Can someone help me find a good machine?

weezhum

Active member
I have 2500.00 to spend on a computer that i want to use the adobe creative suite on. I want to be able to use after effects without a million problems. Thanks in advance.
 
I'm putting together one myself and have done a fair amount of research. I'm using Vegas, etc...so a very fast dual P4 setup is my goal. (I'm on a budget with this side of things too.)

So far... shopping at www.ewiz.com

1.) FOXCONN MB955X7AA-8EKRS2 Motherboard... $159
(Lots of Firewire 1st and 2nd generation, USB ports,
PCI express slots, etc...)
(My other option is to go with the ABIT AW8-MAX brd.)

2.) Intel PD (dual) 820 2.8Ghz LGA 775 socket... $155
(Could easily go with the 920-940 series for about $300)

3.) Memory - STT DDR2 - 667 1G / 64*8.... $106
Hey get more of these if you can...the board
will take up to 8G!)

4.) Thermaltake Soprano VB1430SWS ATX 430W silver tower
Case... $99 (tons of similar cases out there for about
the same money.)

5.) LaCie external Firewire 400/800 500MG...$329. (academicsuperstore.com ...gotta be a teacher or student to get that price.) Seems the best overall for the money to me.

Haven't decided on a graphics board or monitor type yet...all told...I think I'm going to have a fast, upgradeable system that should do me for another 2 years or so.

I've got the other misc. items...drives, burners, etc... here...so I think I can get a decent system going for a lttle over $1000.

Of course...you do have to put it together yourself....which isn't too hard these days. They more or less walk you through it in the manuals.

Maybe that will give you some ideas.

enjoy!
ProfD
 
i have used macs and will always use macs. they are professionally preferred for most production and post production work. i have a dual 2.5gh and use after effects, photoshop, and fcp. fcp is, in my opinion, the best editing software out there. apple is a bit pricier than some of the other companys, but i feel the price is well worth it. a windows operating environment is unstable, unfriendly, and just plain un-enjoyable in my opinion. all the mac bashers i have met have never actually used a mac and when they finally do they never go back. also, with the intel chips in the new machines, you can operate in a mac AND (god forbid you would want to) a windows operating environment as well. all it takes is a reboot.

sorry if this sound snobby...i just truly hate windows. truly.

hope this helps.

carl
 
I was building a machine on newegg.com which by the way in my opinion the best computer retailer in the industry ( I'm sure many here on this forum would second that).

any how i came up with this


asus k8n-dl dual socket 940 (AMD) motherboard 229$

(2) opteron 265 italy dual core cpu's 698$

4 gig 400mhz 2-3-2-5 timing g.skill memory 359$

2 wd 120 gig sata 3.0 hdd in raid setup 140$

1 wd 250 gig sata 3.0 hdd for backup 90$

seasonic 600w power supply 169$
do not go cheap on this you will regret it

chenming server case 71$

2 19" acer black 8ms widescreen lcd monitors 438$

then add a video card I was thinking about the
nvidia quaddro fx 540 just because i have heard
good things for its price at only 229$



bringing the grand total to 2410$ +shipping under 90$


and shipped in three days.




and this will spank any intel machine you could build for under 3000$ just for the box
but this includes dual monitors


amd rules the cpu market

ps. apple can have intel we dont want them lol

just a joke (kinda) haha:kali:
 
if you want a deal, get a refurbished G5 tower. i got a dual 1.8GHz G5 whose regular price was $2000, for $1200. and all refurbished products from apple come with the standard one year warranty. can't go wrong. haven't had any problems in a year.
 
don't go pc unless you enjoy spending more time fixing your computer than you do editing. that is, unless you're into gaming, lame office stuff, or downloading porn. pc's are great for that.

the biggest reason pro's choose mac over pc is the reliability. you turn it on, it works, it's fast, you get your work done without having to call the i.t. dork, that's it.

just about all software will run on either platform and macs are definitely more money yet you see them used over PC's almost all the time in music/video/graphics. that speaks for itself.....
 
Mac vs. PC - a reality check

Mac vs. PC - a reality check

Yes, it's true that Mac was better than PC when it came to image editing etc. "Was" being the operative word. All the PC bashing Mac evangelists forget to mention a couple of major issues:

- when a mac crashes it dies. all your files are lost for ever and there is nothing you can do about it. And yes, it happens more than you'd like to think. I myself worked on two different macs for a good long time - a G4 and then a G5. both of them crashed completely erasing my ongoing projects. for no reason. and when I brought them to a mac tech and asked him to get the files back he just laughed

- mac is insanely expensive compared to equally fast and reliable pcs. mac software is also more expensive. this is due to Mac's evil proprietory hardware. with no competition there is no reason for apple to reduce their prices so they drain the pockets of poor souls trying to do an honest day's work

- Final Cut Pro is not the best editing software out there. Adobe Premiere Pro has repeatedly beat FCP in benchmark tests and the new Adobe Production Suite that includes Premiere, After Effects, Encore, Audition and in the Pro version also Illustrator CS2 and Photoshop CS2 is far superior to anything you can get for a mac. in addition mac has started to sell a lot of cookiecutter software like Shake and Motion that produce "fancy" effects that in two years will be as cool as word clipart.

- if you need to upgrade your pc you can do it for a couple of 100 bucks. not so for a mac. it's a massive expensive process. And when apple decides to change their operating system, you have to buy all new software. not so with a windows or linux based system.

- the endless "mac's don't get viruses" issue is really a non-issue. if you have a pc you can protect yourself easily enough in two ways: disconnect your editing system from the web (you should do this anyway regardless of the platform) or buy a virus killer like Norton AV or Microsoft's new protection centre. It's a good $30 writeoff and will protect you from all the bad stuff on the web. In addition it's worth mentioning that Mac viruses are out there and they are very sinnister but since mac users believe they are invincible they don't protect themselves.

Apple and Mac have managed to establish a virtual religion surrounding their products. I hate to say it but a lot of the Mac fanatics end up portraying themselves as arrogant bastards. the ads about "dull little boxes" and the cool young dude vs the suited old geezer are so misinforming and judgemental I lose all respect for Jobs and his people. just look at how the mac addicts almost started to cry in joy when Mr. Jobbs announced that the new macBook Pro would have a built in webcam - something a multitude of laptop PCs have had for years. yet when it's on a mac, it's groundbreaking.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that mac will charge you extra for upgrades like QuickTime Pro HD and other small nicknacks.

Mac is not as good as it's made out to be. it's more like buying a Hummer instead of a Toyota Prius when you are trying not to use as much gas. It's big and flashy and looks cool but it's not actually what you want or what you need and you are paying for features that have no purpose.

Buy a PC. you're better off both financially and for the future.

morten
*used mac at work. they ate my work. finally my boss was forced to throw them out and switch to pc*
 
Last edited:
Back
Top