Hi A,

You might want to check the mobo chipset... VIA chipsets are known to cause probs...


As for also being the family machine, load Vegas first and make sure it's running well...

then, each time before installing other applications, set a "restore point" so if Vegas gets whacked by a new installation, you could "rollback" to the system's config prior to install.





HTH, MPH

Tips:
http://www.martyhedler.com/homepage/Vegas_Tutorials.html

Skup the CD rom drive and add a DVD burner---a DVD burner can burn DVD's
or CD's and also play them back. CD ROM drives are history.

JJK

I'm not sure about the DVD burner. At least not for making DVD's for people to view. I don't have one because they aren't compatible enough for me (like burned CD's used to be on audio CD players). They're just goin to get cheaper as time goes on anyway, so if you get your new computer and then think you want one, they'll be $10-20 cheaper by then. :) You don't really need the 2 cd-roms eigther. 1 should do (I ended up taking out my plain 24x cuz I never used it). If you wanted a DVD Reader though, have two drives.

Get the bigger HD though. The biggest one you can afford. I have duel 80 GB's (one wint Win98/2K and one AV) and I could use a bigger AV one. Actuatly, get an 80GB for your OS drive too. Since it's your family computer, games and such might (will?) be installed. Nothing is more annoying then then uninstalling and reinstalling 2GB games.

Again, on the family computer side of things, you might not want the Radeon 9000. If you want an ATI card, go for one of the more powerful ones for a little more. Again, since it's for the family, you'll want a 128mb video card. Again, the games come into play. You do have kids right? Or, if you ARE the kid :) you have brothers/sisters, right?

My editing computer started off as a game computer and ended up being a family/editing/gaming computer. And if you're like me, you don't plan to upgrade most of your hardware for at leat a year. One thing i would ADD is a network card, and get a nice sound card while you're at it. You didn't mention those, but they could be built into the motherboard. I prefer ECS motherboards myself because I've never hada problem with them.

You didn't mention a case. Get an AMD certified power supply, and DON'T get the cheapest case. Make sure it will fit everything you need inside it, and make sure it has room for an extra cppling fan or two. Also, you'll probely need to buy sperate ATA100/133 cables since most motherboard don't come with 2.

Just remember, everything is going to be cheaper tomorrow and better. I upgrade to an ECS pentium 3 motherboard, 256DDR, Hercules MuseXL sound, and new case for about $200. that was without a processor. This month, I got my parents an AMD 1.33, 128mbDDR, case, and ECS athlon XP motherboard for exactly the same price. Talk about price drip, huh? :)

Cheers for that folks! Yes I've got kids, but no, they're not really into GPU heavy games - just surfin and chatting! I already have a maxtor 60Gig Firewire drive on top of those specs, and as money is tight, I can't really stretch to a (decent)DVD writer yet. I am however, interested in the VIA issues - anyone care to expand on this? Are ALL AMD M/Bs using VIA chipsets?

Errr...I just checked and the MB has a SIS® 745 Chipset. Not being to clued up on these matters, does this make a difference?

I would check with Earle Foote on the Cow forum Vegas section.

JJK

LOL! My memory is failing me. I used to have a older VIA chipset on one of my PC's, it didn't cause me problems, but I remember reading here, elsewhere of problems with older versions. I think most of that is past us. So if you're getting a new PC shouldn't be a problem. You may want to check out some of the proflict web sites that really get into the pros and cons of various motherboards, their chipsets, that type of thing IF you're going to build your own. If you're buying a name brand like Dell or Gateway, they should be well past this issue already.

Er pardon my ignorance - but wtf is the "cow forum"????

I think the link is http://www.creativecow.net

JJK

Current VIA chipsets are problem free, since they updated them from earlier days. I've used 4-5 computers using them with no problems whatsoever. VIA advantage is that they're faster than most anything else,definitely faster than SIS (not sure if the current N-Force chipsets are faster, or just more feature rich). Be sure to get the XP2100 Thoroughbred B, not the A, cause the B's over clock like crazy. Mine runs comfortably at 2.3GHZ, making it the equivalent of an XP2800, but for $88, (at newegg.com). Not familiar w/your choice of motherboard, but I'd definitly take a VIA chipset over the SIS. I,ve been really happy with my Asus A7V333, really stable board, and available now in newegg's refurb section for $69, and it offers full multiplier control in bios of the 2100 B Throughbreds, (many 333 boards dont, although they claim to support the T'bred chips, they'll only run at default multipliers). Good luck..

Hah! Good luck indeed - now got two totally conflicting opinions, probably both based upon experience! Same with operating systems - got members of my VJ forum saying XP is utter rubbish, go for W2000, and others (myself included) who think XP is a bit good. Maybe I should go out and buy a 17" Powerbook with "FinalCutPro".

When it comes to computer, its so many parts to concider that you can go nuts. I have been using computers for uhm 16 years, and still i cant decide which HD i should buy next. Enough about that.

Its mainly 3 things that you should concider when you buy a computer:
Chipset
CPU
Memory

As you have read already it seems that both SiS and VIA is perfectly good for video editing, for example i uses the I845GE chipset by Intel, which is working perfectly.

The 4th and not most important (but still important) is the HD in your system. Do you care about sound (As in do you want a quiet PC, or you simply dont really care). At least you should chose a harddrive which doesnt turn too hot.

For my own experience i can only tell you about my own system, for years i have been using the big computer boxes and they look really boring also with their beige color. Well of course they have lots of space ;)

I decided to move "down" to the new Shuttle computers.

Shuttle XPC SB51G (which is a Small Form Factor)
http://shuttle.com/new/product/barebone/specs_b.asp?B_id=8

Corsair PC3200 (DDR400) 512, its able to run at CAS2 w/out problems

Intel 2.4Ghz(B)

The shuttle SB51G got built in soundcard, FireWire, network-card and USB2. no problem just connect and connect, there you go ready for video editing.

Windows XP or Windows 2000, i think its a matter of taste. If you like Windows XP go for it. I for myself doesnt like it very much. I have had few friends that god problem with it, its very strange, when they play their games it locks, something that doesnt happen to me when i uses Windows 2000.

Whatever you go for make sure you update everything.

Frankie
Singapore
Shuttle XPC SB51G
i2.4GHZ(B)
Corsair VMS PC3200 512MB
IBM 14GB ( oh yes)