Getting Blu-Ray

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Mystic

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I am getting my Windows Vista computer upgraded. I am getting a Blu-Ray optical drive now that they are affordable. I am also doubling my RAM to 4 GB and getting a low cost graphics card that supports Aero and DirectX 10.

Blu-Ray has won and it offers up to 50 GB storage on one disc. I am going to store my stuff on Blu-Ray discs and not just external hard drives. The RAM is remarkably cheap nowadays so I am maxing out my RAM.
 
Make sure that it is a Blu-Ray writer and not just a reader. The price has come down on the drives, but the media is still pretty expensive.
 
It is a burner as well as a reader and it can also burn/read DVD-Rs and CD-Rs. When Blu-Ray first came out the drives were something like $1000.00 and no way was I going to buy an optical drive that cost more than the computer. Plus there was competition with another format and now there is just Blu-Ray. Even at the start of this year a Blu-Ray drive might cost $500.00 but now you can get them for $200.00-$300.00. I want the Blu-Ray for storing my photos and also I can run Blu-Ray movies on it.

The RAM is incredibly cheap. Anybody wanting to speed up their computer should buy RAM now.

I am getting just a low cost graphics card that can run Aero and is directX 10 compatible because I don't get into computer games much, but still I want to be able to run a game.
 
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Originally Posted By: Mystic
It is a burner as well as a reader and it can also burn/read DVD-Rs and CD-Rs. When Blu-Ray first came out the drives were something like $1000.00 and no way was I going to buy an optical drive that cost more than the computer. Plus there was competition with another format and now there is just Blu-Ray. Even at the start of this year a Blu-Ray drive might cost $500.00 but now you can get them for $200.00-$300.00. I want the Blu-Ray for storing my photos and also I can run Blu-Ray movies on it.



Not bad. I paid over $200 for a CD burner when they were new.

How much is the media?
 
It depends on the quality level and if it is double layered and stratch resistant, etc. I want to save a lot of photos, music, documents and stuff on some high quality Blu-Ray discs and I also want to be able to play Blu-Ray movies. And if the backups can be done fast enough I want to be able to back up my computer. Right now I use external hard drives but I always worry about a hard drive going bad or getting knocked over.

First time in my life I had a hard drive go bad was with a Seagate external hard drive. Fortunately I was able to save the data on it. I had over a hundred GBs of stuff on that hard drive. I figure it will be safer to use the Blu-Ray discs, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, AND the external hard drives. You can't beat an external hard drive for speed but a hard drive can get damaged. It is not IF the hard drive will fail-it is WHEN. I have a very old 20 GB firewire hard drive that I saved everything to another hard drive. That old firewire hard drive still runs good but it can't last forever. I can't even remember when I bought that old drive-it is really old.

A Blu-Ray disc can hold up to 50 GB of stuff. I will save my stuff on some high quality scratch resistant Blu-Ray discs.
 
Originally Posted By: Mystic
.........

First time in my life I had a hard drive go bad was with a Seagate external hard drive. Fortunately I was able to save the data on it. I had over a hundred GBs of stuff on that hard drive. I figure it will be safer to use the Blu-Ray discs, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, AND the external hard drives. You can't beat an external hard drive for speed but a hard drive can get damaged. It is not IF the hard drive will fail-it is WHEN. I have a very old 20 GB firewire hard drive that I saved everything to another hard drive. That old firewire hard drive still runs good but it can't last forever. I can't even remember when I bought that old drive-it is really old.

...........

I believe it's down to media use and storage techniques.

As example, I use 160 gb version of this external drive:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/portable/freeagent_go/

.... to store system image backups. It's used exclusively for that purpose.

When not needed, it's removed from system and stored in a protected environment.
 
I can not believe your computer came with Vista but did not have a graphics card that would support Aero?!?!? What type of PC did you buy? My only Vista machine came with a standalone NVIDA card so I figured it was just so it would be compatable with Vista!It is not a great card it only scores a 3 on the self testing but it gets the job done just fine since I am not a gamer. I always prefer a standalone card evenif a board has intergrated graphics this way my ram is not being used for graphics. I really do not like things that share resources of the CPU or the computers ram etc... Rember those PCI modems that used the CPU and ram from the computer??? I hated those things they never gave the same performance as an external standalone modem!

