Comments on: Buying a new PC November Progress

By: bmunch

bmunch — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:17:30 +0000

Are solid state drive value for money? From what I know, it is a new technology that will repay you in a few years time.

By: Ace_NoOne

Ace_NoOne — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:42:09 +0000

I agree; quad core is pretty much useless right now, and probably will be for quite some time. (I don’t even know of any games that make good use of quad-core CPUs.)

I’d go for a dual-core CPU now, and then upgrade in a year or two – that’s still gonna be cheaper in the end (because high-end hardware is disproportionately expensive).*

* the same principle applies to graphics cards, by the way

By: kevinn

kevinn — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:11:24 +0000

Martin,

IMO, programs utilizing quad core ain’t mainstream (yet) – aside from games. Unless you need heavy lifting for video encoding or for render passes you might get benefits from a quad core cpu.

But for regular home/office tasks, the performance difference might be pretty much nil.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:30:27 +0000

Paymun that is a really nice offer. I want to buy it in a few months from now on and I would like to come back to it then, if that is ok with you.

I’m a bit concerned about purchasing components from overseas though ;)

Still, thank you so much for making this offer.

By: Paymun Ghaemi

Paymun Ghaemi — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:17:14 +0000

Hi Martin,
I just wanted to say that I’m an avid reader of your articles. When I read this article I decided why not repay you in some way. I own a private custom pc company. I am sure I can get those parts for cheaper and save you a few hundred dollars. Let me know if you’re interested. Cheers ;)

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:34:06 +0000

Thanks for the tips, some items will probably change anyway in the next months. Talking about cpu and ram for instance where faster ones become cheaper over time.

Why would you suggest a dual core cpu instead of a quad core one ?

By: kevinn

kevinn — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:20:19 +0000

I’d rather suggest to get the e6850 proc.

By: tinwheeler

tinwheeler — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:09:03 +0000

+60 Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Processor bundle – FREE Sword of the New World PC Game, Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Processor 3.0GHz Retail tiger direct
Only $299.99

Motherboard = $270 new egg
GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard – Retail
* LGA 775
* Intel X38
* 4×240pin DDR2 1066

Memory =$109 new egg
Kingston HyperX 2 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM (KHX6400D2K2/4G)
2 Gigs of speedy, 800MHz memory with aggressive timing

Hard drive =$120 tiger direct
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB Hard Drive SATA

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RP-600-PCAR 600W Power Supply – Retail =$40 new egg
* ATX from factor 12V V2.01
* 115/230 V
* Safety Nemko, TUV, cUL, CE, …
You Save: $10.00
($39.99 after $40.00 Mail-In Rebate)

By: John

John — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:06:13 +0000

I like the configuration.
I wouldn’t bother for 4 Gb of RAM. You can use 4 Gb only with a 64 bit OS. Are you planning to use one? Prepare yourself for many nights looking for drivers!!!
I would go for Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache as my hard drive. I would suggest 4 of them in RAID 0.

By: Ace_NoOne

Ace_NoOne — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:32:31 +0000

I haven’t paid close attention to hardware since assembling my new PC last year – so I’m grateful for this sort of updates.

Suggestion: Use a table for the components listing; that makes it much easier to read.