getting married, but still need a good comp

# 1 23-02-2004 , 11:19 PM

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Hey guys,

Well, I'm getting married and I still need a decent computer to run maya,after effects,premiere, and corel painter. Since I know nothing about building my own computer I was thinking of just getting a prebuilt one, now would going to a computer store such as Best Buy or Futureshop(Canada only, Same as best buy) be a wise choice and buy a top of the line computer or should I get one built by a company such as dell,HP,Compaq etc. I'm not looking to spend an abundant amount but I want something that will be easily upgraded in the future as I need to.

Any help would be highly appreciated

thanks

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# 2 24-02-2004 , 05:25 AM

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I'd definately go to Dell before going to a store like Bestbuy. Dell has some great deals always going on.

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# 3 24-02-2004 , 08:54 AM

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Re: getting married, but still need a good comp

Originally posted by MayaStudent
Hey guys,

Well, I'm getting married and I still need a decent computer to run maya,after effects,premiere, and corel painter. Since I know nothing about building my own computer I was thinking of just getting a prebuilt one, now would going to a computer store such as Best Buy or Futureshop(Canada only, Same as best buy) be a wise choice and buy a top of the line computer or should I get one built by a company such as dell,HP,Compaq etc. I'm not looking to spend an abundant amount but I want something that will be easily upgraded in the future as I need to.

Any help would be highly appreciated

thanks

Originally Posted by

Weren't you thinking of buying an Alienware machine just a couple of weeks ago?

That'll do donkey... that'll do...

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# 4 24-02-2004 , 10:50 PM

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Weren't you thinking of buying an Alienware machine just a couple of weeks ago?

Originally Posted by

Actually it was about a month ago, but I've decided to get married instead, I want to start a family. Alot has happened in a month. I own a dell now it is a p4 2ghz, 64mb geforce video card and 256mb of ram,

I was thinking of upgrading my current computer but I don't know if it will be cooled the way it should or have enough power,

It is upgradable to 4Gigs of ram which is a plus but I want a better processor maybe something with HT technology.

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# 5 24-02-2004 , 10:52 PM

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www.boxxtechnologies.com user added image

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# 6 24-02-2004 , 11:53 PM

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Aren't boxx, the same price as say a alienware system? Plus I don't know if boxx ships to canada

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# 7 25-02-2004 , 12:10 AM

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Originally posted by MayaStudent
Actually it was about a month ago, but I've decided to get married instead, I want to start a family. Alot has happened in a month. I own a dell now it is a p4 2ghz, 64mb geforce video card and 256mb of ram,

I was thinking of upgrading my current computer but I don't know if it will be cooled the way it should or have enough power,

It is upgradable to 4Gigs of ram which is a plus but I want a better processor maybe something with HT technology.

Originally Posted by

Get married or get a new workstation ... what a conundrum??? user added image

j/k

Seriously, your first job is to figure out how far you can take your current system:

* What motherboard, chipset, processor socket combination do you have? - if you are looking at a fairly recent chipset with a 478 socket you're in luck and can probably upgrade to a P4-HT with no problems.

* Do you have an AGP slot? - it's more than likely that you do. If so, you're in great standing for getting a decent graphics card in there.

* Is the board an ATX layout? - again, probably. This will mean that if you need to replace your power supply for a beefier model, this should plug right into your case and motherboard with no problems.

* Cooling: If you plan on running your final system at stock (or close to stock) speed then cooling wont be a major issue as the heatsink-fan combo that comes with the P4 is quite adequate. (I've overclocked my P4-3.2GHz to 3.6GHz on stock cooling and it's very stable).

* Do you have space to add another HDD?

* RAM: do you really need 4GB? That is a hell of a lot more than you'll probably use anytime in the next couple of years. I have 2Gb in my system and that is way way more than is ever used... Right this minute, I have Maya 5, Windows Media Player, Photoshop, and 3 internet sessions open and the system is reporting 1.38GB untouched. You are better off sinking the money into a good gfx card!

FYI: HT gives between twelve- and eighteen-percent performance boost during rendering! user added image

not bad!

That'll do donkey... that'll do...

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# 8 25-02-2004 , 02:49 AM

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How would I check if I have that stuff?

Thanks for the input Rich

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# 9 25-02-2004 , 03:03 AM

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Ok, so I have a dell dimension 8200 w/ intel pentium 4 procerssor at 2.0Ghz W/400mhz System Bus, 512 L2 Cache and integrated audio. W/ SSE2

My Video Card is:
GeForce 4 MX 420
Bus: AGP 4X
Memory: 64MB

Does this help some?

Now what about my Power Box, I don't know what the wattage is but it ain't 400 I can tell you that much

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# 10 25-02-2004 , 09:38 AM

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A quick search on Google for "Upgrade Dell Dimension 8200" will give you tons of information. If you also perform the same search on groups.google.com, you'll find lots of threads from people with similar machines going through similar decision processes to you.

Good luck on both the wedding and the puter! user added image

That'll do donkey... that'll do...

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# 11 25-02-2004 , 04:08 PM

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Ok rich I went to the dell.ca site and found a computer, does this sound good

Dell Dimension XPS:Most expandible of home dell desktops
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition 3.40GHz/HT Technology Advanced Performance, I believe it has 800mhz front side Bus, and a 875chipset

Xp Professional

1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz, Upgradeable to 4GHZ

Sound Blaster_ Audigy 2™ sound card with DVD Audio

256MB DDR ATI RADEON™ 9800 XT , Is this good enough for maya, it supports dual monitors

120G RAID 1 (2 x 120GB SATA HDDs), I could get another 2 harddrives

8x DVD+R/+RW Drive w/CD-RW w/ Sonic RecordNow ,Free Upgrade

3.5 in Floppy Drive and 128MB Dell USB Memory Key

Integrated Intel® PRO 1000 Ethernet

56K PCI Telephony Modem

Price 5,073Canadian or 3,819US
129Can a month

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# 12 25-02-2004 , 04:24 PM

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Couple of problems with that spec:

(1) P4-Extreme Edition is not worth the extra $800. Stick to the standard P4-800MHz bus... save the $$$s

(2) IT's too bad that Dell dont offer a Quadro card with the Dimension systems... they do with the precision, but you'll pay a boatload more.

That'll do donkey... that'll do...

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# 13 25-02-2004 , 06:44 PM

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Ok, cool,

wouldn't I be able to get a quadro card and put it in? Other then that it seems pretty good

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# 14 25-02-2004 , 08:26 PM

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Yep, definitely. You may even be able to sell the original on Ebay.

On the other hand, I know that Dell sell the Quadro cards in their Precision Workstations, so maybe you can work something out with them to either get one put in your machine or get your machine without a card at all.

That'll do donkey... that'll do...

Last edited by rich; 25-02-2004 at 08:29 PM.

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# 15 25-02-2004 , 08:39 PM

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So the ATI one really isn't good?

I could just get it with the basic video card that comes with it and buy a quadro, How much do quadro cards go for?

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getting married, but still need a good comp

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