Computer Specs (2 Viewers)

[goony]

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.

If you aren't gaming, you can downgrade the video card on that box and buy a second monitor or another hdd as Suic1de suggested.

 

[Musi_Zhang]

Dual core is better for energy saving`

 

[Weddas]

In 32 Bit Systems, 4 gb is the largest amount of readable ram possable, and in 64 bit systems you can have more readable ram but not all programs will reconise that it is there.

but not all hope is lost!

in a 32bit system and you have maxed out your ram space, you can up the Mhz. for example if you have 1GB of 400Mhz ram and 1GB of 800Mhz ram the 1GB 800Mhz is equel to 2GB of 400Mhz ram.

most ram is sold at 667Mhz (always check before buying bacause assholes try to rip you off)
and so far in DDR2 the max Mhz is 1666Mhz (1Gb of 1666Mhz = 2.49GB of 667Mhz or 4.16Gb of 400Mhz ram)

If you are doing any cad or 3D shit you will find a ok GPU (video card) good to have (256mb will do fine) just helps the rendering and realism of the project.

 

[Gibbatron]

Go to iBuyPower

custom built pcs, free devlivery australia wide, great warranties

oh, and great prices too

they're legends, as all pcpowerplay readers will know

 

[*Jezzza]

I
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.

Umm.. I think it's the fact that games can only use 2/4 cores (except Supreme Commander which uses 4 cores) and apps like Photoshop, Vegas and all that use 4 cores. I have a quad core, bought it last year and it really helps when doing video editing or number crunching.

Also, if you're going to have a big excel spreadsheet, perhaps invest in a large screen so you don't have to scroll too much, I have a 24" Dell E248WFP.

RAM is dead cheap DDR2 800 is like $25 for 1GB, go for 3GB in 2x1GB and 2x512MB pairs so you get the advantages of DDR2. Or if that's too hard, just go for 2x2GB and a 32-bit OS will pickup 3.3-3.5GB of that. That leaves you the option of going up to 64 bit and using that extra bit more RAM. Once again, most games (except Supreme Commander) can't use more than 3GB but you don't intend to game.

Other stuff like graphics cards and hard drives is more personal preference and how much stuff you have, what you intend to do etc.

 

[x3wayneZ]

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

I just bought a new computer about 2 weeks ago, of course i picked my own parts.

i suggest you get dual core, quad core doesn't really mean its better, it depends on what you use it for.

my specs:
2.8 GHz duo core
Gigabyte G31M-ES2L
4GB ram (1066)
1GB 9500GT overclock
vista home premium 32bit
500GB HDD
19" LCD screen
Antec 380watt case, extra fan

The whole lot costed me about $1160

the only place i recommend people to buy a computer is MSY-The Name you can trust-More than 10 years in IT industry-Nationalwide branches serve you & always offer the best up today IT price
the cons, you have to wait along time, sinces theres so many people. I waited in line for 25mins and bought all this in 10mins.

DDR2 is kinda comman, but DDR3 is new and more expensive, its also fasters. eg: DDR2 has speeds of 1066 and DDR3 has 1333, these are ram speeds.

note: (dont bother calling them, their to busy, and again "www.msy.com.au)