Which Computer for Video Production? ITS OVER!!! FINALLY!

[overloaded_ide]

Too much to read everything and reply to all of it.
Most is opion or BS anyway, not facts!

As a system builder I can state for a fact, NOTHING AT ALL, almost!
That sums it up right there, total honesty!

Yes building a PC is nothing but a few screws and clips and plugging in some cables. THATS A FACT that can be stated though, no matter who builds it!
Then you install software, drivers etc...
Crash your system, get wiped out by a virus, etc... and you do the same thing with a fresh format and new install! I see alot of prebuilt systems needing fresh installs for such reasons all the time, you either do it yourself or pay someone like me to do it for you. So you might as well learn to do it yourself and save money buy NOT paying me to do it!

What you buy is your choice, but whos to say a complete system will not be the exact same parts anyway! SO yes, they did all the screws, clips, cables for you! But you still have either a working system, or a pack of problems!

As for myself, in the last few years I have not had any pack of problems, and I build all my own plus those for others.

Currantly I have 2 AMD 1700Xp's (one is over clocked just for fun of doing it), 1 AMD 2000XP, 1 AMD 2500 barton with a 333 fsb. I have one dead system board in the last computer it's also a AMD 1700XP.
On that 5th system with a dead board, I used that board in tons of systems, and this is the only one to die. So it's a good board in general, but after 3-4yrs this one gave up and stopped booting, big deal $50 to replace with a better newer one of the same brand!
I have 3 different brands of system boards in those 5 systems.
I also still have very old systems I don't even count for anything that are still working fine, they just don't do much today, like a AMD DX4 100 and an Intel PI 133.

Don't tell me AMD has problems! The older (modern) systems I have replaced with new systems were also AMD and are still running fine for those I gave them to! Since I have no control or personal knowledge of what happens to a system I build for others, I go by my own experience that I know what has been done. But my K6's are still running for people to this day!

I recently had a client complain his hard drive crashed and wanted me to take care of it. Ya right, when he gave me the system I asked WHY the back corner of the case was bent in. He stated it fell off the desk while he was connecting a USB printer! Gee, it just happened to be the day before the hard drive crashed too, for no reason!
HUH, sorry, but no it was NOT a crappy drive!!

As for Maxtor, I never had one crash yet either, but someday it will, nothing is perfect! I have had WD drives go bad, RMA was not a problem.
Seagate is a good drive, but I had one go bad before too.
Nothing is perfect!
I use almost all Maxtors myself, I have a couple WD drives I got on sales.
So from my experience I can say Maxtors are more stable than WD or Seagate based on the fact I have used 2-3 times as many Maxtors as anything else and never had one crash yet. Also most of my Maxtors are now older than the 2-6 month old drives that had to be RMA'd of Seagate and WD!

I also have WD drives I got free because of user errors and stupid techs not knowing what they were doing! Dug them out of the trash, run WD tools and they are fine, nothing wrong with them. More user problem than hardware!

In all the years I build, repair, upgrade my own systems (many of them!) I have had very few problems with anything! And when I do have problems it's normally some type outside force causing it. Like I was working on a system once I was using and the case was open. Wife had desk piled up with junk and one day I turned on the system and POP!
I found a metal potatochip bag clip laying against the back of the motherboard! Not really a system problem it fried, user error!
I should have had the system closed, and the desk should not have been cluttered like that, but oh well, I was testing alot of parts and just left the case open all the time.

Most prebuilt systems are no better than anything you or I can build ourselfs! In most cases they are not as good! If your going to build a cheap system, you would buy a cheap prebuilt also, so your still gonna get the cheapest low quality parts either way. If your going to BUY a good high quality system, then expect to buy yourself the same quality parts if you build your own. If you just walk into a store and say sell me a system, expect to get the cheapest thing they can build for the cost of a quality one.

ANd no matter WHO built it, it was just screws, cables, clips, and install software.

Fact is also, if you don't know what chipset to buy or not to buy, then what makes you think you would not have bought a pre-built system with the same chipset as the system you build yourself? Gee, ever thought of that one guys?
If you thought a KT400 chipset was good to get when you bought a system board, then why would you not bought it in a pre-built system? Duh...
Either way it was or was not a good chipset!

And I haven't been haveing any problems with any of the newer stuff yet, though I am just now planning to build a 64bit pc and I'll see how that goes. Haven't had anyone wanting to buy a 64 yet, so I geuss I'll build me one!

I haven't built an INTEL for years, though I have compared my AMDs to various Intels of friends. Price wise, my AMD beats anything of Intels in the same price range. Also beats anything a few ranges higher in price too! Talking real life use, not some theory testing junk on a bench some place.

