Which setup is best

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BrntWS6

New Member
I'm looking for some advice so decided to join. I'm in the market for a new computer as my current Dell is 8 years old. Haven't had one problem with it since I bought it but time is starting to pass it by. I haven't researched computers since I bought my previous Dell and things are A LOT different now. I'm looking to purchase another Dell and have two systems picked out:

Studio Desktop

Intel core 2 quad processor Q9550
Vista 64-bit
8GB Dual DDR2 SDRAM
500 GB HD
Dual Blu-ray disk burder and DVD RW
nVidia GeForce 9800GT
HVR 1250 TV tuner
Media reader
Dell speakers


or
Studio XPS

Intel core i7-920
Vista 64-bit
6GB Tri-channel DDR3
Dual Blu-ray disk burder and DVD RW
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850
HVR 1250 TV tuner
Dell speakers


Second one is about $470.00 more. But is it worth it? Let me add I do absolutely no gaming or graphics on my computer.
 
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mortonman1

mortonman1

New Member
i would go with the first but get a way better video card... like a nvidea gtx 260. it will make a huge difference. if you want radeon then get the 4870. expensive but down grade another part and get that. also if you build a computer youll save some money. looks as if its a good deal on dells part though
 
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DarkTears

banned
If it were me i would go with the XPS and not the first one. im pretty sure 6 gigs of DDR3 is better than 8 gigs of DDR2.

And i agree with the guy above me, get a better graphics card.
 
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BrntWS6

New Member
Ok, I'll check into the video cards. I didn't know it would make that big of a difference if I didn't do any gaming.

I know I could save money building it but I don't know enough to do that, and I don't really have the time to learn.

If 6bg of DDR3 is that much better I'll go with that. But I thought 8gb of DDR2 was about the same.
 
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james201

New Member
well for the amount of RAM it needs to be remembered that XP can only cope with 3GB, so you will need to have vista minimum to utilize it all. The only problem with Intel I7 is that it is fairly new, and not as well supported as perhaps the quad or duo processors.
 
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funkysnair

VIP Member
james201 said:
well for the amount of RAM it needs to be remembered that XP can only cope with 3GB, so you will need to have vista minimum to utilize it all. The only problem with Intel I7 is that it is fairly new, and not as well supported as perhaps the quad or duo processors.
Click to expand...

both of his options include vista64 bit and what exactly is not as well supported about the i7 line of processors?

they are quad cores with tripple channel memory controllers requiring a x58 chipset on the motherboard and ddr3 ram! there will be not problem running this cpu at all...

the graphics cards with these packages do seem very underpowered for the rest of the spec
 
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B

BrntWS6

New Member
Ok here's what I upgraded to


Studio

Intel core 2 quad processor Q9550
Vista 64-bit
8GB Dual DDR2 SDRAM
500 GB HD
Dual Blu-ray disk burder and DVD RW
nVidia GeForce 9800GT
HVR 1250 TV tuner
Media reader
Dell speakers

Studio XPS

Intel core i7-920
Vista 64-bit
6GB Tri-channel DDR3
Dual Blu-ray disk burder and DVD RW
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850
HVR 1250 TV tuner
Dell speakers

The latter is about $470.00 more, which is a good chunk of change. But is it worth it for the amount of performance I will get?
 
Gooberman

Gooberman

Active Member
Brnt are you going to be playing alot of games or no if you're going to be playing games like crysis then upgrade your video card but if not that's ok :p
 
Nums

Nums

New Member
BrntWS6 said:
Let me add I do absolutely no gaming or graphics on my computer.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he just put that in, so based on that. Definitely get the first one, and the 9800 GT is more than enough for a casual user.
 
Punkster

Punkster

New Member
i would go for the first one and not bother to upgrade the graphics card for a while, but mainly coz i've got a much crapper PC atm and i live in the UK where the price of graphics card seem to be much higher.
 
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konsole

Member
what about the overkill ram? 4gb with the possibility to upgrade to 6 or 8 in a year or two is more then enough. Most people now dont need more then 2.
 
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BrntWS6

New Member
I appreciate all the replies. This has been a crash course in new computer tech for me.

I looked through Dells flyer and found a better deal and got what I really wanted. Which is a computer that will last me another eight years without having to upgrade anything. Here's what I ordered:

STUDIO XPS:

Intel Core i7 920
Vista 64-bit
6bg Tri-Channel DDR3
500GB Hd
Dual drives: Blu-ray burder and DVD+/-RW
23" Monitor
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850
Keyboard
Laser Mouse
19 in 1 media reader

$1399.00, which is ~$200.00 more than the lesser computer in post #1. Plus I'm going to sell the 23" monitor because I already have a 22".

Supposed to ship out next week and I'm pretty excited. Going from driving a Pinto to the Millennium Falcon. 512MB of RAM just doesn't cut it anymore, always shutting off my computer.
 
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T

Texasglide

New Member
Same Boat

I'm getting the same Dell package (2nd one) but with no tv tuner. Is the tuner in the second package a good one?
 
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