A few computer questions...

[MinionZombie]

Okay folks, I'm putting more serious thought towards getting a new desktop (but just the main box, I've got all the other stuff already of course), but have a few questions:

1) Is it possible to run two computers through one monitor, either at the same time, or alternating between the two?

2) As there'll be new hard-drives, is it possible to have my files and folders from my existing hard-drives copied over (thus saving me a bunch of time)?

3) What graphics card(s) would kick the ass of "Crysis" and such, as well as kick the ass of rendering video (especially the Magic Bullet plug-in).

4) Can and does DirectX 10 work with XP? (I'd really loathe to get Vista as I love, and trust, XP).

...

My current desktop PC is fine, but struggles with Magic Bullet rendering, and can't play any new games (it can give me a moderately decent looking STALKER, but that's as far as it can now go), and it's five years old this Xmas, so I was thinking of getting a new rig specifically for video editing and gaming ... so then I'd use my current rig for music, video, writing etc - hence wondering if I can use one monitor for two computers.

[SymphonicX]

hey MZ

You can run a KVM switch which will allow you to switch between two computers, using just one keyboard, mouse and monitor....(Keyboard Video Mouse switch) you can pick up one cheap off ebay - the only limitation I've ever experienced with the one I've owned is that you need to power up one PC fully, then switch over, then power up the other PC, wait til that's booted, then you can switch freely between the two. We have industrial KVMs at work and this isn't necessary but it requires it's own power supply, whereas the other one doesn't.

You can image your hard disk but this isn't advisable unless you're using the same hardware. The easiest option is to use a USB drive to copy over your relevant folders and files onto a clean copy of Windows installed on your new pc - if you image, or simply copy over the windows directory, you'll either be corrupting, conflicting, or completely missing essential Registry files which exist in the background of windows.

As far as I know there's a new Nvidia series 9 out now, I highly recommend getting a 512mb or above, at least. For professional video editing we have 1.5gb gfx cards which are expensive but highly worth it. You should be able to kick the crap out of Crysis but don't forget the processor of your PC is vital to it's function, so get dual/quad core or above and go for the best spec you can afford.

AS far as I know Direct x10 works with XP and Vista. I only use Vista though and we use opengl here rather than directx (I think that's it's counterpart) so I can't really give you a definite answer on that one, soz.

hope that helps

T

[Tricky]

Actually MZ vista isnt too shoddy now!a year ago when i got my PC vista was buggy as hell & kept clashing with a lot of my games & hardware,but it all seems to be fine now & i actually quite like it!im a little out of touch with grpahics cards,but my 8800GTX has no real trouble with crysis,i might buy another one for sli mode though,it will wipe the floor with crysis then!make sure you have plenty of RAM as well,a gig just doesnt cut it these days,ya need at least 2!

[SymphonicX]

Actually MZ vista isnt too shoddy now!a year ago when i got my PC vista was buggy as hell & kept clashing with a lot of my games & hardware,but it all seems to be fine now & i actually quite like it!im a little out of touch with grpahics cards,but my 8800GTX has no real trouble with crysis,i might buy another one for sli mode though,it will wipe the floor with crysis then!make sure you have plenty of RAM as well,a gig just doesnt cut it these days,ya need at least 2!

bear in mind Windows 32bit OS doesn't recognise more than 3.5gb of ram, so if you stick 4gb in there you'll only be utilising 3.5....

Use a 64bit OS like Vista Ultimate and you'll get the full benefit of 4gb ram capacity but half your programs don't work apparently, although I can't vouch for 64bit OS.

[acealive1]

i will say yes to all ur questions except the last two. the direct 10 is a maybe on vista but it will probably work on xp

[MinionZombie]

bear in mind Windows 32bit OS doesn't recognise more than 3.5gb of ram, so if you stick 4gb in there you'll only be utilising 3.5....

Use a 64bit OS like Vista Ultimate and you'll get the full benefit of 4gb ram capacity but half your programs don't work apparently, although I can't vouch for 64bit OS.
What about Windows XP 64bit Edition?

...

Obviously there'd be a beasty processor and amount of RAM, that's a given so I didn't mention it. 2gig RAM at least, and certainly Dual Core at least.

What sort of price range do you chaps think I'd be looking at for this kinda stuff, with a beasty GFX card?

