|
|
| Levels-4-You : Lounge : Don't know what computer to get! |
[Forum Rules] |
| naraku KOTB |
  Posted 17th Jun 2007 11:43pm |
L4Y Member
Post 153 / 389
 |
Ok, my last computer blew up and i just decided to move on and let it go 
i've had it since 2000
Now I've been working since i was 14 and have more than enuff for a good pc so i need advice so i don't spend it like an idiot on pc less efficient then the time bomb i had.
my first thought wass this. http://www.alienware.com/configurator_pages/Aurora_7500_r4.aspx?syscode=PC-AURORA-7500-R4&subcode=SKU-DEFAULT
i was going to get that with at least 4 gigs of ddr ram .. yes 4 but wwhat is a proccessor and does it make a differnece in speed.
also what are those video optimizers and all that video quality optimizer stuff.?
well this this pretty much the only thing that interested me. can i have suggestions on how to customize it. i have a budget of about 2K$
one more thing, how much ram do u need to notice a difference, i used to have 256 and went up to a 512 and didnt see much differnce. i want something like secret u.s. military type fast pc.  |
| |
Modified Jun 17th, 11:53pm by naraku KOTB |
|
sobe  |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 1:07am |
Post 2544 / 3194
 |
Well, for starters, stay away from AlienWare.
http://www.falcon-nw.com for quality custom build computers.
However, I honestly just recommend you build it yourself. May even be cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com
http://www.zipzoomfly.com
Those are 2 places I use for ordering computer parts.
As per your inquiry on RAM, 512 is relatively low... really low actually. I'd recommend at LEAST 1GB(1024Mb) |
| "Apparently, Plaintiff believes that he could sue an egg company for fraud for labeling a carton of 12 eggs a dozen, because some bakers would view a dozen as including 13 items." - Western Digital 2006 |
|
|
| DVL_IAC |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 1:59am |  |
L4Y Member
Post 1165 / 1417
 |
| Quoting naraku KOTB | Ok, my last computer blew up and i just decided to move on and let it go
i've had it since 2000
Now I've been working since i was 14 and have more than enuff for a good pc so i need advice so i don't spend it like an idiot on pc less efficient then the time bomb i had.
my first thought wass this. http://www.alienware.com/configurator_pages/Aurora_7500_r4.aspx?syscode=PC-AURORA-7500-R4&subcode=SKU-DEFAULT
i was going to get that with at least 4 gigs of ddr ram .. yes 4 but wwhat is a proccessor and does it make a differnece in speed.
|
I don't think you would need 4gb of ram. 2gb of ram should be more then enough.
The processor is what does most of the work on the computer, the better processor you get the faster the computer will run.
| Quote |
also what are those video optimizers and all that video quality optimizer stuff.?
|
Thats pretty much just a program that overclocks your vido card. theres really no point to it because you can just download programs to do that.
| Quote |
well this this pretty much the only thing that interested me. can i have suggestions on how to customize it. i have a budget of about 2K$
|
if i were to get that computer what i would change would be:
-change the processor to the "AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+" although I don't know amd very well so I don't know how much better that one is over the 2 before it.
-Change the graphics card to the 320MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTS - Superclocked
-change the ram to 2gb
-change the sound card to Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer
and that brings the price to $1853 before shipping and handeling and tax
| Quoting sobe |
Well, for starters, stay away from AlienWare.
http://www.falcon-nw.com for quality custom build computers.
However, I honestly just recommend you build it yourself. May even be cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com
http://www.zipzoomfly.com
Those are 2 places I use for ordering computer parts.
|
I say stay away from Falcon NW 
Although I do agree building the computer yourself would probably be cheaper for a better or equal computer if you know what your doing. |
|
|
| sobe |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 2:51am |
Post 2545 / 3194
|
Well, I'd just tend to say go for Falcon NorthWest due to their choice parts. As well as AlienWare using OEM non-branded parts in instances over branded parts which could give you a free lifetime warranty of replacement like eVGA.
