Help with buying a computer

[KERMO]

I am needing help with buying a computer (desktop), I have searched and searched and can't really decide what is good for my needs. Keeping under $1500.00 would be nice. I am wanting to be able to add software to edit videos from my sony handycam and then burn them back to dvd. I may also use it for some gaming, but mainly the videos.

Any help would be great!

Thanks

 

[roadrunner197069]

All you need is something like this. It wont play the latest and greatest games but it will play older games. You could add a videocard to play the latest and gratest and still be way under your budget.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130247311558&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

[MrCommunistGen]

You shouldn't need to spend $1500. Off the top of my head:
Q6600
Gigabyte EP45-DS3R
4GB PC 6400
HD 3650
640GB WD AAKS hard drive
DVD Burner
Antec Sonata III Case (a suggestion but it's your taste). It's a nice quiet case with a pretty good power supply which provides more than enough power for your needs.

I'll newegg it and get you pricing.
-mcg

 

[MrCommunistGen]

I get about $600 plus tax (if applicable) and shipping. Monitor would also depend on your taste and needs. Ditto for the OS. The reason I picked such a high end motherboard is that I know some Sony camcorders use Firewire (IEEE-1394) and this board has it (kind of a lame reason I know). As for that eBay build... I just don't like the feel of it. It probably uses a questionable power supply and definitely uses a very low end motherboard. Plus for video editing a 250GB drive might be a bit small.


LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-04 - OEM
Model #:iHAS120-04
Item #:N82E16827106263 $23.99

Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
Model #:Sonata III 500
Item #:N82E16811129024 $99.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #:WD6400AAKS
Item #:N82E16822136218 $84.99

SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #:100236L
Item #:N82E16814102726 $59.99

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #:GA-EP45-DS3R
Item #:N82E16813128344 $134.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail $189.99

Subtotal: $593.94

Best of Luck
-mcg

 

[caamsa]

I am needing help with buying a computer (desktop), I have searched and searched and can't really decide what is good for my needs. Keeping under $1500.00 would be nice. I am wanting to be able to add software to edit videos from my sony handycam and then burn them back to dvd. I may also use it for some gaming, but mainly the videos.

Any help would be great!

Thanks

Do you want to build your own system or just purchase one already made?

 

[dobby]

yea, if you have the money lefy over get a HD4850 for extra grit in games

 

[Nik_I]

a dell xps 420 would be a good buy for you if you don't wanna build yourself. for $900 you get a Q6600, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, and a 9800GT. plus this particular model comes with premiere elements. if you don't already have this, it's great for video editing. it also has photoshop elements and soundbooth.

 

[KERMO]

Well I was hoping to buy one already made, I have no experience in making computers at all. Sounds like most on here are computer savy and build their own.

Thanks for all the input and I don't have time to digest it all right now, but I will when I get back home!

Thanks!

 

[KERMO]

Hey MrCommunist Gen, how hard is it to put all those parts together?? Thanks for all the research and everyone thanks for the posts!

 

[steje]

Howdy... I've been undecided on the hardware for a new rig for myself for some months now. I came across this thread after becoming interested in the Q6600 for possible media encoding gains from the quad-core design...

■I'll be doing lots of DVD->DivX encoding (possibly another format if I'm compelled to do so) in order to get my DVD collection playable as streaming media to my entertainment center...
■I'll also resume my MP3/APE encoding adventure with my CD collection...
■Also planning on running 64bit WinXP or Vista to take advantage of >4GB of RAM so I can run a bunch of VMware guests when needed for testing...

My QUESTION: How do you properly determine what 'speed' memory to go with for a Q6600? I didn't see a specific RAM specification mentioned in the recommendation above from mcg (which the OP should know would then affect the sub-total)...

I feel I "used" to know how to pair memory with CPU, but I'm a bit confused by the current state of things because so much of the info on the net is cluttered with over-clocking madness ;-). I'm not looking to overclock... I just want the fastest 'stock' speeds for solid and stable operation... I had been looking at motherboards that support the Q6600 like the Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R which also support DDR3 and 1333 FSB, and got even more confused about proper pairing of RAM for a Q6600.

The Q6600 is a 1066 FSB CPU right? So does that mean that I'd ideally pair it with PC2-8500/1066 memory? If so I was looking at 4GB of Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF...

Thoughts? Feel free to point me to other posts here or elsewhere on the net that might explain more about this along with risk/reward ratios if there is no single "right" answer... I've read some things about running cpu/ram in sync/async mode and that just dragged me further down the rathole of confusion...

 

[jj463rd]

Hey MrCommunist Gen, how hard is it to put all those parts together?? Thanks for all the research and everyone thanks for the posts!

Once you build your own custom system you will probably never go back to buying an already built store bought brand system.You will love it.
A good way to learn is to start on $10-$15 used thrift store computers,tear them apart and put them together.
Also once you have learned how to build or fix a system you won't have to pay a computer tech $75 per hour to fix it or upgrade it.

 

[caamsa]

Hey MrCommunist Gen, how hard is it to put all those parts together?? Thanks for all the research and everyone thanks for the posts!

This is a little dated but a fairly simple guide to help you out.



http://www.build-your-own-computers.com/pc-hardware-basics.html

 

[steje]

@strangestranger:

Thanks, and while I understand the math and get the principal... I'm not sure that really answers the question of which RAM is most approrpiate for a stock speed Q6600. But it simplifies some other information I've come to find out...

FWIW: I am not meaning to hijack the thread from KERMO, though since the list of components that were suggested didn't include the required RAM - I soothe my conscience in the thought that it's relevant to the main topic ;-)... If I can take a minute to flesh out my own thoughts - perhaps someone can breifly comment "yeah, sounds basically right" ... or "start a new thread to continue discussion" .

■So I think the data rate figures you broke down just mean that even older DDR2-533 could be paired with a Q6600 at its stock 1066 MHZ FSB eh?
■That said, I've come to get the impression that doing so (as in either your example or mine) - i.e. getting the 'effective' clock ratios between CPU and memory to be 1:1 - provides some assurance of "stability" and this would be particularly desirable "if" overclocking the CPU/FSB...
■And so, "if" overclocking a CPU with a stock 1066 Mhz FSB... then RAM 'faster' than DDR2-533 (a 1:1 with 1066) operating at it's regular speed can get you back to the 1:1 ratio as you increase the FSB as you overclock...?

QUESTION: Assuming all that is basically correct... the gain in stability with a 1:1 ratio is something I'm reading is only really a 'must' in overclocking situations; is that correct?

QUESTION: If NOT overclocking the CPU, is there performance benefit withOUT loss in stability in running 'faster' RAM resulting in a CPU to memory ratio of something other than 1:1 (like 1:2 if you went with DDR2-1066 / PC2-8500 memory) ?

 

[steje]

bump... anyone care to comment and impart their wisdom?

 

[steje]

bump... anybody?

 

[xringx]

I will answer and not get into the math...

It basically is this.... ddr2 800 is cheap and works with most overclocking situations.

If you not going to OC, the ddr2 667 will do just fine in every non OC situation. But there really isnt a price difference between the two and you can get ddr2 800 for same price or less. So people buy good ddr2 800 with good timings (4-4-4-12)

Performance differences between ddr2 800 and ddr2 1000 and 1066 are small gains. People buy the higher speeds for a few reasons.

1. helps with OC
2. They dont know better and thinks its much better performance when is not even noticeably different.
3. price difference in negligable on some products from ddr2 800 to a higher speed..

 

[dobby]

hhaha, i just noticed that road runner just pointed to his own ebay acount, tut tut tut... you shouldnt advertise here.