Best way to update this computer.

[drummerphil]

Ok. Its a brand new computer, CLICK HERE TO SEE (http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11216316&m=488&cat=490&scat=491) , present from myy grandparents. I use it right now mainly for movie editing and such, so their is alot of hard drive room used. I am starting to get into gaming somewhat and I want to get more memory and HD space put in. RAM is no problem, there is an extra slot for another 512 stick, but HD is an issue. There are only two HD bays and they are both used by a 60 and a 15GB. All my movies right now are on the 60, and everything else (which isnt much) is on the 15. Would I be better to get say a 120 or even 200GB internal drive to replace my 60? Or to replace my 15?? Or would I be better to go with a 3rd external HD for my movies, and use the 60 for games and such. Basically I need more room, whats the best way to go about it? Thanks so much for your time.

[fishybawb]

Welcome to SysOpt! :t

There is no right answer obviously, but personally I'd ditch the 15 and buy as big as I could afford, running it alongside the 60.

[drummerphil]

Ok. I think I will do it. Now on the new HD, should I put my movies on, and put the OS and all the important stuff, as well as games on the 60? Movies take up ALOT, but I have no idea how much games take up. These will be games such as Vietcong, Vice City, games of that size. Thanks for such a quick reply!

[wapazoid]

Definitely ditch the 15GB, keep the 60GB and grab up a Maxtor 200GB for your video editing/dvd authoring drive. You can probably still find some excellent rebate deals. It could get a bit hot in that tower if both of those drives are sitting on top of each other, so I'd space them as far apart as possible.

[cbh]

Hey!

Tell me about your PC specifications! I just upgraded my PC and I think mine is similar to yours. Although mine is not a branded PC, I think the spare parts are the same. I think!

My PC specifications:

1) Intel Pentium 4 2.4B GHz 533Mhz

2) Intel Desktop Board D845PESV

3) Kingston 512MB DDRRAM PC2700 333MHz

4) 40GB IBM/Hitachi harddrive 2MB

5) Xelo 128MB DDR GeForce 4 MX 440

6) SoundBlaster Live 'Value'

7) Asus 40x CD-ROM

8) Ricoh 40x10x40x CD-RW

9) Matsui floppy drive

10) Windows XP Professional

11) Intel Pro/100+ network card

12) 350W power supply

I think that's about it! The casing is a no-brand one!

:D

[drummerphil]

Thanks for the replies. I found a 160GB 7200 RPM Maxtor HD at Best Buy for 100 bucks after mail in rebates. I am going to try to get that. As far as the specs on my computer.....

P4 2.4B Ghz

512MB RAM (dont know what kind) expandable to 1GB

15GB HD 7200 Ultra ATA/100

60GB HD 7200 Ultra ATA/100

Video Integrated Intel® 845GV graphics

10Base-T/100Base-TX Fast Ethernet

4 USB 2.0 slots (2 front, 2 back)

2 IEEE 1394 Ports (1 front, 1 back)

Audio is integrated.

Dont know what kind of MOBO

Pretty much its a basic computer. Its nice and fast though. Never had to reboot it and ive edited 3 hours of video on it with no problem. I like it. If i had more money (or my grandparents loved me more :D ) I would of gotten a top of the line VAIO cause I like them alot. Its not what you would say a top of the line gaming computer with its integrated audio and video, but itll do a WHOLE better than the computer I am on right now, and it has 2 PCI slots available for whatever I want. One quick question. What does 2.4B GHZ mean, the B that is??? THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE! Also, is adding 512 MB of RAM to already 512MB worth it at this point? Once again I knnow nothing about PC games exceptt that I want to play them (and the big ones at tthat)

[Dennis Bacon]

Umm, I'd suggest a better video card besides that integrated chipset... maybe something like an ATI All-in-Wonder card would be a good idea

[Izdaari]

Otherwise that Sony seems like a pretty nice PC, but you're kinda screwed as far as making a gaming machine out of it since it has no AGP slot. That means you're limited to PCI video for upgrades, and very few decent video cards are even made in PCI anymore.

The 2.4B means it's a 2.4GHz (or 2400MHz) Intel P4 chip, of the Northwood "B" series. But powerful CPU + crappy video = poor gaming computer, sad to say. :(

Looks like the Powercolor Radeon 9000 64mb PCI for $90.00 at New Egg (http://www.newegg.com/) is the best you can do, and that isn't horrible, certainly much better than the Intel onboard video

[cbh]

How do you put a video card into a video integrated motherboard? The sound is also integrated, though! Those two things are very important when you're playing computer games. I think you should at least upgrade them first b4 playing any intensive games.

:rolleyes:

[stix_kua]

If anything, upgarde your video first...sound is alway secondary...

[cbh]

Yeah! He's right! Upgrade your graphics first!

:cool:

[Izdaari]

The integrated video can be disabled to install a video card, maybe via a jumper on the motherboard, maybe in the BIOS, or maybe just disable it in Windows Device Manager. I had to use the Device Manager method on an Acer I upgraded since no other method was provided, but that worked. You should be able to find out which method to use from the Sony site.

If the integrated sound sounds good to your ears, there's no need to upgrade that. It may have higher CPU utilization than a sound card, but you have a great excess of CPU capability compared to your graphics performance so that shouldn't be an issue. The best way to improve the sound is probably just better speakers.

Depending on what you play, more RAM might help but you already have 512mb which should be sufficient for most games. Definitely graphics first before thinking about more RAM.

[drummerphil]

First off I'd like to say thank you for everyone.

I guess that is why the computer was such a good price....lack of expandability to an extent. At any rate, it is muuuuuuuuuuuuch better than the 1 GHZ, 312MB SDRAM, 40GB HD computer that I am on now, with all integraded graphics and sound, and I still run Vietcong on here with online play not too bad (of course I put the setttings lower in the options.) As far as a "gaming machine" goes, im not going to be buying one right now so I am not too worried about sound and graphics, once again, I mostly use that computer for movie editing and all I need for that is a firewire, good amount of RAM and fast CPU, which I have. I will pick up probably a video card first, then giant HD, then RAM. As far as installation goes, I will not worry about that, I will have Best Buy or local computer shop to put it in for me. Last time I put a CD-RW drive in this computer I completely fried the motherboard with ESD (I thought I knew more about it then I did) and my mom (me being only 16) was not happy about that. Thanks for all of the replies guys, Ill tell you how it turns out!

[cbh]

Ok! How's the online gaming with Vietcong? Is it good?

:cool:

[rmanet]

Originally posted by Izdaari
Otherwise that Sony seems like a pretty nice PC, but you're kinda screwed as far as making a gaming machine out of it since it has no AGP slot. That means you're limited to PCI video for upgrades, and very few decent video cards are even made in PCI anymore.

NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Specifications
GPU nVidia GeForce FX 5200
Memory 128MB DDR
Core Clock 250 MHz
Memory Clock 400 MHz
Memory Bandwidth 6.4GB/sec.
RAMDAC Dual 350 MHz
Fill Rate 1 Billion texels/sec.
Vertices per Second 63 Million
Bus Type PCI
OS Support Windows® 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP or LINUX
Ports VGA

$99 and heck, that's at TigerDirect - look around for a new PCI card (pricewatch) there's plenty of options for decent PCI video cards for gaming - I'm running C&C Generals on 64 meg SIS315 cards for my kids that cost $30 each

and like the guys said - if the sound is okay don't bother spending $$ - unless you've got awesome speakers you'll never notice the difference....

[drummerphil]

thanks for the replies. the video card is soon to come i the future, I do not know too much about them, but when I shop around and find a few i think are good, I will post here and ask for opinions.