....I need your help!

I'm ordering a new computer and have a few questions (don't laugh at me....I know they are silly ones!)

1. How much of a difference would I see between 2 gb of memory vs. 4?

2. Is it worth $800 to go from 2 gb of memory to 4 AND from a 500 gb hard drive to a 1 tb hard drive?

Thanks!

Stacey

Hi Stacey...

This is isn't a sill question at all. 2 gigs of RAM is A LOT....but 4 gigs is really nice if you'll be multi-tasking memory intensive programs (CS2 being one of them). As far a storage is concerned: again, 500 gigs is great, but who can say no to a terabyte?

I say upgrade if you have the money. Or, if you think a terabyte would be a bit much, look into a RAID setup for redundancy and/or speed.

Good luck!
Floyd

I wish I could help...but I'm the slow one with technology in this bunch...

I'm right there with you Katherine!

Floyd....thank you for your advice. I hope you don't mind me bugging you for more info but I'm not sure what RAID or any of that means.

Here's what I'm looking at......

500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
or
1TB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 500GB SATA II HDDs)

I'm guessing that you'd recommend the 1TB?

If I go with both the 4 gb of RAM and the TB it will obviously be more (about $800 more....). I don't mind paying the extra if I will actually NOTICE a difference in speed. Going from 1 gb to 4 gb of RAM should definitely be a noticeable difference shouldn't it?

I'm going to figure this out today one way or another! I want to order it tonight.

Thank you for putting up with my lack of technical knowledge!!

No worries, Stacey.

Your 1TB option is actually 500GB of space, but it is put into a "RAID 0" configuration. (RAID means "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks"). This type of RAID in reality has no redundancy. The 2 500GB disks are paired so that your computer can read information from the disks in the quickest way possible.

A "RAID 1" configuration has true redundancy. That is, if one disk fails, the other picks up without missing a beat. I would recommend this type of setup if available.

There are a number of RAID configurations, but these two are the most popular in home computers.

More memory is always nice to have when dealing with applications that are memory hogs (such as CS2). RAM is more quickly accessed by your computer than a hard drive, so more RAM means more space for your computer to stash instructions and info.

Nicer still is a dual CPU setup. If you have this option, I would suggest this setup:

Dual CPU
2GB RAM
2 separate 500GB Hard drives (doesn't need to be SATA as long as they are 7200 RPM drives with 8MB cache...and you don't really need RAID 0). One HD will be your "working disK" while the other will be your "backup disk".

Let us know what you end up with!

Floyd

Thank you Floyd! You are a BIG help!!

This should be the last of my questions!

Here are what my options are for processors......

Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT Technology (3GHz, 800FSB)
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB)
Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB)

And here are my RAM choices (what I've narrowed it down to anyway!)

500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
500GB Data Security RAID 1 (2 x 500GB SATA II HDDs) ??
1TB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 500GB SATA II HDDs)

What would you choose?

Thanks again for your advice. I really don't want to have to reinvent the wheel yet again next year. I'd like to have this last me at least a season or two!!

I totally agree, the more ram you can afford, the better. As for the raid, you will gain a little speed with a raid 0. instead of trying to give and take all the information from one hardrive, it splits it in half to two hard drives. I guess with photos 20 mb and smaller, this really isn't a huge issue, but when you start getting into video, it can be an awesome help. I would agree with floyd that just having two hard drives, one backing up the other, might be your best option.

Also, you can always buy aftermarket ram, and this will typically save you a decent amount of money. But, if you're not into doing your own install (which really isn't all that hard) then you'll be fine paying the extra and having the ease of mind that the ram is already there.

Best of luck. I bet you're gonna LOVE your new computer. Let us know how it works out.

Okay guys, I know I said just one more question but.........here's what I'm going to go with unless someone here advises me against something listed (this does not apply to any "buy a Mac instead" comments!! )

Dell Dimension 9100 Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
24 inch UltraSharp 2405FPW Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800
Hard Drives 500GB Data Security RAID 1 (2 x 500GB SATA II HDDs)
9 in 1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell AS501 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs for UltraSharp™ Flat Panels
No Productivity Suite - Corel WordPerfect® word processor only
Security Software No Security Subscription
Digital Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic
Digital Photography Photo Album™ SE Basic
No Extended Service, Support or Ltd Warranty
No Installation
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Financial Software (Preinstalled) QuickBooks Pro

Soooo......good, bad or ugly??

By the way, if anyone else is in the market for a pc, there is a coupon code for 30% off a dell.....

Nice, Stacey. If you really want to make me jealous, go for a 2nd 24" LCD.

See....this is why I needed your help! The monitor is the ONLY thing I'm sure about!!!

Gulp....I'm going for it! Now if I could just get it to do my editing FOR me I'd be all set!!

Thanks again for your help. I had no idea what the differences in processors and hard drives were.

That's a slammin' system! You're gonna love that 24" digital flatscreen! And with your dual processor, plus 4GB of RAM - you cannot go wrong there. Just make sure after you install CS2 that you maximize the memory usage - I think it defaults to a certain percentage of available physical memory and you can customize it to a higher setting.

Oh boy......I'll have to get instructions on how to do that once it gets here!

Thank you all for your help. I can't wait until it arrives!!!

^^^ We'll be ready for you!

I'm excited for you Stacey! Can't wait to hear how it works out for ya!

I've been debating getting a dual G5 system or a Mrk II. I think I'm gonna go with the Mrk II, and hold off for the new computer next year. Just one big purchase at a time right?

...I'd wait to see what canon says about the 1DmkIIn. Even if you decide to go with another regular MkII it could still drive the price down some...

Do you know when that comes out? I think I would still get the 1DmkIIn later maybe next year at some point. I kinda like the idea of having a camera with a crop in it. I'd probably move to using a 2 camera system. The one with the 1.3 crop factor I would have my 70-200 on and the one with that was full frame (the mkIIn?) I would keep my wider stuff on.

I like the 20D, but am looking to phase out my use of it. Just a few things I don't like as much about it. It would be a good 2nd shooter camera or backup.

...unfortunately no. They are supposed to have a press release on the 23rd, so hopefully we'll find out more then. I also saw something about a 3000D. Check out canon-5d.com (yeah, they already have a website about it.. heh). There's also this screenshot of what was supposedly on Canon Europe Service's website this morning:
Screenshot

note the 1DmkIIn, 5D, 430ex flash, and 24-105 f/4 L IS

of course who knows if any of this is real

seems real to me though... I'm sure we'll hear all about these things in about a week.

See....now you are REALLY speaking greek to me!

I'm a Nikon Girl....

... yes and we've officially hijacked your thread!

hope you're new computer works out great for you, I bet you're excited! I totally need a new system... ::sigh::, some day...