Is this PC system any good?

[nikonuser1968]

Hi Folks,

I have read all of your messages and your knowledge is nothing but mind boggling!! I am light years behind yours and am looking for some help on upgrading my 6 yr. old system (P2/288Ram/6 Gig HD/Win98).

I have never needed anything more until I purchased the S2 about two months ago. I use PS7 for editing and my current system just crawls as you can imagine. I do shoot a couple of jobs a week and I am finding it time consuming to edit using this old Dinosaur on my desk!!

Below is a system that was mentioned to me by a local independent computer retailer. Please pick it apart and let me know what I should add or remove.

I do have a Samsung SyncMaster 750s and will be looking to get a new montitor. Any suggestions would help a ton. Lastly, what OS should I use - XP?

Intel P4 2.8C
800MHz FSB
Hyper-Threading enabled
OCZ 512MB PC3200EL CL2
DFI 865PE Infinity Motherboard
Mitsumi 1.44MB 3.5” Floppy
Mitsumi Memory card reader
80GIG SATA Hard Drive
52X CD-ROM Drive
Radeon11/17/2003 9800 128MB Graphics
6-channel Integrated Audio
10/100/1000 Integrated LAN
8 x USB 2.0(4xRear+4Optional)
3 x IEEE 1394 FIREWIRE

ManyThanks,
Wayne:help:

[Andre]

Originally posted by nikonuser1968
Hi Folks,

I have read all of your messages and your knowledge is nothing but mind boggling!! I am light years behind yours and am looking for some help on upgrading my 6 yr. old system (P2/288Ram/6 Gig HD/Win98).

I have never needed anything more until I purchased the S2 about two months ago. I use PS7 for editing and my current system just crawls as you can imagine. I do shoot a couple of jobs a week and I am finding it time consuming to edit using this old Dinosaur on my desk!!

Below is a system that was mentioned to me by a local independent computer retailer. Please pick it apart and let me know what I should add or remove.

I do have a Samsung SyncMaster 750s and will be looking to get a new montitor. Any suggestions would help a ton. Lastly, what OS should I use - XP?

Intel P4 2.8C
800MHz FSB
Hyper-Threading enabled
OCZ 512MB PC3200EL CL2
DFI 865PE Infinity Motherboard
Mitsumi 1.44MB 3.5” Floppy
Mitsumi Memory card reader
80GIG SATA Hard Drive
52X CD-ROM Drive
Radeon11/17/2003 9800 128MB Graphics
6-channel Integrated Audio
10/100/1000 Integrated LAN
8 x USB 2.0(4xRear+4Optional)
3 x IEEE 1394 FIREWIRE

ManyThanks,
Wayne:help:

It sounds pretty good.
I would get more RAM - at least 1GB total. RAM is cheap and is where you can really help performance.
Also, I don't know the Mitsumi card reader, but you would want either a USB 2.0 reader, or (I prefer) a firewire card reader.

[Swampy]

I just pretty much replaced my system a few days ago. You can see what I did here:
http://theswamp/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3088

It's a screamer. That's about all I can say about it.

Video card shouldn't make too much of a different these days for editing your photos. You can use a nice ATI or nVidia based card in the 80-100 dollar range and you'll never see a difference in speed over the 400 dollar nVidia card. However, if you do other things, especially games, then you'll want a better video card. Again, you can see what I did at that link above.

These guys are where I would look to spend my money again in the future:
http://www.allstarshop.com/

Although, they're local to me, they ship of course.

[KPRussell]

I agree with Andre that you really need a minimum of 1 gig RAM, 1.5 could be useful if you are planning on working on many images at the same time.

Might want to bump up your HD; 80 gig is small once you really start cranking out images you'll eat that up. SATA is a good choice, 150 MGHZ bus, less power consumption and smaller cable for better ventilation in your cabinet. There are 120 and 250 gig drives out now. 250 gig SATA is going for $269 US at my local PC shop.