[Tricky]

Check this range out me ol' mucker, this is the company i bought my rig from, they are pretty darn good & reasonable too!
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/ranges.html?t=pc&c=gaming

:D

And if you didnt want to buy a package they do everything you need to build your own PC

[SymphonicX]

What about Windows XP 64bit Edition?

...

Obviously there'd be a beasty processor and amount of RAM, that's a given so I didn't mention it. 2gig RAM at least, and certainly Dual Core at least.

What sort of price range do you chaps think I'd be looking at for this kinda stuff, with a beasty GFX card?

Vista Ultimate is 64 bit I think...

without wanting to plug, I have a friend who's a genius at putting together small, inexpensive but f**king powerful PCs for really good prices. I got one two years ago and I love it, it's still in tip top shape today....

If you don't mind Small Form Factor PCs, that's what he specialises in - basically really powerful PCs in a case a quarter the size and 100 times more stylish...

www.shoeboxcomputers.com

For instance, the most expensive PC on the site that Tricky posted is 2k (just on first page), a similar spec with Shoebox would cost you about 1k at the very most I think....

[Neil]

Okay folks, I'm putting more serious thought towards getting a new desktop (but just the main box, I've got all the other stuff already of course), but have a few questions:

1) Is it possible to run two computers through one monitor, either at the same time, or alternating between the two?

2) As there'll be new hard-drives, is it possible to have my files and folders from my existing hard-drives copied over (thus saving me a bunch of time)?

3) What graphics card(s) would kick the ass of "Crysis" and such, as well as kick the ass of rendering video (especially the Magic Bullet plug-in).

4) Can and does DirectX 10 work with XP? (I'd really loathe to get Vista as I love, and trust, XP).

...

My current desktop PC is fine, but struggles with Magic Bullet rendering, and can't play any new games (it can give me a moderately decent looking STALKER, but that's as far as it can now go), and it's five years old this Xmas, so I was thinking of getting a new rig specifically for video editing and gaming ... so then I'd use my current rig for music, video, writing etc - hence wondering if I can use one monitor for two computers.

1) As already stated a KVM switch - I have two computers running from the same monitor, keyboard and mouse via a Belkin KVM switch. However, I do get a little interference on the monitor at times. Only a little. This statred happening with my latest video card. The previous didn't do this.

2) You'll need to install all your apps, but photos and docs etc you can just copy over.

3) A typical £100 card would walk all over it :)

4) I don't believe XP can handle DX10 - at the moment!? Unless it's hacked/patched. This is all down to Microsoft pushing Vista on us I beleive!?

[SymphonicX]

1) As already stated a KVM switch - I have two computers running from the same monitor, keyboard and mouse via a Belkin KVM switch. However, I do get a little interference on the monitor at times. Only a little. This statred happening with my latest video card. The previous didn't do this.

2) You'll need to install all your apps, but photos and docs etc you can just copy over.

3) A typical £100 card would walk all over it :)

4) I don't believe XP can handle DX10 - at the moment!? Unless it's hacked/patched. This is all down to Microsoft pushing Vista on us I beleive!?


re: 4) could be...i'm totally not sure on this one...I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but you know M$!

[MinionZombie]

re: 4) could be...i'm totally not sure on this one...I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but you know M$!
Hmmm...see this is the thing. I love XP, but I don't want to not be able to get DX10, but I've heard mixed reports from various times about it working and not working on XP ... surely it must be opened up by now, considering Vista wasn't/isn't shifting the volume MS expected for gaming it surely must have been opened up to XP by now?

I'm really loathe to use Vista - would it act like an arse on me? Would all my software work with it? - Mainly my editing software that is, considering that'd be a main use for this PC in question.

...

Also - this KVM thingy.

1) Neil - what's the "interference" like?

2) Could I start either PC up on it's own and use the one set of mouse/keyboard/monitor with it?

3) Also - this allows me to use one set of keyboard/mouse/monitor on two PC's running at the same time, switching back and forth from one to the other, correct? (I'm a bit slow on all this computer jargon and tech stuff sometimes).

4) Can a set of speakers also be used on this KVM Switch thing?

5) How does the KVM thing work, is it like a box that plugs into the various ports on both PCs and into the KVM plugs your one set of keyboard/mouse/monitor/(speakers?) ... correct?

...

