New PC?

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 3:27 am

Right, my parents will be getting a new PC shortly, they will mostly use it for banking and e-mail, and either it, or our old one (if it can be cleaned up good) will become my new editing computer. I know literaly nothing about computers, so I thought I would turn to the experts for some advice.

-Pentium 4

-512 MB DDR Ram

-160 GB (7200 RPM) Hard Drive

-8x dual layer DVD burner and CD-ROM

-Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with open PCI-e (Whatever the hell that means)

With a 19" monitor for $900 CAD (About $750 USD)

If it's even worth checking out, I'd love to know, this is all the flyer says.

Skitz-O-Phrenia · Post by **Skitz-O-Phrenia** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:03 am

what pentium 4, what fsb, what speed ddr ram, what cache hard drive are things that make a computer look good in a flyer but really arent that good. and that vid is garbage. but it might be a nice computer. call and get the info and post that way I can get a better judge of what you are getting.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 12:31 am

Oky, we've got another contender we're considering. Here's the stats:

-2.80 GHZ, 1 MB L2 Cache, 533 MHZ FSB

-Intel Pentium 4

-Intel Motherboard, 865GBF Chipset with HT Technology support

-512MB Dual Channel DDR 400Mhz Kingsotn RAM

-40 GB Western Digital Hard Drive

-52x24x52 CD-RW (Free upgrade to DVD burner, same speed) 16x DVD drive second bay

-ATI Radeon 9200 8x AGP Graphics Card 128MB DDR, TV-Out

-Soundmax 3D Sound

-Microsoft Keyboard, mouse

-Windows XP and Works Suite

-19" LCD monitor

-Lexmark printer/scanner/copier and a Lexmark Photo Printer

Total cost: $1200 CAD (About $1000 USD)

ALove · Post by **ALove** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 1:09 am

id figure out how to build a pc, or at least, upgrade the seconds ram and HD (building is awesome, 3000$ retail can easily be 1500$ built)

Skitz-O-Phrenia · Post by **Skitz-O-Phrenia** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 1:39 am

ya, I could build that system for less than $800 usd. Even if you dont think you can put together a system, DO IT, it is very easy and will save you alot of money.

ati 9200 is one of the worst cards ati ever made. an intel 2.8 533fsb is actually more $$ than a 2.8 800fsb. and as I am sure you already know, 40gb just wont cut it. I would also suggest SATA hard drives, much faster. Your hard drive is the bottleneck in the system.

Luteleigh · Post by **Luteleigh** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:16 am

The first system sounded better (but we don't know exact specs), although the video card is cr**, but there is a spare pci-e slot for a decent card. The price difference makes it better too. 160GB would be ideal for video and editing. The 40GB is almost useless for editing.

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 6:25 pm

I was going to get a dual layer burner, but then I discovered it's almost impossible to find dual layer discs right now.

Both systems will do fine, you don't need to spend an extra $1000 just for a few things that will make your job a little smoother (unless you do lots of 3d rendering).

-If your doing simple stuff, 512 mb will do fine
- A 2.8 ghz is not much slower than a 3.0 or 3.2 and you will barely notice the difference
-A good video card does not help editing, but you should have a decent one
-You don't need several hundred gb's, unless you are doing huge films, or you plan on keeping every little bit of video on your system. You can get away with a 120 gb if it's mainly for editing.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:18 am

Cool, thanks guys. Can anyone recommend a good video card?

Skitz-O-Phrenia · Post by **Skitz-O-Phrenia** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 4:26 am

are you wanting to do some serious gaming? how much do you want to spend on a vid card?

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:28 am

I don't want to go super high end, I don't play too many video games, but I would like something that can kepp up with the newer games out there. As far as price goes, I really don't know, depending on how much the computer cost in the first place anywhere from $100 to $400.

Skitz-O-Phrenia · Post by **Skitz-O-Phrenia** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:06 am

I would suggest an ati 9800pro you can get them for $200usd from newegg I got my connect3d 9800pro 128mb 256bit retail for like $197 VERY GOOD card for under 200. but of course there is better....but better costs more too

Luteleigh · Post by **Luteleigh** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 11:40 pm

yeah, value for money (without going too expensive), either radeon 9800pro, or geforce 6800 (NOT GT or Ultra). But note that these are AGP. If your motherboard has the PCI-E slot, you will need to consider other options which I know nothing about.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 11:41 pm

Dual layer disks are around but very expensive! over here about $10 per disk and single layers about 50c lol

pan-modo_pictures · Post by **pan-modo_pictures** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:18 pm

The only ones I have seen come in this huge pack with 10 dvd-r, 10 dvd+r, 10 dvd rw, and 1 dual layer disc.