Computer Hardware Questions OT

[Spartacus]

The wife and I are buying ourselves a new computer for Christmas. Okay, I admit it, it's more for me than for us. Whoring is paying of most of it, so that's okay.

Anyway, I want a DVD burner with it but I am illiterate on the topic. What am I looking for? What the +/- mean? What sort of blank DVDs can I buy? Is 512 DDR RAM enough? I plan on buying the software to copy DVDs. (Ones I have purchased of course!)

Oh yes, I also need to run two or three poker sites at once.

This probably should have been posted in the other topics section, but it has nothing to do with Bush or Iraq.

Besides, readers of the ZOO are the most knowledgable.
/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks.

PS I got about a grand to spend.

[SamJack]

[ QUOTE ]
What the +/- mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are two formatting standards for Writable DVDs.
DVD+R and DVD-R. Similarly for Re-writable (write multiple times) DVD+RW and DVD-RW. At this point there is no dominance of one over the other. Both DVD-R and DVD+R discs can be read by your settop DVD players (unless it is very old) and DVD-ROM drives of computers.

[ QUOTE ]
Is 512 DDR RAM enough?

[/ QUOTE ]
I would say yes unless you are doing very compute intensive tasks. Image processing/rendering (Photoshop), Software Development, or number crunching. Also, memory can be easily added on later.

Sam

[Inthacup]

Also, memory can be easily added on later.


Agreed. I bumped up my computer from 512 MB Ram to 1024 MB without any problems. The extra 512 MB was on sale at Best Buy and I got it for $35.


I have a lot of experience with DVD ripping and burning. A program like DVD Decryptor will work fine for decoding the protection software on the disk. You'll find that some movies will burn on one disk and some take two(due to the fact that most DVDs are dual layered and can hold up to 9.4 GB vs. the standard 4.7 GB on a DVDR).

I'd suggest buying a Sony VIAO if you're going to be doing a lot of DVD stuff. They have a good bit multi media software that comes standard.


Cup

[jasonHoldEm]

Related to this topic...anyone have opinions on 21" monitors? I'm looking to upgrade, but can't afford LCD/plasma. I definately want a flat CRT, but I'm not very happy with how my current monitor has held up (samsung syncmaster) so looking for opinions on brands/specs I should check out.

Peace,
jHE

[Cyndie]

Do you still need to look for 1-512 instead of 2-256 chips if you want to upgrade later? They used to have closeouts on puters that were supposed to save you money, but ended up costing more to upgrade later.

[OrangeHeat]

I bought a Sony 21" CRT (aperture grille)- CPD-G520P. It retails for $799 but i picked it up onm sale for $699 at Compusa.

Expensive but the max resolution is over 2048x1580. Everything is always crystal clear even at high resolutions and four games fits very nicely with room to spare.

Haven't had any problems with it. I thought about plasma but you can't get high enough resoltuions without dishing out oodles of cash.

Orange

[tiltboy]

I bought a used Dell Sony Trinitron Flat FD Monitor P1110 21" on ebay and it fing rocks. I bought it for $280 including S&H from monitor_max and had a good buying experience FWIW (standard disclaimer applies--yada, yada, yada). It has an absolutely beautiful picture and great performance. I think Dell even has a newer model for their 21" Sony Trinitron tube but I got a good deal on the P1110 so I decided it probably didn't matter.

YMMV.

[thwang99]

Get two 21" CRT's off of eBay. Get a PCI video card (assume your existing one will be AGP). Get NVidia video cards, both of them. Nvidia has the best dual monitor drivers, IMHO. Run dual monitors with XP. You can play as many tables as you want comfortable with zero overlap. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

21" CRT's are basically free these days, the price is so cheap! Get a good quality one (Sony, Mitsubishi diamondtron, etc).

- Tony (running dual 21" LCD monitors, off of dual Nvidia DVI cards, 2 x 1600x1200x32bit)

[jasonHoldEm]

[ QUOTE ]
Dell Sony Trinitron Flat FD Monitor P1110 21"

[/ QUOTE ]

This was one of the models I was looking at, glad to hear it works well for you. I'll probably be buying via ebay as well so I'll look that guy up.

Tony, thanks for the advice...dual 21's are probably somewhere in my future, but I don't have the cash (or the desktop space) right now, lol.

Thanks to all,
jHE

[gabbyy]

First of all do not go for the best, speed demon monster out there. You will only be wasting your money.

This is what you need:

1.4-2.0 GIGABYTE PROCESSOR

512 RAM..DDR PREFERABLY

There are some cheap dvd burners. They are just as good as the high dollar ones.

WIN-XP--As an operating system..Windows me sucks.

Atleast a 20 gigabyte hardrive. Get a Western digital if you can. One area you do not want to chince on.

Video-Get an agp card..preferably Nvidia or ATI. Make sure it has atleast 128mb ram on board, ,also they make video cards that will support more then one monitor.

****MAKE SURE NOT TO GET ANY INTEGRATED SYSTEMS!****

What I mean by this , is on the cheaper systems the manufacturers are putting sodered on video and sound onto the motherboard. This is horrible because it is difficult to upgrade and near impossible to get your system working right by disabling them when you do want to upgrade.


Get a CRT monitor. The flat screen LCD monitors resolutions do not even come close to the resolution of a regular crt monitor.

So here is the wrap up.

Processor: 1.4-2.0 Gigabyte processor. NO CELERON!

Dvd Writer--Bargain brand

Memory-512 mb ddr ram

Harddrive- 20+ Gigabyte (Preferably Western Digital)

Video Card- 128mb AGP Either Nvidia or ATI

Sound Card- Whatever you want

Network Card/Modem--10/100 generic or 56k v.90 modem

Monitor-17"+ CRT do not spend extra for LCD..You will sacrifice resolution for space.

Remember no integrated sound or video, and NO SIS chipsets for the Motherboard.

System total should cost you about 750.00-900.00 without monitor.

Just read this specs off to your local tech sales person and they will know exactly what you are talking about.

Hope I helped..Good Luck and enjoy!

[Spartacus]

[dogsballs]

What if yoiun almost purely want it for online poker. Then it's just plenty RAM and good screen - nothing else really? No need for sound cards/video cards I assume they were for the dvd aspect. Is this right? You're talking to a monkey, here (but don't tell t'stem I escaped).

[Spartacus]

What kind of 'mother board' do I need?

[gabbyy]

Should not matter..Just make sure it is not an SIS..

And make sure it has a 4x or 8x agp slot

[TazQ]

Best bang for your buck would probably be:

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
Barton 2500+ XP
NEC 1100A DVD+R 4x
512 Kingston PC2700 ValueRam

Motherboard runs for anywhere from $60 for a refurbished model to $120 in a brand new retail box. Processor is around $90, and ram can be had for $50-80 depending on rebates. Viewsonic Syncmaster series are good monitor, if you aren't going to be playing games I'd just get a GF4 4200 for a video card.