I needs me a PC

March 28, 2009 8:38 PM

Help me build or buy a desktop PC for under $900..

After mega-frustration at what seems to be the only computer retailer left in Minneapolis , I've decided to expand the search to the internet. But I haven't bought a desktop since the late 90's.

Here's what I'm looking to do:

Video editing with Vegas
Ripping movies
Encoding movies to iPod
Photo editing

I don't intend on doing any hardcore gaming.

Is all this possible for $900 or less?

posted by pencroft to computers & internet (20 comments total)

Do you already have a monitor and mouse and keyboard? Do you already have any other usable parts--hard drives, optical drives, motherboards, cases, RAM, etc.?
posted by box at 8:46 PM on March 28

Whoops, good point..

I do have a 22" LCD monitor, keyboard, and mouse. That's it though!
posted by pencroft at 8:49 PM on March 28

This is easily do-able for $900. Get 4GB RAM and a quad-core processor. Video encoding especially will benefit from more cores.

If I were doing this, I'd also get two 7200 RPM hard drives and RAID-stripe them. (But if you don't know what this means, don't worry about it).

Newegg and Tiger Direct good sources for computer parts or complete PCs. Or buy a Dell.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:53 PM on March 28

The answer is YES. A couple of years ago I had no problem doing this. I bought from NewEgg a case ($80), power supply ($50), PC Chips P21G motherboard ($45), 2 GB DDR400 memory (now $80), Intel processor ($125), and 500 GB hard drive (about $100). The computer is still chugging along great and is a dedicated workhorse for ripping, Sony Vegas editing, etc, and I've put it to use even for some gaming (after adding a video card). This is easily doable with your budget; it will just take a little research.

I would recommend you Google for ArsTecnica and find their annual computer construction guide, as it's great for building a computer on a shoestring budget. Go to back issues for a cheaper computer. I followed their advice back in 2007 and don't regret it.
posted by crapmatic at 8:57 PM on March 28

(also if you don't want strange blue screen problems, I'd suggest not cutting corners on memory and power supply... go with Kingston or some other top rated manufacturer for memory, for example, and avoid generic unbranded Chinese power supplies)
posted by crapmatic at 8:59 PM on March 28

Your first step should be to look up the minimum system specs for running vegas. Although I am not familiar with Vegas, I have worked in post for many years and built a few Avid based systems as well. Vegas may not be as picky, but Avid can be particularly stubborn if you insert the wrong component (for example, the wrong graphics card). I would also suggest that you place the 500 gig in an external case connected through either firewire 400 or 800. External drive gives you flexibility if you need to move your footage to another computer, and it also reduces lag. If you don't want to go external, make sure the internal drives are connected through SATA. As for raiding, I wouldn't bother. It's overkill for DV work and will cost you more.
posted by scarello at 9:16 PM on March 28

You might want to start with Ars Technica's Ultimate Budget Box. They do one each year.
posted by fings at 9:22 PM on March 28

Seconding the Ars Technica system guides.
posted by hattifattener at 9:23 PM on March 28

For that matter, minus monitor costs, their Hot Rod box was only a bit above your price range, and that's with six month old prices.
posted by fings at 9:26 PM on March 28

You've got Vegas 8.1, or can get it without it biting into your budget? You've got Vista 64-bit or planning on using Windows 7?

While professional video editing and rendering box -- i.e. for people whose time is money -- will push you over $2,000, if you're used to old tech, anything you buy now is going to feel pretty snappy. Quad-core, lots of RAM, nice SATA II drive. Decent video card and case, and you're there.

Ars Technica is still assembling its spring buyers' guide, but the discussion thread has all sorts of system breakdowns and their cost. I like the specs set out in this post, which come to $800, because they deliver a system that's expandable in the future.
posted by holgate at 9:50 PM on March 28

It's absolutely doable for under $900. I just put together a [speculative] system using parts from Newegg that should do everything you need for under $700, shipped.

Checking out Dell, it looks like it might cost a bit more to get something equivalent, though there are always special deals to be found here and there. Also, even though a Dell is custom to some extent, it might be hard to get high enough in the specs you need without having to also get a fancy video card or something else you don't need.

The parts you'll care most about are the CPU, the RAM, and the hard drive. Anything quad-core for the CPU will be fine; the video encoding will take advantage of the extra cores, but performance increases from higher clock speeds probably won't be worth the added price. You should go with 4GB RAM minimum, though 8 would be in your budget and may be useful depending on how intense your video editing gets. And for the hard drive: the more the better. You can get a 1TB drive for a hundred bucks. Either go with qxntpqbbbqxl's raid idea if you can manage it, or just get a single drive around 1TB.

