Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Technology


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 05-28-2004, 06:10 AM   #1 (permalink)
Addict
 
Location: Taxachussetts
What do I need?

Hi,

I'm not much of a computer guy but my wife and I want to get one that we can do some fairly basic stuff on. Our primary goal is to edit some home video stuff, as well as do some Internet stuff and maybe some other basic computing things and the occassional game or two. We don't have a ton of money so I was wondering what the minimum reguirements [HD size, memory, video card, etc.] we should be shopping for. [it'll probably be a PC not a MAC as he price for MACs gets a little too high, due to the lack of competitors].

Thanks in advance!
__________________
Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!
JohnnyRock is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 06:25 AM   #2 (permalink)
Knight of the Old Republic
 
Lasereth's Avatar
 
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Are you gonna custom built it, or buy it at a store? And what games are you planning on playing...$50 games at a store that require 3D acceleration, or simple flash Internet games?

-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert
Lasereth is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 06:44 AM   #3 (permalink)
Addict
 
Location: Taxachussetts
I would custom build it if that is the best/cheapest way to get what I need. as for games [and again, not the main reason for the computer] probably a little of both.
__________________
Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!
JohnnyRock is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 11:39 AM   #4 (permalink)
Psycho
 
soopafreek's Avatar
 
Location: ask your mom
are you going us to factor in a monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, speakers, etc... with our recommendations? what's the highest price you're willing to go?
__________________
aaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!
soopafreek is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 02:50 PM   #5 (permalink)
Addict
 
Location: Taxachussetts
a monitor yes, the rest I either have or will go with what basics ...can probably go about 2,500 overall
__________________
Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!
JohnnyRock is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 05:16 PM   #6 (permalink)
Psycho
 
soopafreek's Avatar
 
Location: ask your mom
wow! for $2500 you can build a really bad ass system...

lets start with the processor... are you partial to AMD or Intel?
__________________
aaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!
soopafreek is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 05:58 PM   #7 (permalink)
Addict
 
Location: Taxachussetts
I've only had systems with Intel so far [mostly from work--also been on MACs a lot] so I guess I'd say partial to Intel.
__________________
Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!
JohnnyRock is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 06:25 PM   #8 (permalink)
I flopped the nutz...
 
mikec's Avatar
 
Location: Stratford, CT
http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=736207

this is a machine I recently put together for someone. dump the wireless stuff if you don't need it, and add more HD space. then the only thing you'd be missing from a top of the line DV system is a real time editing card, and they go for about $1,000.
__________________
Until the 20th century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since the initial publication of the charted electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one millionth of reality
mikec is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 06:27 PM   #9 (permalink)
Knight of the Old Republic
 
Lasereth's Avatar
 
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
$2,500 is enough to build the best custom computer on the market. Are you really wanting to spend that much? If you spend $2,500 on a PC, it'll be extreme overkill. Hell, if you spent $1,000 it would be overkill for what you need.

Have you ever built a custom PC before? People like to say it's really easy, but the first time is always tricky. I might recommend a store-bought PC unless you know how to put a PC together or have a computer dork friend.

We gotta come to the conclusion on whether you're up to building a custom PC or not. If not, $2,500 will still get ya a damn nice store-bought PC, it simply won't be nearly as good as a custom built.

-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert
Lasereth is offline  
Old 05-28-2004, 07:30 PM   #10 (permalink)
Knight of the Old Republic
 
Lasereth's Avatar
 
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Intel Pentium 4 E Core 3.0 GHz HT Processor - $220
Abit IC7-MAX3 Motherboard - $182
1 GB PC3200 Corsair RAM - $186
Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000 RPM SATA Hard Drive - $111.25
Seagate 120 GB 7200 RPM/8 MB Cache IDE Hard Drive - $93.50
Lite-On Black DVD-Dual Drive Burner - $81
Sony Black Floppy Drive - $11
BFG NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 128 MB Videocard - $152
Any Case You Want - $50
Enermax 350w Noisetaker PSU - $55
Scanport 17" CRT Monitor - $80

This PC is $1,221.75 before shipping. It's all you'd ever need, including a monitor. Add $100 if you want a videocard that supports a ton of TV-Tuning, TV-OUT, TV-IN, A/V, etc. options. The current videocard will play today's games fine. Everything else is well above average.

If you're really set on spending $2,500, then of course I can make it better, but I'm saying there's no need to.

