Sam Nichols Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Ok basically Im looking for a Desktop, primarily for video/image editing. HD is definitely an idea im toying with sooo im looking at big RAM, powerful CPU etcetera.I dont care about fancy looks or anything, Id like a pretty big monitor though so I can watch movies.Big hardrive would be preferable but it doesnt really matter as I already have a big ass external.I went on the Dell website and got their Live Help. They reccomended I get the XPS 420 --> Second in from the right.My budget is approx. 800.But that one is like 600 and seems ideal (to the untrained eye).What do you guys think? Anything else to consider? There are also loads of upgrades available on that base package? Do I need any? HELP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Dell will do if you don't want to build it yourself. Its the cheapest place afaik. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Nichols Posted April 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Afaik? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 as far as i know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Sounds good for the money Id upgrade to a 22" monitor at least though.Note that if you ever want 4gb ram you will need a 64bit version of windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Jones Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Yeah that XPS looks good. For editing in HD you can easily get away with 2gb of RAM. When you talk about HD, im guessing you'll be shooting using an HDV or AVCHD camera. HDV uses the same bitrate as DV, so pretty much any modern computer with a decent processor + 2gb RAM will be more than suitable for editing HDV. I think AVCHD uses a lower bitrate than HDV so you should be fine with that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 If I had £800 to spend on a PC, and only about 5 minutes to choose the bits off ebuyer, I'd probably get something along these lines.Notably,1Tb Hard drive4gb RAM20" Samsung MonitorRandom but seems good graphics card (I guess on price)Quad Core ProcessorProbably missed a couple of bits out. If you can build a bike, you can build a PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-man Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Good that one. Remember though, bigger monitors generally need better graphics cards to run them properly. A decent case is also a good thing, keeps components cooler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Token Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 If your primparily into Video/Image editing it's your memory that's going to take the bulk of the work. The last thing you want is the processor writing too/reading off the hard drive because you haven't got enough memory, that'll make things really noticeabley slow so my main priority would be getting (in that Dell configuration) 4gb of 800mhz an if you can remember when XP was released it was recommened to have 512mb of memory an now everybody recommends 1gb because programs became more an more memory intensive as developers moved on, so now it's recommended to have 2gb for Vista you can guarentee next year it'll be pretty normal to have 4gb as programs for Vista become more greedy so you may aswell get it now an be one step ahead. As for graphics cards, anything from mid-range is going to be able to render images an movies just fine (gaming's where the graphics card really takes a beating) but bear in mind you'll probably be looking to get one that's compatible with DirectX 10 just to keep you so called 'future proof' till Windows Seven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam F Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I don't really like to play with companys like dell etc.. i'd rather build my own.. atleast you know it doesn't come with pointless processes that will make it slower etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Token Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I don't really like to play with companys like dell etc.. i'd rather build my own.. atleast you know it doesn't come with pointless processes that will make it slower etc.Well the benefit is that your getting a computer that's guarenteed to work which is good peace of mind for the novice. If you buy a load of parts, sure it might be cheaper but if you don't know how to diagnose a faulty part it can create massive headaches an alot of wasted time. + your not really getting a load of pointless processes when you buy from a company, if it ships with Vista, then that's what your getting. If you want to uninstall their Customer Support program then it's not going to be the end of the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Nichols Posted April 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Wow lots of really good replies, thanks guys!Note that if you ever want 4gb ram you will need a 64bit version of windows.Do I need 4gb of ram? Also what is normal windows and how do you go about getting a 64bit version? off the shelf?Yeah that XPS looks good. For editing in HD you can easily get away with 2gb of RAM. When you talk about HD, im guessing you'll be shooting using an HDV or AVCHD camera. HDV uses the same bitrate as DV, so pretty much any modern computer with a decent processor + 2gb RAM will be more than suitable for editing HDV. I think AVCHD uses a lower bitrate than HDV so you should be fine with that as well.Yeah thats right HDV. To be honest I wont be focusing mainly on HD I just want that option.If I had £800 to spend on a PC, and only about 5 minutes to choose the bits off ebuyer, I'd probably get something along these lines.Notably,1Tb Hard drive4gb RAM20" Samsung MonitorRandom but seems good graphics card (I guess on price)Quad Core ProcessorProbably missed a couple of bits out. If you can build a bike, you can build a PC.Im not really confident enough to build my own, Im worried about compatibility issues, the fact that I lack motivation and would probably have the boxes sat around for ages etc etcI think Id be happier