Computer Purchase Advice

[inspiron]

So, my good old Dell Dimension 4400 desktop (intel Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz, 1 GB RAM) is showing it's age. I bought it back in 2002, so it's a good 6 years old now.

I've been out of the PC hardware market for about that length of time ... so ... what should I be looking at for a new machine?

Without starting any religious wars, I'll be running Windoze and Linux (dual boot).

Is there any technical advantage to either Intel or AMD? I recall that AMD used to push their chips to the limit, generating more heat in order to get more speed out of them. One of the models I'm looking at has an Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, and the other has an AMD Athlon 64 x2 5000+.

Both of the machines have 2 GB RAM, a 500 GB SATA disk, 10/100 LAN, TV-tuner, USB 2.0, Firewire, etc.

One has an ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro 256MB, and the other an ATi Radeon XPress 1250.

What about DVD burners? Most of the systems have dual-layer DVD+/-RW (16x/8x), but some of the higher-end ones are now advertising blu-ray. Is it worth it for a blu-ray drive if I don't plan on using the machine to watch DVDs?

I'm not a gamer - I use the machine for surfing/email, editing documents and managing my photos and MP3 collections. It's also my home "server" because I backup data from my other systems to the desktop's hard drive.

Thanks for any useful advice!

[Clint]

You've got it pretty well sorted out. Intel has a slight advantage now, but I wouldn't hesitate to go AMD. All my homebuilts use them because they're typically a better price deal.

You'll have to decide whether you want to scour around for an XP machine or jump to Vista. Get plenty of RAM for the latter, and make sure you have a decent dedicated video card. I'd want one in any case. Onboard video is usually pretty weak.

As far as BluRay, it's about high-capacity storage as much as movies. As a photographer with 17,000 photos, I'm looking ahead to disk archives, though hard drive space is cheap now, too.

[Ext1jdh]

For a desktop, I'd go with AMD. For a laptop, Intel. I'm currently running a 2ghz Intel Core Duo with 2gb of 667mhz ram. It runs quite nicely for what I do.

As for bluray storage, while the space is nice it takes an extremely long time to burn 50 gigs to a disc at 4x. In addition, the discs are still very expensive. I would wait until the price drops to a reasonable level and then use an external drive or get the internal upgrade. Most machines use the USB interface for your optical drive anyway, so the speed isnt that much impacted by using an internal over an external. If you decide to go with bluray, make sure your graphics adapter is up to task. Pretty much anything that's not an Intel graphics card will be perfectly fine with bluray. Come to think of it, most intel cards will be fine as well but you may be pushing their limits. Also, on the bluray front, make sure the monitor can do higher than 1080 lines (in 1024x768, 768 would be the important number). If you go less than 1080 capability then there's just no point in having bluray.

[womper]

gone are the days i used to build all my pcs...

get a good solid video card that can play games, get more ram than you need and get the high end (bigger, faster) of anything you can get at the lowest price...

the reason i say that is you won't have to upgrade so soon afterwards...
i never go for bleeding edge technology... i stick with what is standard and so far that's worked out for me well enough...

if you archive on the desktop a lot, you might want to consider getting something like this Newegg.com - FASTORA NAS-T4 4x IDE, 1.2 TB Max Extendable Storage Device - Network Storage (NAS)

i wouldn't worry too much about specs... i usually just go to a place like dell and there's usually something there that suits me

[donny662]

I've always been partial to AMD, and I'm not sure if AMD is hotter and more power hungry is still true. I think I remember a couple of years ago that Intel had that reputation as AMD was coming out with 64-bit and dual core technology while Intel was still trying to squeeze life out of the P4 line.

I built a computer nearly a year ago with an AMD X2 4000+. The motherboard came with some software that will lower the operating frequency and voltage when your computer is idle to decrease power consumption and heat, but I haven't tried using it yet.

From what I have heard, ATI doesn't have as good of a reputation as NVIDIA for Linux driver support. I have only used NVIDIA cards on any of the Linux installations I have done (Debian, Ubuntu based distros, Dam Small Linux) and have been really impressed with NIVIDIA's proprietary drivers. Even getting TV-Out to work was a breeze.

Don't spend the extra money for a Blu-Ray player unless you plan on watching Blu-Ray movies.

[buster]

My thoughts......

Shop around, these days PC's are so cheap it is more cost effective to buy one off the shelf than build one. As for the processor dispute, well really, can any of us actually measure the millionth of a nanosecond that the latest Intel chip has over AMD or vice-versa?

The main difference and advantage over processors is affordability. Also as I am sure you know Jim, to do email, documents and surf porn, you don't need the fastest razor edge device on the market.

So going for what you need these days will get you a pretty sweeet deal for very little money AND it's a buyers market again.

FWIW I am banging away at the keyboard of the self same Dell that you are looking to replace.... except my company's too tight!

Have fun shopping.. It is also worth keeping an eye on the latest deals at Lidl and Aldi, thier Medion gear always gets rave reviews and it is cheap as chips!

[donny662]

Originally Posted by buster

Shop around, these days PC's are so cheap it is more cost effective to buy one off the shelf than build one.

Even if you have a bunch of components lying around, refreshing your computer with a new motherboard, processor, memory, and video card will run at least $300-$400 (US), which is about what a complete system costs with similar performance.

[inspiron]

I'm so fed up with my desktop at home. Last night, it refused to boot because of a BIOS warning that the CMOS battery was getting low. I think that was the last straw. I'm not going to spend $5 for a new lithium battery just to toss it a month later.

I've pretty much settled on a new HP desktop with an AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core. The system (without a screen, I don't need a new one) costs about $850. I may throw in 2 more GB RAM, which will mean I'll have a pretty speedy system for the next 5 to 7 years.

Processor: AMD Phenom Quad Core 9600B (2.3GHz), 1x 2MB Cache
RAM:2x 1024MB PC2-6400 DDR2 800 SDRAM, maximal 4x 1024MB
Chipset: AMD 780V
Harddisk: 500GB S-ATA, 7200rpm
Graphic: onboard ATI Radeon 3100 mit 256MB (shared), DirectX 10
Drives: DVD+/-RW mit LightScribe Technologie
Controller:SATA 3.0 GB/s
Sound: High Definition 4-Channel Audio
Network: Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet
Connection: Rear: 6x USB 2.0, Serial, 2x PS/2, RJ-45, VGA, DVI, Audio, Front: 2x USB 2.0, Audio
Slots:1x PCI, 2x PCI-E x1, 1x PCI-E x16
Features: TPM 1.2, 16-in-1 Cardreader
Operating System:Microsoft Windows Vista Business D/F/I/E, with XP Professional Recovery DVD Set
Software:Office Ready: 60 Tage Trial Version Office 2007 (Office Basic, Small Business, Professional), HP Backup and Recovery Manager
Measures: 37.7 x 42.8 x 17.7cm, Microtower
Weight:10.63kg
Package Contents: Keyboard, Mouse

The part I'm not really looking forward to is re-installing all of the software I've got on my existing system. For example, I've got Eclipse (an IDE), which is sometimes a PITA to get installed and configured properly. Plus all of the drivers for my (ancient) Epson scanner, Canon EOS350, etc.
I would imagine the data transfer and configuration of the new system will cost me about a week of evenings...

[Thaxon]

That is the same exact system I'm considering purchasing. I don't think you can go wrong with it, and barring any unforseen leaps in technology, will be a viable system for 5+ years.

[buster]

Network them both or at least a x-over cable..

See all of that power at a relatively low cost and you don't have the bolloxing about trying to make sure of compatability.

Nice purchase.