Posted: 10/15/2010 5:32:06 AM EDT
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I've assembled most of my boxes from parts that I've picked out. It's been a few years. I'm out of the loop now and lost amongst all of the choices. I'm looking to build or buy two computers.
First will be used to drive a 37" 1080P LED LCD TV. Web surfing and video play back. No games. It lives in front of a treadmill. Second will be used as a general desktop running typical applications. I'm starting to edit HD video and my present machines choke and die here. I'm even more lost on video card selection than I am on MOBO selection. When the fuck did DDR3 come out? Help. |
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Check out Maximum PC's "dream machine" builds. You can search for them on the Maximum PC website. They have builds for $700 up to $3k. You'll find one that meets your needs.
The last dream build was in 2009 so it's a bit dated but most of the specs are usable. I'd ditch their recommendations on Radeon 4 series cards in favor of a Radeon 5 or a comparable nVidia card. They have HTPC build specs as well. |
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First computer can be pretty lightweight. Do some research on HTPC, you can build a decent one with a dual core processor and sub $100 video card. Second computer, it depends on how extreme you want to go. Video encoding loves processor cores, ram, and fast disk IO, at least if you are using decent editing software. Throw as much of those in that budget allows. |
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Check out Tom's Hardware They have low mid and high performance rigs and do great reviews.
http://www.tomshardware.com/us/#redir |