Numbers app.

You dont have to download anything, just duplicate the current tab and reset your numbers. (tap the tab once and you get a choice of duplicate or delete.) You could then summarize across tabs if you liked.
It is just set up as a way of tracking a period, your choice of duration.
I get paid on the 1st and 15th, with distinct budgeting concerns for both periods (times are tight.). So we would do one for each two weeks to see how we did. Maybe double the budget numbers to get monthly numbers on another tab to track that month. Maybe then copy paste that data into a YTD tab at the end of the month.
Whole bunch of ways to handle it. You dont have to stick with month by month tabs or files. Using some creative thinking, You can make it so on the YTD tab you type in a month or quarter and it shows that information through equations.
Jason

Remaining questions while evaluating JavaFX for a new project

Dear forum members:
currently I am evaluating the possibilities of next-generation GUI technologies, such as JavaFX, Silverlight and Flash/Flex, for a new project. To get a basic understanding of JavaFX's concepts, I worked through the available online text and video tutorials, and all the treated topics seem quite obvious/comprehensible to me +as long as one is only confronted to relatively static GUI component hierarchies+. But, as a newbie, some questions concerning more dynamically defined GUIs (i.e. dynamic JFX scripting*) still remain.
Application scenario (exemplary):
Say I want to create a "Online Shopping Application" that supports "+ShopOwners+" in *dynamically* defining the "+Shop Model+" structure, e.g. accepted visitor (client) categories, product categories their products, pricing information, payment methods, etc.
Then, based on the dynamically defined model, the shop owner should be able to design and layout the necessary forms, such as order forms, survey/feedback forms, etc. This should be done in "design mode", and there should also exist a possibility for him/her to preview the specification results in a "preview mode".
Finally, the shop owner must be able to save the model and forms on the server side in a way that can requested and run be the shopping app end users (the shop clients) via (another (?)) JavaFX frontend.
_The still remaining questions for this scenario are:_
+1. Is JavaFX appropriate for creating such kind of applications, especially when it comes to dynamic JFX scripting (and compilation) on the client side??? (By now I'm not quite sure if this is really necessary for my plans!)+
+2. Concerning the ShopOwner's GUI with its design and preview mode (and knowing that the latter mode will be the GUI version presented to the shop clients in another JFX module):+
+Is it possible to *dynamically *build up a +Scene Graph+ in a way that lets me handle and *compile* the corresponding +JFX Script+ on the client side for previewing it? Or is a client-server roundtrip absolutely necessary?
How could one persist this JFX Script on the server side? I.e., which intermediary format would be the most appropriate? => XML, JSON, JFX Script?
3. Concerning the "Shop Model", would I optimally create JFX classes or even Java Beans to bind to?
4. And finally: What would be your recommended way (software architecture) to fulfill this task in JavaFX?
Do there already exist some JFX components (dynamic forms/survey authoring modules, etc.) that persue a similar task and that I didn't find yet?
As the clarification of the above-mentioned issues are very important for me, I hope that you more experienced users can help me, pointing me to a practicable approach.
Thank you very much for any help and constructive tips in advance.
Best regards
Martin Meyers

