Few Questions For the Smart Guys Here....

[indyjones]

1) If you had to choose between 1024 ram with a P4 2.6 or 512 with a P4 2.8 which would you choose ?

2) How much better is a P4 3.** machine than a P4 2.6 or 8 ?

3) Will I really miss much by not waiting for the 9800xt? Does a 9800 pro and a 9600xt have the same features only different speeds?

4) Are those 64bit computers worth that great?

5) I am buidling a machine at the Dell site (even though I hate the commercials) because they are seemingly cheap and offer financing. Any better sites to check out that offer the same?

Thank you guys so much for the help.

 

[kelisis]

1) I would go with the P4 2.8 1024 ram, because it won't make a difference anyways, just get the highclocked one and make sure it's a P4 "C".

2) Well, it's going to be alittle better because it is clocked higher, but nothing of a big importance. You could just overclock that 2.8 to 3.0 and alot higher.

3) Well, right now it looks like you won't miss anything. So, if you want a top of the line card, but don't want to wait for the 9800XT go with and Radeon 9800 Pro.

4) 64 chips are really worthless right now. First, they are extremely expensive and secondally, there isn't any OS's out that are 64bit yet. And mostly ever piece of software is 32bit. So I would suggest waiting until the technology matures.

5) I would check out www.alienware.com they sell really good gaming machines if you can't build your own. And they are getting cheaper too.

 

[richpull]

1. Go with the 1024 ram
2. The difference is minimal, most applications don't take advantage of a processors full capabilities.
3.I couldn't imagine you needing a 9800xt to play a direct x 9 game. I think that radeon 9600's will run any future dx9 game fine.
4. No, what 64 bit consumer programs are there, whats on the planning board? Nothing
5. Alienware is better then Dell certainly, but if you have any technical knowledge, buying your own components and assembling your own computer is very rewarding and cost- effective. Please reply to this topic if your interested in that idea.

 

[indyjones]

Yes, I just built one on Dell's site, but haven't yet clicked the button to ship
Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.80GHz w/800MHz front side bus/ HT
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory: FREE UPGRADE! 512MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
Hard Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices: 3.5 in Floppy Drive CD orDVD Drive: 48x Max CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive with Roxios Easy CD Creator®
Keyboard: Dell® Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard
Mouse: Dell™ Optical USB Mouse OM
Monitors: Video Ready w/o Monitor N [320-3000] 5
Video Card: New 128MB DDR ATI RADEON™ 9800 Pro Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card
Speakers: Z-640 5.1 Speaker System, 70W RMS w/ Game Console Adapter (Non-Dell)
Modem: 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem DFAX [313-1313] 14
Network Interface: Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet
Dial-Up Internet Access: 6 Months of America Online Membership


Final price 1600. Surely could find better, but they offer financing.

 

[oD1Nz]

1) More RAM is always good. With that processor speed difference, I'd doubt you notice anyway.

2) Around 3GHz, you *might* just start to notice a difference in performance between a 2.6GHz, and hey, if you want performance, wait for the P4 Extreme Edition, which performs quite nicely.

3) The only feature you'd really be missing out on would be dynamic overclocking - depending on the temperature of the card, the drivers would overclock it for extra performance, but keep the card within a reasonable temperature. The 9800XT probabyly gains 5FPS at most over the 9800Pro in some games, very small difference (WITHOUT dynamic overclocking).

4) 64Bits is a good idea if you want to futureproof your computer, but otherwise, I'd steer clear... while all current 64bit processors can run in a 32bit mode, they'd perform (much) better in 64bit, which currently cannot be achieved with todays versions of Windows (Which I take it, you'd want to use).

5) I really would do what others have suggested and go with Alienware or just build it yourself.

With that PC, you will be getting all the goodness of a Dell motherboard, which will probably be a major bottleneck in terms of performance, options and overclocking.

 

[indyjones]

Thanks for the help, but what do you mean a bottleneck in preformance from the Dell Motherboard? Is it any worse than another, store bought brand? Or just ot as good as Alienware? Not sure I understand. thanks again,

 

[oD1Nz]

Dell motherboards, in all honesty, suck. They are built for cheapness, not performance. I'll also refer you to this article, just for some background, even if you are configuring your own system.

A bottleneck is something that because it is so slow, slows down the entire system (IE. putting a Go-Kart engine in a truck chassis).

Most store bought brands (Asus, Gigabyte, etc.) are very reasonable, although everyone has their own preference.

Alienware uses store brands, so you can expect maximum performance and reliability, without worries of bottlenecks on the motherboard (the bottleneck might then shift to the RAM, if it isn't fast enough, for example), but then again, if you built the exact same system without the fancy Alienware case, you'd save yourself at least $500.