Rank the new PC config options.

McMonkeydo wrote on 12/11/2002, 11:22 AM
Assume that you can afford a very good system but not every possible configuration upgrade. Please opine about which options you would spend your money on by ranking the roman numerals against each other and then the top 2 or 3 alphas within each roman number. I list them in no particular order.

I. Processor and speed.
a) New Intel Hyper-threading chip (adds $800)
b) Any Intel Pentium 4 (not hyperT chip) of 2mhz or better speed.
c) A fast AMD chip ???? (save $200).

II. Ram
a) 256M is plenty
b) minimum 512mb (+ $300)
c) minimum 512mb and the dual set (faster) (+ $375)
d) 1gb standard speed (+ $650)
e) 1gb fast set (+ $850)
f) "You want the Hyper-Threading Intel chip and ram that matches it".
(512mb + $450 - 1gb + $950)

III. Storage
a) 1 big,7200 rpm drive
b) 2 smaller drives that equal one big 7200rpm drive in capacity (+ $100).
c) raid system (non scci) (+ $250)
d) scci system (+ $400)

IV. Monitor
a) 1 monitor w/ good enough card.
b) 1 monitor w/ hottest card (+ $150/600.
c) Make the monitor a flat panel (+ $200/600)
d) 2 monitors w/ card w/ 1 old (on hand) 17" ViewSonic (+ $200/800)
e) 2 monitors w/ card w/ both new (+ $450/1000)
f) 2 monitors w/ card w/ both old (+ $250).

An example of your ranking might be like :

II,f,c - I,a,b - III,c,b - IV,b,f,c


Thanks




Comments

briand wrote on 12/11/2002, 1:56 PM
Whew. That is a tall order. I'll take a stab at it.

Processor: Intel first. AMD has admitted they can't keep up, plus you automatically save yourself from a world of potential configuration hurt by avoiding the motherboard and chipsets the go along with AMD processors. Hyper-Threading is still in the "to be decided" catagory, especially at $800. If you are very one-tracked in your editing and producing (one rendering, not much in the background), you can do without it for now. However, if you can spare the cash, never be afraid to get whatever you can when you can get it.

RAM: The more the better, obviously. 256 is basically unacceptable. 512 as a minimum, more once you start to appreciate ram-hungry features like RAM preview in Vegas. Processor and ram speed are largely neck and neck these days; you can do single channel DDR and be happy (I am), but again, if you can afford it, dual channel DDR is going to keep you that much ahead of the curve.

Storage: With ATA100/133, 8 meg caches, and reliable manufacturing, IDE is largely winning the drive war. For data and personal sanity, the most flexible configuration these days is a moderate OS/app drive (~40-60 gigs) and a second large data drive (100gigs+). Attaching archive drives via firewire largely lets you avoid RAID for reasons of data integrity. In the HDTV future, RAIDs may come back in style just for speed.

I'm going to sidestep the monitor question for now, since I don't have a big opinion on it, and it's lunchtime. :-)

jboy wrote on 12/11/2002, 2:03 PM
We live in an age of too many choices. Your best value will be a fast AMD cpu, (XP2200), a good quality motherboard with onboard sound/RAID/firewire/usb 2.0, (I have an Asus A7V333 w/all these features), a single 20-30GB 7200 C: Drive, and as much big drive capacity as you can afford for the 2 drives on the RAID array. I should mention here that 5400 rpm drives function just fine on RAID's, and generate a lot less heat too, so if you see good deals on such drives, snap em up. Dont spend a lot of money on a video card, unless you're a gamer. A generic 8mb AGP number will work fine for video editing.256mb RAM is perfectly adequate for editing, unless you like to use RAM for RAM previews, in which case, get as much as you can afford. I just built a nice rig w/the Asus board, 2-120gb drives on the Raid, 20gb on C:, 512mb RAM, for less than $500. Look for rebate deals on sites like techbargains.com, (check them everyday, cuz the deals move fast), and put the money you save into a couple of nice LCD monitors, (saw a 17" Samsung monitor awhile back that was $600 after rebate, and I've seen 15"'s as low as $165(Microtek))If you're going to go dual monitors, try using the two video card configuration, (one AGP and one PCI), before going to an expensive dual head card. I hear it works better and is cheaper. Win2K supports this, not sure if XP does. Have fun..
Trichome wrote on 12/11/2002, 2:24 PM
I. c
II. c
III. e - 1 small hard drive to runn OS, 1 lg hard drive for media files
IV. e