Also - Neil, as for your #2 in your list - that would allow me to move over things such as:

1) Music files I use for editing.
2) My editing software save files ... although actually there'd be issues possibly with locations of files, unless I'm allowed to re-find the files (although using old save files would be unlikely actually...)
3) Various AVIs, MPEGs etc used for my editing.
4) Any videogame related files, like mods for example.

...

Told you lot I was a bit slow on the uptake with all this, takes me weeks/months to research new purchases. :p

[SymphonicX]

Hmmm...see this is the thing. I love XP, but I don't want to not be able to get DX10, but I've heard mixed reports from various times about it working and not working on XP ... surely it must be opened up by now, considering Vista wasn't/isn't shifting the volume MS expected for gaming it surely must have been opened up to XP by now?

I'm really loathe to use Vista - would it act like an arse on me? Would all my software work with it? - Mainly my editing software that is, considering that'd be a main use for this PC in question.

...

Also - this KVM thingy.

1) Neil - what's the "interference" like?

2) Could I start either PC up on it's own and use the one set of mouse/keyboard/monitor with it?

3) Also - this allows me to use one set of keyboard/mouse/monitor on two PC's running at the same time, switching back and forth from one to the other, correct? (I'm a bit slow on all this computer jargon and tech stuff sometimes).

4) Can a set of speakers also be used on this KVM Switch thing?

5) How does the KVM thing work, is it like a box that plugs into the various ports on both PCs and into the KVM plugs your one set of keyboard/mouse/monitor/(speakers?) ... correct?

...

Also - Neil, as for your #2 in your list - that would allow me to move over things such as:

1) Music files I use for editing.
2) My editing software save files ... although actually there'd be issues possibly with locations of files, unless I'm allowed to re-find the files (although using old save files would be unlikely actually...)
3) Various AVIs, MPEGs etc used for my editing.
4) Any videogame related files, like mods for example.

...

Told you lot I was a bit slow on the uptake with all this, takes me weeks/months to research new purchases. :p

Vista is a loose cannon - as for everything working or not working, it's a total gamble. I've had no real problems with it since last year, but before then it was a nightmare and I had to format my drive three times and reinstall everything.

Having said that, since it's been working well I haven't had any issues - but you'll find a lot of hardcore gamers who loathe vista because it takes up a fair bit of processing and memory which can affect your gaming experience.

Personally, I don't have an issue with it...but I don't play many games.

As for your editing software, if you're using Avid, it won't work. The only version of avid you can use is Media Composer 3.0 which has just been released...that has a Vista compatibility mode. If you're using Cs3 Premier, this should work. I've been using After Effects and Photoshop on it for ages and haven't had a single problem related to Vista. I've got Premier, but have no use for it as I work with fully functioning Avids anyway.

RE: KVMs you can run only one comp if you want, you don't have to switch the other on.

basically it's like a box with 2 monitor inputs, 2 keyboard inputs and 2 mouse inputs....you plug them all into this box and connect them to your two PCs, then connect a keyboard, a monitor, and a mouse to this box and you can switch between the 2 sets of inputs.

I'm sure there are KVMs which come with an audio switch - but my one doesn't. If you've got two inputs to your stereo/speakers then simply connect them both and use the stereo/speakers to switch when necessary.

3) correct

As for your files, just buy an external USB drive like the 1TB drives you were talking about buying previously to back up your stuff (that was you wasn't it?) and copy everything you want to save back over in their original folders and just move this back to the folder it was stored in on your original PC, but on the new PC, and Robert's your father's brother.

[Neil]

I'm sure there are KVMs which come with an audio switch - but my one doesn't. If you've got two inputs to your stereo/speakers then simply connect them both and use the stereo/speakers to switch when necessary.

You can get ones that do speakers as well, but typically it's only stereo sound I believe.

Also, they tend to be analog video as well... Not digital.

Well, at least the cheaper ones...

[SymphonicX]

You can get ones that do speakers as well, but typically it's only stereo sound I believe.

Also, they tend to be analog video as well... Not digital.

Well, at least the cheaper ones...

Yeah that's interesting, my KVM is only a VGA one...no idea about anything running on DVI or whatever...could be a whole other kettle of ****...

[Neil]

Yeah that's interesting, my KVM is only a VGA one...no idea about anything running on DVI or whatever...could be a whole other kettle of ****...

