Buying new computer (help)

[Tyrion]

get a good one!
With att the niche graphic cards to it!!!

[Sir Krustin]

1 gig of ram isn't necessary, but it sure is nice. I just upgraded my mobo with an A7N8X deluxe (dual channel DDR400) and loaded it with two 512mb DIMMs. Boy does this thing smoke! With the price of ram, there's no real need not to, and you'll be hedging your bets against the complexity of games that are coming out even in the near future. (Half-Life 2 anyone?)

As for the video card, it's a good bargain card but I would recommend at least an FX5600 (I have an MSI 5600XT and this thing is amazingly o/clockable!) ATI also have a very good rep, and the 9600 pro can be had for a very reasonable price (I'm partial to NVidia though, because of their better dual-monitor support)

One thing to remember, if you game at all there's a couple of games coming out (Quake III and HL2 come to mind) that promise to punish anything less than an ATI Radeon 9800XT or nVidia GeForce 6800.

Another thing to consider - for the price of the Dell, you could get a similar setup to mine, complete with dual-120gb SATA (raid-0) drives and high-performance dual-channel ram, and be much happier customer.

[GokuZool]

Just a couple ( [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) more questions. [img]smile.gif[/img]

- What is Ethernet?

- What are the differences between XP Home and XP Proffesional? (which do you recommend?)

- What are the differences between Microsoft Works 7.0 and Microsoft Office 2003 Basic? (which do you recommend?)

- What is SATA RAID 0? (As in - 120GB SATA RAID 0)

- Will a DVD+RW/+R with CDRW Combo Drive be able to burn and read all DVD formats? - i.e. DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD+R and DVD+RW.

- I know the difference between CRT and LCD, ( ) but WTF is a Flat Screen CRT Monitor? Something inbetween? How do they compare to the conventional CRT and the latest LCD Flat screens?

- Is it worth getting a memory key, or should I just burn files onto a CDRW?

- Is there any news on a Pentium 5? I don't want to buy a new computer, only to find out that a new technology is coming out in a few months.

- When measuring the size of monitor, does one measure the whole frame or just the viewing screen? Also - why, even in Australia do we measure screen size in inches? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Thanks again. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 04-30-2004, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: GokuZool ]

[Harkoliar]

few question i can tell you

-ethernet is just lan
-pentium 5 will not be out for a while
-check memnoch thread about monitor
-check my thread about dvdwriter. there are two types a + and - format.

thats all i can say.

[Intrepid]

if i were you i would get 512 meg of ram, and upgrade when you need it, becuase ram can be easily added, and so no skill is needed just plug and close case

graphics card is cool, only get better if you play lots of FPS and 3d gaming, and intend to be doing so in the future

deffinatly go for 120gig hdd, if not larger, you can never have a large enough harddrive, you will appreciate the size later, i have 120 gig and i couldn't live without it

(sorry to hijack) but is raid 0 with 2 120gig hdds worth it, i currently have 1 120 gig PATA, is it worth the upgrade, i would deffinatly like the space?

Pentium 4 is still here a long time, they are trying to improve the northwood core, so it should be a while yet before 5

get office 2003, works is crap, people here will tell you to get freeware, but i have to say office is really good

sata is serial harddrive, supposedly faster although most "normal" (parallel or PATA) harddrives are near the same speed, raid 0 means data is seperated between the two harddrives effectively giving you 240 gig, and it will be at high speed becuse it is reading from both drives at once

it will be able to read all dvd formats (except possibly DVD - RAM, but lets not go into that) it will be able to burn/rewrite dvd + format

most crt moniters are now flat, they are just wording it nicely

"memory keys" are expensive from dell, i got 256 meg for AUD $99 (US $70), but if you don't intend to go shopping it may be cheaper from dell, but are you going to use it? you could allways buy one later if you need it

the entire screen is measured diagonally, including the bezel (the plastic edge)

they hold computer fairs in sydney weekly from memory, so the memory key could be cheaper from there, or if other little bits, that is if you don't want to completly build your own

but anyway dell is great [img]smile.gif[/img]

hope that helped

[ 04-30-2004, 10:49 AM: Message edited by: Intrepid ]

[Bungleau]

Originally posted by GokuZool: - Is it worth getting a memory key, or should I just burn files onto a CDRW? If you're talking about a USB thumb drive, that you plug in and use as another hard drive temporarily, absolutely. I've got a couple (one I bought, and one a gift), and I wouldn't be without them. They replace the floppy or zip drive... That being said, I'd pick one up from a local office supply or computer store. PRices around this half of the globe are dirt cheap; a 64MB critter can be had for less than US$20 (and I think less than US$10). So pick it up later, when it's on sale. - When measuring the size of monitor, does one measure the whole frame or just the viewing screen? I usually see two measurements... actual and viewable. Actual is the physical size, measured diagonally. Viewable is the amount you can actually see. My monitor is 17" actual, 16" viewable. Works great. [img]smile.gif[/img] Also - why, even in Australia do we measure screen size in inches? Can't help you there

[Sir Krustin]

SATA is Serial ATA, which is the new emerging standard to replace Parallel ATA (which is what IDE hard disks currently use)

The advantages are, a more compact cable - for neater cable arrangements and more airflow within the case, and faster performance.

