I'm looking to buy a new pc - use for video editing,storing photos and music, some gaming and general use. I ws thinking of Dell as their specs seem quite good compared to others for the price. I'm not up to building my own pc. Question is what to look for - is it better to go with the faster processor or look for a fasteror larger hard disk. One has a Raid 0 stripe which it says is faster. What are peoples opinions?
Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations derfloh on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
advice buying new pc
- Thread starter tizwaz
- Start date
Agreed.
As for the processor, accept nothing less than a Core 2 Duo E6300. There's a "2" after "Core", very important. This or better is the current best CPU flavor. RAID 0 is fastest but is twice as likely to fail as a single hard drive. Get a large external USB/FW drive (larger than the RAID 0 array) for backup, this is critical with RAID 0. Then be sure to use it!
For video and gaming get the best card you can afford, I would accept nothing weaker than an nVidia 7900 or ATI X1900-1950 w/ 256MB MINIMUM GDDR3 RAM, it is nice to have the Cross-fire or SLI option for the future.
A card-reader is a valuable option, as is a DVD Dual-Layer combo burner. Front or top-mounted USB ports are mandatory and should be standard, I'm not familiar with the Dull, er, Dell product.
Seriously Dell, HP, Sony etc. all make excellent PCs for the money. Best of luck!
Tony
The processor speed is more misleading than ever, especially with the new dual-core CPUs including Intel's Core 2 Duo.
I focus less on the "speed rating" and focus more on the CPU "type". At this point, it's best to buy either an Athlon X2 or Intel's Core 2 Duo. Either will give you plenty of speed in any program, in addition to adding some headroom for that eventual upgrade to Windows Vista. You want dual-core since you plan on getting into video editing. X2's aren't a bad second option, so if you decide to settle for one, you won't be disappointed.
As for RAID...
Just keep in mind that a RAID 0 array speeds some things up a bit. However, if one of the two drives crashes, you lose the entire array. You should make frequent backups of everything if you go this route. I wouldn't say this feature is as important as getting either an X2 or Core 2 Duo, but RAID is definitely a nice option.
The video card is the most important factor for gaming, but won't really impact your video editing. So keep that in mind. I'm sure others here can weigh in on the best ones out there right now for the price. Check out for ideas too.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
I focus less on the "speed rating" and focus more on the CPU "type". At this point, it's best to buy either an Athlon X2 or Intel's Core 2 Duo. Either will give you plenty of speed in any program, in addition to adding some headroom for that eventual upgrade to Windows Vista. You want dual-core since you plan on getting into video editing. X2's aren't a bad second option, so if you decide to settle for one, you won't be disappointed.
As for RAID...
Just keep in mind that a RAID 0 array speeds some things up a bit. However, if one of the two drives crashes, you lose the entire array. You should make frequent backups of everything if you go this route. I wouldn't say this feature is as important as getting either an X2 or Core 2 Duo, but RAID is definitely a nice option.
The video card is the most important factor for gaming, but won't really impact your video editing. So keep that in mind. I'm sure others here can weigh in on the best ones out there right now for the price. Check out for ideas too.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
JUst went through this, and they all ganged up on me and made me build my own. (OK, I'm a pushover). Somewhere with me at the top there is a question about buying a Dell or HP. Then a long and torturous piece on building one or having one built.
Here's the deal. Everyone I know with Dell has a problem or two, but seems to be otherwise satisfied. I get the feeling that extended warranties are a good idea with them or HP.
Don't listen to the Vista voices here. I'd get a Vista ready model, which means it will be set up with XP 64, and you have the choice to move to vista (for free or little money) or not.
I went with a AMD Athlon, which is coming up as a strong contender for the dual channel system. Dual Core and CoreDuo - both good. You need 1mg ram, now, no matter what, really, especially if you do gaming.
The consensus of those who made me do the build yourself thing again was that by getting a custom model you pay more and get more. I have to say that I am ecstatic, aside from a couple of details I can work out. There are a lot of companies that will build it with their components, and probably some near you. The danger in this, as with buying a Dell, is that it's easy to get carried away.
I nearly got mine from Central Computing in San Francisco (they ship). Guys name was Tim, and he was about as cheap as any web site without the grief.
