What PC to buy?

**mightyfun** · 30 July 2007, 03:18 PM

I'm getting ready to give up the laptop and buy a new desktop.

I don't want to get a Mac, because all of my programs are made for PC, and I think PC's are just as good as a Mac for my purposes.

My questions are : What are the key features I need to look for?

I've been looking at Dell XPS 410... and Gateway® DX430X so far.

Jen

**a4hire** · 30 July 2007, 05:39 PM

What programs are you going to run? What will you use the computer for ?
I think that this can determine what you might want to buy.

**mightyfun** · 30 July 2007, 06:04 PM

I'm running Xara Xtreme, ArtRage, and Inkscape.

The problem I have is I like to have several programs open at once. This really slows down my computer. I'm looking for something that will be able to keep up with me.

Jen

**Soquili** · 30 July 2007, 06:19 PM

Jen if you get a machine with Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad with a very minimum of 2 GB RAM it should keep up with you for several years. Go for 4 GB RAM or more if you can afford to do so.

If you plan on getting into 3D graphics using programs like Hexagon or Maya also add a high end graphic card (currently a 'gaming' machine would already have a good video choice).

I bought a 'digital media manager' machine and I cannot run Hexagon or Maya on it. Have to go back to one of my old AMD processor machines with a Radeon or nVidea graphics card to support those two applications.

**a4hire** · 30 July 2007, 06:39 PM

Well That Dell 410 looks pretty nice. 256Mb on the video card and the system can take up to 4Gb of memory. I would get 4Gb if you can afford it. That can probably keep up with what ever tasks you want to do.

**gidgit** · 01 August 2007, 12:28 AM

Well, it seems that somethings are not quite as vista friendly, and for that matter, there really is a lot of bloat and bloat scare out there...

xp still works ok

even for 3d work, music, what have yas, most any mid road amd is plenty, , mid range v cards, a gig of ram and your set...

**raynerj1** · 02 August 2007, 01:22 PM

I have to agree with Gidgit. Get the most bang for your buck...

go with An AMD Processor... More speed, less hype, less cost.

As much RAM as you can throw in her...

An ASUS motherboard...

A decent Video Board... 256 Meg should do it...

If you work with lots o bitmaps... As large a HD as you can stuff in the box, and as many as you can get. (I have 500 GB and have to juggle what I keep on the computer... but I do a bit of video work and that eats HD space.)

I personally prefer to buy my machine empty and load the OS myself... These days, the 'puter makers throw 10 tons of garbage on the machine, then don't even give you a copy of the OS...