Sit 2 new systems side by side, start installing all the exact same software, open the same files, do the same work. My Amd's win everytime with real life use! Who cares about theory benchmarks (AMD wins alot of those too), I want the performance in use, not in testing! We have done this several times using different boards cpu's ect... AMD wins for normal use. Maybe for other stuff Intel could win? Searching for Aliens with those download data packs?? Rendering video animation? Most people don't do that, so no we haven't either for comparing systems.

And for most people, any modern system is faster than they need anyway. Any system can download from the Internet (even the PI 133) and a decent system can burn DVD backups just fine, doesn't have to be the newest fastest, most people never use a system for anything that needs all that speed. Those of us Editing videos and authoring DVDs and many business apps could use the power, but not many home users doing the average stuff!

[dosun]

Finally someone that actually knows what they are talking about.

[gshelley61]

I built my current desktop about a year ago with parts I got from eBay auctions and heavily rebated store sales... it was fun and not that hard to do. Plus, I saved a ton of money.

AMD XP 2400+, ECS K7S5A motherboard, 1GB of Kingston RAM, two 120GB Seagate HDD's, two quad format DVD burners (a Sony and a LG), 550W power supply, six USB2 ports, three IEEE 1394 firewire ports, SoundBlaster Extigy external sound card/USB device, aluminum mid-tower window case with three low-noise cooling fans, Windows XP, Samsung SyncMaster 17" LCD monitor.

I think there's about $800-900 into it so far. Pretty cheap at the time I built it. That doesn't include the multimedia software I've paid for since (Nero, Womble, Pinnacle, TMPGEnc, etc.).

[overloaded_ide]

Lordsmurf,
I did see in your post your having the same type problem I had the other day. Turn on the system and hope it boots, sometimes it's not finding the drive I think you said.

Well, you might have already swapped cables, but if not try it!

I had the problem you discribe myself the other day, sometimes the system would be running then crash with an error, sometimes I boot the system and drive would not boot. I even ended up booting to the slave on the secondary Ide a couple times.

I found the primary Ide cable had slid part way off the systemboard connecter. Pushing it all the way on again fixed all the problems on this system! Rather it came lose from moving the system around alot or some tension pulling it loose from the way I ran the round Ide cable I don't know, but that was the problem.

Also two other times similar problem has occured on other systems I repaired. Once it was a flat ribbon cable that had a very small cut you could hardly see. Caused the same type problem randomly, replaceing the cable solved problem. The owner took it to a shop where it was checked and stayed for 3 days and they could not find the problem!
I fixed it in 10 minutes after I found out it was broke while visiting them.

Another time was a bad pin molex power connecter, it randomly provided power. Sometimes a drive had power, sometimes not, pins were loose in connector. Testing the conector always showed it good though, just depended how the wires were laying. Using a different cable from the power supplie fixed the problem. Latter the same connector was used on a CD rom and the CD rom had the same problem.

Also I had to RMA a Memorex CD burner for the same type problem, it was a power connection in the burners board at the plug socket.

You may have a bad drive, it happens, but if you haven't changed cables, check them and try a different one, both a different IDE cable and plug for power. Maybe swap power plug with a CD or DVD drive. I lost both IDE 1 drives sometimes with that loose IDE 1 , but then when a crash happened in windows a couple times, I could still boot from the Slave on Ide 1 at least once.

Also I was having some wierd spinup problems, drive spinning up and reading, stopping, spinning up agian. It did that for awhile randomly, sometimes windows crashed with an error other times I had to just power down the system to stop it and windows was locked up those times.
I was getting ready to swap drives figuring it might be going out, but that has stopped also now after pushing the cable back on tight!

You probably already checked such things yourself, but maybe others will find the info usefull. Simple things like that are reasons I think people should build thier own PCs and learn how to fix them. If I had to wait for waurantee work the system would be down till monday for a house call, or I would have to cart the thing in somewhere, and something like a loose cable I would probably have to pay for, since extra drives have been installed!

And if your Maxtor drive is under waurantee and is actually bad, spend the $6 for shipping and RMA the thing! I hear from others Maxtor is great with Rma's, a couple people even said they got back bigger drives than they sent in.
For other companies like WD, Seagate, Memorex, Newegg, it was a fast easy RMA. I had no problems with them myself.

[overloaded_ide]

I am very happy I got it... But I guess it was not that great of a deal, cause after playing on dell.com for a little while I came up with the exact same thing for the exact same price... On mine I had to pay for shipping, and on the dell site you do not. So the prices just canceled eachother out... IE: both shipped are same price... So now im just you know excited about the PC, less excited about not getting a deal... But I got all the specs people say you need soo... Thanks for the info...

I am glad you got your system purchased now. And I hope you are very happy with it when it arrives. Good luck!

Now as for the thread
Ha ha, these things never die!! It will last forever, then someone will call someone stupid, then a mini flame war starts, then the thread will eventualy be locked. Then we move on to another thread where someone asks the same question in 2 weeks!
Heck we're only up to page 7 now, we got another 8 to go!!