For other resources try Tiger Direct. Newegg For good deals (and this is the best time be looking for any model) go to dealnews.
I got all my stuff from them, and I am pretty happy.
If you are uncomfortable with this, Dell does have some exceptional deals, and so does Walmart (Shudder)
If you are looking for rock bottom and think you will upgrade later, then there are a lot of relatively (amazingly ) cheap off the shelf models which may not last a long time, but will give you instant satisfaction. You can get a new one in a couple of years. (Not a good environmental decision, but sometimes necessity dictates.)
Here's the deal. Everyone I know with Dell has a problem or two, but seems to be otherwise satisfied. I get the feeling that extended warranties are a good idea with them or HP.
Don't listen to the Vista voices here. I'd get a Vista ready model, which means it will be set up with XP 64, and you have the choice to move to vista (for free or little money) or not.
I went with a AMD Athlon, which is coming up as a strong contender for the dual channel system. Dual Core and CoreDuo - both good. You need 1mg ram, now, no matter what, really, especially if you do gaming.
The consensus of those who made me do the build yourself thing again was that by getting a custom model you pay more and get more. I have to say that I am ecstatic, aside from a couple of details I can work out. There are a lot of companies that will build it with their components, and probably some near you. The danger in this, as with buying a Dell, is that it's easy to get carried away.
I nearly got mine from Central Computing in San Francisco (they ship). Guys name was Tim, and he was about as cheap as any web site without the grief.
For other resources try Tiger Direct. Newegg For good deals (and this is the best time be looking for any model) go to dealnews.
I got all my stuff from them, and I am pretty happy.
If you are uncomfortable with this, Dell does have some exceptional deals, and so does Walmart (Shudder)
If you are looking for rock bottom and think you will upgrade later, then there are a lot of relatively (amazingly ) cheap off the shelf models which may not last a long time, but will give you instant satisfaction. You can get a new one in a couple of years. (Not a good environmental decision, but sometimes necessity dictates.)
Afaik all DELL PC are Vista ready and u get an upgrade coupon from XP to vista.
i would prefer an intel core 2 duo cpu especially the E6400 (without bigger OC expierence or special components, u could get the performance of an E6600).
the performance u gain with raid 0 is not mentionable (good article: better u buy a raptor as bootdisk and 1 or 2 large barracudas as storage disks.
for video editing u should buy at min. 2 gb ram. forget sli or cs. better u buy now a good card and if u need more performance in future. sell the old one and buy the new one.
cs or sli only effects if u buy 2 at the same time (ggod article: <- german).
Best regards
B4db0y
____________________________________________________________
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
i would prefer an intel core 2 duo cpu especially the E6400 (without bigger OC expierence or special components, u could get the performance of an E6600).
the performance u gain with raid 0 is not mentionable (good article: better u buy a raptor as bootdisk and 1 or 2 large barracudas as storage disks.
for video editing u should buy at min. 2 gb ram. forget sli or cs. better u buy now a good card and if u need more performance in future. sell the old one and buy the new one.
cs or sli only effects if u buy 2 at the same time (ggod article: <- german).
Best regards
B4db0y
____________________________________________________________
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
- Thread starter
- #8
ArizonaGeek
IS-IT--Management
macten88 said:
Not sure what machine Rick was using but I upgraded my machine to a Core 2 Duo 2.4 ghz a couple of months ago and have been running Vista for about a month. Vista is way faster than XP on my machine.
Windows Vista also sets file copying to a dynamic speed so the more bandwidth you have the faster you can copy files between Vista machines. I was shown a demo of a 62mb file transfered from a Vista machine. From an XP machine it took about 3 minutes from another Vista machine literally 4 seconds.
The only difference between building your computer and buying a brand name would be the warranty. A machine is a machine no matter who builds it and at any time can fail for any number of reasons.