-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert
Lasereth is offline  
Old 05-29-2004, 08:25 PM   #11 (permalink)
is awesome!
 
Locobot's Avatar
 
You can get a pretty decent mac for $2500, but like Lasereth says, you don't need to spend that much.
Locobot is offline  
Old 05-29-2004, 08:50 PM   #12 (permalink)
wouldn't mind being a ninja.
 
MooseMan3000's Avatar
 
Location: Maine, the Other White State.
Just want to echo the thoughts here... $2500 is enough to get you an insanely fast, totally top of the line machine, if you custom build it yourself (or even if you get it custom built by someone else, usually.)

For home video editing, you probably need a Firewire connection (aka an IEEE 1394 port), and you will definitely need a large hard drive (I'd go with at least 120 GB).

For gaming, you'll need a respectable video card. The Geforce 5700 that Lasereth mentioned is fine, and you can get better ones for a little more money, or slightly les powerful ones for a little bet less money. I prefer ATI Radeon video cards to nVidia Geforce, but I determined before that it's because I'm an elitist bastard, not because they're necessarily better. Either one will do you just fine.

For memory, I would get at least 1 gigabyte, and it has to be at least 400 MHz. (Is that PC 3200? I can't remember off hand) There are different speeds of memory, just like there are different speeds of processors... a lot of people don't know that, and they try to beef up their machine by getting a lot of really slow RAM. Many commercial companies do this, too, to save money.

My recommendation would be NOT to buy a commercial PC, because they cost more and are less powerful. The one main point for buying from someone like Dell, however, is that they offer support. If you aren't very comfortable with computers, it IS nice to have someone to fall back on (I mean besides us at TFP )

If you want it custom built, I'm sure any one of us here can get a good system put together for you (Lasereth already did one possible version). If you're worried about building it yourself, one of us could probably even put it together and ship it to you for less than the cost of a commercial PC. Or I could do it, and you could come to my house in Maine and get it. Heh.



What it really comes down to is whether you'd trust having a custom computer or if you would prefer to have the warranties and service that come with an expensive pre-built machine.

Everyone here will tell you to get a custom built machine. You just need to decide for yourself. If you want a pre-built machine, then we can also give you advice on which brands to look at, and even which specific models to look for. Just say the word, and I'm sure someone will be happy to talk your ears off (like I have) about buying pre built machines. I mean, that's what we're here for, right?


And just a quick question for Lasereth... why would you include that Raptor hard drive? I'm just curious what exactly the effect of it would be on the machine. Would having the OS on the SATA drive make it faster overall, or what?

Last edited by MooseMan3000; 05-29-2004 at 08:53 PM..
MooseMan3000 is offline  
Old 05-30-2004, 09:08 AM   #13 (permalink)
Addict
 
Location: Taxachussetts
Thanks. More than happy to spend less...I think I know someone that can help build one. If not, I'll probably go with a Dell or something but wanted to know the options. Thanks!
__________________
Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!
JohnnyRock is offline  
Old 05-30-2004, 01:53 PM   #14 (permalink)
Knight of the Old Republic
 
Lasereth's Avatar
 
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Quote:
Originally posted by MooseMan3000
And just a quick question for Lasereth... why would you include that Raptor hard drive? I'm just curious what exactly the effect of it would be on the machine. Would having the OS on the SATA drive make it faster overall, or what?
SATA isn't faster than IDE right now, but the Raptors are 10,000 RPM. Having a SATA hard drive that's as fast as a 10k RPM SCSI HDD is very nice, especially considering the Raptors aren't nearly as loud as a SCSI HDD (dustbuster). It'll certainly speed things up. But you're right, the fact that it's a SATA HDD isn't what's making it fast...it's the increased RPM's. A 7200 RPM SATA HDD is useless (well, it *does* have a smaller cable! ).

-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert
Lasereth is offline  
Old 05-31-2004, 08:04 AM   #15 (permalink)
Junkie
 
IMHO, the system deascribed is okay, but, I'd add a second fast drive (then you one drive where your SW can write the movies while the first drive works with your software [makes it faster overall]) and also add more RAM. You can't have enough RAM whem editing video. My company is making vids for in-house training. That is our experience. Two fast drives (I'd make one of them at least 200GB - The files get damnd big while you're working on them) and 3 GB of RAM is the minimum you want to think about.
__________________
+++++++++++Boom!
tropple is offline  
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:43 PM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360