New System - Buying Today Thoughts?

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 11:14am

Can anyone tell me if the videocard is OK? The next step up is like an extra $400 bucks so it better be good. Frankly my gaming has dropped off signifcanly but I always like to have a rig that will last me a long time. The last Dell I had (which is a paperweight right now) was in service since Feb 2001.

Module Description Show Details
DIMENSION XPS GEN 5 Pentium® 4 Processor 640 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB)

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard

Monitor FREE UPGRADE! 19 inch E193FP Analog Flat Panel

Video Cards 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800

Hard Drive 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

Floppy Drive and Media Reader 9 in 1 Media Card Reader and 3.5 in Floppy Drive

Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse

Modem No Modem Requested

Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0

CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable

Sound Cards Sound Blaster Audigy™ 2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, IEEE 1394 capability

Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)

Office Productivity Software Microsoft® Works Suite - Includes Word 2002, Streets & Trips 2004

Security Software No Security Subscription

Digitial Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic

Digital Photography Photo Album™ SE Basic

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
XPS Specialized Support Dimension XPS, Specialized Support
Internet Access Service No ISP requested
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Financial Software (Preinstalled) No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-20 11:23am

Is it a 6800 or a 6800GT? The GT has more pipes, but the non-GT version is still a good, middle of the road card.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 11:27am

Arrow Mk84 wrote:Is it a 6800 or a 6800GT? The GT has more pipes, but the non-GT version is still a good, middle of the road card.

Seems to be just 6800. The next step up card they have is:

ATF Radeon x850 XT PE

sparrowtm · Post by **sparrowtm** » 2005-07-20 11:27am

If it is a simple 6800, it will serve you well for at least the next twelve months to come. You should consider buying a 6800GT though, its not that uber-expensive, but its benchmark results look very sweet indeed.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-07-20 11:39am

Looks nice I have about the same system.

But If I where you I would drop the monitor and get the 1905FP instead, it is much nicer.

I have the Radeon x850 XT PE and all the high grapics game are a joy to play, might be worth considering.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 11:52am

Faram wrote:Looks nice I have about the same system.

But If I where you I would drop the monitor and get the 1905FP instead, it is much nicer.

I have the Radeon x850 XT PE and all the high grapics game are a joy to play, might be worth considering.

How much is the Radeon on its own because its going to cost me $400 extra and I don't do the high end graphic gaming all that much. For instance I have a GeoForce 2800Ti Card that I've never had to change and was only starting to show its age whe I played Rome Total War so all I really want is a graphic card that will allow me to play decent games every now and then.

What is the 1905FP? A type of monitor?

EDIT: Never mind I am an ass, he means the Ultra sharp model of the 19inch avialble for Dell. I was just looking at it too when I wrote that question. Ugh.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-07-20 12:03pm

Stravo, might I suggest you try to bump the processor to the 820 option? It's a much better processor (dual core and all), even if it trades off a bit on the games front.

EDIT: Seeing as this is an XPS PC, you could probably afford to bump it up to an 830 or 840 for parity game performance and vastly increased multitasking/multithreaded performance.

Consider the idea of doubling your encoding performance or playing games with a virus scan running without a slip in performance. It's really the best way to go, even if you have to trade off a few Mhz.

EDIT2: I checked, and you can upgrade to the 830 for $50 more. That's 200 less Mhz, but two cores instead of one. Believe me, MAKE this upgrade, you won't regret it.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 12:06pm

The Kernel wrote:Stravo, might I suggest you try to bump the processor to the 820 option? It's a much better processor (dual core and all), even if it trades off a bit on the games front.

How vital is the processor overall? Just going by my experiences my current Dell is a P4 1.7 and I've never had an issue in terms "Boy I wish I had a faster processor." and like I said I've had it since 2001. I'm really a casual computer user, play games every now and then and mostly surf the net and use it to write.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-07-20 12:07pm

Stravo wrote:
The Kernel wrote:Stravo, might I suggest you try to bump the processor to the 820 option? It's a much better processor (dual core and all), even if it trades off a bit on the games front.
How vital is the processor overall? Just going by my experiences my current Dell is a P4 1.7 and I've never had an issue in terms "Boy I wish I had a faster processor." and like I said I've had it since 2001. I'm really a casual computer user, play games every now and then and mostly surf the net and use it to write.

It's not about the speed of the processor, it's about the multitasking. With two cores, your computer will assign the second core to the background tasks so your PC will "feel" MUCH faster.

EDIT: Plus, read my edits above for more info.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-07-20 12:07pm

Two things, Keep in mind another gig of ram for down the road upgrades so make sure you know what varity comes with the PC so you can get a second set.

Second, get XP Proffesional, unless you got a spare version come on, the $50 is worth it.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-07-20 12:09pm

The Kernel wrote: It's not about the speed of the processor, it's about the multitasking. With two cores, your computer will assign the second core to the background tasks so your PC will "feel" MUCH faster.

EDIT: Plus, read my edits above for more info.

Won't the hyperthreading take care of that at least for the short-term?

