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[Martin_1962]

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

SIS Processor to AGP Controller (was replaced under warantee)

Actually lots of SIS stuff

Sorry mate, SIS make the worse chipsets. Was poor, even in its day

Intel make best chipset for Intel processors - currently 975 is top dog...

I know SIS graphics are rubbish - the original MB blew up after a year this was a warrantee replacement.

I suppose I ought to start building a replacement.

Anyway I'm getting a 320GB HDD as I need the disk space (320GB is about 25 hours)

The only polite word to say about SIS chipsets is 'budget'

I know the HDD is cheap, but remember that IDE disk you buy for current system won't work in new one (SATA is the current disk interface, most quality motherboard only have one IDE/PATA interface for use with optical drives).

HTH

If I can't use my current drives I might as well keep this PC for a lot longer, scrapping a few hundred GB of storage is a pain - not to mention transfering it across.

If I replaced MB and Chip - what could I go up to?

[TheBoy]

If I can't use my current drives I might as well keep this PC for a lot longer, scrapping a few hundred GB of storage is a pain - not to mention transfering it across.

If I replaced MB and Chip - what could I go up to?

That was my point, so is it worth throwing another £60 - £80 on a HDD at it.  You cannot buy anything as slow as a 2.4G P4 on a SIS chipset now. You've already added a midrange card recently. You are putting a lot of money in to an old system.

I would not entertain the idea of putting in a sub optimal mobo just to use old drives.  PATA drives have horrible cables from cooling point of view (the round ones are OK ish), and not many drive vendors are releasing new drives on the old interface.

Just checking Dell systems for my brother, £450 will buy 2.8G P4 dual core, 1G RAM, 250Gb HDD, 16x DVD, 17" lcd, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, XP MCE (OEM) etc etc.  Not state of art by any means, but a great, super quiet, general purpose machine.

I am not recommending that system to you, as I don't know your requirements - the onboard video may be limiting for your requirements - probably slightly/noticably slower than a Radeon 9600 or Nvidia 5500 that I think you have?

The thing with Dell is to find a system that meets your needs, rather than respeccing one (expensive) - Dell change their deals weekly, on a Thursday morning.  Good site for overview of current deals is http://www.dmxdimension.co.uk

Feel free to PM if you have specific Q's you don't want to publically post about...

[Martin_1962]

Thats why I'll stick another drive in - deperate for space and run it until it breaks.

When I get a new video camera I'll find out if it can handle HD editing, (whoops better keep quiet)

There is a laptop need here so one will be next.

Worst case run the drives USB or see if there is a SATA - IDE adaptor.

Run till it breaks is also a good idea with the new GFX card.

The only slow problem I have is MPEG encoding - but there are always overnights

[TheBoy]

Thats why I'll stick another drive in - deperate for space and run it until it breaks.

When I get a new video camera I'll find out if it can handle HD editing, (whoops better keep quiet)

There is a laptop need here so one will be next.

Worst case run the drives USB or see if there is a SATA - IDE adaptor.

Run till it breaks is also a good idea with the new GFX card.

The only slow problem I have is MPEG encoding - but there are always overnights

If you think the drive will make the system last another year, then probably worth it.  If you think it may need other upgrades, then just weigh up all the options .  Good luck with whatever you decide

[Martin_1962]

Thats why I'll stick another drive in - deperate for space and run it until it breaks.

When I get a new video camera I'll find out if it can handle HD editing, (whoops better keep quiet)

There is a laptop need here so one will be next.

Worst case run the drives USB or see if there is a SATA - IDE adaptor.

Run till it breaks is also a good idea with the new GFX card.

The only slow problem I have is MPEG encoding - but there are always overnights

If you think the drive will make the system last another year, then probably worth it.  If you think it may need other upgrades, then just weigh up all the options .  Good luck with whatever you decide

To be honest it games well, it video edits well enough - disk space is the critical issue another 320GB should help, possibly RAM - but I work in IT so hate swapping PCs - I know a lot of programmers who like to run a machine as long as possible and also they quite often get quite duff machines to fly - my old work 98 PC was like that.

The life cycle of a PC is usually about 4 years, 1 year SOTA, 1 year good, 1 year average, 1 year past it.

It is still quicker than my work XP PC which is two years old!

I would keep the monitor, KB & mouse.

The only thing skimped was RAM.

Still too many tapes to convert to DVD


Forum special

I can convert ANY Beta PAL tape to DVD and I will do at cost for not too much hours.

However Super tapes will cost more money as I rarely use the SLHF950 and heads are non existant now.

I have converted a couple of hundred of my own and have carried out extensive editing of camera tapes