Just a few quick questions

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 10:40 pm

I know lots of you know quite a great deal about computers, so I have a few questions to ask before I buy a new one in a few days.

- Im getting a dvd +/- rw drive for sure, so do I even need to bother getting a cd rw/dvd rom drive as well? Oh, and what about the new dual layered burners?

- What is the great deal about windows xp pro? Is it really worth the extra money?

U.S.Amateurfilmaker · Post by **U.S.Amateurfilmaker** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:52 am

well, i would get a DVD +/- RW drive and a regular dvd-RW drive. This is only because i would be afraid of putting strain on the burner with everyday use, especially since they are more expensive. Also, the dual layered ones are nice, so if you want one, i'd go with it, cuz u get twice as much on a disk. As far as Pro, it's really not necessary, and to tell you the truth, i don't even know why i got it. However, one program i saw once said it required pro, but i have no clue why. I'd go with home, unless u want some of the administrative and networking features that come with pro.

xbreaka420 · Post by **xbreaka420** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:58 am

pro comes will file encryption whcih you can easily do in xp with a 3rd party prog

John Groshko · Post by **John Groshko** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 5:10 am

Go with the dual layer DVD burner; because if you do, you will be able to make exact copies of any DVD.

ssj3gohan · Post by **ssj3gohan** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:54 am

WHOA!!! I'd definitely get pro.
Right now, I've got win xp home on this computer, and it works fine, but has some MAJOR disadvantages. For instance, I've tried to install visual studio .net, but it doesn't work because for some reason, home doesn't let it do certain vital things like open c libraries etc. Then, vegas 5 doesn't work too well as home doesn't lend it enough writing rights, so when rendering or editing, it's slow as hell. My other computer has windows xp pro and has never crashed or shut down suddenly without any reason, this computer has already 19 (!) times. And lots of plugins and mods for games, cgi progs and programming interfaces don't work as expected. So get pro, it will get you out of a hell lot of trouble.

Oh and pro has user policies for every imaginable windows filesystem/regedit object. So for me, that's a major advantage too.

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:03 pm

Pro is definitely the way to go. The home interface for configuring networking sux, and generally everything that you would want to configure on the file system security wise is done thru wizards, to a Windows default. While that same interface is available in Pro, the default is to allow standard NT like granular security settings. Overall Pro seems more stable than Home. WHile they both basically run the same kernel, many of th eother core files are different, and the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer )is also different between the two. The HAL in Pro just seems more stable, and seems to have better support for some types of hardware.

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:23 pm

U.S.Amateurfilmaker wrote:well, i would get a DVD +/- RW drive and a regular dvd-RW drive.

Are you sure you don't mean a cd rw driver, because I don't see what the point in getting two dvd burners is?

Also for processor speed, Im probably going to get at least over 3 ghz. Will I notice a big difference between 3.2 ghz and 3.4 ghz?

John Groshko · Post by **John Groshko** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:11 pm

Probably not.

ssj3gohan · Post by **ssj3gohan** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:33 pm

you are not getting two dvd burners, with a multistandard burner you get one burner that can burn dvd+r(w) as well as dvd-r(w), which is REALLY handy. I can tell, I burn dvd's really much, and just recently I bought a stack of mixed dvd's (10 dvd+/-r's) and two dvd-rw's, I can all burn them, and that's a comfort to know. You can just buy the cheapest grub available at a certain point in time, and don't have to worry if your dvd burner is going to be able to burn it. The price doesn't matter that much, differences are about 20-40 dollars, which you won't notice when you burn a lot. I burn about 200 gigs a year, plus some times a dvd+/-rw and of course cd's (for the looneys that haven't got a dvdplayer in their computer).

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:57 pm

No, I understand what a dual format burner is, but what he meant was that I not only buy a dual format burner, but another dvd -r burner as well.

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 6:15 am

Well after long hours of researching I have figured out everything I want, yet I still have yet to decide the processor. It's either the pentium 4 3.2 ghz, or the amd 64 3200+. For both I have picked out the motherboard, in case I make up a last miniute decision. Right now it's the pentium 4, since I have heard they are better for video editing. They are also about the same price, pentium 4 is about $20 more. Plus, even though windows is going 64 bit combatible, not every program is, so I don't see the big rush. Anyways I can't really make a wrong decision.

