Posted by Wayne Parham [ 70.234.135.27 ] on August 09, 2007 at 13:24:47:

In Reply to: OT: computer suggestions. posted by Shane on August 08, 2007 at 23:42:04:

I usually buy computers like commodities these days. I keep a few running, and at least two of them have everything I need. All are on a network. When one of them becomes three years old, I buy another to replace it and load it with all information. I leave the old one on the network and that makes information transfer to newer machines easy. This way I have some redundancy and backups, and it also gives me an upgrade path in the same process. Simple and pretty cost effective.

Buying computers like that, it has become smart to shop for the best deal at the time of purchase. It usually is either a Gateway or Dell, something like that. I used to buy my own parts and put them together, both to save money and to hand-pick my peripherals so I get exactly what I want. That approach doesn't usually save much money anymore, but it is a way to cherry-pick your parts for best performance. Running graphics, especially if you want to render 3D images by ray-tracing, you may still want to cherry pick your parts. You'll want a fast dual core processor, a lot of memory and a good graphics card. Spend your money on those options and you'll be happier.

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