Please HELP Configure my new Dell for best capture performan

[Videopimp]

Hi. I come to this site quite often for reference on capping. Some of you guys know me. Anyway, i am getting a brand new Dell PC through my work Wednesday and wanted to know if someone here could be so kind as to visit www.dell.com and look at their current offerings. Here are the conditions i have:


1. i would like the best/fastest processor

2. Must have Windows 2000 preloaded

3. i plan to buy memory elsewhere as it is cheaper

4. i am confused as to what memory is best, RDRAM or DDRAM?

5. i have NO CHOICE in the matter but to get a Dell would like an Athalon processor but Dell does not sell any on their machines.

6. i need NO monitor, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, DVD, CDRW or special add ons

7. i need NO warranty

8. Would like to stay under $1,600

9. i plan to add in a DVD-RW into this system

10. i plan to add in an ATI All In Wonder RADEON 32MB PCI card (i know AGP is better, but this was free)

11. where memory is concerned, i would want to be able to expand memory to the most possible so, the initial memory Dell forces you to buy would have to comply with allowing that(ie. buying 128MB RDRAM would not help if the max is 2Gigs and you only have 4 slots)

12. The pimary function of this machine would be capturing and encoding video using ATI MMC, Virtual Dub & TMPGenc

13. I routinely capture at 640 x 480 UNCOMPRESSED AVI 29.97 fps with my current machine

and i know it seems like i will be throwing a lot of money out the window buying a Dell, but the company i work for has an account with them so i don't have a choice in the matter

thanx for all your help in advance and will be checking periodically in case there are other questions
cause i figured this was the best place to go ask for capture machine configuration help

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Videopimp on 2001-12-30 23:33:46 ]</font>

[kingoflubrication]

i just got my new dell this past thurs. everything was great except a small problem with the cd-rom reading mpeg data files. it had something to do with the ligos mpeg codec with the videowave software that was included. anyway, you could probably stay under 1600 and still get a very good system, maybe with a 2ghz cpu since you dont need a monitor, but all of the systems come with a mouse/keyboard. i got a 1.8ghz p4 for just under 1600 with rdram. and as for ram, people tend to argue over which is better rdram or ddrram. i went with rdram because i wanted a system that could be upgraded to at least over a gig of ram, and with rdram systems offered by dell you can max your ram out to 2gigs. however, the ddrram systems offered by dell can only go up to 1gig (last i checked anyway). the 8200 systems are the rdram system, and the 4400 are the ddrram. although, i dont know if you can get win2000, i think you can only choose between XP home or pro. oh, and right now dell is offering a free rdram mem upgrade from 128 to 256, and a free hard drive upgrade from 20 to 80. hope this helps.

[Videopimp]

bump!

more advice needed please
this guy seems on the right track but i need more info on how RDRAM and DDRAM factors in to capturing & encoding video or if it even does at all?

i know that HD speed is crucial but what about other parts of the PC?

[homerpez]

Dude... you're gettin' a Dell.

Couldn't help myself.

The honest (non-argumentative) answer: Get the fastest CPU you can. Get fast, LARGE hard drives. Ram is virtually irrelevant to capturing, but clearly having "enough" (265MB or more) is helpful. You'll help avoid other programs interfering with your capture by disk-swapping while your capture is running (though like I said, RAM itself is not even really used for capturing).

Remember: CPU, HARD DRIVES. That's pretty much it.