Need help building new computer ~ PLEASE :)

[jmiasi]

I was wondering about that. If I'm adding RAM and the video card, would that null the warranty, with Velocity or HP?

 

[Boyo]

Originally posted by: crimson117

Originally posted by: Boyo
Crimson, if she only bought the 320GB HD, don't you think she would benefit from having a 150gb Raptor as a second HD? She would put her OS on the Raptor along with her apps and use the 320GB as media storage. My reasoning is that she runs a lot of intensive photo software.

Yes it'd technically be a bit faster, but installing a hard drive, installing the OS, and wiping the old OS is a lot of custom work for someone who's looking for a mostly-prebuilt computer. If velocity offered a raptor as a pre-installed primary drive for a reasonable price, I would recommend it, but sadly they don't.

EDIT: also might have trouble getting tech support from velocity if she changed the computer like that.

Yeah, I guess I didn't think about that. But I forgot to tell her to get 2 HD's. I think it's worth having two since she will have so much media.

 

[jmiasi]

Here's everything from Velocity. I'll go to hp to compare...

Case
GX Silver - Velocity Micro Classic Case - Pure Aluminum, matching aluminum drive covers, 2 x 120mm fans

Power Supply 500 Watt Velocity Micro® Power Supply with Dual Blue Lighted Fans

Motherboard Genuine Intel® G965 ATX Motherboard, 1066MHz FSB, 775-Pin Socket, PCI-Express

Processor Intel® Core? 2 Duo processor E6600, dual 2.4GHz cores, 4MB L2 Cache (+$170.00)

CPU Cooling Arctic Cooling® Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink, Ultra Quiet Fan, Copper Heat Pipes, plus Arctic Silver? 5 Thermal Compound

DDR2 Memory 1024MB Corsair? DDR2 PC5300 DDR667 (1x1024)


PCX Video Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000

Monitor None

Audio On-Board Integrated 5.1 Channel Sound

Speakers None


Hard Drive 1 320GB Western Digital WD3200JD 7200rpm SATA/150, 8MB Cache

Hard Drive 2 None

Optical Drive 1 20x Lite On® DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner with LightScribe Labeling Technology, Black (+$40.00)

Optical Drive 2 None

Floppy Drive & Media Reader None

USB Drive None


Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000MBps Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter

Network Adapter 2 or WiFi Adapter None

WiFi Router None

Modem None

FireWire 2 Integrated IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports, 1 front & 1 rear

USB 2.0 Ports 6 USB 2.0 Ports, 2 front & 4 rear


Operating System Genuine Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Productivity Software None

Security Software None


Keyboard None (-$15.00)

Mouse None (-$10.00)

Network Cable None

Printers None

Printer Cable None

Power Protection None

T-Shirt No Thanks


Assembly Careful custom hand wiring for maximum air flow, assembled in Richmond, Virginia, USA

Quality Assurance Individual custom testing for complete system functionality, signed by the system builder and QA inspector

Documentation Owner's Manual and Accessory Pack

Installation None

Warranty** 3 Yr VelocityCare? Parts & Labor Ltd Warranty, 1 Yr 24/7 Support with Emergency Hours, and On-Site Service (+$99.00)

Upgrade Plan Velocity Micro Lifetime Upgrade Plan allows you to return your system for maintenance, discounted upgrades, and tuning


Subtotal $1283.00

 

[Boyo]

Okay, this is my opinion on the build. I would buy all the parts from Velocity. As Crimson stated, it may void the warranty if you start customizing it once it leaves the factory. You need to check with them and find out for sure before you rush into anything.

Also, I would add a second hard drive for all of your media storage to keep your system running faster. I would add the 4GB of RAM and the 7600GS from them too.

You do also realize that since you only chose one optical drive it won't burn CD's. You have to buy a second one for that pupose.

 

[jmiasi]

I wonder if adding all of that, it would be more worth my while to check out HP? I went to their website and I'm lost as to where to start... they have too many options for desktop computers, at least for a starting point.

 

[Boyo]

Forget HP. You want a qaulity build, then Velocity Micro is a boutique vendor with raving reviews from Hard OCP, Maximum PC and others. This is a computer that will last you 4 years for sure. HP is Dell with a different name.

 

[jmiasi]

This was my thought too. We've had 2 Dell's and I've hated them both, and their customer service.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: Boyo
As Crimson stated, it may void the warranty if you start customizing it once it leaves the factory...I would add the 4GB of RAM and the 7600GS from them too.

You do not void any warranty by adding ram to a computer, and they'll still troubleshoot it under warranty etc.

You also don't void it by adding the video card yourself, but if anything sever goes wrong you can revert to the integrated graphics to prove it's not your video card causing the problem.

You do also realize that since you only chose one optical drive it won't burn CD's. You have to buy a second one for that pupose.

Yes it will burn CD's (and DVDs). It will also duplicate CD's, by first reading to the hard disk, then you insert a blank, and then it writes to the blank. It won't duplicated discs on the fly, but I don't recommend that anyway.

 

[Boyo]

Originally posted by: jmiasi
This was my thought too. We've had 2 Dell's and I've hated them both, and their customer service.

so you think I should add the ram and video card from Velocity then?

Yes, I would add the RAM and video card from Velocity. It's just going to save you a lot of trouble down the road.

