Hello all,

I didn't know where to post this question but here it is anyways...
I'm planning to bye a hole new system in about a month or so from now, even though my vendor knows pretty much about computers, there are also specialized issues to consider and I want all the good advices all of you experienced people can give me.

First, over-clocking is NOT an issue for me.
I want a system that's FAST and as RELIABLE as possible,

CPU, Mobo, memmory, h.d., dvd-writer, graphics board, sound card, box, power, monitor, scanner(35mm neg.), anything else i may have forgotten ;o)

So here's what I want to be able to do with it.

I have a Sony DSC-F707, 5 megapix camera and make a lot of pictures, i use Photoshop 5.5 and want to upgrade to the latest version for photo processing. I already have a Canon S900 photo printer (wich is absolutely great by the way).

I have a Sony MiniDV DCR-TRV25 megapix camcorder with fire-wire i/o and USB as well. I want to edit video in realtime and burn them to DVD.

I also play guitar, keyboards and sing and want to be able to use my computer as a basic home recording studio.

So help me please to choose the best system I can get for around 4 000$cdn (I live in Longueuil PQ) monitor included (Great flat CRT will do fine, 19" minimum)

Thanks in advance for your time and patience,

Daniel

Get a MAC!!

Wheres PQ? I've been to PEI.

PQ=Province of Quebec, Longueuil is south shore of Montreal
PEI= Prince Edward Island...

You going to build it buy it from a vendor?

<font color=blue>Truth about Santa Claus debunks
Santa God. God evolves from Santa.</font color=blue>

Thats I forgot about Province of Quebec. I have family in Niagria Falls Ontario. Plus in PEI. Not too many people know what PEI means. Unless your from Canada.

I new someone would tell me that but Macs are really too expensive and propriatary and i've owened a PC for 9 years now and just want to stick with it but thanks anyways for the advice.

Dan

Dan

This vendor is actually a co-worker and avery good friend of mine...he's buildind wathever you want costom...

Dan

buy a p4 2.4c. put it on a intel perl motherboard. get name brand ddr400 or 333. setup sata raid. somekind of radeon graphics card.

I was considering an AMD based system...

Dan

Hey dfoisy, im from montreal and one of my last name is foisy ummmm...I dont know if I can use french freely because english ppl tend to get offended when you dont speak english in these forums.
Anyway I suggest you get the latest platform for P4.
chipset 865 (ex.:Asus P4P800 DX).
P4 2.8c
at least 1 gig of DDR400 ram(kingston/corsair/Geil)
Video card radeon 9600pro or Fx5600ultra
HD: one or two Seagate 120gig Sata
for the case i like the Antec(www.antec-inc.com)AMG 1080 plus is nice...
DVD burner the SOny AR-500 is really nice.
I just made a computer for my friend with that kind of hardware for a bit less than 3000$ with a 22'' monitor
Hope that will help a bit private msg me for more info

Just saw AMD based....
I dont really know about AMD but go with a nforce2 chipset with something like 3000+ I guess

Good lord 4000$. Go with the best in everything.

Here, get mine <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=144096#144096" target="_new">click here</A> but upgrade to a creative Audigy 2 platinum eX, AMD 3200+ and get the Radeon 9800 Pro. Hell my system is 2300$ Canadian with tax. $4000 buck, you can buy the best plus some mics and maybe the creative 6.1 THX speakers.

I'm showing 4000CAD=2836USD. May or may not be right... but for arguments sake, lets ride with it.

Motherboard - Intel D875PBZLK - 153.00
Processor - Intel Pentium 4 2.4C HT 800FSB - 170.00
Ram 1 - Corsair CMX512-3200C2 - 104.00
Ram 2 - Corsair CMX512-3200C2 - 104.00
Hard Disk 1 - EIDE 200.0GB 7200 RPM 8MB CACHE - 185.00
Video Card - ATI 9800 All-In-Wonder Pro 128MB - 387.00
Sound Card - Creative Audigy2 Platinum - 162.00
CD-RW - Lite On 52x24x52x CD-RW - 40.00
DVD-ROM - Lite On 16x - 35.00
Speakers - Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 - 237.00
Floppy - Teac 1.44 Floppy Drive - 12.00
Case - Xaser III V2000A Case - 174.00
Power Supply - Antec TRUE550 Power Supply - 98.00
Monitor - Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB-BK - 738.00
Mouse - Logitech MX500 - 41.00
Keyboard - Logitech Elite Black Keyboard - 26.00
OS - Windows XP Professional - 188.00

Total of... 2854USD=4026CAD. I overshot a couple bucks, but I think the quality of the components makes the couple extra dollars worth it in the long run.

If you are doing alot of video editing and such you may want to go with intel, the raw mhz help a bit. If you want it to be amd swap this...

CPU - AMD AXP 2800+ - 165.00
Motherboard - A7N8X Deluxe v2 400FSB - $125.00

The total price would be 2821USD/3980CAD. A 2.4c will perform on par or slightly worse than a 2800+... some apps the raw mhz of the intel will be more useful or the larger memory bus.

I went with motherboards that could be upgraded as far as is foreseeablely possible... the ram is at 400ddr also so you could use a 400/800fsb chip in the future if you wanted without having to get a whole new box on either the amd 3200+ or intel 3.4c (maybe 3.6c, but I dont think so.)

Also of note is, if you are going to do anything serious soundwise you wanna go elsewhere and get a soundcard recommendation (like the soundcard forum), that is a mediocre sound card for recording/editing purposes... but it is compatible with most everything (games, players, etc.)

Shadus

If he's going for best he won't be getting amd... the 3200+ doesn't even compare to the 3.0c let alone the 3.2c

Shadus

Yeah I agree. Top end AMD's arn't the best value, p4's are same price and faster. But he said he wanted an AMD based system, so what are you going to do?