I'm sure digital ones exist, for a price!

[MinionZombie]

Okay, I'm now melting my brain over graphics cards, so what do you chaps think of these - and are there any special requirements to take into account for any of them?

* NVidia GeForce 9800 GX2 (which I believe is essentially two GTX's in one to make 1gig?)
* NVidia GeForce 9800 GTX
* NVidia GTX 280
* Nvidia GTX 260

...

ATI Radeon HD4870 (seems to come in 512mb, 1gig and 2gig).

...

So, thoughts, any special computer geekery knowledge to take into account?

Cheers chaps. :cool:

[DjfunkmasterG]

Power consumption. Some Video cards need 26Amps on the 12 volt rail just work adequately, make sure your power supply can handle at least 30A on the 12V rail.

[MinionZombie]

Power consumption. Some Video cards need 26Amps on the 12 volt rail just work adequately, make sure your power supply can handle at least 30A on the 12V rail.
Power supply in the computer you mean?

Damn, all this computer research, especially the aforementioned video cards, is doing my noggin' in. :D

[Neil]

Power supply in the computer you mean?

Damn, all this computer research, especially the aforementioned video cards, is doing my noggin' in. :D

Basically a reasonable branded 600W power supply would be more than enough! Agree people?

[DjfunkmasterG]

Not if he wants to run those video cards. I am running (2) 9600 GT's and they both require 26Amps on the 12V rail, so I had to get a Power Supply that supplied 2 12 V rails both capable of 26Amps each at a min.

MZ, you don't need 9800's (2) 9600's will work and not hurt your wallet, just make sure you power supply can handle it. Read the requirements on the cards box before you buy. Make sure you get at least a 1000W power Supply if you run two cards.

[Neil]

Not if he wants to run those video cards. I am running (2) 9600 GT's and they both require 26Amps on the 12V rail, so I had to get a Power Supply that supplied 2 12 V rails both capable of 26Amps each at a min.

MZ, you don't need 9800's (2) 9600's will work and not hurt your wallet, just make sure you power supply can handle it. Read the requirements on the cards box before you buy. Make sure you get at least a 1000W power Supply if you run two cards.

He doesn't need two video cards... And doesn't need anything like 1000W...

For example, look at this pre-overclocked machine here... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-007-OE&groupid=43&catid=1080&subcat=&name=%22Titan%20Accelerator%22%204850

Offers more than enough umpph to run anything now or in the coming couple of years...


You can get great video cards for only a bit over £100 MZ... eg: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-102-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938&name=HIS%20ATI%20Radeon%20HD%204850%20IceQ%204%20T urbo%20512MB%20GDDR3%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI/HDMI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail



If you really wanted to consider two video cards (God knows why) then a quality brand 750W-800W should be more than enough.


TBH - If I was getting a whole new machine I'd probably get one from the site I've linked to above. They're prebuilt/configured and covered by a warranty... For the sake of probably under a £100 it's worth it IMHO...

[MinionZombie]

I've seen those cards cheaper or the same price elsewhere.

I'd be looking to get it built at a business nearby where we've had two computers built so far, and they're just down the road a bit ... well, about 20 minutes away ... and they give good prices, fully test the machines, give a one year warranty, and then they're familiar with me already so, I like that you know.

As for the two card issue, that was me in my research reading about some people having two 512mb cards together (SLI mode? :confused:) to make 1gig of video power ... but of course now there's 1gig single cards, so that would be idea really - one card, and one gig of video oomph.

I'm looking to get a card that's pretty darn new (the HD4870, or indeed the HD4870-X2) because by the time I'd get the rig they'd be two to four months old, plus I figure why not - building a whole new rig from scratch with the express purpose of sheer grunt, why not go for the prize up front and then I'm sorted for far longer without needing to upgrade.

Indeed, that ATI card comes in 512mb, but also 1gig and an eye-watering 2gig model that makes me nothing but rock solid downstairs. :lol:

I've currently got an ATI card in my existing rig, so I'm used to ATI cards and quite like them, plus the ATI one seems to be generally a bit cheaper/bit more powerful than the NVidia ones.

So power supply wise - between 800 and 1000W would be ideal for an ATI Radeon HD4870?

...

