Hey all! I am getting a new computer system and I have a few questions about what you all think would be better to get. First of all, here is a run down of what I have selected on the comp: Dell Dimension 9200 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6600 (4MB L2 Cache,2.4GHz,1066 FSB) Windows Vista Home Basic 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs 160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ FSingle Drive 16X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) w/ double layer 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3 Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio Now here are some of the things that I would like to get input from you all: Instead of the processor duo processor, should i get this instead: Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad=Core (8MB L2 cache, 2.4GHz, 1066FSB) It would be for $50 more, is it worth it? Also, instead of the GeForce 8600GT, what about this: 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS It would be for $100 more. Do I need the following:? IEEE 1394 adapter +$30 Serial & PS-2 PCI Adapter +$10 AGEIA PhysX physics accelerator +$159 From what I could find online, the physcis accelerator is not really needed. I'll use this computer for general purposes, along with some gaming. However, I do not care for "insane" graphics, but I do want smooth gameplay that doesn't get bogged down. Thanks in advance.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Duh! It's newer, faster, better, and cheaper than the E6600. $50 more for a Quad Core is a good deal. $100 dollars for a 8600GTS is a ripoff, maybe $30-$50 dollars more then it might be plausible. DDR2 667 is questionable since DDR2 800 is the same price and better. I just looked at the website and the 160GB hard drive does not cost $50 more than the 80GB hard drive. Save that money and buy yourself a 250GB harddrive from newegg.com for ~$60 install it yourself. And No you do not need the physics accelerator since only about 5 games support a physics card and chances are that you do not have one of those games. Or PS-2 adapter or Serial adapter( those should be included on the motherboard anyways, look at DELL trying to make a quick buck) unless you are using a keyboard and mouse that requires PS-2 port. If its a USB keyboard or mouse then no. IE1394 adapter for $30 I don't think is needed since a vast majority of things connect through USB. And that is my opinion. Basically, don't get ripped off.
basically, 8600GTSis far better than 8600GT, but isn't worth $100 extra, a Q6600 is unnecessary, a PhysX card is UTTERLY pointless.
It's laughable that for a $200 CPU upgrade they charge you $50, and for a $40 GPU upgrade they charge you $100.
Thanks for the replies, but still a question or two. I get it that the physics cards and the adaptors are not needed. As far as the processors go, member AXT said that the Due 6750 is the way to go, but that is not an option presented on the dell option list. This one is available, Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB), but it would be for $200 more than the 6600 Duo and $150 more than if I were to get the 6600 Quad core. This is a good chunk of change to fork over, so if it does not effect usage THAT much, i'd rather not pay for it. If I were to get another harddrive and go with the standard 80GB HD they provide (and save $50 on the purchase price), do i have to install windows vista on the new harddrive as well. Either if it replaced the HD provided (if there isn't a slot on the computer) or if I were to add it into a HD slot (if provided). I ask this b/c I got computer from dell a couple of years ago and they didn't provide the windows XP cd with the computer, so I doubt they would provide me a whole vista cd. Also, I think based on feedback, I will stay with the 8600GT instead of the 8600 GTS video card. Also, I am not in any major rush to get the computer so if anyone has any other pointer, please do share.
Just bear in mind the 8600GT is quite a slow graphics card, whilst the Q6600 and E6600 are fast processors. As for an additional hard drive, you wouldn't have to install the operating system again, unless you wanted to move it to that drive, but I'd recommend you DON'T get Vista with the PC and use XP instead, if you do go with vista, you'll soon see why I said that.
Again, would you consider building it yourself? You could probably get it cheaper with higher quality parts and a longer warranty. Not to mention you would have more control over what you put in your new PC, and that you make make it look nice and not just the boring dell look. Oh and it's also fun. If the quad core is costing you 150 more than you don't have to get it. You wont see THAT much of a performance increase. You could also overclock the hell outta a Core 2 duo but I don't think Dell lets you do that.
