Hi all. I need your advice to decide on a new desktop/monitor for work. I work at a towing company,where i need to keep different programs open all the time(software provided by the towing clubs to open and read/print information on every call we receive).but i also need to keep record of all the work we do(maybe an office software!!). and i need fast operations with no hung ups,so i was thinking maybe a faster HD(10000 rpm)/processor. I've built my home computer,but it cost me over a $1000,especially if you get the monitor on its own.i'm trying to spend less.you look at sunday paper and you see a bunch of combo deals at bestbuy and others....do you think these would do? thank you.
$22 - LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner, Black SATA $120 - 2(TWO) Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drives, in RAID-0 $80 - ASUS M3A78 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard $24 - Intel PWLA8391GT 10/100/1000Mbps PCI NIC $60 - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4650 512MB Video Card $80 - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W Power Supply $7 - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound $200 - 2(TWO) CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 Kit $148 - AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-Core $55 - ASUS Silent Knight II 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler $164 - Windows Vista Ultimate Product Red Edition (Install x64 version) $20-$700 - Case; whatever one you like... --------------- 958.90 (without case) ...This should do everything you need and more. Depending on the programs being used, you might not need a second hard disk & raid-0 (remove it to save $60). The processor is probably overkill, but I don't know for sure without knowing the specific programs (if it is, there are less expensive quad-cores). Of course, if you already own vista 64 on the old office PC, that saves $164. 8GB is also probably overkill (4GB would save $100).
Interesting choice of parts to say the least, I'm not sure why two network cards are needed (all boards have onboard networking, the M3A78 included), why a reasonably powerful HD video graphics card has been used in an office PC, why RAID 0 has been used, which has no effect on system slowdown, if anything makes it worse, and 8GB of high speed RAM for no reason I can think of. A very expensive (and not even remotely good value) aftermarket cooler and paste are also completely unnecessary even for gamers, as long as overclocking isn't being considered, and an overclocked office system? With a better CPU like a Core 2, it wouldn't even be necessary for that either. Here's something a bit more realistic. Core 2 Duo E7400 CPU (Less cores, but outside video encodes and games you will never have used the other two anyway, and the two cores you do have are miles faster than the Phenom 9950) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206 Gigabyte EP43-UD3L Motherboard - proven reliable board from a proven reliable manufacturer, cheaper Asus boards in recent times are very suspect in build quality http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 4GB XMS2 Corsair RAM - PC6400 speed is plenty fast enough, you'll never see the difference with an office PC - 4GB is a lot of memory, but for Vista to run well, it's very handy. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184 WD Velociraptor 150GB HDD - the fastest desktop grade HDD you can buy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296 HD3450 Graphics card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102724 Plenty powerful enough for the office, ad even for HD video should it be necessary, but half the price. Corsair 400W CX Power Supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008 Still a tremendously powerful unit for the system it's going in, but worthwhile on the basis that it's a reliable, solid unit. Case is up to you, but this is one I often recommend since it's cheap, and well made. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
Just trying to cover all the unknown bases...I don't know what software he is using for the towing company, but if he has one copy open for every job...he needs lots of ram. This is also why I went with the quad-core. RAID-0 Doubles hard disk speed (in theory anyway); this is because he is considering a 10,000RPM drive, and two 500GB 7200RPM drives cost $50 less than that single 150GB 10,000RPM drive. As for the NIC, I don't use onboard NIC's as they are unreliable and slow. Of course, he still has not replied...so he probably bought something at circuit city for 40% off.
lol,no i have not.. i'm still gonna built one.AAA will take their computer by the end of march,so i figured i have untill the end of the month. i will go through every part you suggested thank you both. i'm kinda tired of AMD,all my computers had AMDs,i might consider that intel sammorris mentioned. but using raid on a 7200rpm drive,is it better/faster then getting a 10000rpm drive no raid? and for multi software open all the time,what's the main factor to keep them all accesible without hung ups,is it the ram(memory)?or the speed of everything else in general..i've experience losses in "virtual memory" in almost all of my other computers,what is the main factor to prevent "low virtual memory"? thank you very much.i'll check back more often from now on.