What about Motherboards then - I hear there are specific types of motherboards suited to such grunt, correct?

Also, I assume I could get a second 4870 1gig (if I chose the 1gig model up front) in order to double-up in this SLI mode business, if I wanted to in the future?

...

Cheers for this help lads, it's all greek to me when I'm getting into it. :)

[Neil]

If you're worried about SLI, which personally wouldn't be, then ensure your motherboard can handle it. You'll also need to ensure your powersupply can so 800W+ probably.

Personally I'd get just reasonably good card, and save yourself some money... With a good CPU, you'll be running everything at max details, at max frame rate for a good couple of years... Why buy extra power at the moment you just do not need...

You can always upgrade the card/CPU later if necessary.

It's far too easy to spend loads of money getting carried away on power you'll never use... How much you looking to spend out of interest? That machine I linked to above I suspect will run everything you can throw at on max settings brilliantly for a couple of years...

ps: Regarding the companies who will build it for you ensure you get QUALITY components - especially the motherboard and PSU. These are the things that will fail the soonest if poor brands probably...

[DjfunkmasterG]

For smooth video editing he is going to need SLI and Two Vid Cards. Trust me I know, I am going through it now, and even with two cards I get low frame rates during editing on scenes that need color correction or have Magic Bullet color correction. The majority of the time I have no problems, but no matter how powerful the system, Video editing is probably the most taxing thing on a system next to hardcore gaming.

MZ, if you are going to do editing and want smooth flawless transitions while watching the playback in a preview window or a second monitor you're going to need two vid cards.

The 1000W Power supply you are going to need to operate two cards, plus the extra HDD's you are going to need. Once all of us Indie guys switch to HD, thats going to be even worse on the system. Right now I think you use Pinnacle to edit which isn't resource hogging, but Sony Vegas take a good chunk to run, as I said the video editing with plug-ins and what not are really going to slow the system down, so make sure you have the chip power, the memory, and the video cards to back it all up.

[Neil]

For smooth video editing he is going to need SLI and Two Vid Cards. Trust me I know, I am going through it now, and even with two cards I get low frame rates during editing on scenes that need color correction or have Magic Bullet color correction. The majority of the time I have no problems, but no matter how powerful the system, Video editing is probably the most taxing thing on a system next to hardcore gaming.

MZ, if you are going to do editing and want smooth flawless transitions while watching the playback in a preview window or a second monitor you're going to need two vid cards.

The 1000W Power supply you are going to need to operate two cards, plus the extra HDD's you are going to need. Once all of us Indie guys switch to HD, thats going to be even worse on the system. Right now I think you use Pinnacle to edit which isn't resource hogging, but Sony Vegas take a good chunk to run, as I said the video editing with plug-ins and what not are really going to slow the system down, so make sure you have the chip power, the memory, and the video cards to back it all up.

I'll take your word on that, but how does general video editing use a GPU in any real way? Surely it's almost 100% CPU? I believe some transitions/3D effects can use GPU calls, but to be honest, I don't see how an uber super duper quad SLI'd set of cards would really benefit this much more than a single quality card, as the CPU has got to be king most of the time?

And let's be realistic, generally if we are talking transitions, then that's going to be an instant chop from one to the other, or a fade at most possibly?

If you're doing colour/chroma corrections (?), isn't that going to be CPU too?




And if you really want a good PSU estimate - http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp :)

[DjfunkmasterG]

Color Chroma can also be linked to shading, which is done by the video card.

Here is an example, say you develop a nice End Credits sequence which requires moving titles, with other kind of FX, well the video card has to be able to read those FX, especially color settings. If its plain black and white its fine, but anything above andbeyond normal raw video text and transitions because a system drainer.

My CPU was running at 22% with Vegas, Adobe Audition, and Magic Bullet Going, with the end credits of Deadlands 2 playing which contains BTS photos of the making of the movie while the credits roll, the CPU stayed at 22% Usgae, but I was only acheiving 8 Frames Per Second

The Video Cards were hogging up the most power and the temperature of the cards them selves was climbing, when the credits didn't play the Video cards calmed down. The CPU has mostly to do with a certain aspect of Rendering, while the video card plays a roll in this too. I have seen Rendering times increase just from switching froma 7900GT to the 9600GT's. The video cards play bigger roles in editing for film/video than most would expect.