Everyone likes to say AlienWare because it's a more common name you hear. But I can garauntee Voodoo PC or Falcon-NorthWest are of much better quality. |
| "Apparently, Plaintiff believes that he could sue an egg company for fraud for labeling a carton of 12 eggs a dozen, because some bakers would view a dozen as including 13 items." - Western Digital 2006 |
|
|
| naraku KOTB |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 4:18am |
L4Y Member
Post 154 / 389
|
Ya I would build a pc but I have NO idea what I'm doing
Hmm and here I thought that alienware was the best brand out there.
What I'm looking for is a fast game loading pc because I host alot of games on stronghold crusader , problem is that I load too slow and nobody shows up in my room. only if they join by ip.
That falcon site is kinda expensive too but it seems like ttop brand stuff.
And i'm not sure if the desktops in new egg are top of the line. i saw a gateway with.... well here
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113025
it seems good but is that processor what I want?
ahh i dont like that integated card, i had a bad experience with thos, especially on red faction.
so the real question is then, wwhat kind of proccessor should I get? I see there are ver small differneces in the speed of them like 2.13 then 2.22 then 2.66? do these numbers matter or whch is the best cheapest one. |
| |
Modified Jun 18th, 04:55am by naraku KOTB |
|
Garner  |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 2:06pm | |
Post 3122 / 4125
 |
The best brand IMO is 'Garner'
Everyone I've built has worked flawlessly
As a general rule the bigger the number the better it is within its family of products. ie a dual core 2.2Ghz will be faster than a dual core 2.0Ghz... but probably slower compared to a quad core 1.8Ghz
As long as the processor you're looking at says 'Intel Core 2 Duo' on the begining of its name you'll be fine... I'm an AMD fan tbh but I think you have to be mentally insane to buy AMD over Core 2 Duo at the moment... new PC for me later in the year and I see myself going Intel for the first time since 1998.
Alienware is now owned by Dell. Thats a reason to never buy from them if I ever needed one... personally wouldn't touch a Dell computer with a barge poll... attached to a remote controlled robot from the other side of the planet. I think you get the idea
Haven't bought a branded computer since... er... lets see... it was that 1998 PC when I last had an Intel chip
My 333Mhz Win98SE. Practically top of the range at the time... |
"Science is this extraordinary transnational, transcultural, trans-everything language which is the only way to discover Truth and its regrettable that billions are still stuck in the Middle Ages believing the crap propagated by Popes and priests..."
- Peter Atkins |
|
|
| Garner |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 2:21pm | |
Post 3123 / 4125
|
Oh and as for RAM...
256Mb is the absolute minimum XP should have. Really needs at least 512Mb. 1Gb if you want to not worry about memory...
Vista.... well it ran here at work on 512Mb. Noticed a difference when I managed to get an extra 256Mb out of the IT dept. Would go for 1Gb as an minimum for Vista. I'd personally get 2Gb however to make the machine a little more future proof for gaming...
You'll only notice a difference with RAM if your computer is using more memory than you have RAM. At that point it starts to use your harddrive's page file... which is many factors slower than even the slowest RAM chip. Harddrive seek and transfer rates are the biggest (slowest) bottleneck in any computer... the less you use the harddrive the quicker the machine will be.
For example... X3 is a game from last year. I had 512Mb when I first bought the game and loading in the Argon home sector (Argon Prime) the memory usage of the game alone would reach 500Mb+ and it would take over 30 seconds to load the sector. Add on what Windows uses and that put me well into the pagefile... slowing the game down dramatically.
Another stick of 512Mb in the machine and Windows and the game data fits entirely into memory. Load times are now 2-3 seconds and my framerate went up to a watchable value...
Thats the sort of difference extra RAM can make to games.
