zcode7

Hello everyone. Happy to be joining the forums.

So here's the situation: I have a 3 year old Dell 8300 and plan to upgrade it. Right now I have an 80 gb hard drive 7200 RPM 3.5" (I think thats the size). I also have 512 MB of PC130 RAM.

I bought this computer before I got into editing video. I have made many a video on this computer, and it has been hard to work with due to the amount of RAM that I have on it. I'm looking to upgrade my RAM, and get a bigger hard drive (around 250 GB or more). I have a budget of 150-200 USD. Any advice is appreciated.

Onto my next point...this is complicated. I am redoing my bedroom, and have a cool setup in mind for this computer. I will have the PC tower underneath my desk, and my usual flatscreen LCD on top of my desk. I would like to add a moniter on my bedside table (I'm going to screw it in/mount it to this

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...roductId=11144

How can I split the output from my graphics card to another moniter across the room? Where can I find a "moniter extension cord"? Another part of this setup would be storing a second keyboard and mouse in the unit that I linked you too. I already have a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I was wondering if its possible to just buy another keyboard and mouse and have it operating on the same frequency as the one that I have. This way, I wouldn't even have to get up from my bed to use my computer. (I'm frikin lazy). By the way, sound is not an issue here as I play to install a stereo system attached to a reciever attached to the comp, but thats another story.

To sum it all up:
1. Upgrade to comp from 80gb HD to around 250 gb HD or more...I wouldnt mind having dual hard drives if you can tell me how to do it without upgrading my motherboard.
2. Also upgrade RAM from 512 to whatever is needed to edit video well
3. Moniter cable splitter? and
4. Extension cord?
5. Operation a dual set of keyboards/mouses on the same reciever.
6. What kind of program can I use that will tell me more information about what type of RAM I have, what brand my hard drive is? Some kind of diagnostic program maybe?
one more thing:
7. When I do upgrade to the new HD, how do I transfer XP to the new HD and all my files too? (I have a DVD burner btw).


Thanks in advance for replies! If anything else is needed....just let me know.