PS:I HAVE WINDOW XP and not vista 64 ON THE OLD COMPUTER,IT SHOULD RUN JUST FINE WITH NEWER SYSTEMS I GUESS,right? AND CIRCUIT CITY WENT OUT OF BUSINESS IN THE DETROIT AREA..
Most hang ups are from both the amount of ram you have, and what kind of processes you have running in the background. 4GB of ram is perfect for you as it will be plenty for your needs. At times I find people think that they have problems with their ram when they don't realize that their anti-virus has setup to scan periodically, causing their performance to take a huge drop out of nowhere. The best way to keep your computer responsive is to limit how much software you let run in the background, as well as staying away from viruses and malware. At any time you can hit ctrl+alt+delete and see how processes are running and how much memory they are using in the task manager. Common culprits are "legit" programs that have useless addons such as media players, adobe, photo management software, and many other wasteful programs that think they are important enough to need their entire application 'preloaded' in case you ever click it. Modern computers are more than powerful enough to load software quickly and efficiently without needing any of this preloading garbage so if you ever run into problems come back here and we can help you sort out the crap software that is hiding itself.
No, I would always recommend a 10K drive over two 7200s in RAID. The access time (which is what mainly affects how fast the system runs) is much better on the 10k drive.
Hi again. hello sammorris.don't mean to bug you,but what do you think of this.. i decided to give my 2 year old computer to work for $600. it has these features: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor. G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory. ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard. GIGABYTE GV-NX85T512HP GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card. COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RP-600-PCAR 600W ATX from factor 12V V2.01 Power Supply. Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM. i also just bought Windows Vista Ultimate Product Red Edition upgrade(x64 version)+ 4GB XMS2 Corsair RAM - PC6400 i just ordered to upgrade the system. meanwhile,i'm putting together a new one for me(i bought all parts already on sat) : Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor. G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel. MSI X58 Pro LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130221). HIS Hightech H487FN512P Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161268). CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready. Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM. and this case : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156062 also planning to install Windows Vista Ultimate Product Red Edition upgrade(x64 version)to the new one. i'm not a huge gamer,but i very much care for speed on my comp. i have tons of vids and i rip a lot. i might end up putting the 10000rpm drive in my old system for work if it does not perform fast enough at the job .. my biggest concern,on the new comp,with these parts,is 750w power supply enough? thank you again. "thank you" everyone here .
Apart from the MSI board (which is still fine, just not as good as the other X58 boards), that's a decent parts list, but you could have saved money by buying the case without the power supply. The cooling performance of the Smilodon could cause you problems with an i7 system, but you might be alright, I just can't guarantee it. A Corsair 750W TX is certainly more than enough for the system though.
i thought it's good as it has 5 fans!the free psu did not attract me i thought the price was ok compared to similar case..in fact shopping for a case,i was looking for maximum fans!!..any recommendation on an ideal i7 case? x58s are expensive man!!..that MSI has 7 sata,and some other features of my interrest,but if it might fail no i don't want it,also if u recommend another,i'll return it.. the video card,Memory Size 1GB or 512mb makes a big difference?i figured with Memory Clock 3600 MHz and Core clock 750MHz it'll be great. is a thermaltake CL-P0466 necessary for the processor? or heat sink/fan that come with it are enough... thank again.i won't bother u no more. thanks.
five very low pressure, low airflow fans. i7 chips put out a stack of heat, and the HD4870 has an auxiliary heatsink which dumps a fair amount of heat into the case as well. I don't hear of any reliability issues with the MSI boards, but the fact they are not as proficient at overclocking as the other brands suggests they are a little basic in their design. The best heatsink for the CPU would be a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme RT 1366. Most Thermaltake coolers are very poor in either design, quality or performance. The best cooled case for a reasonable-ish cost is the NZXT Tempest.
ok.done. ordered the NZXT Tempest http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047 and this motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375 and Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT CPU Cooler from heatsinkfactory.com thank you very much
yeah i noticed.i bought 6GB (3 x 2GB) i don't think i'll need more,and actually i'm not thinking of overclocking for now. but hey,thanks again
