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/r...?t=pc&c=gaming 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.

[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. 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!