Looking For Advise On New Cpu

[mcflyiup]

I'm lookin at picking up a new desktop and was wondering if anyone has experience with the new Core 2 Duo. I was looking at a new Dell 410 with this CPU. Any recommendations?

[raz-0]

the core 2 duo is probably the best overall CPU on the market at the moment. For folks who never used a multi-processor machine before, you'll notice things go a lot smoother.

Other than that it has straight up good performance for the buck and is reasonably energy efficient and not too obscenely hot.

That being said, here's a very straight up review of the 410.

http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?a...Ghjb25zdW1lcg==

It's not a bad package, but it is basically a dell dimension with an XPS on it and not much for your extra dollar.

You should be able to configure a dimension e520 very similarly for less dollars.

[Putty]

Whats yur budget?

[mcflyiup]

I'm going to reuse my monitor, so I would say 1300-1400 for everything else.

[mcflyiup]

Raz-o thanks for the website link. There is a lot of info on everything for computers.

[raz-0]

If your budget is 1300-1400 you should be able to get a pretty bad-ass system together. However, if you don't need a top of the line gaming rig, you can probably get something really nice with enough cash left over for a used glock or a nice monitor.

definitely read the [H] consumer site reviews. It'll give you some insight as to what you are paying for.

What are you going to use your system for. There's absolutely no point in paying for stuff you aren't going to use (i.e. dropping cash on a good 3d gaming video card if you don't do anything that uses it).

[mcflyiup]

I'm not a gamer, but I always tend to buy good quality products. I also want it to be fast enough for future software. I guess I don't want to limit myself and want something better later on. I will be using the computer for basic applications such as Word, Excel, CDs, Internet, etc. Thanks for the help.

[Austin Bradley]

Right now Im building a new computer for my dad that is going to be around 1300 dollars and it is also very capable in the new games.

Processor- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

Motherboard- Intel D975XBX2

Memory- OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 SDRAM 800

Model #- OCZ2P8002GK

Hard Drive- Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 16 MB Cache SATA

Model #- WD2500KS

Graphics Card- Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 256MB PCI Express x16

Model #- 100168L

Audio Card- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

Model #- SB0350

Case- Antec P180

Power Supply- SeaSonic S12 430W

Model #- S12-430

If you want to save a little money, downgrading your graphics card and not having an audio card would be perfectly fine if you do not intend on gaming. You also would only need 1 GB of RAM instead of 2GB only using it for what you said. If you want excellent gaming I would upgrade the grpahics card to the 512MB version. The Antec P180 Case has a very innovative design, stays cooler than many other cases, and is quieter but it can be a pain to wire it. If you want those features though a little extra time wiring is worth it.

Something I havent got yet for dad's computer is the disk drives. You probably will want a DVD drive since a lot of new software are dvds. Disk drives and floppys are very inexpensive now. I prolly will go with a Samsung one for dad's comp.

All these components are compatible and if you would like a variant of it based on your needs get back to me and I can put a configuration together for you.

Edited November 23, 2006 by Austin Bradley

[mcflyiup]

I built my last one 5 years ago and it was fun, but I have not really looked into it to see if it was worth building again. Plus I figured with all the customization allowed on new systems you could get it almost exactly the way you want it. I need to keep researching my options. Thanks for the list.

[Nik Habicht]

I figured with all the customization allowed on new systems you could get it almost exactly the way you want it. I need to keep researching my options. Thanks for the list.

Yes you can ----- but at a steep price, because the computer company needs to make a profit to. In early 2005 I needed to build a new computer to deal with the photos I was shooting daily as a newspaper staffer. Raz-0, Sandoz and a host of others talked me through my options. I wound up with a screaming 4 drive system that continues to kick butt almost two years later......