Computer Upgrade Priority Questions

JohnMuellerJD wrote on 10/4/2003, 12:26 PM

Hi,

I currently use a DELL, Windows Me, Pentium III 866 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive.

I want to add a DVD burner and expand on hard drive space and hopefully speed up the editing process. I am not too concerned about actual rendering as I usually leave the room for large projects. I want to spend less than $800. Where should my priorities lie? A couple of questions I have:

(1) I need more hard drive space and I am debating over an internal or external Hard Drive. By employing an external hard drive, will things operate slower from that drive than if I had an internal drive? When I finally junk my computer, could I transfer the “additional” internal drive to a new computer without losing anything on it? I know externals are more expensive, is it worth the “convenience?”

(2) I assume getting a new processor is quite an expense, will increasing the 128 RAM to 256 or more noticeably speed things up?

(3) Is there really much of a difference in DVD burners that all cost around the $250 - $350 range?

(4) Should I just spend the extra couple hundred bucks and buy a new computer that has most of these features and operates off a different operating system?

Thanks for all input.

John.

Comments

randy-stewart wrote on 10/4/2003, 5:45 PM

John,
I have the same basic model Dell machine. However, I've upgraded to 512 MB of ram (can't remember how much that cost but got it from Dell), added a Western Digital 40 GB drive (internal $70), and a Sony 510A DVD burner ($300). I bet you could get all of that now (with a bigger hard drive) for about $500. My system runs great which is bad because I'd really like to get a new system but can't justify it :-(. If you get a new system, you'll probably have to spend more than the basic model costs to get what you will have with the above upgrade (sans the processor speed). It's an interim fix. For me, I'm saving for one of those DVLine turnkey systems. Yeah...that's the ticket!
Aloha,
Randy

riredale wrote on 10/4/2003, 6:17 PM

John:

If you put together ten different NLE editors, you'll probably get ten different answers. That said, here's my feedback:

--Check with your PCs vendor to see how fast a CPU your motherboard can take. If it can go faster, the second thing is to see whether you can even get a PIII processor any more. I don't know--I'm an Athlon guy myself. If you can find a faster chip, you'll probably pay $50 at most.

--Internal drives are simpler to implement and cheaper, since you don't need the external case and interface hassles. When you get rid of your current computer, it takes all of 5 minutes to pull the drive out and put it into your new machine. If you don't feel comfortable opening up your case, ask a friend or a technician to help the first time. It's really very easy.

--Some people love +R burners, and others -R. My take is that it really doesn't make any difference any more, since the disks burned will work on pretty much any DVD player these days. Buy something cheap. I note that it's now possible to buy either kind of burner for about $150.

--The ME operating system is not as memory-hungry as XP, but even so I'd recommend getting an additional 128MB of memory. It's cheap, and it means Vegas will rarely have to page memory to disk.

--Windows ME has a mixed reputation, and in any event it's clear that XP is much more stable. But if you're comfortable with ME and with how your current setup runs, fine. The only practical consideration is that individual avi files will be limited to 18 minutes (4GB). But Vegas automatically deals with that issue (it transparently splits long captures into multiple files), so it's more a matter of esthetics, not practicality (Windows XP can use the NTFS file system, which does not have the 4GB file size limit). If you do decide to upgrade to either XP or a new box with XP already installed, some of your current applications will not run, so your comfortable setup will have to change somewhat, and it will also take a bit of time to configure the new system.

So, let's see... $50 for a faster CPU, $25 for more memory, and $150 for a burner. Looks like $225 to me. Use the extra $575 for a really fun weekend with the wife. You'll have a very usable computer, and happy memories.

busterkeaton wrote on 10/5/2003, 4:14 AM

Here's some figures from Pricewatch.com. It's the lowest figures, and I didn't look to see if vendor were reputable. www.newegg.com is a site with always good prices and great reputation, you need to know what you are looking for before you go there though, their margins don't buy a pretty web design.
cpu
$205 - Pentium III 1.4GHz
$177 - Pentium III 1.26GHz 512K
$83 - Pentium III 1.2GHz
$150 - Pentium III 1.13GHz
$75 - Pentium III 1.13GHz 133MHz
$69 - Pentium III 1GHz

