Buying a PC....any tips??

[GregWhelan]

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?

[Simon Preston]

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

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

[toasty]

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

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

Don't we all...

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.

[Kamal]

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).

[Jenks]

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

get a...nevermind.

[evangelion]

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?

[beanzncheez]

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.

[Troklo]

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

Get a mac and you´ll get all you need

[beanzncheez]

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.

[jeffrey collins]

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

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

[ddr]

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

and wait for Vista SP1 to come out before you dive into it

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.

[beanzncheez]

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.

[ddr]

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.

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.

[evangelion]

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

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

[beanzncheez]

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.