It wont magically make every game go faster naturally... it'll only speed up games where the memory usage is high enough that you dont have enough RAM to cover what the game needs in addition to what Windows uses. If you're using 600Mb of RAM when playing a given game, upgrading from 1Gb to 2Gb will make no difference at all. If performance for that game is slow then it's probably your GFX card or CPU holding you back instead, not RAM. |
"Science is this extraordinary transnational, transcultural, trans-everything language which is the only way to discover Truth and its regrettable that billions are still stuck in the Middle Ages believing the crap propagated by Popes and priests..."
- Peter Atkins |
|
|
| sobe |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 2:24pm |
Post 2547 / 3194
|
LOL, well, I too will never own another prebuilt
But as per your quad core is better than dual core... It depends, the dual cores have done significantly better in certain benchmarks over the quad core. In fact, the current Core 2 Quad chips are not even quad core, but rather 2x dual core dies in one. Once AMD releases it's quad core it will introduce the first quad core processor onto the market with 4 cores on a single die shrink.
And Core 2 Duo lineup will have a price drop on July 22nd, as well as the E6600s being discontinued. The C2D E6550 lineup will be replacing the E6600 and at a price of $163 you can't go wrong. For more information on upcoming lineup,
http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4976
But... Since naraku KOTB does not know how to custom build a pc, I would recommend a prebuilt as a "starter" into the pc world and if he wishes to expand his knowledge, he can. I'd just find a computer that meets your requirements naraku, however, if you wish to go AlienWare I really urge you to consider Falcon-NorthWest. |
| "Apparently, Plaintiff believes that he could sue an egg company for fraud for labeling a carton of 12 eggs a dozen, because some bakers would view a dozen as including 13 items." - Western Digital 2006 |
|
|
| The_Doc |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 2:27pm |
Stargate Worlds
L4Y Member
Post 950 / 962
 |
naraku, if you know how to, i would recommend building one yourself but ONLY if you know how to build one.
I have built my new machine and it cost me just over £600 which is about $1,200.
The spec is:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.18Ghz)
2GB Ram
300GB HDD
Nvidia 8800 GTS
Thermaltake Case
19" Monitor
Sli motherboard
Zboard Keyboard
Fatality laser mouse
Bargain IMO |
| STARGATE WORLDS: EXPLORE AN ENTIRE NEW GALAXY |
|
|
| Garner |
Posted 18th Jun 2007 2:31pm | |
Post 3124 / 4125
|
I was just throwing out the figures with the dual/quad cores... I've not kept up with the benchmarks for a while and seeing as the quad cores practically required another mortgage when they first came out I only went as far as looking at the dual cores 
naraku - I had no idea abuot building my own PC when I built my first back in 2000. Its really not that hard as in all cases cables for certain things will only fit in the slots they're meant to. You've just got to be careful in building the thing that you dont cause any damage to the components... can be an expensive mistake to make if you pick something up and fry it with the static electricity charge on your person for example Its unlikely but it can happen...
Bottom line - if you have any doubts... get a prebuilt. If you're feeling adventurous do some research on the net and find out what you need to get  |
"Science is this extraordinary transnational, transcultural, trans-everything language which is the only way to discover Truth and its regrettable that billions are still stuck in the Middle Ages believing the crap propagated by Popes and priests..."
- Peter Atkins |
|
|
| naraku KOTB |
Posted 28th Jun 2007 3:23am |
L4Y Member
Post 155 / 389
|
Man you guys are toosmart for me
But yea, if i build my own pc i will end up putting wires in the wrong places and get electrocuted so I'm sure thats out of the picture.
As for the prebuilt ones, thyre not as top notched as I want them to be.
So i was thinking to get my processor (AMD 3.0GHZ) with 2gigs of ram and a 256 mb card.(My current games aren't very involved in graphics).
But I was wondering if the processor is more than enuff. From what I see the amd there costs around 300$
Oh and those intel quad cores are expensive as gas. |
| |
Modified Jun 28th, 03:23am by naraku KOTB |
|
|
|
