Help with a new computer

jbwolffiv

jbwolffiv

Member
I am thinking about getting a new computer, and as some of you know I am pretty much a total ameteur when it comes to this kind of tech. ; I am currently using an Asus laptop, and it has be decent, I think I want to get a desktop. ; I have been primarily using Elements 9.0 and i'm happy with that, but if I want to go with something more powerful I am not sure it is an option on this laptop. ; I want to be able to continue what I am doing but have the option to upgrade software when I want to. ; So my questions are:

1. ; is there a certain processor that I should get?
2. ; what speed processor should I look for?
3. ; get as much memory as possible, right?
4. ; hard drive should be at least 1 TB?
5. ; is there a brand that I should stay away from?
6. ; I know nothing about graphics cards, is that something I should pay attention to for editing?
7. ; anyting else someone that know nothing to very little should know when shoping for a new desktop?

any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!!!!!!
 
Budget?

First if you can wait for it I would get a model from the business division of a company rather than the consumer division. They tend to have better warranties and more u.s. based support.

Windows 8 is a conundrum here. It was designed for a touchscreen. There is a learning curve with it.

I would get an i5 or i7 processor and a motherboard that can accept at least 16 gb. If the model is right you should be able to upgrade to 32 gb now

The other trend is to have an SSD hard drive to boot from and then have a large hard drive for storage.
 
"Roger" said:
Budget?

First if you can wait for it I would get a model from the business division of a company rather than the consumer division. They tend to have better warranties and more u.s. based support.

Windows 8 is a conundrum here. It was designed for a touchscreen. There is a learning curve with it.

I would get an i5 or i7 processor and a motherboard that can accept at least 16 gb. If the model is right you should be able to upgrade to 32 gb now

The other trend is to have an SSD hard drive to boot from and then have a large hard drive for storage.
Click to expand...

Thanks Roger!!

I am not sure about my budget, but not bank breaking, that is for sure.

What is a SSD hard Drive? ; And is the large hard drive for storage external?
 
SSD is a solid state drive. ; They're wicked fast but expensive, so the current trend is to get one large enough to install windows & programs only and then have a second large hard drive for file storage. ; That approach will require you to move some of your folders to the second drive (my documents, my pictures, my music, etc.). That second drive can be external, but if you move the physical location for the folders listed above, it always has to be plugged in. ; For that reason, I prefer to have it installed internally. ; Buying one from amazon and installing it yourself will probably be much cheaper than buying it factory installed.

I second Rogers's comment on buying a business model instead of a consumer model. ;

My current theory on computer buying is to get the fastest processor you can reasonably get since that's the hardest to upgrade later. Hard drives and RAM are easy to replace, so there's no need to break the bank there.
 
Whatever you do make sure you have at least 8gb of ram to start and enough room to add at least 8 more. Price out having a local shop build you one, particularly since you are probably staying in wnindows. Windows 7 would be better than 8 but usually microshaft makes the dealers stop selling the prior os as soon as they release a new product, at risk of losing their dealer license


Have it specced with a 128 and a 256 ssd and if you want to install internal hard drives just mention that so the tower has enough room. I use a macpro laptop and an apple cinema, and currently 9 external drives in various sizes all hooked in via daisy chained powered usb hubs
Thats another benefit to building one, you can get a lot more external inputs
 
"jbwolffiv" said:
I
6. ; I know nothing about graphics cards, is that something I should pay attention to for editing?
Click to expand...

Either nVidia or ATI will be fine; I would just make sure that you get a card that allows for at least two monitor output. ; Unless you are planning on doing hardcore gaming you don't need more than a 1GB video card.

Now if 3D was in your future, that's a different story.
 
[size=1em]When building a system there are a few things you want to take into account before i can make a real recommendation. ; [/size]

1. Budget
; ; - Everyone can tell you to get the biggest and baddest items but if its going to put in you the poor house then its not worth it.

2. Primary Usage & Secondary Usage
; - What kind of Applications do you run? Is it a family PC? Will kids be using it? Does anyone in the house want to play video games on it? Do you multi task? Are you looking one monitor or two?