Q1: Do I optimally need 2 different custom components for each treated concept, or do I have just 1 component with 2 internal modes (design & preview/usage)??
E.g., (a) FormSpec widget composed of LabelSpec, TextBoxSpec, ChooseBoxSpec,... widgets each having their preview pendants
Form, Label, TextBox, ChooseBox, etc.
versus
+(b) only Form widget composed of Label, TextBox, ChooseBox widgets, but all having a "design/preview execution mode".+
Closer to (b), I think, though each widget doesn't need to be modified to have design and preview modes. Instead, each widget can be wrapped within a Group to provide the design/preview functions without modifying the widget itself.
The technique is as follows. Given a sequence of widgets (Nodes, really), for each widget, wrap it in a Group that contains that widget but with an overlay Rectangle in front of it. The Rectangle can be semi-transparent, or fully transparent if you prefer. (In the example below I've made it a semitransparent color to make its location obvious as well as to provide a highlight that signals design mode.) The overlay Rectangle is set up so that its dimensions will exactly track the dimensions (bounds) of the widget behind it. I've set blocksMouse to true so that when it's present, the overlay traps events and prevents interaction with the widget. There is a boolean variable previewMode, controlled by a CheckBox, that controls the visibility of these overlay rectangles. I've also added a bit of code to track mouse events on the overlay rectangles so that you can move the widgets around when you're in design mode.
Note that the visible variable differs from transparent, i.e. opacity == 0.0. If a node is visible but is transparent, it is still eligible to receive events; whereas if visible is false, it does not receive events.
Here's some code that illustrates this technique. I'll answer your other questions in a subsequent post.
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.scene.*;
import javafx.scene.control.*;
import javafx.scene.input.*;
import javafx.scene.layout.*;
import javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
var previewMode = true;
var lastX:Number;
var lastY:Number;
function wrap(n:Node):Node {
    Group {
        content: [
            n,
            Rectangle {
                opacity: 0.2
                fill: Color.web("#ffff00")
                x: bind n.boundsInParent.minX
                y: bind n.boundsInParent.minY
                width: bind n.boundsInParent.width
                height: bind n.boundsInParent.height
                visible: bind previewMode
                blocksMouse: true
                onMousePressed: function(me:MouseEvent) {
                    lastX = me.x;
                    lastY = me.y;
                onMouseDragged: function(me:MouseEvent) {
                    n.layoutX += me.x - lastX;
                    n.layoutY += me.y - lastY;
                    lastX = me.x;
                    lastY = me.y;
var controlList:Node[] = [
    Button {
        layoutX: 140
        layoutY: 20
        text: "Button1"
        action: function() { println("Button1 clicked!"); }
    Slider {
        layoutX: 30
        layoutY: 60
        min: 0
        max: 100
        override var value on replace {
            println("Slider value is now {value}");
    Label {
        layoutX: 50
        layoutY: 100
        text: "Non-interactive label"
    CheckBox {
        layoutX: 40
        layoutY: 140
        text: "CheckBox"
        override var selected on replace {
            println("CheckBox is now {if (selected) "checked" else "unchecked"}");
Stage {
    title: "Design vs Preview Mode"
    width: 400
    height: 250
    scene: Scene {
        content: [
            CheckBox {
                layoutX: 10
                layoutY: 10
                text: "Preview Mode"
                selected: bind previewMode with inverse
            Panel {
                content: for (n in controlList) {
                    wrap(n)
}

Configuring Maven for a new Project

Could anyone provide inputs on how to configure Maven for a new project?
I am referring to links
http://maven.apache.org/guides/getting-started/index.html#How%20do%20I%20setup%20Maven?
http://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-creating-archetypes.html
Rgds,
seetesh

We are introducing a new feature in Flex 2.0.1 that's due out
early next year. The feature is called "Modules" and it was
discussed at this year's MAX 2006. You can read more about it on
Roger Gonzalez's blog:
http://blogs.adobe.com/rgonzalez/
- check the "Modular Applications" articles. I think this will go a
long way to making the reusable parts you are talking about.
Flex does not build things from instructions unless they are
written in ActionScript. We have customers that do create dynamic
interfaces based on data loaded from a database, so it is possible.
But if you have pre-built templates and all you need to do is
change certain aspects at runtime, it should be pretty easy with
Flex. Take a look at the Flex documentation, especially the part
about the Flex framework and how Flex sources are compiled into
SWFs.
You style Flex components using style sheets (CSS files).
This also includes specifying skins for components if you decide to
give something a whole new look.
I'm a bit biased here, but I think using ColdFusion (version
7.0.2) with Flex 2 is very easy. But it depends on your needs,
budget, deployment, etc. WIth CF 7.0.2 and Flex Builder 2 you get
wizards to be build both CFC (ColdFusion components) and matching
ActionScript objects so that you exchange objects, not just data,
between Flex and CF.
WebServices can also be used (with CF, too). This gives you
more choices to the backend. If you have a large amount of data or
it is complex, consider Flex Data Services as that has data
management capabilities.
Flex 2 has localization capabilties. You create a 'resource
bundle' in various languages and build SWFs for each one. When the
end user choses their preference, take them to the page that loads
the appropriate SWF.
HTH