I remember one of the laptops we bought for making Deadlands 1 had a generic Intel Chipset Video driver in it and we couldn't get it to do simple video playback, so I boxed it back up and traded it for a Laptop with a 7900Go card and suddenly everything was hunky dory. (CPU and MEM specs were the same).

I still don't 100% understand the link between video cards and Video editing, but I know they do help, and the more powerful the cards the less hassle you have in playback and rendering.

Here are some NLE editing rigs starting at around $1599 using SONY VEGAS (they do use a single Video card with 512mb of ram on the card, but are considered basic)

http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/samplebytescomputers/Categories?category=NLE+Video+Editing&searchpath=34472&start=17&total=27

[MinionZombie]

Blimey, this is complex stuff isn't it...

As for two video cards - is there any benefit/diffence between having say: Two 512mb cards, or One 1gig card?

And indeed, one 2gig card?

...

I'd be looking to get a better framerate for Magic Bullet playback, although I tend to take a chunk of footage and colour it - then edit from there, I prefer doing it that way round, hehe. At the moment my playback is quite low FPS in the preview - but the real killer is the rendering time.

For example, the one layer of white diffusion and nothing more, throughout the 25 minutes of IAZM2, took 11 hours to render!!! :eek:

Surely with an arse kicking rig with a beastly gfx card would get far more complex colouring rendering down to real time or real time times two?

...

And yeah...I wanna play games on it. :D

[DjfunkmasterG]

Rendering is a combination of Processor and Video Card. I haven't heard a lot of good things about the One Gig Vid Cards, but (2) 512 mb Sli cards have been praised for speeding up Preview playback, especially with Magic Bullet.

Magic Bullet is a killer when it comes to playback, I know because I go MB crazy on Dead 2.

[MinionZombie]

I haven't heard a lot of good things about the One Gig Vid Cards

Purely in terms of playback with Magic Bullet, or in general?

...

There is a 512mb model of the ATI HD4870, so would two of those in this SLI business (can someone explain that a bit for my dimwitted brain? :)), be better over all than having a 1gig model of the ATI HD4870? You'd get the same power, but with the added bonus of improved video preview playback for Magic Bullet?

[Neil]

Color Chroma can also be linked to shading, which is done by the video card.

Here is an example, say you develop a nice End Credits sequence which requires moving titles, with other kind of FX, well the video card has to be able to read those FX, especially color settings. If its plain black and white its fine, but anything above andbeyond normal raw video text and transitions because a system drainer.

My CPU was running at 22% with Vegas, Adobe Audition, and Magic Bullet Going, with the end credits of Deadlands 2 playing which contains BTS photos of the making of the movie while the credits roll, the CPU stayed at 22% Usgae, but I was only acheiving 8 Frames Per Second

The Video Cards were hogging up the most power and the temperature of the cards them selves was climbing, when the credits didn't play the Video cards calmed down. The CPU has mostly to do with a certain aspect of Rendering, while the video card plays a roll in this too. I have seen Rendering times increase just from switching froma 7900GT to the 9600GT's. The video cards play bigger roles in editing for film/video than most would expect.

I remember one of the laptops we bought for making Deadlands 1 had a generic Intel Chipset Video driver in it and we couldn't get it to do simple video playback, so I boxed it back up and traded it for a Laptop with a 7900Go card and suddenly everything was hunky dory. (CPU and MEM specs were the same).

I still don't 100% understand the link between video cards and Video editing, but I know they do help, and the more powerful the cards the less hassle you have in playback and rendering.

Here are some NLE editing rigs starting at around $1599 using SONY VEGAS (they do use a single Video card with 512mb of ram on the card, but are considered basic)

http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/samplebytescomputers/Categories?category=NLE+Video+Editing&searchpath=34472&start=17&total=27

OK! I stand corrected then... Didn't realise modern video cards were utilised so much in modern video editing packages!

[MinionZombie]

Okay, I'm really starting to gear up my 'thinking about getting it' thinking now, so a few more questions:

This one first from before:


There is a 512mb model of the ATI HD4870, so would two of those in this SLI business (can someone explain that a bit for my dimwitted brain? ), be better over all than having a 1gig model of the ATI HD4870? You'd get the same power, but with the added bonus of improved video preview playback for Magic Bullet?

...