Raid-0 (not limited to SATA hard drives) uses something called "striping" to improve performance by treating two hard disks as one and alternately reading/writing to the two disks. As you could imagine, this reduces latency by half and increases bandwidth by a factor of two.

To illustrate, a PATA hd typically scores 500 in PCmark2002, while a pair of SATA hard disks arranged as a Raid-0 volume scores in the 1300 range.+

So, yes, SATA Raid-0 is worth it - especially if you stick to 7200 rpm drives, which cost the same as current ATA/133 drives.

[TheCrimsomBlade]

To Measure A Monitor Weather CRT or LCD you place your tape measure at lets say the top left corner of the screen and measure at a 45 degree angle to the bottom right corner. On the screen that I'm using right now it was rated as a 21 inch monitor yet it only measures to be 20 inces corner to corner the reason for this is the other inch is inside the case. I'm not using my LCD right now it's hooked to my game computer,That My NEC Multisync LCD 2060 flat screen. It Measures 20 inches from the top left to bottom right and is rated as a 20 inchs Screen. Same with my 17 inch LCD it measures 16 and 3/4 from same but is rated as a 17 inch Monitor this one is a Dell and it in no way compairs to the NEC Multisync 2060. I suggest not(I SAID NOT)get the Dell Flat screen or their computer Built in India.
Get the NEC/Mitsubishi Multisync LCD 2060 it features Rapid Response Technology for full Motion Video Display,Low power Consumption, NaViSet self-diagnosing Circuitry and user -friendly settings for total control. The NEC is only 1-inch thick and you can adjust the Height of the stand so that the base of the screen can go from 1-inch from the table top to about 8 inches from the table top.
The graphics on this LCD is totally awsome it blows my other LCD's and my CRT away.
Here is a site to check it out:

http://www.necmitsubishi.com/product...assification=1
Only real down side is the price $1199.00 but the 3-D games seem to jump out of the screen at you. If your are doing any type of Graphic programing then this unit is a must have.

Also Get the ATI 9800XT it will blow the 5600 away and you won't need another Game card for 3 or 4 years.

1 GIG of RAM is perfect I couldn't live without it But 2 GIG is better. LOL

AS far as total systems under $2000.00 Check out this site and look at the ZT PRO X6301 It is one of the best Systems for the price I've ever seen.
plus lifetime tech support.

This computer Has everything you will ever need for a long time!!!!

Http://www.ztgroup.com/go/pcw0504

[ 04-30-2004, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: TheCrimsomBlade ]

[GokuZool]

Thanks for the info [img]smile.gif[/img]

Just 5 more questions:

- I just checked out the Dell speakers and noticed they don't have a headphone jack! (WTF!)

- What's an optical drive?

- XP Home or XP Professional?

- Microsoft Works 7.0 or Microsoft Office 2003 Basic?

- Is it worth getting a wireless mouse and keyboard? I've heard they chew through batteries. Should I just get a normal keyboard with optical mouse?

-----

I've customised my system and the price is 1,888.70 (AUD).

Pentium 4 3.2GHz with HT Tech.
Windows XP Home Edition
1GB (2x512) Memory 400Mhz DDR SDRAM
Microsoft Works 7.0
120GB SATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive
DVD+RW/+R with CDRW Combo Drive
128MB nVidia GeForce FX 5200
17" CRT Monitor
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound
Speaker (Shouldn't this be speakers?) with Subwoofer

I want to keep the price under $2000 - this means I've got around $110 to spend on one of the following:

17" Flat Screen CRT Monitor (+ $121) (I know this will make the system more than $2000, but meh!)
Sound Blaster Audigy TM 2 Sound Card (+ $79.20)
5.1 Surround Sound Speakers with Subwoofer (+ $100)

Would it be better to keep the Sound Blaster Live Card and get the Surround Sound speakers rather that get the Audigy card with normal speakers?

[ 05-03-2004, 03:20 AM: Message edited by: GokuZool ]

[Dreamer128]

The FX 5200 got butchered by most reviewers. Apparently, even the Geforce 4 TI gets a higher framerate then that one. If you can afford it; buy another card.