Need a new PC Looking for Opinions

[Art Vandelay]

I am in need of a new PC, I am looking for opinions. I have previously bought Dell, and 4 years ago a HP mediacenter system. I have learned about the problems with prebuilt systems (poor MOBO's, cheap RAM, Tatooed Motherboards, hardware that requires updates from the computer manufacture not the part manufacture.

I really like the recording TV feature of media center. I would like to buy loacally this time and have a local # to call if there are problems.

The computer will mainly be used for encoding video, editing video with tools such as Procoder 3, CCE SP2 DVD Rebuilder. I have no interest in games. I am looking at game style builds since I belive they have the power to handle the video encoding. I have a 750 GB SATA2 HDD that I will install in the new system and a second SATA 300 GB drive also so there will be 3 HDD in the system. I also must have a TV tuner.

I would appreciate peoples opinions as I have been reading so much but there is so much information. This is the company I am lookinig to buy from, I have been looking at the Energy Gaming systems but again I will never play a game on this system. I also don't need a monitor as my 16:9 HD 21" HP DVI monitor still works fine.

http://www.kamcc.com/Design/Configur...aspx?DeptID=20&

[ipaulo]

Hi Art, I would suggest to build your own system from scratch. If your not in a big rush to have your new pc up and running. You can look for sales for your components at places like newegg and such. If you can, try for the new intel quad-cores, sure helps for your video editing.

[Art Vandelay]

@ipaulo

i have tought about that but i have no idea how to build one. I have replaced parts RAM, fans, DVD, HDD drives, CPU fans. However, the topic of BIOS and the price of the operating system makes it so expensive.

[doctorhardware]

It is not that hard, we can help you build the computer, that is if you decide to build a computer. Can give you recommendations on which parts to use.

[Chewy]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Start adding up the price of build your own

[Art Vandelay]

@Chewy & doctorhardware

I will look into my own build. I have had 3 windows PC in my life, the first 2 were Intel P2 P4 and the one I have now is a AMD Athlon X2 +4600 dual core. I think the Intel ones had less problems with ardware software issues over the years. I believe Chewy is a AMD fan over Intel, I am pretty impresses with what I hear about the i7 Intell quad core processor.

I have a TV tuner in my PC now and I want one in the new PC. I also have 2 Saumsung DVD drives one is a RAM +- DL RW and the other is a DVD ROM.

I am presently using XP which is 32 bit, could the TV tuner be used in a Windows7 biuld or would it not work.


I have replaced in my past PC's HDD's ,fans, RAM, LAN card, audio cards, video cards.

can you guys give me some model #'s of motherboards, chipsets, video cards RAM type, powersource-cases to look at? I look at them and don't know what is really important.

It seems most motherboards come with buil in LAN and audio these days is this the way to go?

thanks

[doctorhardware]

I am in the process of building a 6 core AMD system. I have always used AMD CPU's and AMD based motherboards. All the systems that I have built are still running. My son just had to have a Alienware. It did have an AMD CPU and an ASUS motherboard. It died 5 days after the Alienware warranty. Alienware would not cover the computer under warranty. With being able to troubleshoot, I found that the motherboard went south. Since Asus has a 3 year warranty I got the motherboard repaired. This is the first AMD based system that has went belly up since I have been building computers.

[Chewy]

The better I7's are unmatched by AMD's, but such performance comes at a heavy price.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Browse.aspx?type=Hardware&category=TV%20Devices&subcategory=TV%20Tuners

22 pages of tv tuners

[ipaulo]

You've upgraded a lot of hardware already, so if you can do that you can build one.

Also you can still run your XP 32 bit with you new system, until you can afford windows 7. I'm still using XP.

[doctorhardware]

In all honesty it is very simple thing to do. It would be a pleasure to give you a hand with that, and maybe an instructional video.

[steveausten]

Polywell MiniBox X5800x-3D
Pros
Compact size. Dual SLI expansion. Very good connectivity. No Bloatware.
Cons
A little pricey. A system costing $1,000 less is competitive on benchmarks
Bottom Line
The Polywell MiniBox X5800x-3D is a jack-of-all-trades desktop PC: It does gaming, multimedia, movie watching, and it's tagged with the latest of buzzwords, 3D. While it's a little pricey for a specialized game box, nomadic gamers should look at this system for use at home and at LAN parties.

Thanks
Steve
dealsourcedirect.com