3. ; Redundancy
; - If you are storing important files like work documents, pictures, videos do you want to make sure you have a copy of everything in case your HD crashes?

4. Upgrade availably
; - Do you want to upgrade items in the future or just buy a new PC In 5 years
;
If you can answer these questions, I should be able to recommend something.


Now to answer your questions..

1. ; is there a certain processor that I should get?
- All depends on what your looking for. Both have pro's and con's depending on what you are looking to do. ; ( thus the reason for my questions above)

2. ; what speed processor should I look for?
- Again depends on what you need it to do, if you take me for example, I have 20+ applications open, streaming music, and my cpu usage is currently at 12%

3. ; get as much memory as possible, right?
- There are many types of memory out there, DDR, DDR2 DDR3. Some memory is good for some things and others are better for other things, again all depends on what your plans are to use it on a daily bases. Oh then you have speeds from 266 Mhz to 2800 Mhz.


4. ; Hard drive should be at least 1 TB?
- Do you plan on storing a lot of info? File sharing? Applications? Pictures/Videos? Games? Do you want speed or do you want to conserve money so you would sacrifice speed?
- I would toss a SSD 120 GB to 240 GB (around 119.99 - 210.00) on for your C Drive and OS and then setup an SATA III drive for files, apps, storage. 1 TB you are looking 75 bucks, 2 TB 100.00 and 3 TB 140.00 (again prices change with speed of drives)

5. ; Is there a brand that I should stay away from?
- This is more of a person question, the average fail rate on a SATA drive is below 5% which means that out of all of their drives that they sell 5% will have issues.
- If you get SSD I can recommend what has worked for me in the past, same if you get SATA

6. ; I know nothing about graphics cards, is that something I should pay attention to for editing?
- there are some kings and queens out there for video cards, you will want a nVidia card as they are the king of graphics cards. I can recommend 1 or 2 cards depending on your budget and what your planning on using.
 
5. ; stay away from proprietary brands (dell, etc) because a lot of them use custom chips and boards that make upgrading/ repairing a hassle. ; if you can, its almost better to build one from scratch because its not that hard and you get exactly what you want.
 
I will second building one on your own if you are up to it. It makes upgrading easier although the CPU is the hardest part to replace because of the heat sink. ; I built my current windows pc.
 
5. ; stay away from proprietary brands (dell, etc) because a lot of them use custom chips and boards that make upgrading/ repairing a hassle. ; if you can, its almost better to build one from scratch because its not that hard and you get exactly what you want.
Click to expand...

[/size]
[/size]All depends on what the user wants to do, if they want to upgrade in the future yes... if you don't plan on doing that then it might be good for them to go with a dell.
 
I've done both roll-your-own and off-the-shelf name brands. ; Tim's correct that Dell uses proprietary motherboard-to-case connectors that make it impossible to upgrade the mobo. ; But there are so many variables with building your own PC that, unless you're a real computer geek, it's best left to the professionals.

A good compromise if you're picky about your configuration is to go with someone who builds from parts, a brand that offers a lot of customization options or maybe even a bare bones system. ; Otherwise, go with a name brand under the assumption that, by the time it's worn out, the technology will be obsolete anyway.

And if you want to talk about storage, I have six logical drives spread over two physical drives (the hard drive with my photos on it is 2 Tb). ; It's evolved over time and it works for me. ; Some of my ideas may work for you.

And regardless of what you buy, back it up regularly. ; Reinstalling from scratch is a pain.
 
Thanks so much for the information, I will be thinking on some of that (the stuff I understand) and probably asking some more questions. ; Thanks again!
 
Odd thing about this post....I had some PC problems yesterday (started over the weekend) - first symptom was that my iPhone was going in and out of charging mode while plugged in. ; Finally my PC refused to restart yesterday. ; After pulling the RAM, pulling the CMOS battery and checking the PSU, I finally got it to boot after pulling all of my USB connections.

After some trial and error, found out that it was my RAID-1 external HDD. ; The USB connection on the built-in controller was shorting out my PC. ;

FORTUNATELY the HDDs are okay; I didn't lose any data.
 
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