Ihave heard good things though about AMD's 780 and 790 chip sets with intergrated graphics that will support HD and Blue Ray with intergrated graphics! For me that would work fine sice I am not a gamer but you would still be better off with stand alone card!
 
AMD is supposed to have a motherboard now that has onboard graphics powerful enough to run Aero on Vista. I have not heard very much about it. The graphics card I am getting is DirectX10 compatible and has 512 MB of RAM. I am maxing out the computer on RAM (4 GB) and getting the Blu-Ray burner.

I figure I should be able to get at least two more years out of the computer and hopefully four-five years. Technology moves so fast when it comes to computers that after about five years or so a computer is completely obsolete. In the very near future they may have solid state hard drives that are affordable, holographic storage, USB 3, quantum processors, laser data transport, and who knows what else.

A solid state hard drive would be much more durable and safer than today's hard drives and probably better than Blu-Ray for storing stuff. Holographic memory storage will make possible the storing of terrabytes of information. The rumored USB 3 will be much faster than USB 2. A vast amount of information can be transported quickly with laser beams. When all of this technology and more becomes widely available and inexpensive all of the computers made today will be museum pieces.

There does not seem to be much wrong with the hardware. Now if only the software could catch up in speed, durability, etc.
 
FWIW, the integrated Intel graphics solutions found on many laptops and on the integrated solutions utilizing an Intel chipset, are Vista capable and handle Aero with ease. Aero is NOT a very "intense" 3D task....... It takes VERY little 3D horsepower to run it.

Trying to game with those very same graphics solutions will easily prove my point
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Mystic, you're thinking of this Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090

Makes a great M/B for most things people do. Just wish Intel made one of these bad boys so I could drop an E8400 in it rather than being stuck with the slower AMD offerings.

Be aware that this board doesn't natively support 125W AMD CPU's....


What about an Intel chip on an Nvidia-based board? They work well.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Does nVidia include all the HDMI & accelerated graphics on the M/B?


That depends on who makes the board, but yes, the capability is there and on some boards it is setup that way.
 
I looked at that board a lot. The problem as I see it though is that it is Micro ATX? Who in their right mind wants a Micto ATX board???? Seriously it is desktop board why limit your space with Micro ATX form factor. Cards keep getting bigger and bigger and for some reason they keep reduceing the muber of PCI slots and offering all these crazy and in my mind usless PCIx1,PCIx4 and PCIe slots. Now if their where a lot of applications for those slots I could see it but the number of plain jane PCI cards out numbers all theyse crazy odd balls that are really only their for hard core gammers!
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128335

This Gigabyte board is a 780 chipset and is full size ATX not micro ATX and is only $89! It is not really the board I want but that price is nice for all the feature you get! Anyone use ASROCK they seem to have good reviews and their prices are good! They have a WiFi equiped MoBo for $139 and that is a full size ATX board too! If I rember right it is SLI or Cross Fire eady so that is good too.Just woundering though since I have never heard of them. MSI has a couple of killer boards too and their prices and reviews tend to be good as well. In fact all the major board companies have an AMD 780 chipset board witht he same intergrated graphics and they are all in the $79-$99 price range.
 
John, if I could find a board like that for use with Intel CPU's, I'd be a happy camper. The AMD on-board graphics are great for us low & medium use gamers that don't need to throw down the $100 or so for an enhanced video card.

I perused NewEgg last night but couldn't find any Intel board that are equipped like that Gigabyte board that you linked to.
 
Well, I picked up my computer after the upgrade. It cost about $515.00 total including 2 GB more memory, a Blu-Ray burner, a 512 MB memory card that is DirectX 10 compatible, and a 550 watt power supply. I was able to sell back my old 300 watt power supply and the older 256 MB graphics card. I also received a 25 GB single layer Blu-Ray disc.

Computer seems faster and runs with a smooth light hum (the 512 MB graphics card has a fan rather than just a heat sink). It runs a little warmer but not bad. Actually rather than a hum it just sounds like air flow-very light and not a problem.

I am hoping to make this computer lasts about four more years. I can still add another hard drive (there is room) and I hope that solid state hard drives become inexpensive and widely available and that USB 3 comes along soon.
 
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