New PC Advice

[Fairlane62]

Hello fellow CG'ers,

 

Well...my laptop that I've had for the last 4 years finally gave up on me. So I now must decide too build or not to build. Honestly, I just don't have the time to build myself a new pc with all the bells and whistles that I would like, so, I'm really leaning towards purchasing one from...Dell.

 

Here are the specs:

 

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)

OS Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD

MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs

HARD DRIVE1 500GB - Seagate 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

HARD DRIVE2 320GB - Seagate 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability MONITOR 24 inch UltraSharp™ 2407WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel

VIDEO CARD 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX

SOUND CARD Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card

 

Will be running Max, Autocad, Photoshop,....

 

What do you guys think...

 

Thanks,

Joel

[chuck]

Looks like a solid system. I have their 24" and it's a nice monitor. I never use the card reader or PIP features though. Sometimes I miss the organization that comes with dual monitors.

 

I wish dell would include better midrange models since their XPS's seem to get pricey, but the models under that come with cheap video cards. They've dropped the dimension 9200 or whatever that I bought in December. Right now I just want a quadcore with a 8800gts running XP. I'm not sure the GTX is worth the $400 upcharge.

 

Chuck

[chuck]

Dell's 755 optiplex:

 

Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (2.40GHz, 8M, 1066MHz FSB)

Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2, x32, with Media, English

ASF Basic Hardware Enabled Systems Management

 

4GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,667MHz, (4 DIMM)

 

250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s and 8MB DataBurst Cache™

250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s and 8MB DataBurst Cache™

 

16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator™ CyberlinkPowerDVD™

 

Integrated Video, Intel® GMA3100

 

Dell 24 inch E248FP Widescreen Flat Panel, Analog

 

It just needs a video card obviously, but this machine came in at just under $2k...

[Fairlane62]

Thanks Chuck...I'll look into that. Only thing I don't like is the integrated video, but looks good for under 2k

[ahmon]

I just built a new system.

 

EVGA 512-P2-N447-LX GeForce 7300GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Item #: N82E16814130024

$64.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

Item #: N82E16819115017

$279.99

ASUS P5B SE LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Item #: N82E16813131213

$91.99

WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-2048K - Retail

Item #: N82E16820161030

$72.99

Total plus overnight shipping: $548.34

 

Spent $170 on a case. So all together it was 718.34

 

I already had everything else i needed. But you can add a hdd 350gb for $100, 2gb ram for $75, and vista or xp for $250 and the total can be $1143.34.

 

This was my second build and the motherboard manual tells you how to do everything. My first build was around $500 to do it myself or $1400 to buy so i said what the hell, let me give it a try. Did some reasearch on the net and did it. Want to save a lot and have fun, do it yourself i wouldn't mind walking you through it and making sure you get every thing you need. Got all my stuff from newegg.com.

[manta]

"MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs "

 

that 4th Dimm will do you no good with a 32bit OS...but I'm sure its not that expensive anyway...

[chuck]

Manta,

 

Windows can't use that extra gig for running other apps? I thought the 3gb would allow other apps to use whatever was leftover. 4gb wouldn't be a waste if you could use one core and a gig of ram for photoshop tweaks while you're rendering...

 

Chuck