Another new PC build for a hobbyist

Hi all, I've spent a couple of days searching around for recommendations on a new PC build and found a lot of good information on this forum. I'm replacing my home desktop, which is used for Premiere CS6 (family videos/enthusiast stuff - lately GoPro HD h.264 and some Canon 7D files) running on Windows 7 Pro x64. I'll be reusing some SATA drives but everything else is new. I realize that X79/i7-3930k provides far more performance, but mainly for budget reasons I think I'd prefer to stick with Ivy Bridge. Here's what I'm leaning towards:
CPU: Intel i7-3770k 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) Ivy Bridge
MB: Likely Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX
RAM: Probably CORSAIR Vengeance LP DDR3 1600 16Gb (or 32Gb) 2x8Gb (or 4x8Gb)
PSU: SeaSonic X-Series 1050W 80 Plus Gold (only $10 more than the 850W so why not)
CASE: Fractal Design Define R4
GPU: GTX 570 (likely this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127682)
DRIVES
     OS: 256Gb SSD (Crucial M4/Plextor 830)
     Media/Projects: RAID-0 2x 1Tb HD (reuse from old system)
     Previews/Cache/Exports: 2Tb 7200rpm HD
Add in misc DVD+RW, CPU cooler, etc. This prices out to ~$1,300 (without HD's but including the SSD) which is ok, little cheaper would be ok but couple of hundred more is fine too. I'm mostly undecided on the GPU, wondering if a GTX 660 is worth the $70 more (1344 vs. 480 CUDA cores and 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 vs 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 for the GTX 660 vs GTX 570 respectively).
I'd really appreciate any thoughts on this build overall and suggestions on alternate components; thanks very much for all the information!

CPU - agree 3770K is a better choice as you have newer instruction sets, superior performance, lower power consumption and support for second generation of QuickSync offer hardware transcoding support.
Motherboard - The Deluxe is an outstanding board depending on how much you may really want the Marvell option you may want to consider the P8Z77-V Pro which also offers Thundebolt natively on the board. ( Although the Deluxe has a TB header in place for when the Thunderbolt EX expansion card is released ).
Additionally on both they offer a TPU switch which you can enable to have a easy 4.2 to 4.3GHz OC without any other interaction or adjustment.
CPU Cooler - I would advise something basic at least like a Hyper 212Plus or Hyper212 EVO. If you want to more cost effective the Hyper TX3 is very low cost and solid but not as effective at heat disipation.
PSU - Seasonic is excellent choice especially the X gold series very effiicent and the load performance is outstanding additionally generally any loads undder 25% will not have the fan spin at all helping to keep a very quiet system.
Chassis is a very solid option
GPU - I would consider GTX660Ti or the new GTX660 considerbly superior power efficiecy as well as there is hardware 4K econder support while not active it is there waiting for software applications to support. Additionally you have superior multi monitor flexibility up to 4 displays and it is quieter and cooler. Lastly performance is superior. I would consider ASUS GTX660 or GTX660TI DirectCU II.
SSD
Crucial drives have very solid firmware but write performance is not as strong ( this is relative overall a solid drive ). Depending on your write and read usage a different controller may make more sense.In this case you may want to consider a different SSD.
Corsair's new GS or GTX are very solid in the firmware development. If you will have a large amount of Incompressible data which includes certain types of TIF and PSD*, JPEG, video and sound files, ZIP files, etc. Then you may want to select a OCZ drive or a SSD based on a Marvell contrler or the new Corsair Neutron series. Those have the benefit of not taking a penelaty with incompressible data. With the overall price drops though on SSDs I would recommend 240GB especially as performance of the SSD will vary depending on capacity filled ( to a extent ). With that noted the Force GS and GTX which use SandForce have very strong performance for overall application usage.
Lastly depending on the maximum read and write speeds you may be better suite to use SSD Caching instead of the raid you are considering on the Marvell ports. Read speeds would be improved considerbly while writes would be stabilized but not overall extended
Hope this helps!

