New Computer Question « Videomaker Community Forums

Kemper
Member

Hello to everyone. I've been a subscriber to the magazine for over a year and have learned a lot from its articles as well as this forum but this is my first post.

I also have a question for the set up of a new computer. I am in the process of creating a dedicated desktop PC for montage creation as well as transferring video of varying sources to DVD. I have read several of the threads covering this topic and it seems that building our own PC is the favored way to go. I have a good understanding of the programs I will be using (Adobe P- Pro & P-Elements)but not so much for tinkering around inside of the PC itself. I have a family member that is able to get me a sizable ($700+) discount on a PC from Dell. I would explore the local small businesses (and still may) or the building from scratch of a customized PC but I feel due to lack of budget and expertise, I should commit to the Dell. I may eventually upgrade to Avid, Vegas or Adobe's full package in the future, but for now I will be sticking with what I have.

Having said all of that, here is the actual problem. The PC that fits my budget ($1700 or less) seems to be a Dimension 9200. I have upgraded the processor to a core dual 2.4 Ghz, the memory to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, the video card to a 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS, and a 320 GB Hard Drive. I am also running dual monitors (19" & 20" widescreens). One of the downsides to the dimension is that I am told it can have only one internal hard drive. In several threads including this one you stress the importance of at least two Hard Drives, one for the OS and one for the large files of videos and the like.

Will an external Hard Drive be a sufficient second drive? Can the internal Hard Drive be partitioned to make it more efficient? If I am working with one project at a time(once it is completed I will back up all of its files to a DVD or external drive), will I see excessive performance issues?

From what I have gathered it is equally important to have the large processors, memory and video card in addition to the second drive.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Rob

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

(I split your post into a new topic, rather than have it hijacking another thread)

Can you get by with a single internal harddrive? Sure. Can you work on an external drive? Yup. Is it as good as working on a second internal (non-system) drive? Nope.

Other than being restricted to a single drive (a rather unusual limitation!), your Dell computer sounds OK. You're not saying whether it has SATA or IDE drives though. SATA is better and SATA 3.0 is best.

The problem with a mail-order computer purchase is that you're dealing with a far-off, large, rather impersonal entity when compared with a local, mom-and-pop computer shop. When you have computer problems (and you will) you'll be using email, chat and telephones and hearing things like how to mail the machine in for service, or that they'll send someone out a week from Tuesday. Still, that sounds like a healthy savings and you just might be willing to take a cut in service times to save money.

Posted 5 years ago #
Kemper
Member

The internal drive is a 320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM). The external is a 250 GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - My Book Essential Edition.

I found it rather odd myself about the limitation on the second hard drive. I have owned a Dell Dimension 8300 for the last 3 years and it has room for 2. Up until 2 weeks ago the Dell has been flawless other than it being a bit sluggish with editing but that is due to the set up when it was purchased. 2 weeks ago the C Drive became corrupted and is no longer recognized by the PC. I procrastinated getting a back up of my data so now I will have to shell out big bucks to retrieve it. Bonehead move on my part I know. They could have been a bit more helpful but they were rather prompt in replacing it. It was left up to me to get the new drive loaded and back to functional. That computer just became the family computer for Emails and such, and thatÃ¢Â€Â™s why I am looking into the new Dell. My family members connection at Dell has been very helpful with the new purchase but when I mentioned scrapping the new Dimension quote and starting over with a Dell Precision in order to have a 2nd or more Hard Drive, it sounded like the connection was ready to be done helping us.

My brother in law is in the computer business and it has been a hobby of his forever. I originally asked him about building one form scratch and he suggested going through Dell since the price was so low. I will try to find some smaller shops to get a quote from them but I will be surprised if they could come close to the deal I am getting.

And I am sure there will be problems, especially with it coming with Vista.

Thanks for your help.

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

I would discourage you from buying from Dell, especially not this particular model with the old SATAs and the 1-drive limitation. A half-way decent motherboad will allow 4 IDE and 4 SATA plus have at least two and preferably four PCI slots (so you can add extra SATA or IDE, firewire, USB, etc.).

I can understand your brother-in-law's reluctance - its a little like selling a used car to someone in the family - sure to bring problems, because computers WILL have problems and since you probably have B-I-L's home phone number, it could mean late night calls!

Build your own - then call your B-I-L when you need help. That way he won't feel obligated, yet you'll have some local support. Offer to buy the parts from him.

Posted 5 years ago #
Kemper
Member

Thanks Hank. I will take that into consideration.

I am a bit worried of trying to piece this together myself, but my gut was telling me that the single Hard Drive slot was more than likely a deal breaker.

Posted 5 years ago #