New Computer Specs – Please Help

[John Weber]

Ok guys, I use to know a bit about computers around 1990, well I don’t seem to know squat now. My wife has tossed a bone my way that we might need a new computer for our daughter (5), she is using my parents older computer, but it can’t run the newer software (a decent machine, just out of date maybe ’96 vintage but just a guess). So she will out get my ’99 Dell, XP Pro, 500 mHz, PIII, 400 MB RAM, (40 GB & 20 GB Drives), DVD-ROM, CD Burner, basically a nice (although out dated machine) that does everything I want it to do right now. We have broad band and a very good 19” monitor (that will stay with me). My question is what do I need in a new system. The things I would like a new computer to do are, video transfer and editing. We are still using an analog video camera, so I would transfer from a HI8 tape. I would like to write to DVD and maybe make some other DVD’s. I’m played a little with video on my current system, but it doesn’t have enough horses to do anything. We also run a little wireless home network with my wife’s laptop and my desktop. I’ll likely keep my older PC on the network for upgrades, etc…, but our daughter doesn’t surf – yet, thank god. I don’t really game, but do use most of the MS Office apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Frontpage, Publisher, etc…) That is about it. Any ideas? At some point we’ll get a new digital video camera, but not until our Sony dies.

Lost as usual – John

[Kevin Arceneaux]

The best advice is get as much as you can afford.

I finally went over to AMD in this computer. The performance is there, as is the upgradeability (that a word?) I have had no troubles.

[Hank Walczak]

John - Are you going to build it yourself from components or are you getting a factory built? Most of the latest vintage CPUs would more than be adequate. I'd suggest a high-end video card (256Mb video memory) and a motherboard that can support a Gig or more of memory. If you plan to store much video get at least 120G Ultra hard drive. Double layer dual format DVD burner. Those would be the big players in a system. As for software, whatever curdles your cream.... just my .02.

[John Weber]

Well, budget is always naughty word. My current system was well over $3500 including a few upgrades on the way. Since I'm keeping my monitor and printer (for now) that should help a bit. It would be nice to stay around $1000, but I could run up to $1500+ I guess. We are also consider a new DLP projection TV whenever the prices drop, so more on a computer would be less on a TV, and right now I really hope we can swing a 50" set. But by spending a bit more on our current system it still does eveything I need after 5 (almost 6 years), except the video.

I doubt I would build oue myself, I can swap drives, add cards, install stuff, but not real comfortable under the hood so to speak.

I agree 256 video, 1 GB RAM, at least a 120 GB HD, and yes dual layer and format DVD sounds good, just hammering out the specifics is where I start spinning my wheels.

Thanks - John

[Matt Meiser]

One word: Dell. Overall, in my opinion, Dell has the best combination of price, quality and service in the PC industry. Until corporate signed a deal with IBM, our interal IS department used all Dell PC's and servers. My department still buys Dell for customers unless they spec otherwise. I can order a Dell PC and have it in a week or so and haven't had a problem yet with anything I've ordered. Our interal IS people tell me every chance they get how much they miss Dell service.

Our next PC at home will be one of the shoebox size Dell's with a flat panel. Every few months I price one out. Including 512MB of RAM, DVD Burner, and the monitor, I believe the last time it came in at about $1200.

[Jim Becker]

"Dell". And as I mentioned in another thread....entering the Dell site via ebates.com will save you an extra 2%.

[Dan Mages]

I build my own systems, but ditto on Dell if you want a premade machine. As I poster in a previous thread, I like the ATI All-In-Wonder cards for their multimedia capabilities.

Dan

[Ed Falis]

John,

Head over to www.cnet.com and take a look at the editor's picks in various categories. They also have a lot of good info to help you decide what you need.

That said, Dell is generally good value.

- Ed

[Greg Narozniak]

Being a IT support person for over 8 years I have gone the Build your own PC route and to be honest, it is WAY over rated. Dell is the way to go IMHITO.

You basically have two choices Demension (Home User series) and Optiplex (Business user series) The difference is that the Optiplex is meant ot run 8+ hours a day 5 days a week and 200+ days a year. The Dimension series is for the home user that checks mail and may do pics and stuff. I have a Dell Optiplex GX260 @ home and It has been running for almost two years with Windows XP Pro, now I mean I have not shut it off in TWO years. Yes some reboots here and there but overall it has been a rock solid machine. Get the 3 year next day service and you will not have a PC worry for 3 years.

Go with at least 512mb of ram, 80 gig (7200 rpm will help speed as well) HD and Video is up to you. If you do video editing then you can spend more $$$ there if not just go with the onboard and you can upgrade later.

[Perry Schmidt]

Having just done this (building a machine for editing video) some things to consider:

If you can get what you want packaged up 'off the shelf' then yea - it's a good way to go. It may be harder to do when you start getting very specific on hardware.

For media, a 128MB video card is 'good enough'. Don't get me wrong 256MB is nice, but that extra memory on the card is more for gaming than video capture.

You really want an ATI All-in-Wonder capture card. It uses a Theatre-based chipset. This is a very good chipset for capture. Other chipsets (in the less than $500 range) for video capture seem to have many problems except this card. (There may be others, but this is the one I kept reading about as 'the one to get') I ended up with an ATI-AIW card with 128MB and it works very well. I can even do some minimal tasks while capturing and not have it drop frames. Make sure it's an AIW, not a TV-wonder. TV-wonders do not use Theatre chipset.

You also want SATA disks, and you want a LOT of disk space. I started with 80GB, and quickly ended up getting another 200GB, then another 160GB shortly afterwards. If you work with AVI (uncompressed video, which a lot of editing software really works best w/ AVI) and/or are working on more than a couple projects at a time you'll burn disk space like no tomorrow. I usually work w/ MPEG files (a lot smaller than AVI), but have a number of captured projects going, and I use about 250GB routinely. For AVI projects, I think the figure I've heard (and believe) is 80GB/2 hour project. That's why I work with MPEG :) Using HQ MPEG - 2 hour projects take about 20GB from personal experience. (10 for high quality capture, 10 for the rendered project.)

CPU: Bigger is better. I've got a 2.8GHz P4 and it works very well. Rendering is a bit better than real-time, which isn't bad. And capture doesn't drop frames. So that'll do the job, but anything bigger will get you more performance.

Also what will help performance a lot is two SATA disks, captured project on one and writing the rendered output to the other. That will give you a bigger performance boost when rendering than a faster CPU or bigger video card.

Hope that helps.

Perry

[Kevin Arceneaux]

I have to agree with Perry, go with SATA. The transfer rate is higher, though at a higher cost.

Looking at the offerings from the major players, you can get a fairly good rig already setup for video. I got my new PC World Mag yesterday and was really surprised to see EMachines leading as far as service and other factors. A few years ago you couldn't have given me one of them.

I built my last computer. I didn't need everything as I had upgraded my Gateway with new just about everything. My problem was the upgrades couldn't be fully used due to the old MB. So I just bought the parts I needed and moved the parts to it and then reinstalled all the old ones back into the Gateway. A caveat, I am a serious simmer and gamer and so is my son. So I prefer something that can be easily upgraded and modded. Dell and the other makers really frown on you overclocking.

I just wish MB makers would quit putting onboard sound and video. I prefer to use addin cards and wouldn't mind the reduced prices for not having to pay for what I do not need.

[Jim Becker]

Gregg, my current and previous Dimensions run 24/7 and are only off when I'm traveling "more than overnight".