Waiting for my new computer!!!! Check This Out dude

Hi all, I´m new here and i´m glad to be a new member in this forum.
I´m just waiting for my new components to arrive, so i want you to check out the specificatios.
AMD Athlon64 3000+ Winchester
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
1GB OCZ EL PLat Rev2 - OCZ4001024ELDCPER2-K
MSI GF6600 GT PCIx16 - NX6600GT-TD128E
Rosewill RP550 ATX PowerSupply
The other stuff that is showed of on my signature are allready owned.
I saw many reviews of the motherboard and they said that "Its a Must Have" in Anantech and other ones, But in this forums i saw post saying that there are many problems with.
please Make your opinions.
Thanks

Yea, I agree with whats going on in this thread...at first I was having problems too with the same board (new to MSI and AMD) but did some research and raised the chipset memory a wee little bit (hardocp review had it at 1.75v to get to a 375fsb - wow). I am glad to see you didn't make the mistake I made and went with better memory especially if you plan to oc. I was on a tight budget at the time and am getting decent results now for the ram that I have at the price I got it at ($86). The bios may have some issues with the ht multiplier but when I raised the chipset voltage, i got over this 219 hump and can post up to 225 with ht mult set at 5 (others told me not to go past 1000 htt while others said I should be able to go to 1100 htt - who knows). Well, it all comes down to performance and at 222 with the ht mult set at 3, 4 or 5 doesn't change my 3d and pc marks much as you see below. I think the sweet spot is anywhere between 600 and 900 htt setting.
I was really eyeing the ram that you bought and would love to see some of your test results before I go out and buy the same ram...-- -- need sunglasses when I look left on your posts though...lol
K8N Neo4 SLI, winni 3000 ccbid 0509 oc 222x9
Corsair VS 2x512 max stable 1:1 oc 222x4ht, 2.5,3,3,8,1T
MSI 6600 GT PCIe x1 oc 570/1.14
Seagate NCQ hd x1, NEC 3520 DL optical
3DMark05=4025, PCMark04=4071

I am in the market for a new HP Laptop.

I am in the market for a new HP Laptop seeing as how my current one is starting to die out on me. I am looking for one that would last me at least 3 or more years like my current has and i kinda have one i like in mind at this link:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/envy-17-3-laptop-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/9769246.p?id=1219041359741&sk...
So my my main question is going to be this: Does Best buy match prices or beat them out if i find the same model cheaper and with a mail in rebate on another retailer's website such as office depot?
I am doing price comparisons right now, because i don't know how long my current HP Pavillion Entertainment PC will hold out. I have had it for 3 years and now my on board graphics chipset or the LCD Monitor one are starting to mess up on me and i had to replace the fan and battery almost 2 or 3 months ago and now this issue is popping up. It boots up with a green screen when i turn it on at the moment, but then after it has warmed up the screen clears back up like normal. So that is why i figured that it is about time for a newer model laptop and where my researching and price comparing will come in down the line.
If you have any other laptop suggestions for me to at least look at please tell me. I want at least 750 GB or 1 TB HDD and an Intel Core i5 or I7 Processor in these suggestions too, because i do heavy duty Video Editing and Processing for my website and for Video Game Video Walkthroughs and need not only the best Processor it can handle, but for website backups and for the space doing Webcam video recordings can handle too.
Thanks for any suggestions you may have and if the current one i have linked is worth my time in saving for please be so kind as if to let me know that as well. I don't care if it has a Touch Screen or not. But any suggestion for research is always welcome.

