Questions on Build Recommendations: High-End

[randyw57]

I'm a newbie, so I apologize for questions that may seem naive.
I've been looking at the Build Recommendations: High-End.
Specifically the last option with the AMD processor.
It looks to me like this unit has a total memory capacity of 16GB.
I believe my pc usage is more memory constrained than anything else.
So I want to make sure I can keep adding memory when I need it.

What I'm wondering about is if I can build this unit without the standalone
graphics card? Or some variant of this one. I am not a gamer.
I don't do any 3D graphics (that I am aware of). I am profoundly color blind.
My little laptop provides me with graphics that are perfectly ok for me.

Thanks for any thoughts or advice!

[randyw57]

It occurred to me that if this configuration would not work without the standalone graphics card
what I might be able to do is use a less powerful/expensive card than the Radeon 6950 2GB.
Reasonable option? Pros and cons?

[zburns]

Can you tell us what applications you will be using the computer for. This in turn would help to understand the memory problem you describe. If you presently use XP 32bit or Vista 32 bit, your usable memory is restricted to about 3.5 Gb. Using a 64 bit OS with 16 Gb total memory is a huge step from 3.5 gig. The answer to your video card question is yes you can use a less expensive card. What cpu and OS do you presently have?

[randyw57]

Thanks for the help. That is good news on the video card.
So I need some sort of card with this config? There is no integrated graphics?

Yes, I believe my big problem is memory constraint.
Here is my config:
Windows XP with SP3
Gateway Laptop MX6426
AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology ML-40 2.19 GHz
2GB of RAM - the max for this machine
ATI Mobility Radeon Express 200
2 Western Digital Passport Drives

My applications:
Office 2007 - I'll be upgrading to 2010
Outlook (not OE) for mail
I use Excel and Word a lot.
Google Chrome is default browser
Photoshop Elements 9
Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended
Windows Movie Maker
Family Tree Maker 2011
Mozy for online backup of 'My Documents'
Storage Protect Desktop for full drive backups
Garmin Basecamp for my GPS

I like to multi-task. So I'd like to have a couple of these applications open at one time.
But for some of them, like WMM, I will shutdown a lot of running applications to work in it.

Hope that helps. I really appreciate the advice.

[zburns]

Talk about Windows Movie Maker some more, exactly what is that you do, but stay in simple terms. For your reference, to edit in Photoshop a 2 hour video, using Photoshop After Effects can use up to 24 or 32 GB of RAM -- has to do with editing the individual frames of a 2 hour video. There is a good article in Photoshop website about this. I will find it and give you a link.

[randyw57]

Sure. Very simple use of WMM. My Pentax Optio W80 camera can take video.
We foster service dogs. So I may take a brief video of the dog working on some behavior.
I bring it into Photoshop Elements Organizer.
Then I import it into WMM. Most of the time I just crop off the front or back to save the 'meat' of the video.
Then I do a 'Save Movie File'. Save it 'To My Computer'. That can take a while. Even for a 20 second video.
That's when I typically would shut down all my other applications. Or before I started WMM.

I tried Adobe Premier Elements. Just found it to complicated for the little time I used it.
I haven't heard of Photoshop After Effects. Do you think it might be a better/easier choice for me?

[randyw57]

Another comment on the memory constraint.
I noticed today that when I was printing (to a wireless Lexmark Pro205) things would slow down.
I even had trouble filling in the search box in Google until the print started.

fwiw, one of the things I was printing was a config from Lenovo. I get a varying discount there
because of my job. I was trying to do a comparison with this AMD High End config.
This one had a AMD Sempron 145 AM3 Processor (2.8GHz, 1M Total Cache).
Windows 7 Professional 64.
It priced out to $550. I could go up to a Athlon II X4 640 for $123 more.