Fire GL or 1950XTX ? along with HDD set up?

[not2psycho]

I am very new to this world of building computers. But instead of going out and buying a rig that has things on it I'll never use I decided to build my own for specific uses.
I am building a rig for video editing, watching T.V. through, surfing the web, musical downloads, and video/nanny cams. This is just the basics. I'd like it to be expandable (within reason) to turn on and monitor household items.
My question is should I get a workstation card like the GL series or should I stick with a gaming card? Also what would be the best hard drive format for this set up? Raid or not?

 

[paparazi]

Quote.
"I am building a rig for video editing, watching T.V. through, surfing the web, musical downloads, and video/nanny cams"
None of these applications demands a workstation class/price graphics card, infact, these applications are more CPU intensive than anything else.
So actually the most important hardware is: Dual or quad core CPU (intel) is the best ATM.
Lots of ram, 2gig plus of fast PC8500 would be ideal
Raid? yes! ideally a raid 0+1 for both performance and built in redundancy, 4 Westerndigital Enterprise Edition RE (Raid edition) drives would be very cool, otherwise two of these drives in a raid 0 for outright performance.
Graphics card? as I said, those applications don't need the most expensive graphics harware so, something like a middle ranking 256mb Nvidia 8600GT would be just fine.
An Intel P35 based full ATX motherboard which has native 1333fsb support for the latest Intel CPU ranges with lots of extra features built in.
Quality 500watt plus PSU from: Antec/Enermax/Seasonic/Jeantech/OCZ/Coolermaster/Channelwell Technology/FSP Sparkle/Zalman or similar top brand.

Martin




We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[not2psycho]

Martin:
Thank you very much for your clarification. I currently have a Thermaltake Shark case, Asus PW5 HD Deluxe motherboard, a pair of Sony dv/cd burners. I have an Intel Q6600 cpu, Thermaltake 1000W PSU, OCZ pc6400 memory on its way. I was thinking about going with the XP Pro 64 but I'm not sure if the Media Center is compatable. Since I'm building a media pc I've been told to go with the 2005 Media Center Edition. Also I was told that The W.D. Raptor 150 gb, 16mb cache 10,000rpm wouldn't be a bad option. Also I'm going to liquid cool this rig. Thanks Again.


I'll pass on whatever knowledge I have.

 

[Nelviticus]

I have read that those Raptor drives are now only slightly faster than some of the newer 500GB drives from manufacturers like Samsung, and that they're extremely noisy. If you want to use your PC for watching TV then I'd go for quiet drives like the Samsungs rather than fast ones.

Regarding Media Centre, I have also read that Service Pack 2 for Vista (due fairly soon) will fix a lot of the issues with Media Centre (Center?) so it may be worthwhile going for that rather than Windows XP Media Centre Edition.

Regards

Nelviticus