I think going to 1.4Ghz will dramatically speed up your renders. Because the PIII has a shorter pipeline that's equivalent to like a 1.8 Ghz PIV. Notice how the 1.2Ghz is cheaper than the 1.13Ghz? That's because later PIII have 512K cache which will will improve performance.

memory
$38 - PC133 512MB
$27 - PC133 256MB
$14 - PC133 128MB
$9 - PC133 64MB
$134 - PC100 1GB
$38 - PC100 512MB
$29 - PC100 256MB

I believe your Dell will use PC133. so it looks pretty cheap. At those prices I would definitey go up to at least 512 or maybe 128 + new 512.

hard drive
$102 EIDE 160GB
$80 - EIDE 120GB
$82 - EIDE 100GB
$61 - EIDE 80.0GB
$66 - EIDE 75.0GB
$52 - EIDE 60.0GB
$63 - EIDE 45.0GB
$45 - EIDE 40.0GB
$46 - EIDE 30.7GB
$42 - EIDE 30.0GB

Your budget easily allows for some hefty storage. I would get a drive that has a speed of 7200 RPM and a 8 meg buffer. The cheaper drives will be 5400 RPM and 2 meg buffer.
I have used Maxtor and Western Digital without problems, but I have heard some people dis Maxtor recently. The main thing with hard drives is to know that ALL hard drives will fail eventually. That maybe within three years or fifteen if you are lucky, but you should plan your backups with the knowledge that all hard drives will eventually fail.
http://www.storagereview.com/ is a site that is hard core about hard drives. They have a forum there I would check it out.

If you have an additional internal drive with your video footage on it, you should have not problem switching it to a new machine. I have heard of folks having no problems editing to an external firewire drive. I have heard of folks who had wierd quirky Vegas issues that they eventually tracked down to an extrernal drive that was not set up correctly.

DVD drives

Pioneer and Sony make drives that write to both DVD+R/W and DVD-R/W, others are started to as well, so these types of drives are probably the most compatible with all types of DVD players. If you are just making DVDs for youself that may not matter. If you are ever going to make them for other people I would go with a dual-format drive.

I just bought the PIONEER DVR-A06. The price has just come down, it seems a little bit cheaper than the sony and I like the software bundle that came with it. I got mine www.videoguys.com
They are currently running a special where there are throwing in extra DVD media.
$199 with five DVDs
$225 with twenty DVDs

You can get refurbished Dells with XP and pretty fast processors, but no monitor for under $800, you would still need to buy a DVD burner though and would not be able to resuse your memory.

craftech wrote on 10/5/2003, 8:31 AM

My recommendations would be the following:

1. Don't upgrade the processor. Anything that system can take will cost more than the slight improvement is worth.

2. Do upgrade the Ram to at least 512MB and make sure it is compatible. Forget the hype about CAS 2 vs CAS 3.

3. If Windows ME isn't causing problems leave it alone. Otherwise if you have it, install Windows 98 SE. I still use it and like it despite it's minor limitations (And I have had a full copy of Windows XP Pro for over a year and haven't installed it.)

4. Add a large internal hard drive of the same brand as the 40 GB. Configure it only for clips and rendered files. Keep your programs and temp files on the (40 GB) C drive.

5. Stick with the Pioneer DVD Burners. Fewer complaints. Buy either an A05 or an A06. I would recommend the A06 to save money. Many of us will end up buying the new dual-layer burners when they start appearing. My guess is that the price of those will be high for quite awhile.:
http://www.dvdrw.com/press/duallayer.htm

6. Check here periodically for some great deals involving coupon codes and sales combinations:
http://www.spoofee.com/
AnandTech and Fatwallet also have forums for "Hot Deals"

7. **Above All**: Make sure that the machine is a dedicated machine (for video editing only). That will give you the biggest improvement in performance and reduce troubleshooting time.

John