Tom, if you purchase a brand-name computer, in all likelihood it will not be upgradeable.  The motherboard will have a proprietary 
form factor and the case will not be standard.  They cut corners in flexibility (not necessarily quality) in order to save money and 
offer a cheaper price.  The power supply may be just big enough for the system, and the case have no room for a bigger one.

The issue of quality is a wash.  The purchased computer will have an Intel or AMD processor, and so will yours.  Same type of thing 
for hard drives.  Other components such as power supply may be not as good, but you won't be able to match the price of the 
proprietary computer.  You will get pretty much what you pay for.  The purchased computer will probably be cheaper - built-in sound 
and video which are cheaper, but not as easily modified.  You can't save 20% by building your own.  It will probably cost 20% more 
for the same functionality.  Do your homework - go to NewEgg and check the prices of the components.

Forget about the Quad processor.  The motherboards are not ready for these.  Mine is a headache - it crashes several times a day. 
Something like an E8400 will be fine.

You will only use about 3GB of ram if you choose a 32 bit operating system.  If you get a 64 bit o.s., then some of your current 
(and future) software may not run.  For example, Windows Home Server released from Microsoft months ago would not work properly with 
my 64 bit laptop!  They just released a patch last week!

If you don't play games, and only do occasional editing, don't spend a lot on a video card.  A cheaper one will do fine.  (I mean in 
the $100 - $200 range.)

You are correct about the over-clocked graphics.  It is a common practice.

Okay, now since this is PCBUILD, I'll tell you what I would do if I were you and I could afford it.  Buy a really good case and 
power supply.  Won't be cheap, but they will last through many upgrades.  By a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. that you have seen and 
tried and like - these, too, can last through many upgrades.  Buy a good DVD burner, but not necessarily the best - a faster one 
will save time burning videos, but the fastest will cost more.  In my experience, they don't last long anyway.  Purchase internal 
components to suit your budget.  You can upgrade them later if you want too.

HTH

Dean Kukral


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Waddell" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:52 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] To build or buy a new computer?


In the market for a new computer. Have looked at the Dell XPS 420 and the Gateway FX 4710. Need advice on processor, FSB, cache, 
RAM, and video card specs to do some video editing from a Mini DV camcorder and burning a DVD of the edited video. Not going to be 
doing a lot of editing. Primary use is email, internet, playing/burning music CD's. Don't mind if editing takes longer on a less 
expensive computer, as long as the components will do the job. One thing I do need is a computer that I can upgrade the MB, CPU and 
memory in as technology changes.

Would I be better off building or buying my own computer in terms of quality of componebts for the price. If I can save 20% by 
building my own I'll build. If not I'll buy. The only computer I ever bought was a Dell in 1998. I built all my other computers. I 
am no expert. By "building" I mean my brother-in-law would give me his old computers (but newer than mine) when he upgraded his 
company computers. I would take the tower, MB, CPU, add RAM and install better HD, video card, monitor etc from other computers I 
had. Not an expert but no stranger to building computers.

These are the Dell XPS 420 range of what I have been told by Dell I need:
Processor, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 (6MB L2 Cache,3.0GHz,1333FSB)
-OR- Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300 (6MB Cache,2.50GHz,1333FSB)
I think the Core 2 Duo will be fine

Ram, 3 OR 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
I think 4G would keep me from having to upgrade for a while

Video card, ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB GDDR4
-OR- nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB
How much video card memory do I need? 128, 256, 512?

Specs on the Gateway FX 4710 from Best Buy are:
Processor, Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q9300, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2 cache, 2.5GHz processor
RAM, 6GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory, expandable to 8GB
Video Card, NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT over-clocked graphics, 512MB on-board memory
What does over-clocked graphics mean? Is it the same as over-clocking a CPU that makes them run faster but hotter and shortens the 
life of the chip?

Thanks for the advice,

Tom

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