When you build a machine you generally get a 1 year factory warranty on all your parts. So if your hard drive fails you'd have to ship back (at your expense) to the manufacture and if your video card fails you have to ship it back to them etc. Where as if you buy a Dell (and I recommend getting at least an extended 3 year warranty) you have a one stop phone call to make. It'll probably be to India but generally I've not had any problems getting what I needed replaced within 24 hours. If it's something I don't want to mess with (laptop motherboards for instance) I can have a Dell tech come to my office and fix it. Of course businesses tend to get different treatment than consumers when it comes to Dell and I am sure HP, Sony, IBM/Lenova are all similar.
A general rule of thumb, get the biggest hard drive, fastest & newest processor, and most RAM/video memory you can afford. Stay way from the cheapest models, you always wind up having problems but a happy medium should run you around $1500 to $2000 for a nice, fairly top of the line computer. Or you can get a screaming, monster computer for around $3500. Pick your processor first, RAM second, video card third and hard drive fourth and get the fastest/biggest of each you can afford.
Cheers
Rob
ArizonaGeek
IS-IT--Management
macten88 said:
Not sure what machine Rick was using but I upgraded my machine to a Core 2 Duo 2.4 ghz a couple of months ago and have been running Vista for about a month. Vista is way faster than XP on my machine.
Windows Vista also sets file copying to a dynamic speed so the more bandwidth you have the faster you can copy files between Vista machines. I was shown a demo of a 62mb file transfered from a Vista machine. From an XP machine it took about 3 minutes from another Vista machine literally 4 seconds.
The only difference between building your computer and buying a brand name would be the warranty. A machine is a machine no matter who builds it and at any time can fail for any number of reasons.
When you build a machine you generally get a 1 year factory warranty on all your parts. So if your hard drive fails you'd have to ship back (at your expense) to the manufacture and if your video card fails you have to ship it back to them etc. Where as if you buy a Dell (and I recommend getting at least an extended 3 year warranty) you have a one stop phone call to make. It'll probably be to India but generally I've not had any problems getting what I needed replaced within 24 hours. If it's something I don't want to mess with (laptop motherboards for instance) I can have a Dell tech come to my office and fix it. Of course businesses tend to get different treatment than consumers when it comes to Dell and I am sure HP, Sony, IBM/Lenova are all similar.
A general rule of thumb, get the biggest hard drive, fastest & newest processor, and most RAM/video memory you can afford. Stay way from the cheapest models, you always wind up having problems but a happy medium should run you around $1500 to $2000 for a nice, fairly top of the line computer. Or you can get a screaming, monster computer for around $3500. Pick your processor first, RAM second, video card third and hard drive fourth and get the fastest/biggest of each you can afford.
Cheers
Rob
ArizonaGeek
IS-IT--Management
Whoops sorry about the double post, the website seemed to have an issue and I hit the Submit Post again.
Thanks for the info on Vista everyone. I guess I'm one of those who computes on the cheap. As friends and family upgrade, they give me their old computers. I mix and match parts and build one for very little.
I'm currently using an AMD 850 Thunderbird box that I built over 5 years ago. Does everything I need it to do and cost me almost nothing. Then again, I'm not into gaming or video editing...
I'm currently using an AMD 850 Thunderbird box that I built over 5 years ago. Does everything I need it to do and cost me almost nothing. Then again, I'm not into gaming or video editing...
macten88,
Very true. Consider treating yourself soon, though, as the newer Core 2 Duos and Athlon X2's get even cheaper. Upgrading once every 5-6 years isn't bad, and for Vista (if you ever decide to change) it will be required.
tizwaz,
Guess I should have also stated that there are video cards that can greatly improve video editing, but their gaming ability lacks significantly. Matrox has cards like the RT.X2 or RT.X100 that would do wonders for video editing, for example. Actually, this is the MOST important factor if video editing is your main concern, followed by the CPU and RAM.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
Very true. Consider treating yourself soon, though, as the newer Core 2 Duos and Athlon X2's get even cheaper. Upgrading once every 5-6 years isn't bad, and for Vista (if you ever decide to change) it will be required.
tizwaz,
Guess I should have also stated that there are video cards that can greatly improve video editing, but their gaming ability lacks significantly. Matrox has cards like the RT.X2 or RT.X100 that would do wonders for video editing, for example. Actually, this is the MOST important factor if video editing is your main concern, followed by the CPU and RAM.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Question