Originally Posted by Novasolutions
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Hey:
I'm shopping around for a new desktop pc and really have no idea what I ideally need.
Transcription is the primary service I provide (so definitely Windows Office), but would also like to run say Adobe CS 5 or Corel Draw on my system to mess about with graphics)
I already have a 1TB WD MyBookLive for storage, but just need some advice
re: PC specifications:
What Memory -v- Hard Drive is faster? (i.e. Memory 3GB / Hard Drive 500GB)
Intel core i3, i5, i7?
DVD Writer?
What Make/Model you'd recommend?
My current one is a Hewlett Packard but is dying the death and processing speeds weren't fantastic, albeit it was a reconditioned model. I live in the UK so PC World seems to be the place to go but don't just want in-store 'techie' advice, want to be armed with some VA knowledge too!!
Thanks!
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I'm a huge computer geek. I love them. I built my own three years ago, and am only waiting for two more parts to build my new one. I'm a gamer, so my computers need to be good, middle ground isn't enough.
So to answer your questions...
My new computer has 6 gigs of ram, an i7 processor, windows 7, a 16x dvd writer, a geforce 570 fermi graphics card, and I'm waiting to get a solid state boot drive and a velociraptor hard drive for my games. My current drive I'll use for my business when its finally opened up because I can password the drive, and if something happens to windows, that drive will be fine because windows won't be on it.
My suggestion for you is this...
3 gigs is
not enough if you are going to be doing any kind of graphics work at all. Get at least 4 gigs.
A 500 gig hard drive is good, but you want to pay attention to your speed. My velociraptor will run at 10,000 rpm (the fastest physical hard drive that isn't a solid state drive on the market). You want one that's going to give you at least 7,200 rpm for graphics work.
You want at least an i5 chip or an amd 940. Again, due to speed for graphics work.
For you, the speed of your dvd writer won't matter. They all do basically the same thing, and you aren't likely to be running a game on it. When doing graphics work, its the speed of the ram, the processor, and the hard drive that matters.
I suggest you get a dedicated video card. The on board cards are slow and give bad graphics. Consider at least a geforce 8800, though those are really old now and were old even when I built my computer three years ago. They are cheap.
Make and model don't matter in the least. For example, a dell is going to be the same as an HP pretty much. What matters are the make and model of the stuff inside the computer, not the name of the dealer. Since I've already told you the names, I won't repeat them.
If you aren't doing graphics work, then 3 gigs is fine, an i3 will do just fine and maybe even something slower. An on board graphics card will be just fine. I do suggest at least Windows Vista, and you'd be better off with Windows 7. The DVD writer won't matter since most computers come with at least an 8x anyway.
Oh, I just noticed the thing about RAM.. that's true, you never use your whole ram, but not for the reason you think. Part of that ram is dedicated to the ram itself. It has the programming that allows the ram to run as ram. Don't worry about it.
Time for a new desktop pc, what do you recommend?
Linear Mode
