computer hardware setup

[jdcoving]

I have just bought the Aspire design program. My computer is old and needs replacing. I have seen the minimum requirements but I do not want to just get buy. I want to get the ideal setup that won't be outdated tomorrow. I want to get a desktop model. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks John

[DickL]

Hi
Windows 7 supports dual monitors. I just bought a new machine. I put my old 17 inch monitor on it and bought a 23 inch monitor which is also connected. I put the Aspire menus on the 17 9nch monitor and display the model on the 23 inch monitor. It really works great when i'm tracing an image or want to see fine detail. The new machine is a Dell with an intel I5 processor and 8GB memory. I really like the way this system works.
I'm not recommending Dell or Intel. They are just what I bought.

DickL

[saramos]

While I don't have Aspire (just Vcarve and 3dcut), I built my computer for being able to run 3d CAD applications.

I chose the Intel i7 920 (don't know if they are still available) because of it being one of the lower cost i7 processors, and it's reputation of being able to be easily overclocked. I also selected an ASUS motherboard for the same reason. The 920 is normally a 2.66Gh processor, but has been running for almost 2 years at 3.6 with no problems at all giving me the performance equivilant to a much more expensive CPU. I have 6 gigs of DDR3 installed and an ATI Fire Pro graphics worksation card. I run two 1TB SATA drives in mirrored RAID. I also added a Master Cooler CPU heat sink with two 120mm fans, plus the case has 3 more 120mm fans and a 140mm fan. A bit of overkill on the cooling, but wanted to play it safe since the processor is being overclocked. If you can afford an i7 and DDR3 memory, I think it's worth it.
If you are looking at brand computers, most the major brands put out pretty decent products. For me, I like the ability to choose all the components myself. In general, concentrate your money in the processor and memory.

Scott

[sk8nmike]

Best advice I can give you on any computer purchase. Figure out how much you can spend and then get the most you can afford. If you can build your own I would suggest it using only the parts you really need spending the most on the CPU and video card. If building computers isn't in your blood I would suggest that you find a Tiger Direct store (or simular, not Fry's!!! never Fry's) find the most knowledgeable gamer in the store and take them shopping, have the techs at the store assemble it for you. FYI a case is just a case and I've found that a cheap case conected to my dust collector runs cooler than the big expensive gaming cases.

[jeb2cav]

Still kind of open ended to provide any useful feedback. I've found that Aspire runs pretty well even on a system slightly above their minimum. In the end, depends on what you want to do with the computer besides Aspire, and premiums you place on things like data reliability, higher end graphics for video watching or home movie making, etc. If you're thinking about a new desktop, using Aspire as the reason, but you also plan on doing some home movie production, and place a premium on data integrity for example, then I'd consider a 64bit operating system with a minimum of 8Gb RAM, an i5 or i7 chipset or better (haven't looked lately), a good video card ($200-$300 range is geeky enough for me) (no reason to buy the latest and greatest $700+ card in my opinion) and two 1-2 Tb hard drives setup in a mirror raid - and these hard drives should be SATA III (6Gb/s) (this provides the data integrity - one hard drive can fail and you still have all your stuff). The 6Gb/s hard drives provide excellent through put.

I build my own desktop. I don't think you need to be too geeky to consider doing this, and for me in enables me to purchase a new system about every 4 years that I can afford, yet is pretty powerful (and geeky). In fact, this last time I had to cave in and upgrade only because I couldn't make HD home movies with my old style video card port on the motherboard.

If you find that an off the shelf with some of the above features is out of your price range, I wouldn't be discouraged. Hopefully though some of this has given you a different perspective on some factors you may want to identify to yourself for consideration before you go out searching.

With regard to Aspire - assuming you have an adequate amount of RAM (don't buy a new system with less than 4 Gb), unless you are going boar hog crazy on 3D components and rasters, and an 16' x 16' canvas, I think you'll be pleased with the performance with just about anything you'll purchase new. And, I often find myself talking with folks using Aspire on an XP box with 2Gb ram, and 2005 video card, and it is running fine.

[wolffie]

I bought my large touchscreen PC before I bought the Shark.
Unfortunately touch screen PCs do not support dual screens, so be aware.
Cheers
Wolffie

[SimRacn]

Hhhmmm, i have a 5+ year old system, core 2duo running at 1.86 per core and 2 gig of ram with vista home premium. run autocad 11 no problem and vcarve 6. Switch back and forth between the two. Also run 3 monitors, a 21 center, 19 wide to the right and a 19 square to the left. Use a aTI 5750 video card and DVI plugs to the monitors. And usually have skype running also. I know a newer machine in 64bit with more ram would run everything better, but am just pointing out that some of the older machines still do ok for what i am doing.

One thing to remember is that most boxed systems off the shelf at walmat, bestbuy and such have the graphics on the motherboard. You can add a good video 1gig card for not very much, or a lot depending on what you get but usually the extra card is what is needed to be able to take better advantage of multiple monitors. Some motherboards will allow a second monitor, but i know the addon video cards will.