Another computer question

[Ed62]

Just before I went AWOL, I tried my hand at video editing. It only took a short time to figure out my computer probably needed to be replaced.

I'm running Windows XP, with a Pentium IV 1.6 GHz processor, and 1 GB RAM. This is an old computer, and I can't upgrade it any more.

There is a Dell on sale, with an AMD Athlon 2.8 GHz, 2MB and 8 GB RAM. This is all the RAM it can handle. It comes with Windows 7, and I might be interested. It has integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics.

My question is if this upgrade will handle what I want to do, easily? Will Windows 7 eat up the extra resources, or does this sound like a reasonable upgrade for me?

Ed

[Uncle Cracker]

One thing I do know is that you will need more than XP to utilize that much RAM, so you may have to take the plunge to Windows 7 for that reason, if not others...

[crokett]

That sounds reasonable. Win 7 will not use up the extra resources. You need to make sure your video editing SW will work in Win 7 though, else you will be uograding that also.

[Ed62]

Thanks for the help. It's what I expected.

You need to make sure your video editing SW will work in Win 7 though, else you will be uograding that also.

No problem with that.

Ed

[sparkeyjames]

I beg to differ on the non upgradeability of your computer. There are several things that you can do. 1) upgrade the Pentium 4 processor. They were available in speeds to to 3.2 Ghz. 2) put more memory in it. memory these days is relativly cheap. Windows XP has an upper limit of 4gigabytes with some caveats*. 3) Upgrade the video card. All those 3 things will make your computer a nice video editing box and probably less than a new one to boot. Not only that but you won't have to reinstall the OS with those upgrades.


* everthing under XP that uses address space takes away from the 4GB address space maximum. So if you put 4GB of memory and a 512MB graphics card would have 3.5 GB of ram available (it's actually less due to other things that eat address space). Anyway I find that 2GB works quit well in my XP box.

[Rand]

I had an Intel Core2 Duo system with 2 gb of ram and XP that I was trying to do hd video editing on. It was slow and would lock up a lot.

I now have a Intel Core i7 860 system with 4 gb of Ram running Windows7 that works just fine. It has 2 Western Digital Caviar black drives running in a RAID 0 Configuration.

I'm not sure if it's the Raid or the better processor or what that makes the difference but this system works just fine.

I'm running Sony Vegas 9 to do editing.

[crokett]

32-Bit Windows XP can address a max of 4GB of RAM. This is true with any 32-bit OS. If his current system is a 32-bit system. the max it can support is 4GB. So yes, Ed could upgrade the processor to a faster one, and max out the RAM but he would still be limited eventually. A new system would be 64-bit and get him past that limit.

[LinuxRandal]

A processor upgrade is a MAYBE. It would depend on WHICH socket that motherboard has, and what the last processor its bios will handle.

I would look at that, AND see what the most memory it will handle is. When/if you get the other computer, do a clean install/reset the HD back to the factory default. Yes it will be slower then the new system, but you could be working on something, and send the other part to the old computer for processing or viewing (multiple pc's, multitasking).

[phi1l]

A couple of points.

1) Before you abandon your current system, Make sure that you have removed all the resident virus & mal-ware checking software before trying to do any serious video editing, those things will take up an amazing amount of CPU cycles.

2) Hard disk speed can be a factor in video work as well, so that may be a constraining factor. If you upgrade, make sure you have a high performance hard drive on the new system.

3) Don't overlook Linux, there are some pretty decent free video editing stuff in Linux, including a package that will allow you to set up multiple computer as a rendering farm.

4) If you do are going to do a lot of video editing, you may find that having a second monitor on that system may increase your productivity. So make sure the video card you have will drive 2 monitors.

[Ed62]

Sorry I didn't make it to the site yesterday, so I just saw all the replies, which I appreciate.

I currently have a Dell Dimension 4400, which is roughly around 7 years old. The owner's manual states the maximum RAM as 1 GB, which I now have (I think the original OS was Windows 98). I don't know much at all about computers, so doing anything more than adding RAM or a hard drive is probably beyond of my capabilities.

Thanks again for the posts. There's a good possibility that I'll have another question or two in a new thread.

Ed

[crokett]

Ed, I have a Dell that has the same specs as the one you have. My solution for video editing was to quit doing it until I got a faster machine. That Dell is now a file server but it will be gone in the next few weeks. I would go with a new PC rather than trying to patch this one up. The new machine will have more RAM and faster processor but all the buses on the motherboard will be faster, HDD will be faster, etc.

[alpha]

Of course a new computer will yield dramatic results. Two comments though. The first is to look at the video software you are using. Some programs are greater resource hogs than other programs.

Secondly, an individual graphics card will outperform integrated graphics for video editing.

Bob

[Ed62]

I'm saving my nickels and dimes. Thanks for the replies.

Ed