Need help with new computer?

[LegendaryArcturus]

Alienware's Area-51® 3500 $1,597.00
-Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 640 w/ HT Technology 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB 2MB
-Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
-1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB
-160GB RAID0 (2 x 80GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache)
-16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
-3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
-Alienware® PCI Express Motherboard with Intel® 945 Chipset
-256MB PCI-Express x16 ATI RADEON™ X550 Pro
-Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire
-Logitech® MX™ 500 Optical Mouse
-Alienware® Full-Tower Chassis. Space Black.
-Alienware® AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling
-Alienware® 485 Watt Power Supply

Alienware's Area-51® 5500 $2041.00
-Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 640 w/ HT Technology 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB 2MB
-Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
-Alienware® 650 Watt ATX 2.0 Power Supply with Active PFC
-Alienware® Full-Tower Chassis. Space Black.
-Alienware® AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling. Astral Blue.
-Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Intel Edition Chipset Motherboard PCI Express SLI
-256MB PCI-Express x16 ATI RADEON™ X1800 XL
-1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB
-160GB RAID0 (2 x 80GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache)
-16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
-Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire
-Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
-Alienware® 10-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer
-3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
-Microsoft® Basic Keyboard Black
-Logitech® MX™ 500 Optical Mouse

These are the specs of the two computers from Alienware featuring Intel and ATI technology. The kind of computer I'm looking for is the one I can use for multimedia purposes like working with my digital cameras, digital camcorders (MiniDV?), videos and images at least. Right now, PC gaming isn't really important for me since I can get that from Playstation 2 and right now, Playstation 2 got lots of life.

From what I have heard, Intel is more ideal for this kind of work (like encoding and using WinRAR) than AMD. Is Intel a good choice for a CPU or should I go with AMD with more power? Should I upgrade to dual core technology? From what I have heard, multi-threading can lower the performance of this kind of work, something about the usual programs not being optimized for multi-threading even if multi-threading is supposed to enhance multitasking capability.

The reason I went for ATI over Nvidia for the GPU is because from what I have heard, ATI is supposed to have better capabilities with video stuff (something about All-In-One) than Nvidia even when Nvidia have lots more power than ATI. Or should I go with Nvidia anyway that it'll do better than ATI when it come to video capability and recording?

About the other stuff, should I go with Alienware® Acoustic Dampening with AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling or is it just an extra? I am unsure on how much noise the PC can actually produce. For the sound card, can I be content with Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire? It got the Firewire I could use, but is this sound card enough for today's video work? I can't upgrade the sound card any further on 3500.

Is 160GB RAID0 (2 x 80GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache) enough for me or should I upgrade it to 320GB RAID0 (2 x 160GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache) for +$88 (on 3500) or 320GB RAID0 (2 x 160GB Serial ATA-II 3Gb 7,200 RPM w/16MB Cache) (on 5500)? Is 7,200 RPM enough for me or should I go for 10,000 RPM for the harddrive? From what I see at Alienware, the only harddrive with 10,000RPM is 148GB RAID0 (2 x 74GB Serial ATA 10,000 RPM w/8MB Cache) only for 5500 and that's less than 160GB in total, not more.

I think I can use the computer for gaming anyway. It's more than enough for Starcraft, Guild Wars and Bioware's older games, and it seem to meet F.E.A.R's recommended requirements listed on its official website (though I can't be sure of the GPU) so it should probably work for future games anyway.

[CompGeek]

Build your own, save hundred$

[Dark Lurker]

Build your own, save hundred$
Indeed. I built one nearly identical to the second comp listed in the original post for about $1000. Alienware sucks.

[wotter]

Build your own and please take amd, there is almost no reason to take intel (unless you like video-encoding and things like that).

AMD 3700+ / x2 3800+
DFI Lanparty Ut Nf4 s939
2*1gb ddr
wd 200gb
ocz/antec/tagan/enermax/... 450+ watt
nvidia 7800gt(x)
something like this and you should be allright, i don't know the prices in $ because i live in europe (€)

[CompGeek]

Build your own and please take amd, there is almost no reason to take intel (unless you like video-encoding and things like that).

No, if you do that you simply want a dual-core AMD.

[wotter]

Lol ok than there is no reason to take intel... :)

[LegendaryArcturus]

there is almost no reason to take intel (unless you like video-encoding and things like that).
Did I not just say I'm interested in video-encoding and things like that? It's in the first post.

Anyway, could I have details on a dual-core in comparison to single-core, AMD in comparison to Intel, and Nvidia in comparison to ATI?

[Pink]

With video cards they are all practically the same. CPU's are a bit different but it seems your going to choose Intel. IMO i would wait for Vista to release and build your system around that.

[wotter]

Xbitlabs had a nice article on high-end, mainstream an low-end graphic cards which you can find here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005.html

X1800xl<7800gt<7800gtx256<X1800xt512<7800gtx512

[hoverbike]

I would take AMD over Intel and Nvidia over ATI IMO. Just get a dual-core AMD CPU instead. Build it yourself and save $100's right away.

[SessDMC]

If your doing video encoding or almost anything i deffinatly recommend AMD X2 4800+ totally OWNS Pentium D and costs less when comparing the speeds of them.

If your building on budget then go for the new AMD Athlon 64 4000+

[LegendaryArcturus]

I did some more researching. AMD 3800+ isn't really expensive when compared to Pentium 4 660, and that's the superior model of Pentium 4 640 so it seem that I should go for AMD's 3800+ at least. What's really attractive about AMD is that it's much more efficient with power consumption than Intel (turned out Intel decided not to add in C1E, Thermal Monitoring 2 and Enhanced SpeedStep in order to rush their new Pentium D 900). I'm still not sure about this dual-core thing since I have to do some more research on how would having dual-core thing affect the capturing performance but so far, dual-core thing look good.

