Help with new computer

[macca2]

It is finaly time to buy a new computer and I would like the opinion of all you well informed computer types out there.

Is this a reasonable system for the price of $714.00

CPU............Intel Pentium D-805 2.66Ghz Dual core LGA775
Mainboard....Intel BLKD101GGCL ATI chipset LGA 775
RAM............512MB DDR Legend
HD.............80GB PATA Western Digital *MB Cache 7200rpm
DVD............Liteon DVD rewriter 16x8x8 CD 48x24x48 Dual
Panasonic 1.44 floppy
Case...... ATX550W
MS Windows XP Home edition OEM

USB...4at back and 2 at front

I only use them and don't know much about whats inside so I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks
macca

[Auld Bassoon]

I'd say that that was a pretty good price Macca.

I would strongly recommend that you spend another $100 or thereabouts and double the RAM to at least 1Gb. Also, ask what cost difference (if any) for a SATA (not PATA) drive.

You don't mention a video card, so I assume that it is an on-the-motherboard arrangement. This is ok so long as you don't ever want to upgrade (as opposed to replace) the PC. If you want to drive high screen resolutions (or, heaven forbid, play games :)) then you may find the onboard arrangement to be its weak point.

[namtrak]

Use this Dell one as your benchmark (http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_1100_au?c=au&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=specstab#tabtop). They aren't too bad.

[Termite]

Ditch the Liteon writer and put in a BenQ.

[Auld Bassoon]

Use this Dell one as your benchmark (http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_1100_au?c=au&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=specstab#tabtop). They aren't too bad.

Except that the 865 chipset is getting pretty long in the tooth. At least the LGA775 mount (915 through to 975 chipsets) are current technology.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Hmmm... the Intel BLKD101GGCL has onboard video (ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset) which, as AuldB has already said, is not the best choice for a high-end games machine but it's still a good performer. Also, it autodetects any PCI-E Gfx card and disables the IGP, so it can be upgraded if needs be. :)

Just one ATA port so only 2 IDE devices... the DVD burner and maybe a bootable HDD? It does have 4x SATA, but no RAID support, so it's not the most "data secure" system. But very few people bother with RAID for home systems anyway so that shouldn't count against it.

Similarly, it only provides two 184pin DIMM slots, for a max. of 2GB RAM but that's enough for most people, I think.

Personally I'd stick with the Liteon DVD-RW, it can handle some copy-protection systems that have other more "quality name" brands throwing hissy fits. :rolleyes:

All in all... 'tis a good price for a general purpose home/small business system, but you should definitely bump it up to at least 1GB RAM!

[bennylaird]

If tablesaws were like computers we would be upgrading it and replacing it every year if not sooner. Such a pity that todays pc is next weeks junk at least you can sell an old tablesaw.

[keith53]

If tablesaws were like computers we would be upgrading it and replacing it every year if not sooner. Such a pity that todays pc is next weeks junk at least you can sell an old tablesaw.

Remarkably insightful for an old fella :D

[macca2]

Thanks for the replies.

I have another quote which is +$50 @ $770 which has a Foxcon NFORCE SATA mainboard and a GigaByte FX6200 Graphics card.
160Gb western Digital HD
LG DVD rewriter.

Is this a better deal

Skew...unfortunately I don't have clue what you are saying. ( I wish I did) It might as well be in Spanish, but thanks all the same.

I trust the advice on this BB more than the slick salesman in the computer shop.

thanks again
Macca

[Wildman]

The price is OK. CPU will do anything you want it to do except top end gaming. Put in as much RAM as you feel like spending, you cannot have too much, 512 is the bare minimum these days, 1GB will do pretty much anything you need. 2GB is sweet. As already mentioned, go SATA not PATA hard drives, I would also steer clear of Western Digital as well, stick with Seagate or Hitachi for hard drives, especially laptop drives (that said the 10,000 RPM WD's are a good drive but the consumer grade disks are rubbish, Toshiba also make good laptop hard drives). I have also not had much luck with Maxtor. Experience is from 8 years in IT.

Another area to spend cash on is the motherboard and the power supply. Lots of systems have rubbish power supplies ($30) that are inefficient and prone to failure and to a lesser degree, fires. Thermaltake and Antec both have a good power supply for under $100 ($95 and $99), I would not spend less on a power supply unless you had to, it is preferable to get a $135+ one. The difference in weight, cable thickness, number of plugs, noise levels etc is significant, let alone the accuracy of their voltage output, and worth the money. If your power supply fails, my experience has been that 1 in 10 will destroy the entire PC with complete and unrecoverable data loss.

However if you take all my recommendations, your price will climb accordingly. Backup data regularly regardless of the system, get what you need. As long as there is a warranty behind it, you will be fine.

I would also get a pioneer DVD burner, mine gets a hammering and has never complained.

Cheers
Ben

[Eddie Jones]

Except that the 865 chipset is getting pretty long in the tooth. At least the LGA775 mount (915 through to 975 chipsets) are current technology.

Plus the power supply is only 250W. Would advise a minimum of 450W. The PCs that have the smaller rated P/S usually don't have sufficient cooling fans. OK if you are in Southern Tassie. NOT if you are in the NT.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Skew...unfortunately I don't have clue what you are saying. ( I wish I did) It might as well be in Spanish, but thanks all the same.

Sorry mate, one of my less "down to earth" moments. :o

Basically, it's a fair price for a home system that won't be playing the latest high-end games or doing CPU intensive stuff like video-editing or ray-tracing. If you do want to play the latest games, you can buy a suitable gfx card (about the cost of that whole 'puta! :eek: ) to bring it up to spec.

With WinXP, you really want at least 1GB RAM to get the best performance out of it. 512MB is "entry level" and it'll slug down more quickly with heavy use. RAM is like timber clamps... there's no such thing as too much. :rolleyes:

Unless you plan to expand it (more HDDs, DVD-RW's, etc) I wouldn't worry too much about the PSU. (Power supply) But if you do intend to add more peripherals, or run a lot of unpowered USB devices (mouse, camera, USB stick, etc.) go for a bigger one... 550W may sound like overkill but it isn't really. Consider it as "more robust." ;)

It doesn't support RAID but few home systems are set up to use it anyway. FWIW, basically RAID is used to either make several harddrives (HDD's) appear to the system as one BIG one, or to "mirror" your data across a couple of HDDs so that if one crashes & burns, your data is still safe and recoverable from another.

[macca2]

Thanks for that Skew.
I now have a quote from the same outfit for the following changes at NO extra cost

Intel mainboard BLKD102GGC2L LGA 775/DDR2-553 Onboard VGA
512MB DDR2-553 Veritech RAM
80Gb-SATA-Western digital HD

Will check on cost of 1gb RAM
Thanks again to you all
macca