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+---- Thread: DBoy wants a new PC! (/showthread.php?tid=8920)
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DBoy wants a new PC! - DBoy1612 - 05-29-2008
Ok so, Mom calls me to her computer, right. Opens this offer Tiger Direct is having this offer on a new computer for 200 bucks. I'm looking at the hardware in it and I'm thinking "Wow, what the hell, 200 bucks for all that? Something can't be right."
So! I'm asking, as I'm a software kind of guy, I know pretty much nothing about hardware other then what to do with it. Here's the offer. NOTE this offer ends in two days! So I need answers quickly please.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/sea...CCODE=CANEM1157
So questions.
Dual Core? Never understood what those did, but does that mean there's pretty much two 2.30 GHz cores in the chip? Or is that spread out between cores?
It says it doesn't come with a CPU fan, so I'll need to buy a basic one that will keep it cool, suggestions?
It doesn't come with a videocard as far as I see, but I can take the GeForce FX 5500 out of my current PC and throw it in that. Also have a bit of cash laying around and I think a giftcard, could just buy a new one.
I don't see a CD Drive in those pictures, so I guess I'll have to put in a new one. I have quite a few laying around, plus have an External CD drive.
I have an external 360gb harddrive, so I won't have problems saving my files, plus adding the new 160 it's giving me will be brilliant.
Shipping is free, woots!
And well, if you guys see any problems with this offer or suggestions, please let me know... Thank you!
DBoy wants a new PC! - AdamantineFist - 05-29-2008
' Wrote:"Wow, what the hell, 200 bucks for all that? Something can't be right."
That sounds about right. It seems somewhat underpriced.
DBoy wants a new PC! - Treewyrm - 05-29-2008
Well, it's essentially a dead-end system, kind of those you buy without any thought of upgrading it later. AGP slot is so yesterday. 2GB RAM max on this one, et cetera. Longevity of this system is very low, hence the price tag.
DBoy wants a new PC! - Tenacity - 05-29-2008
Just find the most expensive 'puter you can, and it's likely to be the best.
Just make sure it doesnt run windows! h8 windows...
DBoy wants a new PC! - Tic - 05-29-2008
A lot... I mean that 160GB drive alone costs about 80$, and that CPU is also 80$... On normal sale i mean...
Id buy it, but depends what your gonna use it for...
FL would work on it, along with some programs like PS, but i doubt anything much stronger then that would work. Also that CPU is weak, you dont often find good dual cores with 2x2.3GHz for only 80$, they are usually 200$ and up.
Mine CPU for example is 2x2.13 but it costed 300$... But its Core2Duo, though...
DBoy wants a new PC! - onca - 05-29-2008
For dual core, the clock speed is for each one. So each core indeed runs at 2.3GHz. (Although they share the same resources, like memory and disk.) Dual core is great; annoying crap like virus scanner and firewalls don't cause your game to jitter any more.
But it doesn't come with a cooler???!!! WTF happened to it? Both AMD and Intel CPUs absolutely require a cooler, otherwise they'll shutdown from overheat within seconds. Unless it has one of those new-fangle fanless coolers.... but those are huge and expensive. It's kinda funny coz CPUs come with a cooler in the box... why would they remove it from the PC? Is it 2nd hand?
Anyway.... unless you're gonna be doing serious overclocking, or you live in sunny Australia, don't spend big on a cooler. If you can pick up a stock 2nd-hand one then great. Otherwise Blue-orb or Zalman make great coolers, but like I said don't go overboard. Note that coolers for Intel and AMD are not interchangeable, make sure you get the right one!
Hope that helps...
o.
DBoy wants a new PC! - AdamantineFist - 05-29-2008
' Wrote:Well, it's essentially a dead-end system, kind of those you buy without any thought of upgrading it later. AGP slot is so yesterday. 2GB RAM max on this one, et cetera. Longevity of this system is very low, hence the price tag.
Oooo... APG? I didn't know about the motherboard. Ouch. Yeah, if you want to upgrade that baby, you'll have to replace the motherboard.
DBoy wants a new PC! - McNeo - 05-29-2008
Might be a good buy now, but you wont be upgrading that thing at all, with anything, ever.
AMD can't catch intel on the processors.
Dual Core is good, but its a standard now. It should be good if you don't do games with a lot of AI too much.
However, the processor is good for the price, I reckon.
