Looking for PC suggestions $500-$800

I haven't kept up on hardware for awhile now so I could use some advice from the techies who have.

We're going to be buying 2 PCs this month.
One in the $400-600 range for a 2nd computer in the wife's office for student/web intern use, and another in the $600-800 range for my office.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I really don't have any freetime for playing PC games anymore so it doesn't have to be a gaming rig.
I won't be doing much more than using the Adobe suite for web design, but I really would like to start learning and doing more with HD video/After Effects so any recommendations along those lines are appreciated.

As much as I would love to build a custom box I really don't have the time so hopefully I can find something on sale that is close to specs at the typical mainstream stores around town, (compusa/tiger direct, best buy, office depot/max, staples, etc.) .

i know your not looking to build a custom box, but places like tigerdirect have barebone kits that come with just about everything short of the OS.

I was looking at grabbing: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...505&CatId=5205

toss on an os, and a video card of your choice and your good to go

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...tId_6_H24-1461

Here is an HP with windows 7 pro 64bit

Thanks, Silver.
As much as I used to hate HP, I have to admit that looks like a nice find.

It has a ton of available slots for upgrading in the future, and it looks like it will support dual monitors right out of the box without buying an additional graphics card.
It also looks like it has two available slots for more RAM so I could grab two more 2GB sticks for $40 at the same time and double the RAM right from the start and still be under $600.

I'm sure either will be a big improvement over the Core2 Quad Q6600 I'm running now, but do you think that i5 is much different from the i3 in terms of using PS, FL, AE?

The only thing I don't like about that rig is that I can't find any additional info anywhere on the web about it... more specs, mobo brand/model, reviews, etc... not even at HP... I wonder why?

Not sure. I dont do alot of bench testing of CPUs so i normally go by what intel rates them, the I3 normally gets 3 stars, while the i5 gets 4, both of which are better then a core duo.

I'd use the 2 i mentioned as good benchmarks for what you should get specs/price

Buy American.
ZT Systems have performance and are priced competitively.
Mine's been rock solid and quick as a bunny.

http://www.ztsystems.com/Default.aspx?tabid=724

ibuypower pc is great. i have one and it is super reliable, and th

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Originally Posted by Frets

Buy American.
ZT Systems have performance and are priced competitively.
Mine's been rock solid and quick as a bunny.

http://www.ztsystems.com/Default.aspx?tabid=724

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lol

Not to side track the thread- but what makes those american?

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Originally Posted by WannaBe_80z

Not to side track the thread- but what makes those american?

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http://www.ztsystems.com/Default.aspx?tabid=745

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A diverse private company headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, ZT Systems provides hundreds of American jobs

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*reading truly is fundamental*

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Originally Posted by hanratty21

http://www.ztsystems.com/Default.aspx?tabid=745


*reading truly is fundamental*

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I think what wannabe was trying to say was, What part of that product is "American"

If its just the labor, then you could buy from Literally any computer maker.

It would be like saying "Buy American" and linking to a Honda website that has a factory in Connecticut.

Other then that, if you want a ZT system you need to go to a third party to purchase it, And its not as competitively priced as id like.

^exactly what I was saying.

I read the same thing you linked to and that is the only American thing about it.

Is Apple American? I'd bet that there's not an American made part inside of any iPads...

Do they claim to be american?

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Originally Posted by hanratty21

Is Apple American? I'd bet that there's not an American made part inside of any iPads...

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are you saying apple doesnt provide hundreds of american jobs?

Quite the opposite...they absolutely do. But by using the logic of whether or not the parts inside the machine are American made or not, Apple would fall into the same category.

I'm not sure what point your trying to make here.

Wannabe and I both thought it was funny that frets said "buy american" in regards to computers that for all intents and purposes are not "american". Your argument is that it provides american jobs, which other computer manufacturers provide as well.

pretty much a circle jerk going on.

Unfortunately, due to lobbyists and government policy over the last 30yrs, almost everything made is now manufactured somewhere else.
In most cases "Assembled in America" is the best you can hope for.

Regardless, after looking around and asking at other PC forums, I decided that Silver's i5 box was the best bang for the buck and had good potential for upgrading to an i7 later, so I pulled the trigger yesterday before the sale ended.
(Although I'm waiting til I see the sale pages tomorrow before I unbox it just to hedge my bet) ;)
I also found some Crucial OEM memory for $13, so I bought a couple of sticks that will bring the system up to 8GB total for under $600.

Thanks, Silver.

I pretty much got laughed out of all the other forums when I mentioned my budget and that I wanted to start playing around with Premier and After Effects.
(The wife has agreed to let me upgrade to the full CS5 collection after we get our tax refund this year.)
I figure that I can double the RAM and add a nice quadro graphics card after I give her some time for the initial sticker-shock to wear off.

Do those of you who do video work think those specs will be sufficient, or am I still dreaming?

you will have the CPU and the memory for it, you might want to look into a higher end graphics card though.

[I'm a little too late. But, my 10 cents.]

I've built a couple of mini-atx machines recently. You can get everything you need into a small, inexpensive case these days. Love how some of them don't use fans so are very quiet.

For regular use, like you describe, I think it's better to put money into an SSD hard drive than into the CPU. Baseline CPUs will easily handle basic, non-gaming use. While SSD drives speed things up dramatically.

On the other hand, processing for after effects benefits greatly from a work-horse. Pretty much more power you can get the better for that.

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Originally Posted by Loyal Rogue

Do those of you who do video work think those specs will be sufficient, or am I still dreaming?

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You can do that work. It's just a matter of how long the machine takes to process changes, etc. So, it depends on the nature of the videos you'll be working with, how much you'll really use it for that, how patient you are, etc. It doesn't sound like something you're trying to do as a career. So, you're probably more willing to wait for longer process times than someone who has to do that on a daily basis.

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Originally Posted by FlashLackey

[I'm a little too late. But, my 10 cents.]

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Is that inflation or are you a member of the ditch the penny club? ;)

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Originally Posted by FlashLackey

You can do that work. It's just a matter of how long the machine takes to process changes, etc. So, it depends on the nature of the videos you'll be working with, how much you'll really use it for that, how patient you are, etc. It doesn't sound like something you're trying to do as a career. So, you're probably more willing to wait for longer process times than someone who has to do that on a daily basis.

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Actually, the reason I want to start playing more with video is so that I can eventually add it to the menu of services that we offer, but until I have a little experience under my belt I'm going to do my playing on a budget rig.
Hopefully I won't have too many mornings waking up to find the processing errored out at 80%... :xbones:

If all goes well, I figure I can upgrade this box to an i7-870 for an extra $120 and add an nvidia GTX470 for $200-300 to cut down on the process time and still be way under budget for a proper NLE rig.

Speaking of upgrading, the Crucial RAM didn't work out.
I couldn't figure out why it would boot with 3 sticks but not with 4.
I thought I might have a bad memory slot, but it ended up that my 2 identical bargain Crucial sticks had a slightly different rev number at the end so they were no good for dual channel.
Of course they were all sold out by the time I went back to the store to exchange so I ended up finding a nice deal on an 8GB kit (2x4GB) of PNY Optima for $65 after rebate from Newegg instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178333

Got it. I think the i7 and 8+GB ram would be pretty good. The graphics card will just improve your display. It won't speed up processing the video files. Unless you're also going to get into 3D work, etc. you probably don't need all that great of a card, except maybe to push two large DVI monitors or something.

You will probably need an additional, large hard drive. The pieces of video and temp space needed for processing can be large and add up.