Specifications

There are two hard drives, although the Dell and Custom Build have faster secondary hard drives
(10,000 rpm) which for this application is crucial. (If you decide to use a Mac Pro, I would suggest
upgrading to a faster hard drive.) In fact, the eventual configuration that I went with (Table 2) has
three hard drives (one for the OS (7200rpm), one for working and temporary storage (7200rpm),
and a dedicated drive (10,000rpm) for capture.
I should explain that the specifications listed in Table 1 are constrained by the needs for
comparison. For example, all three builds utilize Intel processors since that is the brand used by
both Apple and Dell. AMD, the other major manufacturer of processors can also be used as long
as other components (i.e. the motherboard) are compatible. AMD, especially in the mid-to-high
range, makes excellent and inexpensive processors.
The final build for my HD Recorder was slightly different from the Custom Build listed in
Table 1. As previously mentioned, I added another hard drive so that the 10,000rpm hard drive
could be used exclusively for capture and went with an AMD processor and compatible
motherboard (with slightly lower specifications).
Of course, one could easily gain more performance by choosing components with higher
specifications if needed (especially in terms of the processor, motherboard, hard drives (in a RAID
array) and a graphics card). I went with the lower specifications listed in Table 2 because I
intended to use the HD Recorder in very specific ways. Since I wanted to use it at work (the
university where I teach), at home, and even lend it to friends and colleagues, I was not really
going to use it to edit or re-encode the captured video. Instead, it is almost intended to be just a
semi-portable recording system. Therefore, I transfer the captured materials to other PCs (usually
the more powerful computers at my place of work) where I do most of the editing and encoding. If
the HD Recorder was also to be used as the main system to edit and encode the video, then it
would probably be wise to use a more powerful processor and video card (as listed in Table 1).
This is especially true if you plan to use the HD Recorder to record longer periods of gameplay
(one hour or more) and also want to edit and re-encode the HD footage in other formats.
Table 2: Final Build Specifications
Processor
Motherboard
Memory
Graphics
Hard drive
Optical drive
Power Supply
OS
Case
Capture Card
Total:
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 80W Dual-Core
GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H AMD 785G HDMI ATX
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2
(integrated on motherboard)
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive SATA
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C32B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
Blackmagic Intensity Pro
$1,305.89 (Cdn) NCIX.ca, newegg.ca, Annex Pro
The brands and specific models of the various components can be left up to personal
preference. The one component where there is slightly less choice is the video capture card,
especially when it comes to component or HDMI connectivity. The Blackmagic
(http://www.blackmagic-design.com) Intensity Pro (internal PCI express card), the Blackmagic
Intensity Shuttle (external but requiring a USB 3.0 connection, available on most motherboards
today) or the Hauppauge (http://www.hauppauge.com) HD-PVR (external with USB 2.0
connectivity) are all possible solutions. I am much less familiar with Hauppauge and its products
at this time (although they do look very interesting and I will try it in the future). The Blackmagic
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