Buying a home computer: local builder or big brand?

[Alan B]

Find out, in this new article on the WebHostingBuzz Blog:
http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/blog/2...-or-big-brand/

All blog posts are available at: http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/blog/

[Tony]

Ya, not much to argue with there, especially since we missed the original letter detailing how they intend to use the system. i.e., Exactly what it is they need to do.

[Alan B]

Yes, but that's because I didn't want it to be a focus on components and his specific computer. But, he does a fair amount of photo editing and creates slide shows with timed music for output to DVD. That's why I think he's better with a dedicated graphics card than integrated video.

[Tony]

Ah, then we may have something to disagree on. I've built a few graphics workstations in the past, and can tell you integrated video is fine. Traditionally, the only advantage to separate graphics cards has been for gaming.

However, times change, and if you were recommending a specific card for a specific CUDA-enabled app, then the recommendation may have been appropriate. However, most apps still don't really make use of graphics cores, and there isn't a great savings in lo-res work like mpeg2 for dvds anyway.

[Alan B]

I would generally agree with you, that for general purpose use integrated graphics are fine. My suggestion to him was based on recent articles saying that Windows 7 is designed to make use of a discrete graphics card, so that Windows itself will run and render faster. If MS is doing that now, it's likely that they may make even more use of a graphics card in future updates/versions.

Given what an inexpensive upgrade a lower-end graphics card is, it seemed a reasonable item to consider.

[Matt R.]

Others drive fast cars, own yachts and private jets... I spoil myself a little with workstations...

[Tony]

Isn't the i7 getting a bit long in the tooth though? Especially when we're talking about video rendering - where my (now almost antiquated) 192 core GPU would far outshine my lousy 8 core cpu!

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[Matt R.]

It handles everything I throw at it so far. Upgrade will probably be next year.