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'Objects In Space'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


Jon B. - Dec 01, 2008 9:24:09 am PST #8195 of 25501
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

I would think so unless you have a monster video card in there.

Oh, yeah, video. I'm not playing games on it, but I do watch videos and (as I said earlier) do some heavy graphics and sound editing. Will the onboard video be sufficient? In the past, I've always gotten a video card.


Gudanov - Dec 01, 2008 9:26:36 am PST #8196 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping

You can use this tool to calculate how much power supply to get.

[link]

It says 435 Watts with two DVD burners and four 7200 RPM hard drives.


Gudanov - Dec 01, 2008 9:36:03 am PST #8197 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping

Will the onboard video be sufficient? In the past, I've always gotten a video card.

Here's a link to the motherboard information page, it should detail video capability. It has a HDMI interface so I suspect it has good video playback capability.

[link]

Unless you are doing lots of 3D modeling and rendering I think it should handle anything.


NoiseDesign - Dec 01, 2008 9:36:51 am PST #8198 of 25501
Our wings are not tired

I am still partial to Seagate drives yes.


Gudanov - Dec 01, 2008 9:41:09 am PST #8199 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping

Oh an important note if you are putting in existing drives. Almost all new motherboards only support 2 IDE drives. You'd have to get an IDE adapter to attach more IDE drives (it's probably better to get an adapter than search for a board that has more IDE connectors built-in as you won't have many choices). Also, that motherboard I linked to is a low feature Gigabyte motherboard that I would likely go for and only has 4 SATA connectors (4 SATA + 2 IDE for up to 6 drives). You might want to find something with more SATA connectors.

Additional note, the motherboard chipsets that natively support 4 IDE drives tend not to be good ones.


omnis_audis - Dec 01, 2008 9:44:02 am PST #8200 of 25501
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

I second the Seagate nod. But look at the specs. How much on board RAM does it have? And how much warranty it has. I've come across a few Seagates with only a 1 year warranty, thou most are longer.


Jon B. - Dec 01, 2008 9:49:50 am PST #8201 of 25501
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

Oh an important note if you are putting in existing drives...

Yeah, I'd noticed that. What I'll probably do is put my two existing DVD/CD drives in the IDE slots, and go all SATA for the HDs. I'll check the computer when I get home to make sure I'm not forgetting anything. Thanks for all the help!


Connie Neil - Dec 01, 2008 9:52:20 am PST #8202 of 25501
brillig

From the sublime to the mundane, what is the best video card for low-end gaming and Internet video watching and DVD watching? I'm not much into numbers, though I know bigger is better, but which brand is best? I'm using XP and looking towards beefing up some power there (I'm on a Pentium 3 at the moment), and I need to know what neighborhood I should look at for video.


Gudanov - Dec 01, 2008 9:53:39 am PST #8203 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping

Will you be upgrading the processor and motherboard anytime soon?


Jon B. - Dec 01, 2008 9:54:25 am PST #8204 of 25501
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

But look at the specs. How much on board RAM does it have? And how much warranty it has.

Mmmn. Good point. The Seagate has a 5 year warranty (vs. 3 for the WD) and 32MB cache (vs. 16MB for the WD). The WD supposedly uses less power, but I think the Seagate wins out.