U.S.Amateurfilmaker · Post by **U.S.Amateurfilmaker** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 7:25 am

pan-modo_pictures wrote:
U.S.Amateurfilmaker wrote:well, i would get a DVD +/- RW drive and a regular dvd-RW drive.
Are you sure you don't mean a cd rw driver, because I don't see what the point in getting two dvd burners is?

Also for processor speed, Im probably going to get at least over 3 ghz. Will I notice a big difference between 3.2 ghz and 3.4 ghz?

sorry, I meant a regular dvd-rom drive, not rw, my bad. lol. And yes, getting 2 would be pointless

ssj3gohan · Post by **ssj3gohan** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:10 am

pan-modo_pictures wrote:Well after long hours of researching I have figured out everything I want, yet I still have yet to decide the processor. It's either the pentium 4 3.2 ghz, or the amd 64 3200+. For both I have picked out the motherboard, in case I make up a last miniute decision. Right now it's the pentium 4, since I have heard they are better for video editing. They are also about the same price, pentium 4 is about $20 more. Plus, even though windows is going 64 bit combatible, not every program is, so I don't see the big rush. Anyways I can't really make a wrong decision.

oh so true, I guess it's the price you should be worried about with that config, so preferably try to find a p4 for that 20 dollars less

and else just take the cheapest configuration. It's mega anyways.
And don't forget the endless conversations on this forum about RAM! get enough! (1-1,5 GB pc3200)

xbreaka420 · Post by **xbreaka420** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:26 am

go the amd 64 definetly

U.S.Amateurfilmaker · Post by **U.S.Amateurfilmaker** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:37 pm

I agree.

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 3:16 am

Well Im back and extremely happy. I went with the pentium 4 3.20 ghz, 1024 mb ram, dvd -/+ drive, floppy drive, 2 120 gb hard drives, cool master case, albatron motherboard, keyboard, mouse, etc. The main reason I didn't go with the amd 64 was because I heard from many sources that the pentium 4 was a bit better for video editing, and amd 64 was better for games. Anyways the prices were basically the same. I'd also like to thank all of you in helping with my decision

Chris_film · Post by **Chris_film** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 4:13 am

how much did all that cost????? i have no money and i envy you.....plus my computer sucks.....

ssj3gohan · Post by **ssj3gohan** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 5:39 pm

very good choice, if you ever want to upgrade I'd take an extra gig of RAM, but this is more than enough. Nice computer, I envy you.

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:08 am

Well the ram is ocz high performance, so it's pretty good stuff. I just built it today, and I was succesful. When that computer first went into bios, I was jumping around with excitement. It actually didn't cost a huge amount of money. It came to just under $2000 canadian with tax. Anyways during bios, when I first went to partition the c drive, I accidentally made it to small, and I would like it bigger. Does anyone know how I can fix this by making a bigger partition.

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:34 am

If you set the size too snall in Bios, then you're kind of hosed, You diodn't create the partition in Bios, you laid out the physical fomratting of the cylionders/heads/sectors. If you set it to the correct settings then it won't reboot from teh current install. Best suggestion would be to set the BIOS to autodetect sdrive, then reinstall OS.. If you sized it wrong during the XP install then you could use partition magic to resize the partition. The difference bertween the two, the bios lays out the sector alignment, on a physical level partitioning assigns these sectprs to a given entry in the partition table - a logical operation...

justsomeguy · Post by **justsomeguy** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:18 pm

how much did all that cost????? i have no money and i envy you.....plus my computer sucks.....

if you have $400 and can build it you can get a pretty nice computer if you get everything at the right place. proc 2.4 p4 for $157:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 157&depa=0
get a mobo for about $100
video card for about $100
at frys electronics they have 512mb of 3200 me for $60
then just use your existing hdd (or spend $90 or so for a 200 gb. also at fry's) and monitor and maybe case and powersupply and your set. doubt they have a fry's where you are tho, but im sure you could find a place with close prices

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:09 pm

Well I don't really have anything on it right now, so I might just reinstall it. i don't care about anything I have on there right now, so what is a good way to go about re-installing windows xp?

Skitz-O-Phrenia · Post by **Skitz-O-Phrenia** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:36 pm

boot it with the xp cd and there will be an option to fix/repair or format reinstall. just boot with the xp cd and you will be fine, it is very simple