Update a P2B or buy a new motherboard to Burn DVDs

[Dave]

Happy Holidays to all,
This will probably be a semi-dedicated computer, so it won't have a bunch of
other software on it.
I have the P2B (actually 3 of them) and wish to burn some home videos to
either DVD or VCD.
I was reading some of the DVD creating software and I think that I really
need a faster than a PII 400MHz. ;-)

So my question is:
A. Should I go with the Powerleap and Celeron 1.4MHz in my P2B ($100) OR
B. Should I go with a newer MB and accessories (video card, memory, CPU)
OR
C. Should I just buy a whole new computer (Best Buy and others = $400
after rebates).
I just like the "Home-built" computer and I can install what I want to
install!

A little insight from you experienced fellow Asus users is appreciated. ;-)
Oh BTW money IS an object and I was wondering what is the best bang for a
low budget of $200 to $400. lol

Currently I am pleased with my rock solid home computer P2B PII-400Mhz for
the past 3 years.
Big TIA!
later,
dave

 

[Maximus]

Happy Holidays to all,
This will probably be a semi-dedicated computer, so it won't have a bunch of
other software on it.
I have the P2B (actually 3 of them) and wish to burn some home videos to
either DVD or VCD.
I was reading some of the DVD creating software and I think that I really
need a faster than a PII 400MHz. ;-)

So my question is:
A. Should I go with the Powerleap and Celeron 1.4MHz in my P2B ($100) OR
B. Should I go with a newer MB and accessories (video card, memory, CPU)
OR
C. Should I just buy a whole new computer (Best Buy and others = $400
after rebates).
I just like the "Home-built" computer and I can install what I want to
install!

A little insight from you experienced fellow Asus users is appreciated. ;-)
Oh BTW money IS an object and I was wondering what is the best bang for a
low budget of $200 to $400. lol

Currently I am pleased with my rock solid home computer P2B PII-400Mhz for
the past 3 years.
Big TIA!
later,
dave

For a budget yet future-proof new PC, you may need board, CPU, RAM and
probably a new video card too.

A P4P800 ( plain, no Delux, etc. ) is about 110$USD or so;
get one stick of 512 MB RAM somewhere of 60$USD;
one Celeron 1.4 or 1.6 GHZ perhaps about 70$USD ( not sure of price ).

Then you can look for any possible problems between board and video card
before deciding whether you need a new video card or not.

Check the prices on Internet and other forums like www.abxzone.com
www.rage3d.com etc. before last decision.

Best Wishes,

Max

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

Happy Holidays to all,
This will probably be a semi-dedicated computer, so it won't have a bunch of
other software on it.
I have the P2B (actually 3 of them) and wish to burn some home videos to
either DVD or VCD.
I was reading some of the DVD creating software and I think that I really
need a faster than a PII 400MHz. ;-)

For the burning process itself, you don't need a fast PC. The CPU
intensive part is video editing and MPEG2/4 encoding.

So my question is:
A. Should I go with the Powerleap and Celeron 1.4MHz in my P2B ($100) OR

1.4 *M*Hz Celeron? BTW, a late P2B may allow the use of cheaper
adapters like the Upgradeware Slot-T.

B. Should I go with a newer MB and accessories (video card, memory, CPU)
OR
C. Should I just buy a whole new computer (Best Buy and others = $400
after rebates).

B, if you need to do the video stuff on this machine - P6 systems have
never been great performers in terms of MPEG2 encoding, with Athlons and
P4s doing much better there due to higher memory bandwidths. But count
in a new PSU (prefer quality over quantity).

Stephan

 

[Dave]

So Maximus and Stephan vote for a newer computer for doing video editing and
encoding. Reasons being, I can expand or improve on a new motherboard.
Thanks for helping me decide the best course of action.

Sounds like it is time for me to start shopping around for a good MB and
needed items.

From http://www6.tomshardware.com/column/20031204/index.html
Readers' Choice Awards 2003 Result
Best Innovation in Motherboards Asus A7N8X Deluxe Best Motherboard
Manufacturer ASUS

Recipe might be new components like:
$155 or less for an Asus A7N8X-X MB + AMD XP 2600 CPU shipped
$140 or less for an Asus A7N8X-X MB + AMD XP 2500 CPU shipped (I am leaning
toward this one)
$125 or less for an Asus A7N8X-X MB + AMD XP 1700 CPU shipped
Possibly $70-80 for just the Asus A7N8X-X MB and $115 for the Deluxe
version.
Prices from pricewatch.com

Am I on the right track?
Should I consider the Deluxe version?

Thanks,
dave

 

[_]

For the burning process itself, you don't need a fast PC. The CPU
intensive part is video editing and MPEG2/4 encoding.
...

I was surprised that backing up DVDs takes less time than watching the
DVD even with a slow slow processor. That MPEG encoding stuff
confused a lot of people as to how much processor you really need.

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

I was surprised that backing up DVDs takes less time than watching the
DVD even with a slow slow processor.

This is not all that surprising. Just shoveling data around is easy in
the days of busmaster DMA transfers, while DVD playback requires a nice
amount of floating point work to be done. With the assistance of an ATI
Rage 128 based graphics card DVD playback is smooth only at the original
size here (not too amazingly, since the system requirements state a
Celeron 300A as the bare minimum, which is what I have), while backing
up stuff to a DVD-RAM at an effective speed of 1.5x DVD virtually didn't
load the system at all. Even reading data at full speed from a DVD (>16
MB/s, a figure not often seen with optical drives) just produced a bit
of load. All this with an LG GSA-4040B and the system in my sig (runs a
P2B-D).

Stephan