New 'Puter

[stevebri]

I havn't looked at upgrading my PC for 6 months so now I am 'out of the loop' and don't know whats good and whats not....

Is there any reason NOT to buy the kit on this link...?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52476&item=5124519643&rd=1 (http://)

I Just want a machine that will process my RAW's asap, let me burn DVD's and play the odd (old) game.

I don't want to Spend a lot as I want to buy a new Camera soon (don't we all)

Steve

[Auminer]

Steve, This looks like a good machine, but I use the AMD cpu's and I'm not familar with the Intel. Have heard they are a little slower when crunching numbers such as graphics. I wouldn't let this stop me from buying this one though. True there are better high end machines, but at a price almost double and more of this one. This has good ram, fast hardrive (didn't see the make), decent 256K video card and 400w powersupply. Might want to consider a larger hardrive or just add another one, actually adding another is better for PS. Should do what you want! We are always wanting faster RAW files :)

Remember, you will have to buy an OS for this one...that will be additional $$$.

Dave

[stevebri]

Thanks for the input,

Currently I use an AMD XP2500 at 2ghz with cheap RAM (1gb) 333mhz. Runing Xp pro.

All my stuff (except my camera kit, lights, laptop and hard drives will be shipped via container from Brazil to NYC very soon, it takes between 45 & 60 days to arrive.

I need a DVD dual layer burner anyway, number crunching RAW's is a pain, so I thought i'd build a system when I finally got moved in there with 800fsb.

But looking at these specs/prices it ain't worth it, even buying Xp pro again for 159 USD installed is cheap because my time (2hrs+) is worth more than that ( I hope).

Swampy seemed happy when he got his kit 6 months ago, but do you think the new Athlon is better...? I don't want to clock anything i just want stability and less heat/fans.

Also if I buy I get a guarantee etc...

Steve

[Auminer]

...but do you think the new Athlon is better...? I don't want to clock anything i just want stability and less heat/fans. I can't say for sure as Athlon is all I've ever used/built, but according to the charts they are faster. Have to agree with the heating issues seems like I'm constantly watching it during the summer months. Air conditioning helps if you can keep it in the flow. I'm running about the same setup as you are, but with 512M ram :( When I get around to it I'm going for the Corsair 2G. The Barton 2500+ can be bumped up to 3200 speed if you can keep it under 45C or so, using the bios.

Another thought is a couple of 10,000 rpm Rampart (I believe thats the name) drives and hook them in Raid 0 will knock your socks off. I'm running Raid 1 with 7,200 rpm drives (8M buffer) 'cause I wanted/needed backup, not really a noticeable difference in speed.

Overall for the price it sounds good especially if you can swap for the Corsair Ram.

Can't you use XP pro thats on your other 'puter, its legal when you upgrade. Unless you are shipping the OS with it.

BTW I use the Asus boards too...good boards.

Dave

[stevebri]

As it's now apparent that I will spend 'a bundle' on a new camera quite soon, do you think I could keep my Athlon XP 2500 on an Asus board and just fill it with 2 gigs of fast RAM.?

My question is RAW processing speed, I know P4 3.2E with 1 gig of extreme RAM will fly using the 800mhz fsb.

But will I notice it that much compared to a good AMD XP 2500 with 2 gigs...?

I use a 256mb FX 5600 card so no bottleneck there...?

Steve

[stevebri]

Am now in NYC with same chip and board but with 1.5 g of 3200 ram.

The board is not an Asus classic for clocking so, soon I'll by a P4 board and chip, however as we speak, things are quite good because I did a clean install, kept the chip speed at the standard 1.8g and during a batch process of raw's to tiff's each one takes about 8 or 9 seconds.

I think Swampy's P4 system gets it down to around 4 secs...

Anyone else got a speed test for RAw's...?

To be honest, I think I can get the time down a bit as I still have too many background tasks running in XP.

More later...

Steve