FOUR VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Please help quickly!

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rocket1406

New Member
FOUR VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Please help quickly!

1.) Is the Pentium D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80 GHz, 800 FSB) the best Intel processor , and does it almost match AMD X2?

2.) Is Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2 DIMMS good?

3.) Is the following a good computer, and will it play FEAR greatly?

Specs:

XPS 400 Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitors Video Ready w/o Monitor
Video Cards 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX
Hard Drives 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Network Interface Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable
Sound Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No Productivity Suite - Corel WordPerfect® word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee SecurityCenter with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
Home PC Installation No Installation
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Financial Software (Preinstalled) No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial
Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack -Basic digital Music, Photo, and Casual Gaming
 
1.) It is a good processor, howevery i highly recommend AMD processors, ESPECIALLY if you plan on gaming.

2.) im not a ram expert

3.) That computer will run fear fine, the only thing i would upgrade would be a 2nd gig of ram.


***HOWEVER***

I DONT recommend getting a dell computer. For one, they dont have AMD processors, and 2nd, you wont be able to put exactly what you want in it.

If you are in the USA try newegg.com if you are confident you can put together a computer yourself. If not, another american member on the forums will be more than happy im sure to direct you towards a custom built computer website.

If you are in canada, try www.lucomputers.com

hopefully that helps somewhat
 
it would be comparible, but I would still avoid buying something like that as well. Name brand computers (for the most part) tend to be overpriced, as well as using generic parts whenever possible.

How firm is your budget? what is the MAX you want to spend?

If you can tell me your final budget, I will do my best to send you in the right direction.
 
Thanks.

Just one more question:

If I can make one upgrade (Processor vs. RAM with prices in mind) , which upgrade is better:

$100 Processor Upgrade:

Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)

to

Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB)

**************
or
**************
$160 RAM Upgrade:

1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs

to

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs

*****************************************

Processor or RAM in my situation... which would you do?
 
my max budget is $1500, but my mom yelled at me when i tried to convince her about custom-building benefits like IBUYPOWER... she's like "DELL , COMPAQ, HP... that's it!"
 
1.) is the Pentium d processor 820 with dual core technology (2.80 ghz, 800 FSB) the best Intel processor, and does it almost match AMD x2?
Click to expand...
- we have a CPU 101.
- no it's not. the Pentium xe 955 is the current flagship Intel (consumer) CPU.. dont think you'll be getting one of those though... after that it's the Pentium xe 840


2.) is dual channel DDR2 sdRAM at 533mhz- 2 dimms good?
Click to expand...
- we have a RAM 101 too.
- Yes
- No
- What kinda answer did you want??? :P It's kinda like asking "is the color red ok?"


3.) Is the following a good computer, and will it play FEAR greatly?
Click to expand...
- Yes
- No
- Again, what kinda answer did you expect? Good compared to what? If you're making a self-referential statement to FEAR than no.
- It will play FEAR well. My box for instance will outpace it

I agree, the Athlon X2 processors are MUCH better than the pentium dual core. See here for a comparison
Click to expand...
I dunno, this is pretty promising, especially for netburst
photoshop.png
 
rocket1406 said:
Thanks.

Just one more question:

If I can make one upgrade (Processor vs. RAM with prices in mind) , which upgrade is better:

$100 Processor Upgrade:

Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)

to

Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB)

**************
or
**************
$160 RAM Upgrade:

1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs

to

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs

*****************************************

Processor or RAM in my situation... which would you do?
Click to expand...

I would DEIFINATLy suggest getting the second GB of ram over the CPU upgrade.
 
I CHANGED FROM DELL TO HP Pre-Built + Customization

I figured I should change from Pentium D to AMD Athlon X2

Since online customization from companies like Gateway and Compaq/HP SUCK!!!, and Dell doesn't do Pentium D, I have done the following:

I purchased the following, and will combine them:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=332849&pfp=SEARCH

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=333042&pfp=SEARCH

VERSUS the specs I posted before of a Dell.

I was going to buy a Power Supply as well, but we (with the CompUSA guy too) decided it was better to go with a 2-year Warranty (which we probably would have gotten anyway) ... and then that way, if the Power Supply failed or something, we'd have coverage on our CPU.

I will upgrade the Power Supply eventually if I get some money. Meanwhile I will back up anything important on my Hard Drive to an external just in case :-p

**********
How do you guys rate the change? It cost a little bit cheaper too.
 
I was going to buy a Power Supply as well, but we (with the CompUSA guy too) decided it was better to go with a 2-year Warranty (which we probably would have gotten anyway) ... and then that way, if the Power Supply failed or something, we'd have coverage on our CPU.
Click to expand...
But you dont have covereage on your data if that gets messed up somehow :)

I will upgrade the Power Supply eventually if I get some money
Click to expand...
Good plan

How do you guys rate the change? It cost a little bit cheaper too.
Click to expand...
While I would rate a custom built box to be of significantly better value, i realize that may not be feasible for everyone: in that case I would reccoemdn something more like monarchcomputers (at least thats what i think its called) which allows a lot more customization or to take a spec I can get for you to a local small computer store and have them put it together for you forl like $50 labor or soemthing
 
True about the data. I will tell my brother to save any important documents on our External HD.

Yes. My mother shut down the idea of IBUYPOWER. I doubt she'd let MonarchComputers go through (no offense to it, but it's website layout is shadier than IBuypower's)
 
Shrug i could care less for layout or even buying prebuilt boxes: just a suggestion :) I had a look at Monarch once and liked how many options one had for parts and stuff (comapred to most others)
 
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