So rather than majorly hi-jacking this thread I wanted to start my own. So I’m dyslexic and have recently started university over here in England. Because of this I have been able to claim help for my studies and to cut the story shorter I am able to have a free desktop. So far so good.
Unfortunately the basic desktop isn’t what I would spend my money on as I would also be wanting to play better computer games on it than my current desktop. I am, however, able to add in some of my own money and upgrade it. So here I am just asking for a bit of advice on what to ask for instead of the current set up.
Here is the PC that they are going to supply:
Classic PC
Intel E8400 3.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4gb XMS2 800mhz Ram, 500gb SATA Hard Drive, Media Card Reader, 512mb Nvidea Geforce Graphics Card, Integrated High Definition Sound Card, DVD/RW, Vista Business, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers,1 Year Warranty, 12 Months Comprehensive Insurance, 1GB or larger pen drive, 4-Port Powered USB Hub, USB Cables, 6-way Anti-surge Extension Mains Lead, Blank CD media (50 pcs), 1 year Anti-virus.
So for my knowledge the important things to be looking at are:
Processor chip: Intel E8400 3.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4gb XMS2 800mhz Ram
Graphics Card: 512mb Nvidea Geforce Graphics Card
Looking at the thread I linked to I feel that I should be asking for the Intel i7-930, possibly more RAM and a better graphics card (possibly from this link). Should I also go for Windows 7? (I think yes)
I am not worried about hard drive size as that would be easy to install a larger one.
The ram/video card: Need more information. Memory is not the biggest concern on a gfx card. More information on either would be helpful.
That said, the amount of memory on a gfx card can somewhat accurately depict its origin in time. Usually, office/student workstations are gutted of any reasonable video accomodations. The fact that the card is 512mb indicates that they had no idea what they were doing when they purchased them (unless what you’re doing involves graphic design, 3D modeling, etc.)
You might be good to go as far as running most games on medium settings. I think you’ll start to suffer in the next year or two, but I know my current rig is approximately those specs (well, was, just ordered new parts for my new rig), and I can handle most of the modern games without much trouble.
The wildcard is the video card. I’d like to know what it ACTUALLY is and not just the memory amount if possible.
If you INSIST on upgrading the processor, you will need a new motherboard. the i5/i7 series both use a new socket. This would complicate things quite a bit, and unless you know what you’re doing, I wouldn’t do this.
The memory is much easier to mess around with as long as you know the frequency that your motherboard supports. Just figure out what’s currently in there and that’s probably a good gauge.
The gfx card is even easier to upgrade (presuming that this current 512mb card is PCI-e 2.0 16x. If that’s the case, any modern card with that technology will do. I recommend the nVidia GTX200/400 series.
Thanks for the info. This PC is coming from a company that I have to ring up and supply my details. The information I have been given says that I can ask for extras if I pay the difference between the quoted price and the updated price. Given that it comes straight from a company I hope that all I need to is say I would like 16Gb of RAM and they say no, or yes and give me the extra cost. But I just wanted to check about what I could ask for to get something a bit better.
If you want to go over 4 GB RAM, you will need Windows 7-64bit. 32 bit will only recognize 4GB total including video memory. So you would have 512 MB video would take that from the total and the system RAM would only be 3-3.5 GB.
Right now 16 GB is WAY overkill, I have 8 in my system and don’t use anywhere near all. Yet.
That might explain why they’re actually giving you a decent system, then.
Truth be told, that processor better than mine. Based on the memory on the gfx card, it’s probably around mine (I can’t say for sure as I don’t know what card it actually is).
You have plenty of RAM. Chances are it’s just as modern as the rest of the parts given that you’re getting it straight from the company. In fact, I KNOW the RAM is modern as it has to be compatible with whatever motherboard the system uses (which is a Core 2 Duo socket, so the memory has to be decent). I honestly don’t see you having too much of a problem running most things. You won’t be able to run 16x anti-aliasing on Metro 2033 or something, but you get my drift…
Aye, what he said he as well. Anything over 3.5 would be an absolute waste if you’re running a 32-bit OS. On my new build (i7, GTX 480, the works), I’m STILL only using 4. 8 might be needed soon, but 4 is still plenty. Don’t listen to idiots that get like 16/24 gb of memory and think they’re benefiting at all.
Sorry, I picked 16gb of RAM as an example and would never had thought about going that high. I should have put in a smiley or two
Anyways, so it’s a decent set up and if I wanted to upgrade to a better processer then I need a new motherboard, then new ram, and it becomes a completely new machine by the end of the process.
One thing though, should I be thinking about Windows 7 at all?
Going by what I heard, Vista was a mess. There were plenty of users who had no problems but it was a poor OS overall. I went from XP to W7-64 and it’s a huge difference, much more stable. And XP was no slouch for stability.
True about the i5/i7; however, I have a Core 2 Duo in my current Gigabyte motherboard and the specs claim it will support a Core 2 Quad CPU as well. Not sure whether that would offer enough of a performance boost to be worth it in the OP’s case, though.
If I had that system, I’d just drop in a (on sale) 768 MB 460GTX and call it a day. If you’re going to start doing every major component, what’s the point of even having a base system?
Right now, few applications can take advantage of a quad-core CPU. Dual cores are actually faster though I don’t think the difference is really that noticeable in most situations. However, quad(and hex) cores are the current state of the art and applications in the very near future will make use of them so future proofing is a consideration.
What monitor size/resolution are you going to be running? That’s a huge determining factor of whatever performance you’re going to get from a given set of system specs.
Agreed, though, that that PC looks fine, and I’d probably just put any extra money away and save for a bigger upgrade a few years down the line.
