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Friend is looking for high performing PC that will last for the next 5 years

L

leglez

Platinum Member
Ok my friend is looking for a new computer that will last for at least the next 5 years. His budget is $1500, he needs the whole tower and a wireless keyboard and mouse. He is going to be doing sound editing and some video editing. He already has the monitor and speakers.

Here is what I am thinking right now:

Core 2 Duo Processor
2GBs of RAM

Not sure what else, and not sure on exact models or anything so any suggestions would help.

Text

Pictures

PC Has been built thanks for the help everyone

 
C2D E6600 should be a fair 5-year CPU. 😉
A 150GB Raptor for the OS, followed up with a 500GB Seagate 7200.10 for storage.
 
Some of the new mobos can do both Dual & Quad Core Processors when they come out
Also Logitech has the new Revolution Laser Mouse ... similar to the old MX1000 but with
about 2 or 3 extra buttons on the side ... as to ram, look for a mobo that can hold & use 4GB
You won't need it right now, but perhaps in 3 years or so .. a good 450W or so power supply,
a well cooled tower, with plenty of expansion bays

I personally like IDE for the Drives as opposed to SATA .. might want to find a mobo that
has both .. or a mobo with 4 PCI Slots in addition to slot for Video card .. most mobos now
come with either 1 or 2 onboard lan ports, so that is 1 pci slot you free up .. you save 1 more
if you are not using a Dial Up Modem .. same for Firewire & USB .. most mobos have both built in
 
Ok here is what I came up with. It went a little over but he said its ok. I still need to get fans and heatsinks and all the good stuff. But how is this is there anything I should change around?

TEXT
 
I hate Lite-On drives. Noisy friggin' things. I haven't used one in years for that reason. I had to buy one locally recently to replace a bad drive at the wife's office. It all came back to me. NOISY!
 
Any thing you build today, especially with a $1500 budget, will be below low end in 5 years. Just think about what you had 5 years ago and what it would be capable of today.
 
yeah I am building a high end, and my total came to 1900 dollars, so you have to be right on the money with a budget of 1500
 
Originally posted by: leglez
Ok how is this?

Text

I changed some stuff around. But now I need to know what I should change to get it down $400
Click to expand...
You plan on overclocking (guessing by the CPU cooler) and setting the drives up for RAID 0 or 1 correct? Personally, I'd go for slightly less expensive RAM, and remember that aiming a bit lower for RAM (speed not quantity, so maybe around DDR2 667) will have a minimal effect on daily performance and only have a major impact for encoding and intensive stuff like that.
I'd also want to wait on buying so many GB at once, as it will always be cheaper if you wait a month or so. If your friend's seriously editing video (multiple short films at a time or a full length motion picture), then disregard that last statement. Also, if he's editing music, I recommend trying to fit in a sound card...an Xfi Xtremeaudio may do the trick. They run $60 and up based on Pricegrabber.
Another suggestion would be to try multiple dealers, maybe having your order divided amongst two or three retailers (like Tigerdirect, Zipzoomfly which often has free shipping, and even general retailers like Buy.com). Keep in mind that also you have to account for shipping charges. Newegg is a fantastic place no doubt, but you do pay for the premium service (such as the rapid order fulfillment and ridiculously fast delivery).
 
Originally posted by: leglez
Ok my friend is looking for a new computer that will last for at least the next 5 years. His budget is $1500, he needs the whole tower and a wireless keyboard and mouse. He is going to be doing sound editing and some video editing. He already has the monitor and speakers.

Here is what I am thinking right now:

Core 2 Duo Processor
2GBs of RAM

Not sure what else, and not sure on exact models or anything so any suggestions would help.

Text
Click to expand...


too funny......it always cracks me up when people say they have a friend who needs....when in fact 9 times out of 10 its them...hehehe
 
Originally posted by: Fast Fingers
Originally posted by: leglez
Ok how is this?

Text

I changed some stuff around. But now I need to know what I should change to get it down $400
Click to expand...
You plan on overclocking (guessing by the CPU cooler) and setting the drives up for RAID 0 or 1 correct? Personally, I'd go for slightly less expensive RAM, and remember that aiming a bit lower for RAM (speed not quantity, so maybe around DDR2 667) will have a minimal effect on daily performance and only have a major impact for encoding and intensive stuff like that.
I'd also want to wait on buying so many GB at once, as it will always be cheaper if you wait a month or so. If your friend's seriously editing video (multiple short films at a time or a full length motion picture), then disregard that last statement. Also, if he's editing music, I recommend trying to fit in a sound card...an Xfi Xtremeaudio may do the trick. They run $60 and up based on Pricegrabber.
Another suggestion would be to try multiple dealers, maybe having your order divided amongst two or three retailers (like Tigerdirect, Zipzoomfly which often has free shipping, and even general retailers like Buy.com). Keep in mind that also you have to account for shipping charges. Newegg is a fantastic place no doubt, but you do pay for the premium service (such as the rapid order fulfillment and ridiculously fast delivery).
Click to expand...

Well he said he doesnt want to overclock right out of the gate because he doesnt want to ruin warranties but he said he probably will a few years down the road. So I guess I wouldn't need a CPU cooler yet. What exactly is Raid 0? I know Raid 1 is an exact mirror of data, I don't think he wants this I'll ask him tonight. He is just wanting as much storage space as possible. The reason I was going to go with NewEgg is because he is planning on ordering everything by Tuesday night, and wants me to build it for him before he goes back to college so I was just going to have it all ship at once so I get it faster. Also should I just get one 500GB drive now and then wait a month or two for prices to drop then get another?

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

too funny......it always cracks me up when people say they have a friend who needs....when in fact 9 times out of 10 its them...hehehe
Click to expand...

Yeah usually you are right and I admit that I have done that before but this time it really is a friend. Just thought I would get that out.

Oh and the link has been updated
 
A good rule of thumb is to build a system that while is cheap, can be upgraded relatively easily in the future so as to make the upgrades economical. For example, if you built a system in '03, you'd have probably chosen an ASUS P4Pxxx or IC7xx based system with a lower end processor and then upgraded the processor when needed. Since 2GB is what is needed today, I'd get that, though one issue though is that systems today still don't widely support larger, 'future' modules like they should.. After that you should be fine, but if you want your system to last 5 years, you'll most definately have to upgrade a component or two in the future, depending on what you're doing on there..
 
Ok the list is updated I think this is what the final build will be. Any other suggestions before I order?
 
Ok changed the video card to 7900GS. And it can last 5 years if you can upgrade it so as long as it is upgradeable it is fine.
 
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