You have a CD-ROM listed but no burner of any type. You'll need at a minimum a CD Burner and DVD burners have fallen so much it's almost ridiculous to not get one instead of just CD Burner

On the card reader I agree with Andre too on it. I would use an external USB 2.0 or Firewire. I got the Sandisk USB 2.0 external 8in1 unit and it reduced my download times from 20 minutes with my Dazzle USB 1.1 reader to 6 minutes for a 1 gig card!

OS - XP is about your only choice for PC. You aren't a hardcore geek and Linux would drive you nuts if you tried to go that route. XP has 2 flavors, XP Home and XP Professional. The difference is Professional has more robust and capable networking features and security. If you 0 interest in these then you'll be fine with Home.

Not to throw a wrench in the shopping process, but have you checked out a Mac? They have come down dramatically in price and for a user like yourself might be a great alternative. I've been PC user most of my computing days, however the last 6 months have had me using MACs at work daily and I've really grown to appreciate the interface and rock solid performance. OS X is an awesome OS and if I didn't have a houseful of XP PCs and laptops I would definitely get a MAC. They are great for graphics work as I'm sure you've heard.

Again, not to throw a wrench in your search, just thought you should seriously consider it if this is your only box!

Good Luck!

[nikonuser1968]

Thanks Guys. Swampy that is some system that you have - it makes me dizzy just reading the specs!!!

Just a couple of other questions:

- how do you guys store images - HD vs. CD vs. DVD
- what are the pros and cons of USB reader vs. Firewire Reader
- any suggestions on a montior - at this point I will not go with a LCD

Cheers,
Wayne

[Swampy]

On storage. I copy my current images to my main set of drives for editing. I'll also make a backup on a server I happen to have around here. Every month or so, I'll back all of those "current" images to CD and move them off my main drive to a 160gb drive on my main system and accordingly, move the ones on the server to a burned area as well. So. I have to have 3 hard drive crashes (the server is Raid 5 so 2 to lose anything on that one) AND my house has to burn down SO hot that it melts the firesafe that the CD's are stored in, which is located in a corner of the house where a fire wouldn't burn long. I have been thinking about storing a duplicate set of CD's at my dad's house in his safe too, but I'm too lazy. haha.

Pros and Cons between a USB or Firewire reader? One pro for USB is that virtually anywhere you go, you'll have a PC with USB. Con is that it's slower than Firewire. I have a car PC and always keep a USB reader in the trunk on that PC, so where ever I go, I have SOMETHING to use. I'll also take a USB reader with me when travelling without my car. I have yet to buy a firewire reader yet, but other readers claim much faster copying speeds from it. Firewire isn't always available on any PC either. However, When I go back to work, I should have a firewire reader sitting on my desk finally. :) I'll have to see what the difference is in speed once I get into the office. Either way, I'd have at least a USB reader available.

As for a monitor. Hard to say. I was happy with my NEC 22" but it would appear that after 15 months or so, it's getting soft so editing pictures on it for sharpness and clarity is tough. I've been an NEC supporter for many years, but it may be time for me to look elsewhere.

[calcruiser]

If they let you customize it.... dump the floppy drive, add a second larger HD (120 gig), change the graphics card to the Radeon 9800 Pro, switch the CD for a CD-RW or DVD burner for storage and get as much RAM and the motherboard with handle.
Make sure it has XP Pro for the OS.
You should be able to live the this configuration.

[JeffRho]

I'd also recommend checking out http://www.newegg.com. Very competitive on prices, very quick service.. lots of msft people I know (myself included) purchase from them.

jeff.