Oh heck, there's more than a week until my dissertation defense, so here's the whole parts list with some reasoning about the features that will matter to you:

- Antec case ($100) - Antec makes quality cases. This one is plenty big enough for anything you might want to throw in it, has some nice features for easy setup, and comes with an efficient power supply. It should be quiet and sturdy.

- ASRock 790GX motherboard ($105) - Supports the latest AMD processors, has built-in graphics more than adequate for non-gaming, DVI port for a pure digital connection to your LCD, ESATA and firewire for easily adding fast external storage, solid capacitors (much less likely to fail in five or ten years), and more expansion slots than you'll ever think to use.

- AMD Phenom II 920 CPU ($164) - Quad-core, plenty fast for you, and cheap. Video encoding benchmarks: to cut 10% off your encoding time (and only in some cases), you'd have to step up to a $275 processor, for example.

- 4GB RAM ($35) - Transcend brand; I've never had trouble with generics, and neither have most of the thousands of reviewers on Newegg. If it doesn't work, you send it back and get a replacement. Newegg is usually great about that.

- Western Digital 1TB hard drive ($100) - It's big, and it's fast. It's ten cents per gigabyte.

- DVD burner ($20) - Get one if you don't have one.

- Vista ($100) - Okay, fine, you need an OS.

Right now, all of those come out to $624 plus $30 for shipping.

You can save some money on the case, the motherboard, and the CPU. The case could be smaller and lower quality, with the only real danger being a lower quality power supply that has a higher chance of failure. The motherboard could be a microATX board with fewer expansion slots and slightly worse integrated graphics. The processor could be an older model (but stick with quad core for the video work). Overall, you could possibly shave $100-$150 off the price at the cost of a bit of a hit in that nebulous "quality" area and a bit of a hit in performance.

I don't know if your video editing software requires a better, non-integrated video card or not. The 790GX is fairly capable, and I can't imagine why editing software would require more than that, but in case it does, you still have $200 in your budget.
posted by whatnotever at 10:06 PM on March 28 [1 favorite]

Thirding the ArsTechnica guides.
posted by intermod at 10:12 PM on March 28

whatnotever's specs are great.

AMD is probably the way to go with your budget at this time, because the old Intel LGA 775 socket is giving way right now to the expensive and incompatible LGA 1366 for the Core i7; that ASRock AM2+ board gives you a bit of futureproofing, since it's AM3 compatible.
posted by holgate at 10:52 PM on March 28

If you're putting it together yourself, read the list of processors the motherboard is compatible with, and be sure that the exact processor you're getting is on that list. Speaking from experience.
posted by qvtqht at 1:14 AM on March 29

General Nanosystems is a decent store in the Cities, if you decide you'd rather go the retail route.
posted by hootch at 7:17 AM on March 29

Please check out Microcenter. They usually have pretty good prices for a brick and mortar store. They are in St. Louis Park, and here is a link. Good luck, I loved building my own computers before I had kids. Now I just fix them all the time.
posted by Ecgtheow at 7:27 AM on March 29

Also along the lines of processor compatibility is RAM compatibility. Some newer motherboards have lists of the only RAM modules they will support.
Luckily, you should be able to get to the manufacturer website's product page by looking under the product picture on the newegg listing.
posted by ijoyner at 8:40 AM on March 29

You might want to try a WD Raptor drive for your system. They are faster RPM, more expensive by the GB but a lot faster. I'm no expert but used one when I put my computer together and I've been happy with it.

Get a big case, it's nice to be able to dump more hard drives in it when you fill them up.

You should also budget for your backup system (external hard drive/case) if you are doing projects you don't want to lose. Because you will lose stuff.
posted by sully75 at 9:05 AM on March 29

nthing New Egg - my husband bought the cheapest he could get of everything last year, and still built a computer which could do everything you ask for about $250 (not including monitors or hardrives). Not as good as the system which whatnotever has put together, but you should check to see if you actually need that good a system (Vegas, for example, doesn't need that good a chip).

He bought a "barebone" system from New Egg - it gets you the stuff which is more difficult to put together yourself.
posted by jb at 12:42 PM on March 29

I've had good luck with refurbished, off-lease Dell workstations. I only get Precision and Optiplex as they are the "business-class" models that have well-tested components. The main disadvantage to these would be pre-worn hard drives, so I would replace that or just backup often.
posted by one at 12:50 PM on March 29