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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