Now, I'd be looking for a Quad processor - but which is better these days, Intel or AMD? I've been hearing that Intel has now taken over AMD's 'Hare' if you will, and that the AMD Phenom is well known for being gash - opinions and other options please. (i.e. which Intels to choose, and which AMDs to choose).

...

Connected to that - any advice on models of motherboards to go along with aforementioned Quad Core processors of choice (for both Intel and AMD). I've read that Quad Core AMDs require a 790 chipset or above.

...

And finally - a DX10 capable card (e.g. the ATI HD4870), also handles DX9 just fine correct?

As I'd be looking to stick with XP, I'd eye up the 'unofficial' way to get DX10 on XP and not cowtow to MS' restrictive ideas.

Again, cheers for the info you're all providing lads, it's very, very useful and helps me understand my way around all this better. I wanna get my next rig just right and make sure I don't make any silly mistakes.

[Neil]

These guys know what they're doing... See this as an example of components. The one I've linked to is overclocked as standard...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-032-OK&groupid=43&catid=1270&subcat=&name=%22Ultima%20OC%20HD%204870%22%20Intel%20Core% 202%20Quad%20Q6600%202.40GHz%20@%20QX6950+%203.00G Hz%20Dual%20Core%20DDR2%20System

[MinionZombie]

Now I've heard this "overclocking" thing before, but what on earth is it, are there downsides etc?

[Neil]

Now I've heard this "overclocking" thing before, but what on earth is it, are there downsides etc?

Every machine I've owned for the past 5-6 years has been overclocked. Basically you're just running it at a faster rate than it's suppose to.

Typically most chips can be overclocked a little bit, but then start getting unstable. Most speed=more heat for example...

With the example I showed, the intel chip is so reliable the overclock is basically guarenteed. You could always just return the CPU to its original speed, which is typically just one or two settings in the BIOS menu. Easy...

[MinionZombie]

Okay, so I'm starting to get a spec together so I can then go get a quote (and no doubt find out it's too expensive if the law of the sod rears its ugly head :lol:)...anyway:

* AMD 790FX motherboard
* AMD Quad Core Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition processor
* 3gb RAM
* ATI Radeon HD4870 1gb (perhaps the 4870X2 1gig) graphics card
* Two 7200rpm hard-drives (size to be determined, considering I often use external HDDs for separate projects)
* CD/DVD Writer and a CD/DVD player (so I can burn on the fly)
* Firewire
* Windows XP Professional (my preferred OS)
* 1000w power supply (possibly 1200w, depending on if I was to end up going "CrossFire" which is ATI's version of SLI)

And a KVM Switch (I found one that seemingly does keyboard and mouse (PS/2 - which I have), monitor and importantly audio speakers, for £30.)

So:

1) What do you reckon?
2) Anything I've missed?
3) Are there any proper benefits OR problems with going "CrossFire" (ATI's version of SLI)?

[Neil]

And a KVM Switch (I found one that seemingly does keyboard and mouse (PS/2 - which I have), monitor and importantly audio speakers, for £30.)

Does the motherboard have PS2 motherboard/mouse inputs?

[twistbud]

If you have SATA drives in your old computer one of these my be useful for easily transferring your data.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3748369&CatId=2785

[MinionZombie]

Apparently it does yeah, also it apparently has Firewire already built into it.

...

Another thing of course, I'll have to put some though towards:

1) What if I have to set my sights a smidge lower?
2) What if I wanted to go Intel & nVidia?

My brain hurts...

...ADDITIONAL...

Cheers for the link twistbud, but fortunately there wouldn't be a huge amount of stuff to transfer over, considering the new rig would be exclusively for video editing and gaming, so there'd only be a bit to be transferred for editing, and a few files for games ... otherwise, pretty much a fresh start - but my existing rig would remain for all other tasks and general use ... hence the need for that KVM thing.

...

Currently looking to put two specs together - one with AMD/ATI involved, the other with Intel/nVidia involved and get quotes on both.

I've been hearing that Intel has overtaken AMD and that Intel Core 2 Quad's are better than AMD's Phenom X4's.

...

Man, either I'm coming down with some sort of head cold, or it's too much computer jargon leading up to actually being able to submit for a quote at the computer shop, but my head is woozy today.

Doubt all this AMD/Intel jargon has been the cause of my gippy gut though.