Computer on the deathbed - What shall i get next??

Ok,

My housemate used pcspecialists and speaks highly of them, hence why i looked at them. My other housemate has a retail version of XP Home so i was hoping to use my existing code.

This is the deal:

Processor (CPU)
INTEL® PENTIUM® 4 541 (3.2GHz) 800MHz FSB/HTT/1MB L2 Cache

Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P5LD2 SE/C: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA, x16 VGA, 3 PCI/3 PCI-E

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
160GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st CD/DVD Drive
18x +/- DVD WRITER (8x +/- Dual Lyr) (5x DVD-RAM) (40x CD-RW) (£18)

Graphics Card
256MB GEFORCE 7600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

Power Supply & cooling
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU incl Case Fan (£25)

FOR £550 (incl delivery)


I could half the ram and pay £480. Is 1GB enough?


MESH: pretty much the same apart from:

AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+ - Socket AM2
2048MB DDR2 533MHz Memory - (2x 1024MB) (knocks £100 off if i go for just 1gb)
256MB GEFORCE 7600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

FOR £624 (incl delivery & XP HOME compulsory)

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2006 11:43PM by Peat.

I wouldn't get a 3.2 p4 anymore, I'm assuming core 2 duo is too expensive for the 500-600 quid pcs, so an athlon 64 x2 is a better bet. Do pc specialist offer x2 based PCs for the same money?

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She says brief things, her love’s a pony
My love’s subliminal

-qwerty- Wrote:
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Do pc specialist offer x2 based PCs for the same money?

INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6300 (2 X 1.86GHz) 1066MHz FSB/2MB L2 Cache
is an extra £50

What say you i plump for 1gb ram and the above processor?

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I would, and add some more ram at a later date.

But I've been out of the loop for about 6 months, so I'd wait to see what Gav reckons.

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She says brief things, her love’s a pony
My love’s subliminal

so what is the benefit of a X2 cpu?

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-qwerty- Wrote:
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> I would, and add some more ram at a later date.
>
> But I've been out of the loop for about 6 months,
> so I'd wait to see what Gav reckons.

Agreed totally.

If it comes down to a choice between the P4 and the Athlon AM2, jump at the Athlon. It's leagues ahead. But the C2D is a similar distance ahead of the Athlon.

The X2 is essentially a 2-CPU computer. It has 1 physical processor, but that processor contains 2 cores. It lets you do more at once basically. I'm often encoding videos at the moment, and a dual-core CPU means I can do other things at the same time, rather than watching a percentage bar with an estimate of 1:30 remaining.

2007 will all be about multi-core, so if you're doing an upgrade now, get one of the 2 dual-core platforms (the AM2 or the C2D that have been mentioned here).

//edit: Aldi had in some C2D Medion desktops with 1GB RAM for £550 in a month or so back, perhaps that's worth a shot. No doubt only onboard graphics out of the box, but that was still an awesome deal.

//edit2: actually, yes, onboard only, but the rather awesome for onboard nVIDA 7600GS - which is no doubt better than what you've got now.

//edit: here's the brochure if you want a read about it - no idea if it's still on though: [www.aldi.co.uk]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2006 12:22AM by gav.

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> 2007 will all be about multi-core, so if you're
> doing an upgrade now, get one of the 2 dual-core
> platforms (the AM2 or the C2D that have been
> mentioned here).

When you say that, do you mean uptake of dual-cores will go up or software will be released for dual-cores or more dual-core chips will be released?

ok, so

PCSPECIALISTS:
INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6300 (2 X 1.86GHz) 1066MHz FSB/2MB L2 Cache
1gb ram

or

MESH:
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+ - Socket AM2
1gb ram

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MarcLister Wrote:
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> When you say that, do you mean uptake of
> dual-cores will go up or software will be released
> for dual-cores or more dual-core chips will be
> released?

Both. There's already multi-core software out there - Canopus ProCoder I'm currently using is taking both cores as I speak here - but even for those who don't care about dual-core, the C2Ds rip to pieces any other desktop chip out there for single-threaded applications.

Peat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ok, so
>
> PCSPECIALISTS:
> INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6300 (2 X 1.86GHz) 1066MHz
> FSB/2MB L2 Cache
> 1gb ram
>
> or
>
> MESH:
> AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+ - Socket AM2
> 1gb ram

Of those, assuming there's not too much price difference, I'd pick the PCSpecialists (though with baited breath, having never even seen them). What's the graphics solutions on each?

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MarcLister Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > When you say that, do you mean uptake of
> > dual-cores will go up or software will be
> released
> > for dual-cores or more dual-core chips will be
> > released?
>
> Both. There's already multi-core software out
> there - Canopus ProCoder I'm currently using is
> taking both cores as I speak here - but even for
> those who don't care about dual-core, the C2Ds rip
> to pieces any other desktop chip out there for
> single-threaded applications.

Ah right. There were three options there though. Unless you meant the hidden fourth option, the Chinese year of the dual core chip.

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's the graphics solutions on each?


Both have 256MB GEFORCE 7600GT

only about £10 diff in price (but mesh has XP installed)

I think im gonna spend some money!

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If you've got a valid retail license for the PCSpecialists one, and assuming you trust them (can't say I've seen anything of them at all, nothing bad, nothing good, so this is down to you!) then it's the better offer on the basis of what you've presented here. That graphics should be plenty enough for budget gaming.

What graphics do you have at the moment?

256MB ATI Radeon 9600XT at the mo (agp)

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Well, I wouldn't expect miracles, but the 7600 should have the beating of it. The CPU will more than make up for the mild difference in the graphics though.

The 7600 GS onboard would probably be a fair bit better than the 9600xt, I would have thought.


Core2Duo eveery time. I've got a core duo (not 2 mind) 1.66 in my mac mini, and its awesome! Its a lot quicker than the x2 is, for sure.

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She says brief things, her love’s a pony
My love’s subliminal