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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:34 pm
by Leisher
(My company may buy me a Dell for my house to replace my laptop. If I keep the price down, I may be able to build something pretty bad ass...)
I'm hoping this link works...Customize it.
Mainly there are three areas I'm curious:
1. Processor. Is the dual core technology that much better than HT for gamers? How about the dual core w/ HT chip? Are the speeds much of a factor like 3.0 vs 3.8?
2. RAM. I'm going to go with 2 gigs, but is the jump deom 500 MHz to 667MHz worth the price difference?
3. Video Cards. Yes, I'm doing a dual nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX with SLI, but is it worth $1500 more to do it with the 512MB cards?
Edited By Leisher on 1140040154
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:15 pm
by Cakedaddy
You won't be able to do any of the above, and keep the price down. If you could do that, everyone would have the best of the best of the best!
What's your budget?
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:57 pm
by TheCatt
Tom's Hardware CPU charts
Choose your relevant benchmarks, and CPUs to compare.
When Intel first introduced dual core, theirs sucked nuts. I do not know if they have gotten better.
RAM - At those price differences, I would upgrade.
Tom's Hardware VGA charts
notice the difference b/w 7800 SLI (2) and regular 7800. hmmm.
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:56 pm
by Leisher
What's your budget?
$2500 - $3000. I could probably stretch it to $3500.
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:00 pm
by GORDON
What's your budget?
$2500 - $3000. I could probably stretch it to $3500.
Jebus. That's beyond high-end, these days.
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:04 pm
by Cakedaddy
The PC you have spec'd right now is 4000. So, how are you going to upgrade?!
Based on what I've seen, low end Dual Cores are slower than high end 64's and the high end 64's are much cheaper than the Dual Cores. So, you'd have to go pretty high to get more performance out of the dual core.
I think the SLI 512 will be major non-bang for buck type stuff. I think SLI 256 is out of the best bang for buck area too. By the time an app needs it, the second card will be bargin priced anyway.
Go dual channel on the ram.
If you have extra money to spend, I'd spend it on a the monitor.
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:05 pm
by Leisher
Did I mention that I already have a monitor? So cut that out of the price.
My cost questions are more based on which processor and which video card configuration I should go with, plus if I should add a 500 GB drive for porn. 
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:35 pm
by WSGrundy
Did I mention that I already have a monitor? So cut that out of the price.
My cost questions are more based on which processor and which video card configuration I should go with, plus if I should add a 500 GB drive for porn.
Get a smaller hard drive and then just spend that cash on a dvd burner. Then you won't be restricted to just you PC for your porn watching needs.
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:39 pm
by GORDON
I'm finding that for my personal gaming/working PC, I never get it more than 50GB full before I end up scratching/reloading.
I buy the big drives for my file server. I'm just fine with a 100GB drive on my production machine.
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:08 pm
by Cakedaddy
I'm with Gordon.
If you have the money, then blow it on the CPU and Video then. However, the bang-for-buck value goes WAY down when you get into dual core in my opinion. So, unless you already have a 24" widescreen LCD, then I'd definately be throwing some cash in that direction. I LOVE my dual 19" setup. WAY better than the dual 17" CRT.
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:51 am
by Leisher
Well according to the charts Catt linked, and since I'm stuck with Pentium chips, it appears the chip to go with is the P4 670. It's the HT technology one and not the Dual Core. It beats the shit out of the Dual Core in the gaming performance. The P4 EE with both technologies sucks in all categories.
Dual Core seems to suck?
As for the video cards, it appears that the dual 256MB GeForce 7800s blow everything else out of the water, so I probably won't ever need the 512MB versions as nothing now will be able to harness that power properly, and when the software can, something better will be out anyway.
Although, Cake did inspire me. I'll drop the hard drive costs and get something better later on its own (keeps the price down now and I'll have the storage later) and instead get a new monitor. I still have a 17 (maybe its 19) inch HP CRT.
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:13 am
by Leisher
By the way, that link wasn't to "my specs", that was the standard built when you hit the "Customize it" button.
The build I'm coming up with is in the $3700 range.
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:17 am
by Leisher
Received and it is now up and running.
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:46 am
by TheCatt
So what was the final build?
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:20 am
by Leisher
P4,670 (3.8GHZ),HT,2MB
2GB DDR2 SDRAM AT 667MHZ-2X1G
DUAL 256MB GEFORCE 7800 GTX W/SLI
160GB NCQ SATA,7200 RPM
48X CD-RW
16X DVD+/-RW
SB AUDIGY 2 ZS SC W/IEEE1394,7.1
13 IN 1 MEDIA CARD READER
3.5IN,1.44MB,FD
LOGITECH GAMING HEADSET
20 IN (20.0 IN VIS.) 2001FP
(A 500GB hard drive will be added soon. I wanted to keep the cost seperate from this order. My Waste will probably be down until then. I don't know yet if I'm handing my old PC to my wife for her use or turning it into a file server.)
I already had a 5.1 speaker system from my last PC.
Edited By Leisher on 1140798226
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:00 pm
by Malcolm
Dude, where's the 5.25" drive?
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:23 pm
by TheCatt
Very cool. Wow.
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:24 pm
by Leisher
Very cool. Wow.
I can't even describe how much I like my job.
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:38 pm
by GORDON
That's a hell of a system upon which to run Office and an AS/400 emulator. 
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 3:32 pm
by Leisher
Yes and it goes with my 8MB pipe to connect to work. The standard 1.5 MB just wouldn't do.