PC for Games/Media and Work?

[centip3de]

Thanks. Btw, memory is the same as RAM right? Sorry for the dumb n00b question, I'm not that tech-savvy.

That depends. Some people (read companies) will classify RAM as "memory" and some will classify your HDD space as memory. Usually, however, they'll list it as something like, "16 GB DDR3 Memory", which is RAM, just poorly named.

[LoGiCaL__]

Including the above mentioned tips for adding ram you may also want to look into SSD drives. And if you have a newer vid card make sure and pay attention to its power usage and that of your PSU.

[Mro613]

Thanks. Btw, memory is the same as RAM right? Sorry for the dumb n00b question, I'm not that tech-savvy.

That depends. Some people (read companies) will classify RAM as "memory" and some will classify your HDD space as memory. Usually, however, they'll list it as something like, "16 GB DDR3 Memory", which is RAM, just poorly named.

Yes, that was one of the options I saw on Ironside's website when choosing my computer's memory size. Thank you.

-- Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:55 pm --

Including the above mentioned tips for adding ram you may also want to look into SSD drives. And if you are an newer vid card make sure and pay attention to its power usage and that of your PSU.

Sorry, I've vaguely heard of an SSD drive. Can you tell me what they do? Do they work like a graphics card, or CPU? Also, what is a PSU?

[0phidian]

Sorry, I've vaguely heard of an SSD drive. Can you tell me what they do? Do they work like a graphics card, or CPU? Also, what is a PSU?

An SSD(Solid state drive) is a relatively new type of hard drive with no moving parts, and is alot faster than tradional hard drives. This means your computer will boot alot faster and applications will start alot faster.
Performance difference.

[cberg22]

A PSU is the power supply unit. You need to make sure that the rating of your power supply unit is higher than the sum of the power requirements of all of your computer's components so that it can provide enough power to all of them

[Mro613]

An SSD(Solid state drive) is a relatively new type of hard drive with no moving parts, and is alot faster than tradional hard drives. This means your computer will boot alot faster and applications will start alot faster.
Performance difference.

Sorry for the late reply. So I saw the video you linked to, and simply put, I'm amazed. However, you did say this was new technology. How long is an SSD (of good quality) expected to last; before it eventually causes a computer to boot as slow (or slower) than an HDD? Sorry if I sound rude, but I'm just being cautious.

[0phidian]

SSDs have been around for several years now, so theyre not too new. They should last as long as a traditional harddrive. If you dont defrag regularly it may slow down some, but it will still be alot faster than traditional HDD. SSDs are kinda expensive though, so people usually install their OS on a 30-60GB SSD for performance and use a larger, cheaper HDD for storage.

[Mro613]

SSDs have been around for several years now, so theyre not too new. They should last as long as a traditional harddrive. If you dont defrag regularly it may slow down some, but it will still be alot faster than traditional HDD. SSDs are kinda expensive though, so people usually install their OS on a 30-60GB SSD for performance and use a larger, cheaper HDD for storage.

Alright, after taking your's and everyone else's advice into consideration, here are the specs of the computer I'm ordering from Ironside's website (the link is in the OP). **Note, this IS my final decision**:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.9GHz (Triple Core)
AMD Processor: Asetek 570LC High Performance Liquid Cooling
AMD Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 [Graphics Card Req.] SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 {4 DDR3 Slots}
Overclocking Processor: Overclock Processor up to 10%
Memory: 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
Primary Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB SSD Read: 500MB/s Write: 175MB/s
Secondary Hard Drive: 500GB 7200RPM
Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce GT 630 1GB (Min. 450 Watt Power Supply)
PSU: Standard 700 Watt
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Sound Card: ASUS XONAR DG 5.1
Monitor: Acer 23" 1920 x 1080 LCD Monitor
Mouse: RAZER Imperator Black Laser Ergonomic Gaming Mouse

Thank you everyone for your help. I appreciate it very much.