Computer Specs (1 Viewer)

[nimrod_dookie]

Hi!

I'm looking to buy a new desktop computer and before I go an blow all my well earnt savings, I want to make sure I'm getting a machine which will fulfil my needs comfortably.

I study Mining Engineering so most of my computing has been dedicated to heavy Excel usage (everything from basic 40 cell number crunching spreadsheets to VBA macros which when compiled fill all the rows in an Excel 2008 spreadsheet-million plus rows I think) and compiling Fortran 95 programs in Microsoft Visual Studio. So I ultimately want a machine that can fulfil these tasks and basic 3D mine optimisation modelling (Maptek Vulcan is one example) comfortably.

What sort of processor speed should I look at and how will the difference between duo and quad affect performance?

What sort of shared L2 cache should I look at? Would 3MB be sufficient or am I better off looking at 6 to 12MB?

I'm looking at 4GB RAM minimum. How will the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 memory affect performance?

BTW: I'm not exactly a gamer (I have a PS3 for that) . I don't want my comp specs to be overkill but I don't want it to be bare minimum either.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

 

[mrcalkin]

how much you looking to spend? I would go for DDR2 ram, as DDR3 is way to expensive.

 

[annabackwards]

I had a thread somewhere like this when i was buying my new computer.

Get a dual core. There's no point getting a 2.66Ghz quad core for the same price as a 3.3Ghz- although there are 4 cores, hardly any applications at all (i believe the ones that do are mostly games) use all for cores, so you're stuck with a computer using only 2/4 cores at 2.66Ghz speed.

I'd get DDR2 RAM- i play games and my DDR2 RAM works fine. The DDR3 RAM is much more expensive and only faster than DDR2, but for what you're doing 4GB of DDR2 RAM should be more thann enough

 

[shinji]

Hi!

I'm looking to buy a new desktop computer and before I go an blow all my well earnt savings, I want to make sure I'm getting a machine which will fulfil my needs comfortably.

I study Mining Engineering so most of my computing has been dedicated to heavy Excel usage (everything from basic 40 cell number crunching spreadsheets to VBA macros which when compiled fill all the rows in an Excel 2008 spreadsheet-million plus rows I think) and compiling Fortran 95 programs in Microsoft Visual Studio. So I ultimately want a machine that can fulfil these tasks and basic 3D mine optimisation modelling (Maptek Vulcan is one example) comfortably.

What sort of processor speed should I look at and how will the difference between duo and quad affect performance?

What sort of shared L2 cache should I look at? Would 3MB be sufficient or am I better off looking at 6 to 12MB?

I'm looking at 4GB RAM minimum. How will the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 memory affect performance?

BTW: I'm not exactly a gamer (I have a PS3 for that) . I don't want my comp specs to be overkill but I don't want it to be bare minimum either.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

The greater the cache that the processor has, the better it is for your work i reckon.

4gb is alright, if you have a 64bit platform OS. There isn't much of a difference between DDR2/DDR3 atm as most motherbaords arent using the maximum potential of the ram. However, if you want to futureproof your computer, i'd say get DDR3 but expect to pay quite a bit.

With regards to what processor you're going to use, it's all dependant on how much time you're going to be multitasking. If a majority of your time will eb spent multitasking (ie, running various things at once) it would better off for you getting a quad core.
Although, once again; if you want to future proof your computer i'd get a Intel core I7 processor which improves substantially over core duo/quad processors.

Here's a comparison between Core Duo/Quad & I7 core processors.
bit-tech.net | Review - Intel's Core i7 920, 945 & 965 processors

Lastly, if you want a cheap videocard that'll do it's job while playing the minimum level of games, i'd advised you to get something like the 9600GT. Good value for money.

 

[PsychoNerd]

I'd recommend picking up a copy of PC User, because they hav all th knowledge of what u should buy... but that's only if u lke building ur own computer.
lol, if u want t see overkill pick up a copy of PC Powerplay, lol, I WANT THE BEAST!!! but any other computer in PC Powerplay can fit most criteria of wat ur lookin for.

oh! and wats ur PSN, mines Psycho_Nerd

 

[nimrod_dookie]

Thanks guys . I can spend about $2200 thanks to Krudd's spending spree and 21st birthday money. To Psycho_Nerd, haven't got a PSN atm but once I get all the wifi in my house optimised, I most probably will get it. I'll let you know.

 

[nimrod_dookie]

What do you guys think of this?

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9650 (3GHz, 1333FSB, 12MB)
Pre-Loaded Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium 64 bit OEM Version
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0 (Does Not Include Microsoft(R) Office 2003/2007 Software)
2-year XPS Premier Service with 1-year CompleteCover
Dell(TM) S2209WFP 21.5 " Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
3GB (3X1GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz Memory
500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing
16X DVD + /-RW with Dual Layer Write
512MB ATI(R) Radeon(TM) HD 4670
Integrated 7.1 Audio

Also how much would my performance be affected by 3GB of RAM as opposed to 4?

I am also looking at this one. It's about $450 cheaper than the other one.

