What Makes Fast 'Fast' ?

[phoenix5]

I've looked for similar threads in Forums and didn’t find anything. But, if this question has already been asked and answered, I apologize and would appreciate being pointed towards it.

Right before I was preparing to load AnyDVD and CloneDVD to my trusty HP pc (1.8Ghz, 250Gb storage), I got an “ERROR LOADING OS” message and now it won’t do anything. Friends tell me I should get a boat because I have a fine anchor for it. So, I loaded the programs to an older Dell pc (900 Mhz, 120Gb storage) to give it a try. It works, but I am a bit disappointed in the overall speed of the process.

So, my question is this: What is it that makes a good relatively-fast pc for use with the SlySoft products? ProcessorSpeed, Storage, RAM, Drives, other? I’m not asking the age-old brand-by-brand comparisons or the ‘Intel better than AMD?’ argument, but simply where would I best put my money if I had to buy a new computer? I can spend $500-600 and get something that seems adequate but I can also spend two/three (or more) times that and get something obviously better/faster, but is it worth it? Will I see a 2x/3x/more improvement?

I’ve read about over-clocking, water-cooling, etc, but that isn’t me. I’m looking for features right out of the box, easy to use, not blazingly-fast, and relatively inexpensive. My applications tend towards the afore-mentioned SlySoft stuff, light-duty video editing, and regular MS-Office type applications.


Please be gentle with me here, as I am just barely computer-literate enough to get myself into trouble.

Thanks!

 

[zebadee]

Hi
Welcome phoenix5.:agree: :clap:

If considering AnyDVD HD then PC requirements are:

IBM-compatible PC with a minimum 2 GHz Pentium-class microprocessor and 512 MB RAM
Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP64/VISTA/VISTA64
2 MB hard-disk space
AnyDVD HD required Windows 98 as the minimum OS for standard DVDs.
For HD decryption / ripping the minimum OS is Windows 2000 (latest SP).
PC Player software usually requires Windows XP SP2 as the minumum OS.

 

[oldjoe]

The "speed and progress" of backing up movies is not affected so much the speed of the CPU (processor) as it is the programs that are loaded onto the PC. More RAM(Memory) will yield the best bang for the buck speed in any PC.
Store bought PC's are, literally, loaded with software that you don't need, such as the trial software that no one bothers to delete after it expires. These processes are still running and hogging space, even after their trial period has expired, and use processor time.
OC'ing(Overclocking) may yield performance increases in bench tests but you will rarely notice them with the naked eye.
Water cooling is more of a novelty than a performance increase. A well ventilated case, proper fan placement, and a stock HSF (heatsink & fan} will satisfactorily cool any CPU on the market.
The fastest CPU's, as of now, are the Intel Core 2 Duo's. They will be taking about a 40% price reduction after the 1st of April.
On a side note: I have an old Compaq 350MHz w/128MB of PC133 RAM that I keep around the shop to test software with and it "will" burn movies. Albeit slow, it will do them.

 

[Clams]

Ya, what Joe said. The only time CPU speed has an effect is when doing a "redux" of a movie to fit it onto a DVD-5.

I'll tell you what makes "fast" into "slow". It's buying a ready made PC with a whole shitload of sillyassed programs added to it's bootup regimen.

Learn how and why a PC boots into a clean Windows alone... then add EXACTLY what you want to add - and no more.

-W