Did you ever check out the gotapex.com site I told you about for looking for deals. With all the coupons and free upgrades Dell has that gets listed on the site you should have at least looked to see what you could get or saved.

I don't buy prebuilt systems, but I am always checking out gotapex for deals at places I buy from, or for coupon codes for Office Max, Staples, Office Depot, etc.... You really can save a ton!

[Bearbegr]

This isn't what I'd buy, but an example of good deals:
http://www.bensbargains.net/ktalk/1093531755,93325,.shtml

Bens has a lot of these.

thats a 2400... no thanks on that...

[Bearbegr]

I am very happy I got it... But I guess it was not that great of a deal, cause after playing on dell.com for a little while I came up with the exact same thing for the exact same price... On mine I had to pay for shipping, and on the dell site you do not. So the prices just canceled eachother out... IE: both shipped are same price... So now im just you know excited about the PC, less excited about not getting a deal... But I got all the specs people say you need soo... Thanks for the info...

I am glad you got your system purchased now. And I hope you are very happy with it when it arrives. Good luck!

Now as for the thread
Ha ha, these things never die!! It will last forever, then someone will call someone stupid, then a mini flame war starts, then the thread will eventualy be locked. Then we move on to another thread where someone asks the same question in 2 weeks!
Heck we're only up to page 7 now, we got another 8 to go!!

Did you ever check out the gotapex.com site I told you about for looking for deals. With all the coupons and free upgrades Dell has that gets listed on the site you should have at least looked to see what you could get or saved.

I don't buy prebuilt systems, but I am always checking out gotapex for deals at places I buy from, or for coupon codes for Office Max, Staples, Office Depot, etc.... You really can save a ton!

I did look... thats where I got the coupons... The price ended up exactly the same, except dell had tax added... I used 15% off coupon... and free shipping...

[indolikaa]

This isn't what I'd buy, but an example of good deals:
http://www.bensbargains.net/ktalk/1093531755,93325,.shtml

Bens has a lot of these.

thats a 2400... no thanks on that...

I have two Dimension 2400s in the family. They run flawlessly. Did I miss something in the last 7 pages?

[Bearbegr]

yeah... but I wanted the extra stuff with the 4600

[ViRaL1]

Here's a pretty decent deal on a DELL. (try saying that 5x fast )

Dell Business has the Dimension 8400 P4-3GHz PCI-E Desktop for $699 w/ free shipping and no rebates. Thanks DJ_SAMMY_D.

Click here.http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/dimen?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
Click on "Featured System" under the 8400 column.
Click on "Customize It" for the $699 system.
Select free Palm Zire 21 or Dell 720 Printer. Also select free 16x DVDROM or 48x CDRW.
Specs:
Pentium 4 Processor 530 with HT Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz
Dell Quietkey Keyboard
128MB PCI Express x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE
Hard Drive 40GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
Mouse Dell 2-button scroll mouse
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
FREE! Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive
Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
WordPerfect, Powerful Word Processing
1 Yr Basic Warranty Plan (No Rebate offered with this Plan)

Makes me wish I had the money.

[jimmalenko]

I have an AMD 1800 XP and a Celeron 1700 amongst my armoury. Both are configured almost exactly the same but the celeron is faster when using programs like TMPGEnc.

[pchan]

TMPGEnc runs faster with SSE instrustion. AMD Xp is faster than Thunderbird. Intel is faster than AMD. The raw clock speed also plays a part.

[xxiangg]

1. If you have not made up your mind yet for either an AMD or an Intel,
get an Intel. I know I am just one of a few unlucky AMD users. But
I also know I was not the only one having the problem.
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=234625&highlight=besweet+crash

2. If you intend to build computer with parts by yourself and there is
MicroCenter store near your, take a look of their CPU+MB comb
deal. Three months ago I bought an Celoron2.8 + Soyo Mb for
~ $130(include tax). I got $50 rebate from manufacture and $100
rebate from MC(their master card). I have received both rebates.
So I end with a free CPU+MB and ~$20 more in my pocket. Well,
I know Celeron is slow. But there is nothing I will complain if it is
free. They also has other Intel CPU+ MB comb with the similar
rebate offers.

[proxyx99]

deleted, wrong post/forum, sorry

[budz]

To Proxy99: Geez! I thought this thread was DEAD because Bearbegr bought his DELL pc. We are all entitled to our own opinions which is why this is called a FORUM.

at posted in wrong thread

[Bearbegr]

Geeze peeps! Its like the energizer Bunny... It just keeps going and going! I am on my new PC right now... It is nice to me! I like it very much and is about the same speed on the phone modem as it is on my laptops cable modem... so its plenty! I want to try a DVD, but need to get the files from my laptop to my PC... So dont know how that will go...