Need to Upgrade my PC

W

wombosi

New Member
Hi everyone.

I have a athlon 64, 3000+, 1.8ghz cpu, 512 RAM, 120gig hard drive.

It's been a very reliable, fast computer for general use for about 3-4 years now.

I've recently gotten into video editing, and it's just a bit slow for it. Using adobe premiere, the video playback is skippy, making accurate edits hard.

I'm hoping to get away with as minimal an upgrade as possible. I know I need more RAM. I think I'll get 2gigs of anything on this page: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...65 1052407862 1052308477&bop=And&Order=RATING


Do I need a faster CPU? New motherboard to accomodate this?

I've opened up my case and can find no model number on my motherboard. It's a soltek, I think socket 754 or something like that. Can't even find it on Newegg anymore.

I'd also like to get an LCD monitor. Not sure if needs to be VGA or if my PC can handle the other attachment.

My concern in buying new RAM, is that maybe it's old stuff and if it doesn't make editing significantly faster, I'm stuck with old RAM and need to buy new stuff that wouldn't support it.

ANy thoughts? Can I get away with about $100 for RAM and maybe $200 for a monitor?

Do I need more disk space?

I can't figure out what my video card is without removing it. I think ATI radeon. Has heat sink on it.

Thanks!
 
Start with the ram.Its cheap and if you buy from newegg and it does not work out for you,,,you can always send it back and all they will charge you is small restocking fee
wombosi said:
Hi everyone.

I have a athlon 64, 3000+, 1.8ghz cpu, 512 RAM, 120gig hard drive.

It's been a very reliable, fast computer for general use for about 3-4 years now.

I've recently gotten into video editing, and it's just a bit slow for it. Using adobe premiere, the video playback is skippy, making accurate edits hard.

I'm hoping to get away with as minimal an upgrade as possible. I know I need more RAM. I think I'll get 2gigs of anything on this page: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...65 1052407862 1052308477&bop=And&Order=RATING


Do I need a faster CPU? New motherboard to accomodate this?

I've opened up my case and can find no model number on my motherboard. It's a soltek, I think socket 754 or something like that. Can't even find it on Newegg anymore.

I'd also like to get an LCD monitor. Not sure if needs to be VGA or if my PC can handle the other attachment.

My concern in buying new RAM, is that maybe it's old stuff and if it doesn't make editing significantly faster, I'm stuck with old RAM and need to buy new stuff that wouldn't support it.

ANy thoughts? Can I get away with about $100 for RAM and maybe $200 for a monitor?

Do I need more disk space?

I can't figure out what my video card is without removing it. I think ATI radeon. Has heat sink on it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
cool. thanks man.

you think that's enough to make editing smooth?

thanks again.

(would you recommend anything specific from that page i linked?)
 
Since he didn't post it, most likely onboard...

Download and Run CPU-Z or PC Wizard 2008, and tell us what type of memory you use.

Most likely it's DDR400...

Then spend some on a decent GFX.
 
Last edited:
thanks. so which RAM off of that page would you recommend? i was thinking the g-skill looked good for $100. 2 more gigs.

what would be a good graphics card? you think my radeon 9600 is no good?

so the processor is OK and it's worth spending a bit of money for RAM?

i appreciate the thoughts.

(what about getting a second hard drive, maybe one with xp and premiere only, the other with all my other horseshit.) or just replace my hard drive with a bigger, faster one.

i think mine is 120gig, 7200 rpm.
 
I would say radeon 9600 is a bit outdated. Your CPU is not fast anyway.
But as you want to spend less, only option is just get RAM. I think you could try to see if any one sell second-handed RAM. $100 for RAM is quite expensive.
If you insist of buying new, you would be better off to CPU ($80) + MB ($70) + DDR2 RAM ($50) + PCI-E GPU ($100) for $300 than upgrading RAM ($100) + video card ($100).
 
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thanks for your help, daisymtc.

would you be so kind as to recommend specific things?

what good cpu could i possibly get for $80? if it's only a tiny bit better than what i have, i'd rather spend more money for something very fast, or just keep what i have.

so, if i buy new cpu and mobo, should i go intel? core 2 duo or something?


what do you have in mind?

thanks.


(would i be able to sell my old machine on ebay or craigslist?)
 
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