New Computer - Spec Questions - Page 4

i'd just recommend going with a core 2 duo, 4gb ram, go for a mid-range graphics card if you just want to do the basics.

if you're building i'd go with a mini atx case.

atm the i7 stuff is too expensive/waste of money unless you're doing something hardcore.

Quad core, not sure theres much point to that, only a few programs use them and its best with 64bit OS.

m11a1; What I really meant here was the 1333MHz and 1066Mhz Bus speeds. They are not exactly changeable (at least not like the other ones). Do not argue with me about how you can actually change it outside of software aide.
It seems as if I can't argue, because you'd just cover your ears and shout insults at me.

Seriously, are you retarded? Read the post that I was replying to understand why I said what I said. That guy said: "My Q6600 is rock solid stable at 3.2GHz with a 1600MHz FSB" What does that mean? 3200 = multiplier x 1600 FSB, that means that the multiplier is 2. That's not possible for the Q6600 to achieve such a high clock with such a low multiplier.
Ah, now I understand. You're right. I didn't see that you were nit-picking at it. When I first read that I just understood it as 8 * 400. Indeed 2 * 1600 is impossible, so obviously he meant the former otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned that he's running it at 3.2.

That's actually my Q6600 running at stock, what's your point?
To guess why it was quoted and then he said he's going to sleep without bothering to point out absurdities.

A complete i7 setup can't be done for $650.

Barracuda 7200.11: 105 MB/s Sustained, 9.5ms write seek
Raptor 150: 84 MB/s Sustained, 5.2ms write seek
Velociraptor 300: 120 MB/s Sustained, 4.7ms write seek
OCZ Vertex: up to 230 MB/s, 0.1ms seek time

If drive speed is the concern, I don’t bother comparing capacities. You don’t have to get a 256 GB SSD just because it closely matches the Raptor’s storage. The Raptors are already so far behind in capacity compared to $/GB that capacity is not the issue. As long as you have a 20 GB base for the OS the rest doesn’t really matter. Find speed, set price, and then lastly see what size that gives you.
If the average drive is $100 for 1 TB, and you’re already spending twice that for a fraction of the capacity, might as well spend a little more for a substantial speed increase with SSD. You’re looking to buy speed anyways.
This isn’t much more than a VelociRaptor and would be A LOT faster. 60 GB is plenty for an OS and all your programs. And if you're gaming buy a second one to install the games on. Most gamers into Raptors buy TWO anyways to RAID 0 them. An isolated SSD for the OS and another for games would be so much faster than Raptors in RAID because of the seek time.

I personally do not use Raptors or SSD in my systems. I have nothing that time critical making the extra price worth it. I have 8 hard drives because I need the storage. But then I manage my computing tasks based on hard drives. OS goes to one drive, programs and games to another. If I download something it goes to a third drive and extracts to a 4th so that way the drive isn't reading and writing upon itself. I feel a big difference when the OS and minor applications have their own drive together. Big guys like Office and Photoshop go to the other drive. For me managing it this way has been plenty fast. Just make sure of the 8 that no one drive is given a major read and write task at the same time and nothing will bog down.

If you want speed that's seriously so fast that the SATA bus can't handle it, look here Fusion-io :: Products 1400 MB/s 0.005ms seek

i7 isn't wasted money, if it can afforded, because it gives upgrdability, which is worth the price, BUT, we've established its too expensive for him

and why would you go with mini-ATX? smaller case, smaller PSU, smaller cooling, etc, theres no advantage over the "cute-ness factor"

and don't talk such rot about quad core/64-bit, no application "uses" multicore, its the OS' job to handle task scheduling (and believe me, they do it well), so it will always get used, and 32-bit/64-bit execution doesn't matter one lick in the MP debate

Back in the dark ages, I was a gung-ho geek just like the rest of the folks in this thread. As time went by, the obsession waned, and now every couple of years I just check Dell Coupons, Best Buy Coupons, Discount Cheap Laptops, Computer Sale and buy whatever hot Dell deal is being advertised. I'm not a gamer, and for 90% of what I do with a PC, I'm limited by my internet connection, not my PC. Now I have more time to buy 'phones...

and I agree, for 90% of users, Dell or HP is more than suitable, some people just like doing it themselves (and for gaming systems, you really do save money, but at ~$500-$600, theres really not much competition with big boxes, unless you find hardware used, really good sales, etc)

and who you callin a geek?

just take the free monitor and sell it

theres no need to push for i7, I've just stated that if its not an issue to buy it, why not do so, although I entirely understand money being tight

I think most of us have tried this, but we can't control others

IMO, computers are now way more powerful than the average person needs them to be. Unless you are doing a bunch of video or rendering stuff, you don't need quad core. If you don't play games, you don't need a video card with a lot of memory. You benefit more from a faster harddrive.

I just built myself a core i7 system and overclocked it to 3.72ghz. For videos it's wonderful. For normal everyday tasks, it's not that much different than my 3 year old dual core opteron system. I want to put an SSD drive in here but I'll wait for prices to drop a little more.

I gave up trying to buy Dell deals without the monitor - they credit you almost nothing, and it's typically a better deal to just take the monitor and sell or give away whichever one you don't want.

obobskivich: Do you really want me to turn this into a "You might be a geek if..." thread?

or just have dual monitors

I dare ya!

ExtremeTech - Computer Hardware and Software News, Reviews, and Advice
has done all the research for the best price to value ratio

they call it bang for the buck (bftb)
search it on their site and they picked out the best parts without being ripped off with the over priced new stuff.

a little too marketing-y sounding, and a bit subjective of you, don't ya think?

ET is a good site, but I just gotta say, no publication is the "end all" of information

as others have said, i7 is not a waste of money. dont worry about the clock speed, even the lowest speed i7 is more than enough.

when you build a system, or purchase one, its not about the overall specs, its about what your bottleneck is.

its always better to have a very well balanced computer than one that is awesome in some aspects and needs improvement in others.

look to balance your:

processor, ram, videocard, powersupply, soundcard mainly

Get a 10,000 rpm drive and that will gicve you the fastest computer with the most longevity. The the last .2 Mhz on the processor.

i agree that computers are much more powerful for what most people need.

theres only so fast a harddrive is though. I feel that even with ssd, unless you purchase the better ones, the speed you gain is minimal at best