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 12:09pm

I see your point Kernel. I think I just may make that upgrade.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-07-20 12:09pm

Stravo wrote:How much is the Radeon on its own because its going to cost me $400 extra and I don't do the high end graphic gaming all that much. For instance I have a GeoForce 2800Ti Card that I've never had to change and was only starting to show its age whe I played Rome Total War so all I really want is a graphic card that will allow me to play decent games every now and then.

What is the 1905FP? A type of monitor?

EDIT: Never mind I am an ass, he means the Ultra sharp model of the 19inch avialble for Dell. I was just looking at it too when I wrote that question. Ugh.

I do not think that the card makes that much of a difference for a casual gamer.

But I got a good deal on it so.

Also consider getting the soundbar, the sound is not that good but also not bad, but it is much less of a hassle and it frees a lot of desk space.

Picture of 1905FP with soundbar and Rome running.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 12:11pm

Faram wrote:Picture of 1905FP with soundbar and Rome running.

Faram that screenshot looks fucking sweet, now I curse you as I just got that itch for a game of Rome again.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-07-20 12:13pm

Stravo wrote:I see your point Kernel. I think I just may make that upgrade.

I'm glad to hear it. Comfort yourself with the knowledge that your PC will have two processors instead of one.

I'm actually quite surprised thought that so many people don't know much about these dual cores and their tremendous benefits for comparitavely little cost (although Intel/AMD hasn't exactly been pimping them the way they should).

Just so everyone realizes the difference here, before the dual core P4's came out, insted of spending a measly few dollars more, you would have had to spend around $2000 just on the two Xeon CPU's and the dual motherboard. The fact that Intel/AMD is offering these things for the price they are is increadible and I recommend them for all new systems. Especially if you want a processor that can take full advantage of Longhorn (next gen Windows OS).

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-07-20 12:13pm

Stravo wrote:Faram that screenshot looks fucking sweet, now I curse you as I just got that itch for a game of Rome again.

Another happy customer

And yes Rome is the crack of games, I did uninstall it but did that help? NOO.. I just reinstalled it a week or so later.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-07-20 12:15pm

Mr Bean wrote:
The Kernel wrote: It's not about the speed of the processor, it's about the multitasking. With two cores, your computer will assign the second core to the background tasks so your PC will "feel" MUCH faster.

EDIT: Plus, read my edits above for more info.
Won't the hyperthreading take care of that at least for the short-term?

No, Hyperthreading is not the same thing at all. SMT takes advantage of spare execution units, and it does show up as a second "virtual" processor to the OS, but it's just not the same as having a whole seperate core with a seperate cache. SMT is nice, but it isn't nearly as effective as dual core.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-07-20 12:21pm

The Kernel wrote:
Mr Bean wrote: Won't the hyperthreading take care of that at least for the short-term?
No, Hyperthreading is not the same thing at all. SMT takes advantage of spare execution units, and it does show up as a second "virtual" processor to the OS, but it's just not the same as having a whole seperate core with a seperate cache. SMT is nice, but it isn't nearly as effective as dual core.

I know it can't replace Dual-Core as a true CPU but I've noticed in many a system with AMD and Intel that Hyperthreading very much leads to a system seeming much more responsive. Once I'm acutaly loaded into a program and doing work then AMD wins out but general tasking that second "fake cpu" sure makes things seem more quick.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-07-20 12:32pm

Mr Bean wrote: I know it can't replace Dual-Core as a true CPU but I've noticed in many a system with AMD and Intel that Hyperthreading very much leads to a system seeming much more responsive. Once I'm acutaly loaded into a program and doing work then AMD wins out but general tasking that second "fake cpu" sure makes things seem more quick.

True, but the problem is that it can get bogged down when resources are requested that the virtual CPU can't provide (because they are being used by the real CPU). This is especially apparent in multithreaded applications that are not specifically coded for SMT.

This doesn't happen with dual core CMP, the second processor has full access to all of the resources of the primary CPU.

Miles Teg · Post by **Miles Teg** » 2005-07-20 04:22pm

I've heard Hyperthreading sucks. I've even read (from either Tom's Hardware Guide or Anandtech, if memory serves) that for many applications it actually slows things down.

In you case, I'd go with the Dual Core ($50 is nothing compared to what you are already spending)

Miles Teg

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-07-20 05:07pm

SMT can slow down certain applications but for general home usage it is a benefit and the speed penalty is not usually very high if there is one. Multiple-core is even better, of course, and then there are crazy designs like the POWER5 which have multiple cores and SMT

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-07-20 05:11pm

phongn wrote:SMT can slow down certain applications but for general home usage it is a benefit and the speed penalty is not usually very high if there is one. Multiple-core is even better, of course, and then there are crazy designs like the POWER5 which have multiple cores and SMT

Actually, the Extreme Edition of the Pentium D has SMT as well as dual cores as well. Course, Windows really doesn't seem to show benefits with over two processors (be they physical or logical) so it's probably best to stick to Linux with these things.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-20 05:44pm

System was purchased with the dual cores and Faram's suggestion of the shapr 19 inch was shelved instead I think I'll be getting the 20 inch super model down the line so I went with the free upgrade, otherwise the price was starting to inch up to painful levels especially considering the spur of the moment decision this was.

Thanks again for all your input guys esepcially concerning the dual cores because the more I think about it the better the decision was.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-07-20 06:17pm

Glad to be of some help.

And question answered so.