Help Diplomat Get Through The Spring / Summer

[Diplomat]

Hello guys.... currently I am checking out pc systems / setups for a game pc... and I want some advice... both in performance/price. Currently got 2 systems configured at Dell... just as some guidance/info to compare other systems with....

First system
Dimension 9150 Advanced (D03916)
Intel® Viiv™ technology -Intel® Pentium® D 940 Dual Core(3.20GHz,800MHz,2x2MB)
2048MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x1024)
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
16x DVD+/-RW & 16x DVD Drives
Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
nVidia® GeForce® 7800GTX 256MB Single Card
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music card,PCI w/Dolby Digital,7.1 speaker surround and THX certification

Legit Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
Microsoft® Works 7.0

A215-stereospeakers
19" Flat Panel Monitor
Dell 720 Color Printer
USB Keyboard - US/Euro (QWERTY)
USB 2Button Wheel Mouse

1 year garanty

€ 1.530




Second system
Dimension XPS 600 (D03XP5)
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 640 with HT technology (3.20GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2MB cache)
1024MB DDR2 667 [2*512]
160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA harde schijf met 8MB DataBurst™ cache
48x CDRW and 16x DVD-ROM
Single 256MB nVidia® GeForce™ 6800 graphics card
Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 ZS, PCI w/Dolby Digital, 7.1 speaker support

Legit Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
Media Experience 3.1 Basic
Microsoft® Works 7.0 - English

17" Flat Panel Monitor, midnight grey
A525 30-watt 2.1-stereoluidspeakers with subwoofer
basis USB Keyboard - US/Euro (QWERTY)
USB 2Button Wheel Mouse

1 year garanty

€ 1.543







In my eyes the first system is already the better one of these 2. But my question was... what kind of system around that price class with all on it (pc itself, screen + speakers,keyboard/mouse) is prefertable for gaming. Got some suggestions for a nice system? Please let me know...

Because I am 1 big noob when it comes to hardware... I only see the prices... and try to move everything in the budget not really looking at quality etc...

Please help me out a bit. Even suggestions to buy lose parts and build it up myself are welcome... as long as it falls around the 1500 euro all included(pc itself, screen + speakers,keyboard/mouse)...



Thnx already

[Bjusterbaarlik]

I would go for the first system right away, why:

- Dual Core processors are more powerful and better for gaming This one also has higher cache memory.
- Double the RAM (2048 instead of 1024)
- More HD capacity, although I have 160 GB and I know I will never fill that up.
- Most important: The GPU! 7800 GTX instead of an 6800. The GeForce 7800 GTX has a way newer and faster chipset.
- Least important: This one is € 13,- cheaper.

The only things you would have to find out is what type of Motherboard the two PC's have. It would be wise to have an SLI-compatible motherboard for future plans and for better performance of nVidia GPU's.

Any questions? Ask away, I know quite a lot about all this stuff, since I have busy with it myself quite some time.

[CORONER]

first system, also check the forum about what systems we currently have.
Most important is of course the video card.

[Curahee]

videocard is not the most important :p
i say videocard and CPU
but surely the first one
i dont get it why the other one is more expensive

[Baldrick]

Of the two setups no 1 is by far the best.

My advice is that u wait to decide the setup until the same day u want to purchase ur new comp. (dont make the same mistake I did, even my new comp is better value than i thought: TV/radio cardtuner, internal/external removable 160 Gb mediadrive, preinstalled wireless nettwork, a lot of multiaprograms inclusive; intervideo home theater, XP SP2, and a 19" LCD screen 8 ms, 700:1 contrast, not the cheapest screen around! 3,2 Ghz cpu and 2 G rams makes every window pop up instant, no more waiting, startingtime +/- 30 secs. I have run aquamark on it and got ap. 35.000 points! Not bad with "only" a 6600GT videocard)

This because at the moment its released new hardware almost every week! The best today isnt the best tomorrow. Keep an eye on the hardware websites, AMD, Intel, Nvidia, ATI.
Anyways I would def. go for eather a 64 bit AMD or Intel dual cpu which gives up to 50% more power than 32 bit/singel.
Why is dual so mutch more better? Yes, u have heard talk about a lot off programs running in the back? Some has like 30 - 50 progs running at the same time in the "background", a dual cpu handles this far better as it use one "channel" to run this progs and u have the other "channel" free for prossesing what u work with. Its infact like having two cpu's.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/
http://www.intel.com/
http://www.ati.com/
http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html

At least its fun to keep updated on the latest hardware.

One thing, I dont know why but: It seems from varius forums that AMD/Nvidia and Intel/ATI is the best performance compability?

Also could be vice to keep an eye on Dell, HP, Acer and other PC manufactorers. This way u can keep track on the prices with the different setups.

http://www.dell.com/
http://www.hp.com/
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads.html

There is also a lot of independent computer sales on the net, sometimes this can be cheaper than the above.

Also why dont we, the consumers demand a standard benchmarktest of the cpu/videocard performance for all computers? This way we could easy see the best buy or value. In fact the cpu/videocard performance is the most important for gamers. :)

Have a nice summer Dip!! :D

[Tikkas]

Deffo number 1, graphics card rocks, 2000 MB DDR rocks and like BJ said Cache 2X2 is great as that is the most important in current PC's a 2.8 with 2X2MB will be far more performant then for example a 3,5 with 1MB....

Go for the first now run to the store and get it :p

[Signer]

In defence of the second one i have a Dell XPS and it oooooowns... but mines a diff config. the first one is easily better value tho.

[Diplomat]

Thnx for the advice given till now mateys... will have to check out my payrol end of march... and get another update on systems that I could buy and will let you know what kind of setups are aviable around that time :)

[-={AA}=-Freelancer]

I don't have much to add only:

I have tried a lot of systems and always came back to Dell. The only alternative would be a PC from Medion (Aldi). Their price is always super and the quality is superb and they are veeeeeery silent.

Also every month Dell has new system configurations so waiting a few months could gain something.

Also I would take 3 year warranty for a system like that. If something happens you have your money back but at the other hand, if something happens it's the first few months and after a year the replacement parts are so cheap that it isn't worth it. :rasberry:

I would prefer system 1. Nice system. (I myself have a Dell XPSGEN4, bougth about 8 months ago for 2000 euro).

Greetz and good luck
Free