What about the second HD and the second Optical drive? Have you thought about those yet?

 

[Boyo]

[/quote]

Yes it will burn CD's (and DVDs). It will also duplicate CD's, by first reading to the hard disk, then you insert a blank, and then it writes to the blank. It won't duplicated discs on the fly, but I don't recommend that anyway.[/quote]

I didn't know that. I thought you needed either a combo drive or two separate drives for that. Huh. You learn something new everyday.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: jmiasi
This was my thought too. We've had 2 Dell's and I've hated them both, and their customer service.

so you think I should add the ram and video card from Velocity then?

Video card, maybe if you want spend a bit more.

But I really can't recommend you pay $460 to get 4x1gb, when you could buy 4x1gb for $230. Buying and installing your own ram is like getting a 15% discount (230/1743 = ~.14)

 

[jmiasi]

I have an external hard drive that I can use for storing (though I rarely do). Is it really worth the $120 to have another one integrated? As for the second optical drive, we never use our 2nd one on our current computer. I've always just burned from the hard drive, instead of copying.

 

[jmiasi]

I agree. I at least want to buy the RAM from Newegg. As long as it won't void the warrenty I'm all for saving some money - espcially that much!

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: jmiasi
I have an external hard drive that I can use for storing (though I rarely do). Is it really worth the $120 to have another one integrated?

Nope, not worth it.

But do yourself a favor and make a habit of doing backups to your external drive at the end of each day; you'll be SO glad you did if your internal drive ever crashes.

 

[Boyo]

It's up to you if you think you need a second HD. If you use alot of space for your media, then yes, go ahead and get it. Otherwise, as it sounds, you probably don't really need it if you aren't even using your external HD. So I would pass.

Also I guess you could take the 1Gb of RAM and buy a 4GB set off of Newegg too. That will save you some money...Crimson can recommend the RAM for you.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

32bit os Vista doesn't fully address 4gb of ram ...additionally you definitely want all your appz to be Vista proof ... gl on your build

 

[jmiasi]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
32bit os Vista doesn't fully address 4gb of ram ...additionally you definitely want all your appz to be Vista proof ... gl on your build

What does this mean exactly? That it can't even use 4gb? I'll be purchasing the new Adobe CS3 that just came out so it should be Vista compatable.

 

[crimson117]

32bit can use something like 3.5gb. You could get away with just 3GB, actually, and ti wouldn't make a ton of difference. In that case, you'd only need to buy one pair of the ram I linked, for $115. You'd just add that one pair on top of the 1GB the computer will come with, for a total of 3gb.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Running 3gb like that will only run in single channel mode, not a big deal but it will reduce the ram performance by about 5%. I would just go with 4gb and get the 64bit version of Vista(same price)

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Running 3gb like that will only run in single channel mode, not a big deal but it will reduce the ram performance by about 5%. I would just go with 4gb and get the 64bit version of Vista(same price)

64-bit vista has a lot of compatibility considerations to worry about. Not worth it for this build, imho.

 

[jmiasi]

So if I stick with the 32bit Vista, should I only get 3gb of RAM?

 

[Boyo]

Yes, stick with 32-bit Vista and I would get 4GB of RAM to run in Dual channel.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I would check to see how the 1gb that comes with the system is configured. If it's only available as 1x1gb then I agree with Boyo get 4x1gb from newegg and keep the extra stick as a spare or ebay it. But if they will configure it as 2x512mb I would go that route and just buy 2x1gb from newegg, and put 1x1gb + 1x512mb in each channel for dual channel and save the extra $115. Because Vista 32bit will only address 3.25gb, and spending the extra $115 to get .25gb isn't worth it if you don't have to. Or you could just go with 3x1gb, single channel is only a 5% performance hit.


And I will add that if you use photoshop filters and/or advanced features extensively on fairly large files, a second hard drive would be a good idea. PS gets a nice performance boost in these operations if you have the scratch file on a second disk.

And on the compatability issues it is true that 64bit has more than the 32bit, but then Vista in general has many more than XP (google Vista + Photoshop for example). It's just a matter of what your prepared to deal with, if you want rock soild compatability with all current hardware and software stick with XP 32bit.

 

[jmiasi]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I would check to see how the 1gb that comes with the system is configured. If it's only available as 1x1gb then I agree with Boyo get 4x1gb from newegg and keep the extra stick as a spare or ebay it. But if they will configure it as 2x512mb I would go that route and just buy 2x1gb from newegg, and put 1x1gb + 1x512mb in each channel for dual channel and save the extra $115. Because Vista 32bit will only address 3.25gb, and spending the extra $115 to get .25gb isn't worth it if you don't have to. Or you could just go with 3x1gb single channel is only a 5% performance hit.


And I will add that if you use photoshop filters and/or advanced features extensively on fairly large files, a second hard drive would be a good idea. PS gets a nice performance boost in these operations if you have the scratch file on a second disk.

And on the compatability issues it is true that 64bit has more than the 32bit, but then Vista in general has many more than XP (google Vista + Photoshop for example). It's just a matter of what your prepared to deal with, if you want rock soild compatability with all current hardware and software stick with XP 32bit.

Okay so maybe I'll save the $115 and get 3gb and use that money to get an extra HD.

 

[Boyo]

good choice.