The RAM of my HP Pavillion Dv4-2164us model is currently 4, but it is starting to boot up with a green screen when I first start it. So I am thinking about going with the J020 Envy which is a 17 Screen display or I might go for this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/envy-touchsmart-17-3-touch-screen-laptop-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/18203... if I go 4th gen Intel Core i7 Processor and Touch Screen
The next thing after I save up after getting whatever next Laptop I buy will be a Cooling Pad and an External HDD that I can put into one of the USB Ports or where ever you hook them up so that I can backup it up for a rainy day as they say.
The only reason why I am not opting for the becoming popular SSD is the Price tag to get the amount of space I would need is still out of my price range if I got one included. I have to be realistic and on budget as much as I don't want to be.
If I went 4th gen I5 I might get something like this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/envy-17-3-laptop-8gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive/2354033.p?id=1219072210771&...
I would have shown a 15 screen laptop, but the CD/DVD Combo drive is not included in any of them. I would need one to back up my new laptop's OS and files the first week I use it to save from having to reformat or reinstall stuff if things even got messed up.
I have been thinking a lot about all of this not like it was a just now knowing this type of thing either. I have known for some time about that. Thanks for trying to help too.

Can I recover text messages from an old Iphone that has now been wiped? Some of my messages got lost in between the process of turning my old phone in for a new one-which I have since restored from a backup a few days old

In the process of exchanging my defunct Iphone for a new one, some important text messages were lost. The messages obviously did not transfer over to my new phone as I had to restore my new phone from a backup performed a few days ago. Is there a special trick that will allow me to somehow enter my cell number, since it is still the same, in order to recover texts that were received in between wiping my old phone and getting a new one?

You can use an iPhone file explorer such as TouchCopy to get the messages off the old phone. But you can't put them on the new phone as messages. You could put them in a pdf file that you could read on the new phone.
Normally when you get a new phone the first thing you should do is transfer the contents of the old phone to it (Transfer content from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to a new device - Apple Support)). Then the problem does not arise. You are even prompted to do this when you activate the new phone. Once you have started using the new phone without doing this it is too late.
To tell Apple your concern go to http://apple.com/feedback. This is a user to user forum; Apple does not read or participate in it.

I want to exchange my iPhone 5 for a new one, but I bought it online from the factory (unlocked), how do I do this? Can I go to a retail store? or Should I send it back by mail?

So I bought this iPhone 5 probably a year ago now, and I want to exchange it for a new iPhone 5, or if possible an iPhone 5s (if they don't have iPhone 5 anymore), idk.
EITHER WAY, I've read in the web a little about this and apparently I can't do it via going to a physical retail store. Or can I?
ps: on a side note, I heard I need to pay a $50 dollars fee in order to use my AppleCare + warranty, the "exchange your iPhone for a new one" one.
But a friend here in Mexico actually just exchanged his and they didn't charged him a thing. Is this also the same in the US? Can I exchange it here in Mexico? Or what are my options here, since I bought it from Apple.com/online?

The program is for replacement since Apple does not repair iDevices...you take your non-working or damaged iPhone to an Apple store genius bar, or send to Apple service, and they provide a refurbished unit as a replacement, for a fee, of course. You will have to talk with Apple to see if you get all components or just the iPhone replaced.
With AppleCare+ you can have two out-of-warranty replacements for a cost of $49 each.

Should we really go for bean data controls for a new project?

Hi,
I am still new data controls and trying to figure out the advantages of using bean data controls for our new project. Our UI is going to have customized UI components and our back end is going to be a tcp/ip server.
Is it a good idea to develop java beans and then create data controls to bind to UI layer? I think it makes sense to use data controls if we want to use existing java beans. Maybe we would be separating the model layer by using data controls, but only thing it would be doing for us would be the simple object calls to my java beans. Would it be better to use data controls or use I choose to make object calls?
Thanks,
Manoj

Hi,
the POJO data control will always give you a benefit and develope productivity, unless what you have to build fits on a single page - in which case you may not mind the burdon of manual UI component binding
Frank

Seeking feedback on components for a new budget build

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