stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:Yeah I think I'll still need to dance with the devil and use Windows quite a bit.
Fair enough, then probably going with Windows and a Linux Virtual Machine might be the better way to go.
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:
64 bit - Please Explain? I thought 64 bit was crash central and a bit of a problem with some Windows stuff. I was planning 4GB of Ram and If the budget allows 1TB storage but no less than 500GB
Most of the systems up until now have been 32bit systems. 64 bit systems perform better, and will give you a bit more grunt, and now that there is more support for things like drivers, software, etc, its more viable to run 64bit Operating Systems. If you plan on running Vista, then you will be safe with a 64bit OS, and its still able to run those 32bit apps, as there aren't quite as many software vendors producing 64bit versions of their products yet.
By going 64bit you open up the potential for more RAM, above the 4GB limit. If you have a 32bit system and place 4GB in it, you will find that only ~3GB will be available to the system. If you place the same 4GB into a 64bit system, it will have the full 4GB available to it
Yeah the price of storage now is cheap, and a 500GB drive can be had for under $100
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:So what are the reputable brands?
Gigabyte, Asus, MSI (though they tend to be lower quality and hence cheaper)
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:Trying to avoid a separate video card because of the cost but will consider it.
I guess the option is then to go with on board for now, and when money allows for it go with a separate card. If you're after the grunt for CAD, etc, then removing the processing of video from the CPU, and shifting it to a dedicated card will help the cause. Guess that if you're getting a new system, then anything will seem faster than what you deal with now, so it might not matter too much to you
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:I like QUALITY music. None of this MP3 bullshh..dust. I want to put my CDs to FLAC.
Probably the same deal as the video card, having the separate card will shift the audio processing to the dedicated device, and since its dedicated to just doing that, it will produce better quality audio. Might pay to see if the onboard is up to your standards, and review from there if the budget doesn't allow for it
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:Yeah MSY are pretty good for price but I find their service and advice not so good. They are a good facilitator of getting products to people if you know what you want which is the bit that I'm working on at the moment.
Yep its the trade off, but like you said if you have done your research on here, and know what you want, then life isn't so hard
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:I liked the P5KPL-1600 because of the higher bus speed, it has more of a dedicated Intel board and because of the on board sound & video. If I should get add on video and sound cards then should I just be looking for a bare bones board with decent motherboard features (ie. FSB, cache, input/ outputs)? I would have thought that on board sound and video is a bit more powerful and more truly integrated that days of old?
On board is better than it used to be, but some vendors still do it the old way, and it hogs the system. The hard part is that quite often the bare bones board without the on board stuff isn't as feature rich. I guess its just going to be a matter of that balance of whether you do get separate video and sound, or go with the on board stuff. Given your price range, it would probably be better to go with on board for now
stealth_ninja_penguin wrote:Just to clarify, I'm not looking to build a 2 grand box that'll out do a $1,900 box on a bench test in lab conditions. AutoCAD and graphics are the things that kill my current computer so they need to be handled well by a new one. Budget I hear you ask? $600. $700 tops which should include a DVD-RW. I have the rest.
Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. Keep 'em coming.
If you don't need to buy a case, then you will be ok with that price range, and get a reasonable system. If you need a case, then that will take a bit of a chunk out of the budget, as you will want to get a reasonable one that wont just hold all the hot air inside of it
The other part to consider if you are going to run windows, is the cost of the licence for Vista. Granted you will be able to get an OEM version, but its still going to cost a bit
A quick bit of maths shows that you should be able to build a decent system with room to move in the future for things like more RAM, video, sound, CPU, etc
I've had a chat to a couple of people who have suggested, 2 hard drives raid mirroring, 2 hard drives striping and 3 hard drives striping (thus allowing file recovery). Another option suggested is running one drive as the OS (and programs) and the other as file storage. The benefit is that you can wipe the drive with the OS and reload the OS if it gets slow (/ virus/ spyware ect) without affecting your files. No back-up though. I'd hate to lose all my photos and music and other things that I only have stored electronically. Keeping in mind that the exercise is not to spend as much money as you can, what do youse suggest?
