New System

jokerk874

Baseband Member
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I have about 600$ put together and I am looking towards a new computer system. The main things in it that I am concerned with are a good video card, a lot of memory, and a good processor, because it will be mostly used for video editing and games such as BF1942 2. Also, i just need a running comp.. i dont need speakers, keyboard, mouse, or monitor so that'll help keep it in my price-range. I've got a couple in mind and if anyone has any suggestions please tell me because I'm sure you guys know places to get great deals and stuff.. thanks
 
Hi.

First of all, let me lead you here which might help with some components:

http://www.computerforums.org/showthread.php?t=16124

Now, do you want to go AMD, or Intel for your processor? AMD is better for games, whereas Intel tends to exceed better in multitasking and video editing, though AMD are also good at these.

When you choose, we could give you choices and tell you more about the chips available. As you seem to want to do video editing and games, I would suggest a Pentium 4 processor, with something like HT technology (basically HT means Hyperthreading, and again gives the processor a boost in things like video editing, acting like it has two CPU cores when it only has one) :)

Now AMD mentioned in the link of the above post uses a new technology in teh new chips, which comes in the form of the pin 939 chips (the fastest ones). These will probably be used for a while for AMD if you chose them and so updating wouldn't be a problem for a processor either. If the chip suddenly changed though, it would mean if you wanted to update, you'd have to swap motherboards too, though you shouldn't need to do that in a very long while, by which case, you'd probably want to build another :p
Pentiums, I'm not really sure how they update, though they use the same type of pin architecture too.

As for the video card, there are two types used now, AGP and PCI-E. PCI-e is the newest form and started out from a slot called the PCI port, used in all systems to add components to add functionality, and before the AGP slot became known, PCI was also used for video cards, though the limit had soon been reached and AGP became standard.

Now, the same is basically happening with AGP, with PCI-e offering faster bus speeds ( how fast data will travel to and from the card) and more power to cards.

For a new system, I would honestly go for PCI-e since alot of cards are available, and if you wanted an AGP chip (since motherboards only contain one of the slots), there is something called a bridge chip which will cross between the two. It will also give you a better chance to upgrade later on.

Now you will probably already know that two video card manufacturers are always battling out to deliver faster cards than the other, Nvidia and ATI.

They are both about the same in games to tell the truth, though they all use different architecture in their cards, though this doesn't affect much. As for all video cards, all the new ones support the new Direct-X, Direct-X 9 which offers better effects in games.

Now soon, new bunches of video cards are being released by Nvidia, which will of course be closely followed by ATI. but luckily, video cards are simple to update!

Most motherboards by the way have an onboard sound chip, though I'm sure any external card is better than one of them! so you'll be fine.

For memory, 512mb is becoming the normal, though many people also choose 1gig which would give them better chances to run more programs at once, and just give the system a little boost.

I'm sure we can find the right system for you :) I hope I have given this a kick start :D
 
Kage has definately got you rolling in the right direction. But if you only have six hundred you might look for a used system with a good processor then add your video card...
 
Thanks :)

Yeah, that might be worthwhile doing, and as long as you know what your looking for, it shouldn't be a problem either. I know you could build a system for that, though it probably wouldn't be as high tech as you would want it to be, as technology costs money :p

Rdcmmnst, I cleared my PM list by the way, for you to send :)
 
Ok kage, haha, you have to make sure you don't get scammed if you do by a used system but it sounds like you just want to build and you've got a great guide up there.
 
Thanks guys that def. helps a lot

The system i've got picked out has a AMD 64 3200B Processor, 2 512 DDR memory sticks, 120 GB 7200RPM HD, and the video card is a
PowerColor Radeon 9250 / 256MB DDR / PCI / VGA / DVI / TV Out /

any reccomendations specifically to change that? (not too much more $)
 
I found anothe video card for 10$ more -
Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro / 256MB / PCI Express / VGA / DVI / TV Out / Video Card

should i get that or the other one?
 
Hmm, if you get any of those two video cards, they won't last you too long, as you said a graphics card is important. I see you like ATI though, but the first one won't get you anywhere with games, honestly. The second one is a tad bit better, but again will be showing its age now, and I wouldn't expect playable frame rates at high settings with it with new games.

After you've carried out the search on those propducts you want excluding the video card, how much money do you have left for one?

The processor will do you well though, as the 1gig of RAM, would, but fi yuo want a good graphics card too (even if you do edit), i would get 512mb to start with and see how it runs with your system, and you may then want to get another 512mb RAM stick, though you know the whole rest of yuor system is good then.

What do you think? So just give us the price range of the video card, and we'll jump right on it as it were

I hope this helps :)
 
i would definately go with the Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro sounds like the top one is only for 2d work doesn't even have a cooling unit. BAAAD haha. Well yeah between the 2 go with the sapphire.
 
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