with a 'package'.Another thing, you cant bodge a PC.. and you cant fix a pc with a hammer If your primparily into Video/Image editing it's your memory that's going to take the bulk of the work. The last thing you want is the processor writing too/reading off the hard drive because you haven't got enough memory, that'll make things really noticeabley slow so my main priority would be getting (in that Dell configuration) 4gb of 800mhz an if you can remember when XP was released it was recommened to have 512mb of memory an now everybody recommends 1gb because programs became more an more memory intensive as developers moved on, so now it's recommended to have 2gb for Vista you can guarentee next year it'll be pretty normal to have 4gb as programs for Vista become more greedy so you may aswell get it now an be one step ahead. As for graphics cards, anything from mid-range is going to be able to render images an movies just fine (gaming's where the graphics card really takes a beating) but bear in mind you'll probably be looking to get one that's compatible with DirectX 10 just to keep you so called 'future proof' till Windows Seven.Really useful post, thanks. Hadnt thought about that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrix Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Another thing, you cant bodge a PC.. and you cant fix a pc with a hammer You tell my brother that. He uses pretty much any tool he can find to hit his PC.. and somehow, it starts working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Nichols Posted April 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 XPS 420 Viiv Intel® Processor Q6600 Quad Core™ (2.40GHz, 1066Mhz FSB, 8MB cache) [included in Price]OR XPS 420 E8500 Core 2 Duo Processor (3.16GHz, 6MB, 1333MHz) [add £60.00 or £2/month1]Ummm.. ? Please explain the benefits? :$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-man Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 (edited) Quad has a faster cache time, also can be clocked to the same speeds as the E8500. No need to go dual core, stick with the one listed in the kit.The quad can also be clocked to over 3ghz memory with the stock cooler if done right and nearly 4 ghz with an aftermarket one. Whats the rest of the spec like on it?I have the Q6600 in my computer, only running at 2.5ghz at the moment but its fast as shit.Im also pretty sure the E8500 was tested as the worst 45nm processor of the bunch aswell. Edited April 20, 2008 by Si-man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrayvon Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Quad has a faster cache time, also can be clocked to the same speeds as the E8500. No need to go dual core, stick with the one listed in the kit.The quad can also be clocked to over 3ghz memory with the stock cooler if done right and nearly 4 ghz with an aftermarket one. Whats the rest of the spec like on it?I have the Q6600 in my computer, only running at 2.5ghz at the moment but its fast as shit.Im also pretty sure the E8500 was tested as the worst 45nm processor of the bunch aswell.I have the Q6600 but have yet to overclock it, still is pretty fast! I'm a bit wary of overclocking as i've never done it before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-man Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Yer im like that, apparently its easy but its running all high settings on crysis with max res on a 22inch screen spot on. Ill do it when i get the watercooling i think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrayvon Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Yer im like that, apparently its easy but its running all high settings on crysis with max res on a 22inch screen spot on. Ill do it when i get the watercooling i think.Aww I can't run max settings on crysis Guessing you have a better graphics card then! I only have the xfx 8600gt xxx edition (basically it comes with porn* )It has to be my card though 'cos I have 4gb of 800mhz ram too, so thats all good *Not actually true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-man Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 The card I haveI really need Vista though to get the full potential out of the DX10 on it, but im not converting to that shite just yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Nichols Posted April 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 Quad has a faster cache time, also can be clocked to the same speeds as the E8500. No need to go dual core, stick with the one listed in the kit.The quad can also be clocked to over 3ghz memory with the stock cooler if done right and nearly 4 ghz with an aftermarket one. Whats the rest of the spec like on it?I have the Q6600 in my computer, only running at 2.5ghz at the moment but its fast as shit.Im also pretty sure the E8500 was tested as the worst 45nm processor of the bunch aswell.I dont understand much of what anyone said but I will go with what you said and not bother with the upgrade Cheers guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 If you don't want to play any games at all, you can easily cut back on the graphics card. Something like an ATI HD2400 is under £40 and it'll do HD decoding on board, taking load off the CPU, and being more efficient, whilst probably being quieter than a normal card like the one tomturd suggested. But it'll be rubbish for games, so them's the breaks. Oh, and definitely factor in a nice big screen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 The card I haveI really need Vista though to get the full potential out of the DX10 on it, but im not converting to that shite just yet.XP64? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-man Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 It DX10 compatible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 I really need Vista though to get the full potential out of the DX10 on it, but im not converting to that shite just yet.Have you actually tried it these days? Since SP1 there is nowt wrong with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.