Hi all

I will soon no doubt be purchasing a newer PC, as the one I have is quite slow.

All I want is a PC that

-can hold a reasonable amount of files e.g. mp3's and photos - at the minute I have to delete a lot of stuff as it slows my PC down. I struggle to install any large software files on the PC too.

• runs quite fast so I'm not waiting ages for things to open.

I'm guessing I just need a PC tower that has a fast processor and a high memory yes?

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

In order to answer this question we need to know your budget.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

[QUOTE=GregWhelan;534404] I'm guessing I just need a PC tower that has a fast processor and a high memory yes?[/QUOTE]

Don't we all... :D

Knowing your budget really is key. Sounds like a system with a high end video card would be a bit of a waste, though. Frankly, you probably don't need a particularly fast processor or a ton of RAM for what you're doing, either, but hard disk space is going to be key. The slowness of your current system could well be attributable to your hard drive being close to full.

The other thing -- systems inevitably slow down when you install tons of shit you don't really need. You'll install something, fiddle around with it for an afternoon, and then forget it's even there. Over time, you end up with lots of tiny things running in the background you don't even know or care about, and it slows everything down. Moral of the story is to try to resist the urge to install a bunch of stuff you don't really want just because it's free or something. I have to remind myself of this constantly.

One option would be to get a fairly low end system with a decent sound card and add an external hard drive or two. If you use Photoshop with those photos, though, you'll want something with more juice.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

Get minimum 2 GB Ram, at MINIMUM a dual core 2.0 Ghz processor (I think it's the E6400 series processors) and wait for Vista SP1 to come out before you dive into it. You can buy whatever HD you want (they're so cheap right now, just take the largest your budget can afford) and since you're not gaming and mainly into toonz, invest a healthy bit into your sound card + computers speakers (unless you're gonna lineout this sucker to your amp/home stereo).

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

get a...nevermind.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

Stress:

CPU amount of memory (not really speed) hard drive size sound

Lay off of:

video

Concidered a desktop replacement laptop?

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

For what you've said so far, you can get a fucking smoking system for $300 easily and that's with a monitor too.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

Get a mac and you´ll get all you need :p

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

I'm assuming this person is on a tighter budget than a Mac but who knows. I know I've seen Mac minis for under $400 at Fry's.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

i think you can find a mac mini for under that on ebay...but buyer beware.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

[quote=Kamal;534430]and wait for Vista SP1 to come out before you dive into it[/quote]

bleh, fuck vista, stick with XP. will undoubtabtly run faster... plus if you dont have a really high end video card, everything will run faster under XP. Vista is a hog on every level.

If you dont need a PC specific program or not a big gamer.. i would seriously think about investing the extra cash and getting a mac.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

I've been on Vista for six months now and don't see anything about it being a hog at all but then I'm not like ddr and actually use it so I could be wrong. :p

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

[quote=beanzncheez;534753]I've been on Vista for six months now and don't see anything about it being a hog at all but then I'm not like ddr and actually use it so I could be wrong. :p[/quote]

i used it for a month when it came out, ran a lot slower than XP did, at least on my machine... and granted i do not have a state of the art computer, my video card is not the best. from what i read about vista, it runs somewhat off of the video card, at least when you use all of its bells and whistles... so i was just saying, if you dont get a good video card, dont get vista.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

I've been on Vista for about 5 months and love it.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

My computer is fucking old. I built it back in February of '06 and it runs Vista with zero problems and my graphics card is ass too. X1600XT II Turbo 256MB and only have 2GB of PC3200 RAM going.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

I've been on Vista since May and havent noticed too many slowdowns/memory hogging issues, then again I'm running a pretty beefy laptop so that could be it. Though I've read phenomenal praises about Vista's SP1 and how it's helping improve performance of the OS like nutso

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

dealnews.com

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

Cheers guys - dont really have a budget as such, I'll pay for whatever is good and I'll use, say to a maximum of £500-600. I download sets, use Facebook, store photos and playback music. I will possibly play Football Manager online with my mates but thats it in terms of gaming. Not into WoW etc.

And silly question - but I'm assuming a video card is solely to enable video playback yes?

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

^ ^ You need a video card in order to see the output/picture on a monitor. Without the graphics card (same as video card) or integrated video on the motherboard, you will not be able to see what is going on inside that box that we call a computer.

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

Well you learn something new every day^ cheers!

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

Also if you backup your DVDs "legally", I've read that some of the newer / higher end graphic cards can take away some of the load from CPU during the video encoding process making the overall ripping / encoding / burning processes a lot quicker. It's not a must have requirement when you consider purchasing your video card but its something to keep in mind if you have the money ;)

Re: Buying a PC....any tips??

How's the shopping going?