I will be using the computer for burning backups, encoding, downloading torrents and surfing the internet. No gaming. My budget is around $1,000. I have an external hard drive. I will not be purchasing a monitor, speakers or keyboard. I am planning on 2GB Ram, 250GB Hard Drive, Dual Drive DVD Reader + DVD Burner, 256MB Video Card. 1- Should I use an AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual core 4000 or an Intel Core 2 Duo E 4300(1.8GHZ, 800 FSB) processor, The Intel is an extra $100. I am interested in longevity and would pay extra for this. 2- Should I use an XP Pro or Vista Premium OS? 3- Would I be able to Burn, Download torrents and Surf the internet at the same time? Thanks in advance!
1. go with the dual core. 2. go with xp pro til they come out with sp1 for vista if even then. vista has drm in it & xp doesn't. 3. you can do all 3 but is suggested when burning not to do anything else til burn is down. download & surf you can do that at same time tho depends on your internet speed.