Picking a new PC; advice?

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whitewolf

asleep under the juniper bush
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I am looking for something that would equal a Mac G5 in performance, keeping in mind that Windows is far more bloated than Mac OS. Can anyone help me estimate? Besides the basic set of running applications, I'd be running 2-3 design applications at the same time (InDesign or Quark XPress and Photoshop, for example), with large (20+ mb) files open in each, and I need to be able to do it with comfort and ease.

I can not simply get a Mac G5 because that would require getting a full new set of design software and a new mp3 player, so that would be too much of a hassle. I've never seen pirated Mac versions of design applications.
 
I don't think most PC users here would know much about an outdated Mac computer and be able to link its performance with anything comparable. Perhaps River-wind might know.
 
Build from scratch. Don't buy something from Best Buy, etc. Their prices are inflated over the costs of building your own. I like AMD over Intel, and would suggest a dual core Athalon 64 FX processor. Motherboard with one or two PCI-E slots for graphics cards. Stick with NVIDIA chipsets on the graphics cards (if you don't do much gaming, you could likely get by with one graphics card/PCI-E slot). DON'T sell yourself short on the graphics card (something in the $199-$279 price range would be good). Pick a motherboard with an integrated sound card, USB 2.0, Firewire, and Ethernet; buying SoundBlaster audio cards is a waste these days. At least 2 megs of DDR-4 RAM; anything above that would probably be overkill for you. Buy 2 SETA hard drives: one that spins @ 10,000, the other at 7500. The 10,000s are more expensive, but if you're working with 20+mg files, it is much faster and should be primary (eg put your operating system there). The other hard drive will be cheaper, and buy for space for mass storage of what you archive. Power supply should not go below 350 watts.

The processor will be the most expensive. But the FX Althalon is probably one of the best processors on the consumer market (speed & reliability).

You wouldn't have to upgrade for probably 5 years or more.
 
Depends on Budget

The first rule I follow with hardware is avoid top of the range components(and bottom). They are almost overpriced compared to the medium range.
It's hard to gauge what you need but I would suggest 1-2 gigs of DDR2 ram preferbly 2, 100+ gig hardrive. For the CPU any Intel Core Duo 2 or AMD Athlon X2 64 will do very well. I won't comment on graphics cards as I don't keep up with the times but from the software you are using you will need one. Avoid Vista if possible as it's rather bloated and not all MS Windows software is compatible.
While building a PC is quite rewarding and not too hard, it is fiddly and not really much cheaper than buying.
Learned Hand's advice is good though when he says "2 megs of DDR-4 RAM", I think he means "2 Gigs of DDR2".
 
whitewolf said:
I am looking for something that would equal a Mac G5 in performance, keeping in mind that Windows is far more bloated than Mac OS. Can anyone help me estimate? Besides the basic set of running applications, I'd be running 2-3 design applications at the same time (InDesign or Quark XPress and Photoshop, for example), with large (20+ mb) files open in each, and I need to be able to do it with comfort and ease.

I can not simply get a Mac G5 because that would require getting a full new set of design software and a new mp3 player, so that would be too much of a hassle. I've never seen pirated Mac versions of design applications.
Click to expand...

windows bloat when vista is the os
400+ megs is standard install
xp is around 100 megs
memory that is

g5 are excellent
fast and responsive
but way too expensive

for x amount of dollars you get either a mid range ppc or a top of the line x86
no brainer really

my xp deployments are stable as shit
os x.....far from it

i'll trade you a cracked mac app of your choice for a nudie pic

what say you
darling wolfie?
 
Build it from scratch if you can.

AMD64 FX processor

4 Gigs SDRAM

ATI brings a whole new world of gaming with the introduction of physics processing on the ATI GPU as part of the ATI CrossFire platform. Now, in addition to dual-card CrossFire™ graphics, a third ATI Radeon™ X1000 series card can be used to deliver the most powerful physics processing performance available for the most true-to-life representations of reality possible. This potent new combination of the highest quality dual graphics solution with incredible physics processing capacity brings gamers the best looking, most immersive game experience possible, on the highest performing PC platform ever conceived, ATI CrossFire.


ASUS A8V-VM SE MoBo

That should give you a very nice system. Pick your own power supply and other additions but use this as a base to build from. :)
 
it is only some goddamn graphics and publishing apps!
a fucking low end x86 with a single gig can handle wolfies tasks!
 
never ever buy an oem without an original install disc
since most oem are based on vista, never ever buy one that is not backwards compatible with xp

wolfie
repeat after me

fuck vista!
 
:) Whitewolf, I'm sure Mac warez exists, you just haven't been looking hard enough.

However, if you're going to make money off it (or are you instaling the design stuff for educational reasons?), is pirating justified? I'm sorry to go OT but this is rather interesting. Arrrgh me maties!
 
wolfie

repeat after me

gustav, only you make sense, you get to the bottom of shit, how could i have been so blind. i love you
 
wolfie

if you want i can call my dell guy, confer and hash
then give you contact info
3 day delivery

lets make it happen
what the cash outlay?
 
and never assume
or you could end up like me
on a presario
running server 2003 enterprise
and vga.dll
 
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