As I’m getting back into video editing and film-making, here at The MediaFile, I am discovering that the laptop I bought for word processing in late 2010 is simply not quite cutting it for full HD 1080p video editing. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it just never occurred to me! Especially since it’s still great at Photoshop, Illustrator and editing video at 720p. Oh, well. That’s how it goes…
So, I’ve decided to follow an old tradition of mine and do something I haven’t done in a long time. I’m building a desktop PC! I built my last one around an Intel Pentium 4 3.1GHz with Hyper Threading. I… Don’t remember much else about it, except that it was a BEAST at running Half-Life 2!
Anyway, over the coming days (maybe weeks) I’ll be chronicling, step-by-step the process of obtaining parts and building the machine. I will share the costs with you, in case you want to build something similar. And I will try to review the products as I go.
First up: Reclaimed parts from my old PC. The following picture shows everything I’m starting with:
So, what do I have?
First, the desk. That was a find at a local thrift shop. $20. Drawers. A solid surface to put the thing on. Good deal!
On the desk is the Cambridge Soundworks FPS 2000. Some of you will remember this sound system fondly, the rest will have no idea what I’m talking about! It’s old. Manufactured around 1999. But it still works and packs quite a punch! 4.1 surround sound with a really slick design. I’ll be using headphones most of the time, but these will be great to have again.
HP Wireless Mouse and Keyboard combo. This is a few years old now, and not even Bluetooth… But it was, like, an $80 set, and saves me some money until I can get a Das Keyboard and Bluetooth mouse.
Westinghouse 19″ LCD display. This will be my secondary display, I’ve got another on the way so I can run two monitors. It works… Not much else to say about it.
Windows 8 and Office 2013. This is what I’m starting out with for software. Totally legal and everything! As a graduate student at Rhode Island College, I was able to buy these for $15 each through our institutional agreement with Microsoft. Not bad! And the Windows 8.1 upgrade is supposedly free!
Anyway, that’s all for now. Got some packages coming in tomorrow, and more updates to come!
The MediaFile 