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor E7500 (2.93GHz, 1066FSB, 3MB)
Pre-Loaded Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium 64 bit OEM Version
Microsoft(R) Works (Including Microsoft(R) Home & Student 60 Days Trial Pre-installed)
2 Yrs Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
Dell (TM) S2309WFP 23 " Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
6GB (2x2GB/2x1GB) NECC Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz SDRAM Memory
500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing
No Additional Hard Drive
16X DVD + /-RW with Dual Layer Write Capabilities
256MB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3450 DDR2
Integrated 7.1 Channel (Audio) Capable

I know if I go custom build from a techie, it would be cheaper but I've had a few bad experiences with customs.

 

[PsychoNerd]

Thanks guys . I can spend about $2200 thanks to Krudd's spending spree and 21st birthday money. To Psycho_Nerd, haven't got a PSN atm but once I get all the wifi in my house optimised, I most probably will get it. I'll let you know.

u should see wat we got. a bigpond wireless gateway modem 7.2, i only get like 65% of signal. and even then we only get low singal from th Next G tower and also our internet is slowed t dial-up, AND I STILL PLAY ONLINE GAMES!!! who knew.

 

[Suic1de]

Whirlpool PC Suggestions - Boxes

 

[Suic1de]

Whirlpool PC Suggestions - Boxes

Personally i'd recommend the $1900 High End General Use Box.

Maybe upgrade some things a little bit.

EG.
PSU to 650W for extra $20
Maybe upgrade the HD to one TB if you feel that you need it.
After adding in costs for monitor it will hit your range.

Then again that system would need to be built by you so if you can't do that then I would go with a dell box so that atleast it has a warranty and such.

Sorry for double post too, I pressed the wrong button.

 

[nimrod_dookie]

u should see wat we got. a bigpond wireless gateway modem 7.2, i only get like 65% of signal. and even then we only get low singal from th Next G tower and also our internet is slowed t dial-up, AND I STILL PLAY ONLINE GAMES!!! who knew.

lol. I;ve got the BigPond setup too and I would get about the same amount of signal. Unfortunately in a 5 person household with 3 computers always hooked to the net and a little bro always playing Wii online, the connection gets raped .

 

[zingerburger]

What about a local computer fair? The stalls will probably have systems there to suit whatever needs you have. They usually categorise them - you could probably choose a top-end system that isn't in the "Gamer/Extreme Performance" category and not go wrong.

 

[Prashant Sallan]

I recently bought a new computer in October. cost me $1350

Hard drive: Samsung 500
Cpu: Quad Q6600
Ram: 2 gb corsair
O/S: Vista home premium (but im going to swith to xp cause its SHIT )
Motherboard: Asrock 4core wifi
Screen: Samsung 22''
mouse: flexi glow x raider gaming mouse
keyboard: genius ps2 keyboard
case: antect 900 gaming case
psu: 360 watts gigabyte
dvd drive: dvd rc 12x dvd ram
graphics card: nvidia 9500 gt

ye there pretty rough.. if u want full details on components you can pm me..

 

[shinji]

^the Q6600 is quite outdated atm. So I wouldn't buy that computer for $1350 atm.

As for the 2 computer packages, i'd go for the first one. It's best to have more than you actually need then want to have more and not be able to get more out of it.
With regards to 3vs4gb ram; the performance difference is minimal, Just depends on what your demands from the pc as a user is. Ie; if you're going to be coding a LOT of things, have a lot of things open, then the more ram you have, the better it is.


Also, a good idea to do when u get the new comp is format it straight off the bat. The unnecessary things that dell installs on new builds is astonishing.

And you got to remember with the ram from the 2nd build; that it's actually running at a lower speed. So in essence, the 6gb ram may only perform about 4gb or so of 1066mhz; mainly because of the loss in speed.

 

[nimrod_dookie]

Thanks guys for all your help . I'm leaning towards the first computer package, what Shinji said was my gut feeling so I'm glad to know I wasn't wrong there. I know Dell put an astonishing amount of crap as all the computers in my house (other than my current laptop which is a Toshiba) are Dell but they have been solid comps once you remove all the gimmicky shit. It will all be definitely a major step up from my 1.63GHz Intel Celeron with 512 MB of RAM Toshiba Satellite, although considering the specs, it has been suprisingly gutsy.

 

[wrxsti]

psu: 360 watts gigabyte

and your computer hasnt exploded yet?

 

[shinji]

and your computer hasnt exploded yet?

Wouldn't explode as much as it would crash when playing games/doing intensive things with it. lol

@Nimrod - How the hell did you live with that laptop? Celerons are piece of pentium rejects shits. =/

 

[Suic1de]

Lol.

Who uses celeron!

 

[nimrod_dookie]

It was given the lappy 3 years ago for my 18th. Considering it wasn't my money, it never bothered me. I know it's not a great comp by any means but it was a lot gutsier than it sounded on paper. It has done an alright job for what I initially wanted it for.

 

[PsychoNerd]

lol. I;ve got the BigPond setup too and I would get about the same amount of signal. Unfortunately in a 5 person household with 3 computers always hooked to the net and a little bro always playing Wii online, the connection gets raped .

yea that happens t me when my mum is downloading something at th same time.