For the GPU, the GPU listed in either specs initially isn't ideal at all. I got two choices for GPU: ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 PCIe Edition and ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 XL. The first GPU work great for video encoding but not much for gaming at all while the second GPU is like X1800 XL (without All-in-Wonder) with All-in-Wonder capabilities but obviously more expensive. I'll decide which GPU to get when I have better outline of the whole specs and whether I should go for PC gaming or not.

One other thing: Is 80GB (per harddrive) enough for me? Right now, I'm using a computer not designed for video work so it look like 80GB may be enough for my current setup. But the other day, when I extracted all raw materials from a 9 mins video with low quality (320x240), it turned out to be well over 2GB. For high-quality material, it'll have to take up lots of spaces (that's where Blu-Ray come in). I still have to check if 7,200 RPM on harddrive is enough and how well would something like 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB work for me.

The reason why I'm interested in Alienware is it can be customized and pre-built for me, known for high-quality PCs, and got Full-Tower Chassis with 4 standard front-accessible USB 2.0 ports and Firewire. So far, ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 XL is unavailable at Alienware. I plan to check for alternatives (with everything I need for lower price) after some more research. The kind of the computer I'm looking for is the one that can work with camera, video, images and other multimedia works, not PC gaming.

[Martinx]

You know what, I piss on people who say that "AMD is better for gaming". That's bullsh it. I have a P4 and my computer is a lot faster in every way than some users with AMD 64's.

Pentium 4 works perfect for games.

[CompGeek]

You know what, I piss on people who say that "AMD is better for gaming". That's bullsh it. I have a P4 and my computer is a lot faster in every way than some users with AMD 64's.

Pentium 4 works perfect for games.

AMD IS better for gaming, get your head on straight.

The $200 Athlon 64 3500+ outperforms the $1000 P4EE in more than half of game applications.

The $1000 FX-57 has no competition.

[wotter]

You know what, I piss on people who say that "AMD is better for gaming". That's bullsh it. I have a P4 and my computer is a lot faster in every way than some users with AMD 64's.

Pentium 4 works perfect for games.

Lol, yeah right compared to a amd64 2800+ perhaps... AMD is cheaper, cooler, better in most applications and for gaming it's the way to go.

[LegendaryArcturus]

Seasonic S12-500 S12 Series 500W 500 Watt ATX SLI Power Supply
Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
256MB ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 XL
Corsair VS1GB400C3 1GB DDR400 PC3200 CAS3 Value Select Memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB Hard Drive Serial ATA-150, 7,200 RPM, 8MB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB Hard Drive Serial ATA-150, 7,200 RPM, 8MB
Plextor PX-740A Series DVD±R/RW
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire (IEEE® 1394)
3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2

I checked out Intel and AMD in details, I'm going with AMD. The reason for this is even if AMD's low end CPU is slightly more expensive than Intel's, Intel's CPU doesn't seem to offer that much power and its power consumption is lots higher than AMD's. About Intel giving off better performance in certain areas than AMD, that was in the past so this kind of thing isn't really important either.

I need to know about how does the whole multiple hard drives thing work because I am unsure of whether both hard drives listed about would be compatible or not. I am not sure of the RAM either because of the issue on whether it's compatible with the motherboard or not so I'd need second opinions on this too.

I'm still looking for a chassis for the computer, the one that support my specs listed above with security, stability and maybe style. Good recommendations you can give me will be appreciated.

Anyway, please note that the PC gaming is not important! Read the first paragraph in the first post.

[DeadlyFire]

The $1000 FX-57 has no competition.
The FX-60 was released today I believe. It runs a bit faster than FX-57 when overclocked.

FX-60 Review (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-fx60.html)

The Pentieum XE 955 processor runs quite well overclocked and it is almost as powerful as the FX-57 when clocked at 4.26 Ghz. Look at how well they do with some games.

FX-60 review charts (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-fx60_11.html)

[SessDMC]

But still the Power consumtion chart mean that the Fx-60 can beat any intel EVER existant with the performance to power consumtion ratio. Untill Conroe, however i do have some doubt about conroe, like its power consumption.

[Mr. Solanky]

I have an AMD processor, and I have nothing wrong with it, it works just fine. For a video card I use NVIDIA, it's what i've been using for years, and I do a lot of gaming on my PC, and I haven't had a problem. From Half-life 2, to F.E.A.R, to Roller Coaster Tycoon.

[Scallywig]

I'de have to agree with the guy in an earlier post. Wait for windows Vista. If you do go for a dual core cpu and get ATI. Reason I say get ATI is because I think M$ are going to give Nvidia the poopy side of the stick because of their dispute. :lol: Seriously though, if you want a gpu with alot of future features(wich will make it future proof)go with Nvidia. But if you want the fastest gpu, ATI is the better one.

[The_Only]

Sony Europe boss David Reeves has said that the platform holder aims to utilize the new 160GB PlayStation 3 unit as a means of determining how consumers respond to a high capacity version of the popular gaming system.

Speaking to MCV, Reeves commented, "The 160GB is a limited edition that we're doing to see how it goes in all the territories because if you look on your site, people are responding to the news by saying 'I want a 500GB PS3' and then other people saying that 'I haven't filled up any of my hard drive'.”

The 160GB PS3 will hit European territories on October 31, priced at EUR 449.

Source: http://www.videogamer.com/news/09-09-2008-9246.html