[Schmiddi]

I'm also on building a new one - parts arrived, but lack of time :-) So some suggestions:
- 1 GB Ram, it's cheap, and Photoshop likes it
- bigger harddisk. I ordered 160GB SATA... Though backup becomes tricky on such a beast...
- DVD-Writer: it also writes CD, so you have the choice.
- Windows2000. But that's personal, I do not like XP (stopping it from ringing home is hard work...). XP will work fine.
- I ordered also an ATI card, but only 9600XT. It's available with passive cooling (less coolers make less noise, and what's not there can't stop working...).
- I don't have a floppy in it. In my actual PC there is one - never used it. Pictures from S2 do definately not fit on 1,44MB...

Andreas

[nikonuser1968]

Thanks for the advice. This really helped. I was able to learn a few things: 1) go for at least 1 GB of Ram 2) get as much Hard Drive as you can afford (min.120GB) 3) go for the DVD Burner.

Thanks everyone!!!

Cheers,
Wayne

[JeffRho]

On the subject of DVD Burners, I did some asking around and got quite a few positive responses on the LiteON DVD drives. A buddy of mine hooked me up with a LiteON 4x DVD +-R/RW drive. They are pretty darned cheap, and handle all the DVD formats. Had I not asked around I'd probably have gone with a brand I was familiar with.

[MikePL]

And some comments from me:

I am really fussy and hysterical about the temperature of my computer. Therefore I use water cooling. I bought a very safe system, and use a water reservoir, to make it pressure-less (safer than closed systems where there is pressure once water expands).
http://jedrak.com/4runner/komp/komp04.JPG

On that picture you can see my big tower from the side. There are many tricks ou there but the most important one is the hard drive in the lower right corner. It has two large aluminium elements attached on the sides as they dissipate heat very efficiently. The drive is also supported on two tensioned wires, which separates it from the case. This way the drive does not transfer vibrations to the computer case and vice versa (important, as drives don't like vibrations).
In the upper left corner there is the radiator and some fans. I usually keep the fans turned off and while using the computer for browsing or normal photoshop operation, the temperature of the processor core is between 38-44*C. When I make serious batch processing or gaming, I turn on the radiator fans to aid cooling and this way my processor never exceeds 50*C, which is a lot cooler that air cooled processors (but as I said, I am crazy about overheating).


http://jedrak.com/4runner/komp/komp05.JPG

The P4 processor has a water block attached to it. Great heat absorption.

The difference between air cooling and water cooling is that air fans (on processors, craphics cards, motherboards) absorb heat from these elements but leave hot air inside the case. Water cooling absorbs heat and transfer it to the radiator which is OUTSIDE the case, so all internals are really cool. The drive never goes past 40*C, and usually operates at 36*C (so when you touch it with warm hands, 36,6*C, you actually perceive it as being cold). I guess this is the best you can do for data protection as drives don't like heat.

There's the drive in clouseup:
http://jedrak.com/4runner/komp/komp06.JPG

http://jedrak.com/4runner/komp/komp07.JPG


And the radiator:
http://jedrak.com/4runner/komp/komp08.JPG


This setup is 15 months old and works flawlessly. Whan I find some spare time I will install additional hard drives with special HDD waterblocks (big, flat ones, that eliminate the need for aluminium blocks on the sides).

The cool thing is that you can't hear the computer, no rattling, whistling etc... just silence that lets you work in peace.

This setup cost me some time and engineering, but the overall price for the blocks, pump, reservoir, tubes and radiator did not exceed $75. LOVELY

[JeffRho]

I love building my own computers, but after my recent hardware purchase I think my days of building my own are numbered.

I recently purchased a Dell 400SC "server" to use as a Home Theater PC (HTPC). The main requirement for this machine is it MUST be QUIET. I am happy to say that I was not disapointed by this purchase. The "server" has a single 9smm fan that cools the processor. I opted for a P4-2.8c hyperthreaded CPU. It makes a great starter PC.. all you need to do is add video (it has a free AGP slot), memory (comes with 128MB). Dell seems to offer these quite often with free shipping and a $50-$100 rebate. Check out http://www.gotapex.com for the latest deals on Dell systems.

Jeff.