New Computer

T

TomballGuy05

New Member
I feel kind of wierd posting in this forum because you all are talking about building you're own computers/modifying them, and I don't even know what the different types of memory are...I am getting a new computer soon and its going to be a Dell because I get a good discount on them from my dads company. I was thinking probably an XPS. I am trying to decide between a few things:

Processor: I will be playing alot of online games, and I want a computer that won't lag at all...or as little as possible. I also want to be able to multitask without having to worry about anything slowing down. Would I benefit from a dual core processor in this case? Is the Extreme Edition worth that much more than all the other processors?

Pentium® 4 Processor 670 with HT Technology (3.80GHz, 800 FSB)
Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
Pentium® Extreme Edition Dual Core w/ HT Tech (3.20GHz, 800FSB)

Memory: I don't even know where to start here...im guessing more is better as just about everything else in life. 533MHz vs. 667 MHz...im guessing 667MHz is better so then there's:

512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2 DIMMs
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 4 DIMMs
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs

4GB is probably overkill for what im doing. I was thinking 2GB...but theres one with 2 DIMMs, and one with 4 DIMM's...?

Hard Drive: Again, I am completely lost here. A hard drive is what stores information on you're computer...thats about as extensive as my knowlege is on hard drives. I see three different types I guess you could call them:

Serial ATA II
Performance RAID 0
Data Security RAID 1

Any help would be greatly appreciated...thanks for you're help, Ryan
 
extremem edition, ddr2 but then u might wanna make that 1GB for a gaming pc.

and then either serial ATA II if you dont RAID hdds or go RAID 0 you'll need 2 drives for this one.
 
Im not doubting you, but why 1GB over 2GB?

"and then either serial ATA II if you dont RAID hdds or go RAID 0 you'll need 2 drives for this one."

You lost me at "and"

Also, is this a good video card:
256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X850 XT PE
 
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you mostly wont be using the whole 1gb anyways unless you like open every application you have and also run like 3 copy of doom 3 or something then you might consider 2gb.

for hardrives either get SATAII for one drive or RAID 0 2 identical drives.
 
TomballGuy05 said:
Processor: I will be playing alot of online games, and I want a computer that won't lag at all...or as little as possible. I also want to be able to multitask without having to worry about anything slowing down. Would I benefit from a dual core processor in this case? Is the Extreme Edition worth that much more than all the other processors?

Pentium® 4 Processor 670 with HT Technology (3.80GHz, 800 FSB)
Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
Pentium® Extreme Edition Dual Core w/ HT Tech (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
Click to expand...

When it come to mutitasking you would see benfits from dual core. In most of today video games the benfits are minimal but that could change in the future. If you plan on keeping this computer for a long time I would definally go dual core.

If you have the money to waste then I guess you could go for the extreme edition. The truth is the performance increase from the 3.2 to 3.2EE is not that great. Lets look at mutitasking for example

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We talking about 4 secounds faster. how much money that worth to you is up to you. You will see small performance increase accross the board with the extreme edition but nothing major.

512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2 DIMMs
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 4 DIMMs
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs
Click to expand...

If you have the money and plan on doing alot of mutitasking then go with 2GB with 2 dimms. 2 dimms is generally better then 4. I dont know about this platform specifically but I know alot of time if you use 4 dimms it lowers the speed the ram runs at.

Hard Drive: Again, I am completely lost here. A hard drive is what stores information on you're computer...thats about as extensive as my knowlege is on hard drives. I see three different types I guess you could call them:

Serial ATA II
Performance RAID 0
Data Security RAID 1
Click to expand...

Raid 0 proberly not worth it. Very small increase in performance you get from raid 0. Raid 1 keeps a complete backup of your computer on a secound harddrive. If your data VERY important then it a good way to ensure not loosing it. Personally I would just get a SATAII harddrive and no raid option.
 
Ok, how about this:

Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
19 inch Ultrasharp 1905FP Digital Flat Panel
256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X850 XT PE

Microsoft Office Basic

Would that be a good all around computer? I read a little on this site about the Extreme Edition, and I don't think I would opt to pay $660 more for it. How is the 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X850 XT PE Video Card? Thanks, Ryan
 
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If you're going to be doing alot of gaming / multitasking i'd go with the 2 sticks of 1gig ( 2 gigs total) but if thats to expensive the 2 sticks of 512mb wouldn't be a bad choice;)
 
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