Hey guys, I really need a hand here...

B

BTYM

New Member
This is going to be a long thread, I have a lot to cover. All I ask of you is, if you are someone who knows his way around a computer, please, give me the time to read it and try your hardest to answer my questions. I will try to segment the thread, so that it is easier to read.

First, an introduction. My name is Jim, I attended ITT Tech. for a year, and decided that a job as an IT professional was not for me. I have a very basic knowledge of the internals of a computer, enough to install ram, change out drives and video cards, etc… That is pretty much as far as my knowledge extends.

I would prefer to customize and buy a computer, rather than assemble one myself. That being said, my questions are based around the internals of the computer, what to buy to suit my application well, that will last awhile before it is too out of date to use.

My current computer is a 5 year old Macbook Pro, 13.3"

Now, down to the nitty gritty. My main uses for my computer will be HD video editing for YouTube, some gaming, and internet browsing. This will replace my out of date laptop, and will be my main go to computer. I do not intend on making any money editing video, so this computer will really not bring me any profit.

Through my work, I get a (slight) discount on Dell, and HP computers.

My desired price range is UNDER 900$, ready to go

I can not decide what to look for internally. There are AMD processors and Intel processors. From what I have read, Intel is the way to go, but again, I have no idea. On top of that, there are i5's, i7's (I know enough to know that i7 is better than i5.) And on top of THAT, there are i7 "3370" "3370k" and all sorts of stuff that I just have no clue about.

Then, theres the ram. Ordering pre installed ram from the company is really expensive. Do I go for broke and get 24GB, 36GB??? How important is ram for my application anyway?

Then, operating system. I hear people say "stay away from windows 8, get windows 7" but a lot of computers only have an option to come with windows 8.

The hard drive. 1TB? 2TB? 3TB? Couldn't I just go with 1TB and buy a cheaper 1TB external hard drive? I know HD video takes up a lot of space, but is 1TB enough?

The video card. Now, I know this is a very important component, but I just have no clue what any of them are, let alone the good ones, or prices on the good ones. Can all motherboards support all video cards, which would make it easy to upgrade down the line? Nvidea Geforce GT630? GTX660? I don't have a clue...

Monitors. These seem costly from the company, do I buy from somewhere else, or add it on to my purchase?

Power supply, how much?

Look guys, I don't know what to do here. I really need a hand. I want the best setup I can get, without breaking my bank. What do I skimp out on? What do I spend the most on? What do I do? I really appreciate any and all help you guys can offer me. If there is anything I didn't state that would help you guys help me out, let me know. Thanks all!
 
If you are working with hd video the two main components for you will be graphics card and hard drive.

As you already know hd video takes a huge amount of space, I would say you should go for at least a 2tb hdd, you would be suprised how quickly a 1tb gets full.

I don`t think you need 32gb ram, 8gb or 16gb should be sufficent.

Does your $900 budget include a monitor ?
 
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jamesd1981 said:
If you are working with hd video the two main components for you will be graphics card and hard drive.

As you already know hd video takes a huge amount of space, I would say you should go for at least a 2tb hdd, you would be suprised how quickly a 1tb gets full.

I don`t think you need 32gb ram, 8gb or 16gb should be sufficent.

Does your $900 budget include a monitor ?
Click to expand...

Ehh, it doesn't have to… I can pick up a cheap monitor at wally world to hold me over if I have to.
 
BTYM said:
I would prefer to customize and buy a computer, rather than assemble one myself.
I have a very basic knowledge of the internals of a computer, enough to install ram, change out drives and video cards, etc...
Click to expand...
With or without basic knowledge of assembly > it's better to use the world as your marketplace for components and set it up like you want it. Then, it will be truly custom.

With RAM, HDD, GPU, etc.. your 1/2 way there and the rest is still pretty basic.
 
Benny Boy said:
With or without basic knowledge of assembly > it's better to use the world as your marketplace for components and set it up like you want it. Then, it will be truly custom.

With RAM, HDD, GPU, etc.. your 1/2 way there and the rest is still pretty basic.
Click to expand...

Ehh, installing the CPU scares me pretty good
 
Yes there are differences even when the clock speeds are the same, this article explains it in good detail.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp

The system i recommended you has a k series i5 which means it has an unlocked multiplier so it can be overclocked to run faster than it is supposed to so you can get some extra power out of it.

Ram like any other component the more or higher range you get the better, but there is a term called overkill which basically means someone has spent a fortune on a system that is way more powerful than they need for there user requirements.

What we try to do on cf is to recommend systems balanced on what the users has said they need the machine to do and price.

As benny stated above it is always best if possible to build your own machine as you then get to hand pick each part, but i got the feeling that did not appeal to you ?

It is not actually that difficult, basically you have the motherboard and then everything else connects to that.
 
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