it/computer people

[darkdezigns]

ok following on from my virus probs its prompted me to get this thing upgraded
currently 800mhz
and 40 gb hd
cant remember other stuff,but pretty basic,anyways my question is what to put in it??
dont really play games,but i want to store alot of music and pics etc,also will need to be pretty powerfull as i will be running adobe creative with it,anyway i know a little bout computers but not massive amounts so how far do i go?
ive seen quad core amd's 2.66ghz(i think),is that over kill?how big should i go hdd wise?
any suggestions welcomed,ps i have a full size tower
tia

[stormforce]

ANdy get another hard drive fitted if your going to upgrade and that way all your music and pics can go to a seperate hard drive and not on C drive.
I have done this myself and got a seperate 80gig hard drive fitted which is now D drive.It will help protect any important stuff on your computer

[darkdezigns]

ANdy get another hard drive fitted if your going to upgrade and that way all your music and pics can go to a seperate hard drive and not on C drive.
I have done this myself and got a seperate 80gig hard drive fitted which is now D drive.It will help protect any important stuff on your computer

ive actually seen that,looks like a cool idea,good idea

[stormforce]

i don't have to be an external hard drive as there is normally room inside the box to fit another hard drive like i have.

[Predictable Bob]

I'd agree with a separate hard disk - they're well cheap now so think in terms of 250gb MINIMUM

Not up to date on current processors so I won't make any comment but the one thing that will drag any PC down to snail's pace these days is not enough memory - 2gb is minimum and I'd suggest that 4gb would be better

[darkdezigns]

I'd agree with a separate hard disk - they're well cheap now so think in terms of 250gb MINIMUM

Not up to date on current processors so I won't make any comment but the one thing that will drag any PC down to snail's pace these days is not enough memory - 2gb is minimum and I'd suggest that 4gb would be better

just spoke to him,he is thinkin dual core,rather than quad?he said a little ott
4/poss 8gb memory,and as above 2 hard drives,hopefully 250 each?

[RodLeach]

just spoke to him,he is thinkin dual core,rather than quad?he said a little ott
4/poss 8gb memory,and as above 2 hard drives,hopefully 250 each?

8gb of memory will be total overkill.. only 64bit vista could use that an f**k all works on vista..

I've got a Intel 8400 dual core processer running at 3.0ghz. 2gb of ram an the nvidia 9600gt graphics card... was just over £500 but i got the VAT back so it was cheaper!

That runs every game ive got so far on max settings across the board apart from Crysis which it can only hack high settings.. Thats with a 1680x1050 resolution. Pretty powerful for the money!! 90% of the time the processor is running at around 4-5%. Vista uses just shy of a gig of ram to run. 4gb would be nice... but unless your absoluting going for it.... pointless.

[darkdezigns]

8gb of memory will be total overkill.. only 64bit vista could use that an f**k all works on vista..

I've got a Intel 8400 dual core processer running at 3.0ghz. 2gb of ram an the nvidia 9600gt graphics card... was just over £500 but i got the VAT back so it was cheaper!

That runs every game ive got so far on max settings across the board apart from Crysis which it can only hack high settings.. Thats with a 1680x1050 resolution. Pretty powerful for the money!! 90% of the time the processor is running at around 4-5%. Vista uses just shy of a gig of ram to run. 4gb would be nice... but unless your absoluting going for it.... pointless.

ok 4gig it is then,and rod u dont wanna know wot im paying but is alot less,but it is very overdue,u find yr processor quick enough?

[RodLeach]

ok 4gig it is then,and rod u dont wanna know wot im paying but is alot less,but it is very overdue,u find yr processor quick enough?

your just lucky that you can get it cheap... I didnt want to build my own because at the time i had no idea what i was doing..

I paid my money an got a bargain once the VAT was paid back. Novatech have upped there prices again so the same pc costs around £60 more now.

An yes... 100% Its not a powerhouse but i would be suprised if it struggled to run much. Ive had countless programs open aswell as my music recording stuff all running with max settings on quality etc an its never suffered.

Everyone moans about vista but there the sad g!ts that take things to seriously!

Yes it uses more memory... Who gives a f**k!? Its still an OS that does pretty much anything you could ask for.

plus its prettier then XP.

[darkdezigns]

your just lucky that you can get it cheap... I didnt want to build my own because at the time i had no idea what i was doing..

I paid my money an got a bargain once the VAT was paid back. Novatech have upped there prices again so the same pc costs around £60 more now.

An yes... 100% Its not a powerhouse but i would be suprised if it struggled to run much. Ive had countless programs open aswell as my music recording stuff all running with max settings on quality etc an its never suffered.

Everyone moans about vista but there the sad g!ts that take things to seriously!

Yes it uses more memory... Who gives a f**k!? Its still an OS that does pretty much anything you could ask for.

plus its prettier then XP.

u found a pink option yet?

[gwh200]

8gb of memory will be total overkill.. only 64bit vista could use that an f**k all works on vista..

I've got a Intel 8400 dual core processer running at 3.0ghz. 2gb of ram an the nvidia 9600gt graphics card... was just over £500 but i got the VAT back so it was cheaper!

That runs every game ive got so far on max settings across the board apart from Crysis which it can only hack high settings.. Thats with a 1680x1050 resolution. Pretty powerful for the money!! 90% of the time the processor is running at around 4-5%. Vista uses just shy of a gig of ram to run. 4gb would be nice... but unless your absoluting going for it.... pointless.

err....apart from the laptop im on at present,which has run vista,problem free, for 18 months ...and everything works

[RodLeach]

err....apart from the laptop im on at present,which has run vista,problem free, for 18 months ...and everything works

Sorry...

Meant to say... 64bit vista..

Nothing works on that! 8gb of ram works on that! but no programs that you or i would use.

[gwh200]

Sorry...

Meant to say... 64bit vista..

Nothing works on that! 8gb of ram works on that! but no programs that you or i would use.

well i used matlab, which generated two 15000 digit primes.When it was running, you couldnt have another application running as upwards of 200 million calcs per minute were being formed. Another laptop,exactly the same ,running xp pro just kept crashing ,unable to process the data fast enough...go figure !!

its been very good ,running some really weird stuff,and at one stage running the control for all poo applications east of hastings...if it had broke down....phew !!

[Hazzo]

I use mine for CS also, with XP as a lot of other photographers have had issues with vista so I'll stick with the devil I know, I think xp can only handle up to 3 gig of ram, any more isn't recognized but photoshop loves ram so a lesser expensive CPU a full load of ram a decent MB, Graphics card and as much HD space as you can fit in, (sata or ide) is the order of the day for serious PSCS work and storage. H

[adpsimpson]

BDT, you've managed to get that last rig to last pretty well, 800MHz would make it what, 9 or 10 years old? Good work. My advice would be to splash out a bit and get something decent (looks like that's what you're thinking of) as then you'll manage to do the same again.

My last laptop cost over £1000, but lasted over 5 years (now not portable any more but still running as a music/dvd player). The desktop I'm using at work now must have been a fair bit new 4 years ago (dual 3GHz Pentium 4 processors - think it's 2 separate packages, not dual core), but still runs Matlab simulations, CFD and CAD nice and smoothly.

So even if 4 or 8 GB of memory is a lot just now, it won't be in a few years and your machine will still be happily running along. Same with processors - get the best you can, not because you need it now, but because it will still be happy in 5 years time.

Parting shot - consider sticking Ubuntu on the old machine to give it a new lease of life, even just to play - it's free to download, and you might like it