Suggestions for a new computer

[mblanton]

Hi Everyone,

I am in need of a new computer. I want to build my own, so that I can choose components that will specifically meet my needs. Here are my specific needs: Photoshop, Internet Explorer, and Musicmatch. I am not a pc gamer...I have a xbox and gamecube, but I do want a tv tuner built into the video card. Maybe even a tivo like feature. I am hoping to get some suggestions from the group.

I want a fast processor and it can be AMD or INTEL.
At least 1Gb Ram.
17 inch LCD monitor.
TV tuner video card.
DVD burner and CD burner.
Internal card reader.
USB 2.0.
A motherboard that supports RAID 0
Alot of hard drive space.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mike

[Penguin_101_1]

Not a Mac.

[PacAce]

You might want to rethink your 17" monitor. Something a little bigger might be more appropriate, especially if you want to be doing serious photo editing on it. AAMOF, I would even suggest two monitors if you can swing it.

[Edit] Oops, just realized that you were talking about an LCD monitor instead of a CRT. In that case, I guess 17" would be OK but I would still recommend two such monitors instead of one.

[Moppie]

AMD chip, what ever you can afford, and a Gigabyte motherbourd.

Im on my second, and friends have been useing them for years.
They have never ever had any problems, and most of the higher sepc bourds have onbourd RAID controllers.

Just choose a bourd that has the chip you want listed as its lowest surported, then theres plenty of room to upgrade, unless you get the biggest baddest chip out first up.

And take note of what RAM you get, most bourds also have Dual Channel ram, but it works differntly with differnt sized ram chips.
i.e. two 512mb chips will be faster than one 1gb chip, or the same as 4 256mb chips.

And make sure you have a case that can provide cooling and airflow to surport your set up.

I put a new m/b and chip into an old case and promptly fried my graphics card be over heating it.
Its worth spending a bit extra on a good case with well designed air flow, and some quite running fans (mine now sounds like a bus).

[charlesu]

More RAM is good. More HD is good. My last machine (I build my own) has 4 250GB drives. I have the C drive mirrored as a safety net. I also use external bays that I can archive to and then put a new HD into.

I'd get at least 2GB of RAM. Make sure you get hyper threading or consider multi proc.

Video, go all out. And for display, I use 2 21 Sony CRTs. I would consider the new Apple LCDs and I have heard that Lacie has one now that matches the color gamut of CRTs but it is $1800 (so are the Apples). So..... Big CRTs from a good maker are a better bet for now.

[PeterTaylor]

This is the basic spec of a computer, that I am going for early next year.


Mother Board
Tyan Thunder S2885, Tyan K8W Extended ATX

Dual AMD Opteron CPU’s

2048 MB ECC Registered DDR RAM

DVD Drives:-
Multi-format, Dual Layer DVD Writer (NEC 3500A) of an LG Dual Layer DVD drive with RAM Disk compatibility. The LG should write CDR, CDRW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-R/+R

Graphics Card.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB dual head performance card.

Monitor
Iiyama 19” Visionmaster Pro 454 Flat Screen CRT Monitor
or a Pair of LG Flatron LCD dispalys at 17"

Hard Drives:-
1 x 74 GB Raptor (System and software) Plus
2 x 300 GB (600GB) SATA 7200 rpm hard disks with 16 MB of CACHE (Data storage) (Using RAID 0 or 1)

[chris.bailey]

I have just bought a Dell Workstation 670 with twin Xeon 2800 procs, 4 GB of RAM and 2 250GB ATA HD's set on Raid 1. I could not have built it for what it cost and with Photoshop it rocks

[Jon]

Check out Building the Perfect PC (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0596006632&itm=1) and PC Hardware in a Nutshell (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=059600513X&itm=15), both by Robert Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, published by O'Reilly, for outstanding advice on building your own PC and selecting components for builds/upgrades.

Disclosure: I was a tech reviewer for PCHIAN, 2nd ed. and am an administrator on RBT's Hardware Guys (http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboard.cgi) and Daynotes Journal (http://forums.ttgnet.com/ikonboard.cgi) message boards.

[Jesper]

Jon, sounds like good advice, but books like that get obsolete quite quickly because every six months there's something new. For example, PCI Express is going to show up more and more instead of PCI or AGP in the coming year. I see the book "Building the Perfect PC" is still quite new (August 2004) but "PC Hardware in a Nutshell" is from July 2003 so it probably won't be up-to-date.

[Jon]

Both books are supported by the Hardware Guys website and the discussion board. Check us out. RBT's also working on a pocket guide, the PC Hardware Buyer's Guide as well as the 4th edition of PCHiaN.