The Board has two PCI slots and one AGPx8 slot.
All modern graphics cards work with a PCI-E x16. However, as you said you're just gonna plonk in your old FX5500 in there, I wouldn't see why that would have a PCI-E interface so that shouldn't be a problem. However, the most advanced AGPx8 card you'll find is either a ATi 1xxx series or an Nvidia 7xxx series. I dont think the 8600 GT has been released with an AGP interface, but dont quote me on that.
The motherboard is cheap, so don't expect much if you try your hand at overclocking. More importantly, look at the heatsink (or lack of) on the southbridge. Thats gonna become hot, definately, and the ponsy northbridge heatsink wont do wonders either. I see no cooling at all on the subsidiary chips on the CPU either, so it would be a good idea not to try overclocking at all with this.
The board is also not advanced enough to take high density memory, but seeing as you wont be running a fileserver or anything too memory demanding, this shouldnt be a problem. 2GB is enough anyway.
The memory also lacks a heatspreader (however useless some might say they are) so dont touch their frequencies.
I even doubt that you can overclock much with this board at all. It looking pretty bare, I can only imagine what the bios must look like.
You also want to buy an exhaust fan to fit the back of that case, otherwise it'll overheat. That tiny PSU fan wont keep your computer cool for long.
As you say you'll be in need of a CPU cooler, I'll suggest, as always, the Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 64. Should be easy enough to mount, its cheap and its very good at its job. Certainly does well with my E6600, which is a more powerful chip.
@bout multi cores in a nutshell:
Dual core means literally two seperate processors put together. They are two seperate structures and do their own seperate things. Dual core means the ability to execute two threads simultaneously. Think of it as two single core processors running on a single motherboard.
This makes your computer fast with programs that are designed to send threads to both CPUs efficiently. However, things like Freelancer dont do this, as they are older programs and feed information in single threads instead of simultaneously.
However, dual core is handy in that, for the more demanding programs such as games, video rendering and even picture rendering (photoshop, anyone?), the processes become a lot faster as most of these programs are designed to use both cores efficiently.
Quad core is the same, only imagine four seperate single core processors on a motherboard.
Of course, this will change when cell processors make their debut, but thats quite far away in computer terms. The PS3 makes use of a 7-core cell processor though, but its architecture is completely different and so is its functioning, so it shouldnt be compared to the dual and quad cores we have now in PCs.
@Tic: Yes, C2D's cost a lot more than their AMD equivalents, because they are a lot faster than said equivalents. However, AMD did have the upper hand until about a year and a half ago, completely outpacing their Pentium IV rivals. It is too unfair to call that AMD chip "weak".
DBoy wants a new PC! - Ascendancy - 05-29-2008
Dual core means there is actually a pair of 2.30GHz cores in there, but there are not many applications that can take advantage of both the cores.
Also you're only seeing the $200 price because it's a barebones kit, which means you still have to add other things to make the tower work, and all that. But I assume from your original post you already knew that so I didn't even need to mention it.
I would say, go for it, if it's even any better than the one you have now. I've had my Sony Vaio PCV-RX850(UC) for about four years now and I'm dying to get something new. It's obsolete compared to any standards today considering it has this:
2.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor (133 MHz FSB)
Sapphire ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 256 MB AGP (added it)
1536 MB DDR PC2100 RAM (added 1024 MB)
And of course other things but that's what I have that makes the damn thing work. I bought the system for $50 but spent a couple hundred making it the way it is now and it's nearing 6 years old. AGP cards are obsolete and PCI-Express is the way to go nowadays, same with dual and even quad core processors. The only good thing about this system is my monitor. It's a flat CRT 17" monitor that has not died on me at all. Plus it's a Sony Trinitron which just screams quality.
In all if you really wanna stay on top you'd have to replace everything nearly all the time. But since no one can do that except for the very well healed, something that's up to or a couple months behind current standards should do you well. I just wish my damned 20 year old brother would give me his dual core homebuilt system he promised me for my 18th birthday...
Oh, and there's nothing wrong with AMD Athlon X2 Processors. They do an excellent job. Just wish the board they were giving you with it is ASUS, but that's my own preference...
Ascendancy
DBoy wants a new PC! - Tic - 05-29-2008
' Wrote:Sapphire ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 256 MB AGP (added it)
Thats a good Gcard, my brother has it on his PC. Works very good.