I know that Vista has had problems, but also, looking around, i thought that these problems are minimized as long as the computer has better parts (good processor, enough ram). Also, i saw that XP production will stop soon and i figure that it is inevitable that vista will take over just as XP eventually took over, in a general sense. I think that i will pay $50 more for the quad core. As far as the video card goes, the basic one they give is the 128MB nVidia GeForce 8300 GS. Instead of paying $100 for the 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3, which is what i was originally going to do, do you all recommend getting a differnt one (around or under $200). If so, any recommendations that would not have problems with Vista. Also, if I did buy another one, would I have to remove the basic GeForce that comes with the computer, or would I put the new one along with it. I don't really want to build my own computer because I do not know that much and don't want to have incompatibility issues and possibly mess up installing hardware/programs or creating bad settings which i know nothing about.
Well, aD's arguably one of the best places to start learning! If you don't want to build your own though, you could just order that dell PC with the 8300 and remove it and install your own, provided the power supply was adequate. Just bear in mind that it'd still be a far better PC if you built it yourself.
It's extremely easy to build your own PC. I mean think about it, all you are doing is plugging in stuff. If you aren't one of those people who pay Circuit City 40 USD to install RAM in your PC(Trust me there are a lot of them) then you can build your own PC. If you do decide to build it yourself the people here will try to help you every step of the way.
Ok. So if I decide to go w/ the Dell, I think i'll get the quad core. However, what do I look at to see if the power supply is enough for a new card. Do I just look at what voltage the power supply is and then compare it to what is on the box of a video card? If I decide to build the computer from scratch, what are the products that I need. From what I can think of, i need to buy a: -processor -Ram -hard drive -cd/dvd drive -monitor -video card -sound card? -computer case -power source -motherboard Overall, I could go a little over $1,000. Even up to $1,200 if it really helps. I went onto newegg.com and did a cursory glance at a few of these products. For processors, there are more than I imagined. However, of similar pricerange to the processor offered by Dell was the Intel core duo E6750(2.66GHz, LGA 775)-$211 and the Intel Xeon 5110 Woodcrest 1.6Ghz-$216. I don't know which is better (the xeon costs more, but the Ghz number is less so i figured that is not good). For HD's, I am unsure if UltraATA is different from SATA. Same problem with CD/DVD drives, is SATA and ATAPI different? I have no idea what to look for when it comes to a motherboard, sound card, computer case, power supply, and I guess video card too? By the way, should I start a new thread for this branched off topic of creating a new computer.
Yep, S-ATA and ATAPI or U-ATA are different. Go with S-ATA for hard drive, and IDE (U-ATA/ATAPI) for CD drive. As for the power supply, it's the watts we're after.
E6600-Here Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3(116 USD)-Here 2 GB of Crucial Ballistix Tracers(PC-8000, 110 USD)- Here 8800 GTS 320(265 USD)- Here WD HDD 320 GB(75 USD)- Here Samsung DVD writer(36 USD)- Here Antec 900 case(129 USD)-Here PSU- Sammoris can better help you with this. I'll post more with links later, but I have to leave now. EDIT: Updated with links.
People here will give you great information on how to build it your self, give us a budget and we will make a part list that will work great for you. (also tell us if your in Canada, USA, Europe. . . ) We will also help you on how to put it together, and any other informaton you need. here is a link to how easy it really is: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lVJ5ZEbf6F4 I am going to build my self a pc (I have been building a lot for other people, and now i have the money for my own) I can show you the parts I will be using if you like, mine is going to come to about $780CND. I now have the case (cut my hand really bad on that) CPU, and CPU cooler (also cut my hand). You will be able to upgrade you home build pc alot more then any dell, and it will have way better parts like others are saying here is a little part list (all CND prices): Case - Thermaltake Matrix VX VD3000BWA $54.99 PSU - Thermaltake TR2 420W Power Supply $57.99 Motherboard - Asus P5K-C $163.99 CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 $330.00 RAM - Patriot 2GB Eased Latency $109.99 Graphics - XFX GeForce 8600GT $139.99 Hard drive - Seagate SATA 3.0Gb/s 160GB $58.99 Optical - LG super muilti $40.00 OS - Winows XP Pro (home is $99.00) $140 Subtoal: $1095.94 (XP PRO) $1054.94 (xp home) If you want I can give you a part list of a computer I build with a 20" monitor for $1200CND, I will have to do some digging for the invoice with the part list.