I'm thinking of a system upgrade. It's been a while since I've shopped 
computers. Dell has a discount deal with the company (I wished I had 
known this when I bought my wife's laptop ... I literally found out the 
day after I pushed the "purchase" button)  So, I start specing a system. 
When greeted with the processor options, I found something drool-worthy. 
Core 2 Quad. O.o (!!)

[Mmmmm, thinking very pleasant thoughts of POV 3.7 and this machine.] 
Speced out with everything except the video card, it's less than $600 
(!!!) I'll have to get the card I want separately, though.

I'm wondering how it'll fare in terms of gaming performance, and 
photoshop performance (the only other big CPU soaking things I do)

I'm planning on installing a mid-level DX10 GeForce card into it for my 
gaming pleasure (something that *might* run flight sim decently)


-- 
~Mike

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On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:08:47 -0500, Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:

>I'm thinking of a system upgrade. It's been a while since I've shopped 
>computers. Dell has a discount deal with the company (I wished I had 
>known this when I bought my wife's laptop ... I literally found out the 
>day after I pushed the "purchase" button)  So, I start specing a system. 
>When greeted with the processor options, I found something drool-worthy. 
>Core 2 Quad. O.o (!!)

I'm doing something similar, but piecing it together instead.  We get a discount from
Dell too, but I couldn't find any Dell machine that I thought was a good starting
point.  I keep adding nicer and
nicer parts though.  I'm up to about $1300 without an OS.  :(

+ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 
+ Asus P5Q-E motherboard 
+ 4GB PC8500 DDR2 memory 
+ GeForce 9800 GT video card 
+ Antec 300 case 
+ 2x 500GB hard drives 
+ 22" Samsung LCD 
+ ...

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Kyle wrote:

> I keep adding nicer and
> nicer parts though.  I'm up to about $1300 without an OS.  :(
> 
> + Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 
> + Asus P5Q-E motherboard 
> + 4GB PC8500 DDR2 memory 
> + GeForce 9800 GT video card 
> + Antec 300 case 
> + 2x 500GB hard drives 
> + 22" Samsung LCD 
> + ...

I did that once - but with HP servers.

"Hmm, OK, so I'll take 32 Quad-Xeon CPUs, 64 GB RAM, 16-element RAID 
array..."


(Mind you, I think that includes HP-UX, so it's probably a bagin.)

More recently I did a similar thing with Apple. I mean, a "basic" Mac 

fun, I took a PowerMac and put all the best options on it - 2x 
Quad-Xeons at the highest clock rate, lots of RAM, etc. It came out... 
expensive, oddly enough. :-D

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On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:41:42 -0400, Kyle <hob### [at] gatenet> wrote:

>  I'm up to about $1300 without an OS.  :(

Speaking of which, anyone running the 64-bit version of Vista?  I'm concerned about
any compatibility nightmares with 32-bit apps.

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Kyle wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:08:47 -0500, Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I'm thinking of a system upgrade. It's been a while since I've shopped 
>> computers. Dell has a discount deal with the company (I wished I had 
>> known this when I bought my wife's laptop ... I literally found out the 
>> day after I pushed the "purchase" button)  So, I start specing a system. 
>> When greeted with the processor options, I found something drool-worthy. 
>> Core 2 Quad. O.o (!!)
> 
> I'm doing something similar, but piecing it together instead.  We get a discount
from Dell too, but I couldn't find any Dell machine that I thought was a good starting
point.  I keep adding nicer and
> nicer parts though.  I'm up to about $1300 without an OS.  :(
> 
> + Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 
> + Asus P5Q-E motherboard 
> + 4GB PC8500 DDR2 memory 
> + GeForce 9800 GT video card 
> + Antec 300 case 
> + 2x 500GB hard drives 
> + 22" Samsung LCD 
> + ...
> 
> 


That sounds strangely like the one I just built.

Intel Core2 8400
ASUS P5Q-Pro
4GB PC8500
Sapphire 3850 512MB DDR3
Antec Sonata III case
2x 500GB

total ~$750


The P5Q-E is a nice board, I would have went with it except a deal made 
it a $60 difference instead of the $20 difference it was when I was 
first looking.




Tom

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Kyle nous illumina en ce 2008-09-30 10:58 -->
> On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:41:42 -0400, Kyle <hob### [at] gatenet> wrote:
> 
>>  I'm up to about $1300 without an OS.  :(
> 
> Speaking of which, anyone running the 64-bit version of Vista?  I'm concerned about
any compatibility nightmares with 32-bit apps.
> 
Vista 64 bits should run just about any 32 bits apps without problem. It's a 
little bit like when windows 95 came out and most applications where still 16 
bits...
Where you can have problem, is with drivers for some older periferals that won't 
run in a 64 bits environment. If all your components are post 2007, you 
should'nt have any problem.
This is based on the various repports I red about Vista 64.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You know you've been raytracing too long when you are compulsive, neurotic, 
anti-social, paranoid and manic-depressive but basically happy.
Quietly Watching

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Mike Raiford wrote:

> 
> I'm planning on installing a mid-level DX10 GeForce card into it for my 
> gaming pleasure (something that *might* run flight sim decently)
> 

Hmmm. No, no. that won't work. :(

After looking up the tech specs I built and priced, it turns out it's 
PCIe 1x (16x seems to be the standard for just about any decent video 
card) The next series up does have 16x (32x, I believe, actually), but 
the price is closer to 1000.  Still not a bad deal, but it means I'll be 
holding off for a while before I put down the cash on that one.

In the meantime, I found a nice AGP card that will probably boost gaming 
performance nicely using the Radeon 3850 chipset.

-- 
~Mike

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Mike Raiford wrote:
> After looking up the tech specs I built and priced, it turns out it's
> PCIe 1x (16x seems to be the standard for just about any decent video
> card) The next series up does have 16x (32x, I believe, actually), but
> the price is closer to 1000.  Still not a bad deal, but it means I'll be
> holding off for a while before I put down the cash on that one.
> 
> In the meantime, I found a nice AGP card that will probably boost gaming
> performance nicely using the Radeon 3850 chipset.

	If you ever want 3D functionality in Linux, then be *very* careful
about your video card selections.

-- 
When you die, you lose a very important part of your life.
                -- Brooke Shields


                    /\  /\               /\  /
                   /  \/  \ u e e n     /  \/  a w a z
                       >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
                                   anl

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> Speaking of which, anyone running the 64-bit version of Vista?  I'm 
> concerned about any compatibility nightmares with 32-bit apps.

Running 64-bit Vista here on this machine.  Haven't seen any compatibility 
problems at all, and I've installed a fair amount of 32-bit stuff (actually 
most of what I've installed is 32bit I'd guess).

As Alain said, check for the drivers of each part you plan to buy, check 
that they offer a Vista-64bit version on their website otherwise there 
*might* be a problem.

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On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:37:58 -0500, Mueen Nawaz <m.n### [at] ieeeorg> wrote:

>	If you ever want 3D functionality in Linux, then be *very* careful
>about your video card selections.

That's one of the things that has now led me away from the ATI cards.  The same can be
said for OpenGL support, ATI has not done it well.  Plus, their Windows drivers are
now very bloated, I think due
to them being converted over to the .NET platform.

I haven't used an NVIDIA card personally, but have read good reviews regarding their
Linux and OpenGL support.  What about their Windows drivers?  Are they as bloated as
the ATI drivers?

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