-= Need computer advice... I'm upgrading =-

[J Crew]

i'm wanting to upgrade my current computer: amd athlon 700 mhz, 256 pc100 ram, 15 gig 7200 rpm hd (main), 40 gig 7200 rpm hd (video editing drive), 12 gig 5400 rpm hd (music editing drive), 1394 firewire card.
software: adobe premiere, dvd workshop, & windows 98 se.

i only use my computer to edit my home movies that i record from my sony dv camcorder (trv120), and am looking to increase the conversion time and ease of use while editing my videos. i'm unsure if i should go with a p4 or an amd athlon xp processor, but price is an important option. i'm also not 100% sure what options i should look for in motherboards either.

i'm currently looking at an amd athlon xp 2400+ on a 7VAXP motherboard by Gigabyte. this motherboard can handle DDR400 pc3200 ram when it becomes certified, has 1394 built in, usb 2.0, and has a 333 mhz FSB. i'm going to go with either 256 or 512 pc2700 ram, keep my current hd's, and upgrade to windows xp proffesional.

- is this a decent setup for video editing?
- how much difference will 256 to 512 ram make?
- do video cards make a difference? i currently have an old 16mb card, but would like to keep it if it doesn't hurt performance when editing and converting video.

thanks very much for your time and any help/advice that you can give

[Jester700]

Sounds like a good plan. Run your memory synchronously with bus speed - 333. Mobo reviews I've seen don't show any benefit of the faster memory bus for now.

The new version of the P4 has some hyperthreading technology that MAY be of use in future software, but it hasn't borne out yet, and is still expensive. Regular P4s are good too, though - that's a tough call.

Make sure your Athlon has the core revision B if you go that route - it runs cooler. See http://www.overclockers.com/tips00110/ for more info.

Your vid card should be fine for editing.

I'm not sure whether 512MB will help or not - depends on the programs & WinXP (which I'm not familiar with). It sure can't hurt though, and I use that much myself.

[sterno]

Video cards aren't really a big deal for editing, but they do affect overall system performance. If your video card is something mediocre (like a Trident or S3) it might be worthwhile to get something a little better. But if it's a good card like a Matrox you won't gain anything from a new one - 2D video performance hasn't changed much in quite a while.

[paulgab]

If you choose to go AMD, look for the dual-channel DDR mobos, not so sure of the brands but www.tomshardware.com is a nice place to look at. Also if you are on overclocking, ABIT and EPOX produces good mobos for O/Cing. If mobo is w/ VIA chipset, go with KT333 and above.

[wayned16]

i just got a new mobo (went the AMD route) got an MSI KT4 ultra, check this board out it has 3 ddr slots the new AGP 8X slot 6 pci slots 6USB ports, on board 5.1 sound card with SPDIF. This mobo is the works...have a look for your self.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/msikt400/

also for motherboards check out www.motherboards.org

as for processors AMD do a cheap AMD XP 2100+ for £80 next one up from that is the AMD XP 2200+ and thats £130 so get the 2100 and overclock. Upto you i dont know how much you are gonna spend.

l8a

By the way if you live in the UK you can get the processor and MOBO of www.ebuyer.com

[Craig Tucker]

Sounds like a good plan. Run your memory synchronously with bus speed - 333. Mobo reviews I've seen don't show any benefit of the faster memory bus for now.

If you can afford it getting one of the new processors (either the XP2700+ or XP2800+) which have a fsb speed of 333Mhz rather than 266Mhz would be the way forward. This way your memory cpu and motherboard will all be synchronized at 333MHz.

I currently have a motherboard which is capable of a fsb speed of 333mhz and pc2700 333mhz memory, as soon as I can afford it I plan on upgrading to one of the new thoroughbred athlon XP's with the 333mhz fsb.

[Jester700]

Sounds like a good plan. Run your memory synchronously with bus speed - 333. Mobo reviews I've seen don't show any benefit of the faster memory bus for now.

If you can afford it getting one of the new processors (either the XP2700+ or XP2800+) which have a fsb speed of 333Mhz rather than 266Mhz would be the way forward. This way your memory cpu and motherboard will all be synchronized at 333MHz.

I currently have a motherboard which is capable of a fsb speed of 333mhz and pc2700 333mhz memory, as soon as I can afford it I plan on upgrading to one of the new thoroughbred athlon XP's with the 333mhz fsb.

Good point. That's what I meant, but I probably didn't state it clearly enough.

Also, it looks like nVidia's nForce2 chipset is da bomb at this point if you're into AMD. Skip VIA for now.