Need some techie info please guys.

At the moment i'm running the following system:

Mobo - Gigabyte 7VM400M-RZ
Processor - Sempron 2.4 running at 1.6ghz (socket A)
Ram - 512mb of DDR 333
HD's - a very old Maxtor 10gb drive for windows xp and a seagate 160gb for video etc.
Gfx card - Geforce FX 5200

In the past this has been fine to edit on but during my last project it was very sluggish, multiple rebbots etc.

I was considering simply replacing the old maxtor HD which im sure is a major sorce of slow down ect with a new drive say 80gb, and adding 1 or 2gb's of RAM to replace the old 512mb

BUT

as happens when you start reading up on pc technology you find out that you've been living in a cave and that all your gear is out of date!!

So i'm thinking of a total upgrade pretty much, keeping my gfx card and 160gb HD an possibly the processor but upgrading the rest.

I have been looking at the Shuttle mini pc's as i travel quiet alot but really don't want a laptop. Any one have any experience of these?

also my main problem is possibly choosing a new processor, i'd want to stick with AMD but do i go for socket 754 or 939 and is socket A that out of date? It seems to be if you want a mobo with SATA compatability which most Shuttle mini pc's use.

cheers for any info, espeically on the processor sockets thats where im lost.

Max

Definitely change the old Maxtor HDD with a larger and faster drive, add another 512 MB of RAM and it will probably do. Momentarily. Your CPU and video card are not so bad, you can wait with upgrading them. In the long run, choose a 939 platform, as socket A is indeed obsolete.

In the land of editing the processor is king and the hard drive his queen.

My suggestion, if you can afford it, is to get up to date with the processor / mb. Get a P4 / 64bit amd and partner that with your newish 160 drive and things should whizz along better. If you can get another drive, use one for a system drive and one for storage. Bin the 10gig as this will be slowing your system, or put in a usb case to make a good portable storage soloution.

Not sure what your budget is and I know it aint a perfect world but I found my system speeded up when I changed my system drive to a 37.5 gig raptor. I really think this makes a big difference. My next system may have a fast raid of 2 raptors.

Ram wise, well depends who you talk too. If you run lots of apps at the same time then go for a gig, but I think 512 is often enough. Those nice people who make vegas said 512 was plenty.

Considor another monitor too, it really makes editing nicer.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Yeah i was going to use the two drives as system/storage as you suggested as thats what i do now.

Hadn't considered using the 10gb drive as a portable, would be a nice alternative to binning it, cheers.

Keep them coming lads

Max

what are peoples opinions of external hard drives to store captured video on, is the transfer rate slower than internal? any hold ups etc?

ta
Max

I have an external 250 gig FIRE WIRE drive and it benchmarks as fast as some of my internal drives. Same drive in a usb box was ssssllloooowwww.

External drives MUST be firewire.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.