New PC

[TheNightWatchman]

So I bought a Dell Demo PC for $800 (NZ) which is really cheap considering it's pretty much brand new... specs are


Intel Pentium D CPU 2.80GHz (dual core)
512mb DDR2 Memory
RADEON X300 SE 128MB HyperMemory
80GB SATA Hard Drive
CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive

I've already put in my DVD Dual Layer drive
My 200GB hard drive is IDE so it doesn't fit, buying a SATA 250GB drive soon
buying a 1GB stick of DDR2 memory soon

Do you think I should bother upgrading my graphics card (noting that I'm buying this PC for video editing, not games or anything like that, so these 7800GTXs are out of the question, but I'm just thinking if it's worth me spending $200 on a 7300GT or similar?)

What do you think anyway?

[kyopedlr]

I'd go for the 7800 GTX

-kyopedlr

[billyfridge]

nice one Banana.....l wish l could afford one with those specs

[texasboy]

To be on the safe side you might need to check with Dell due to problem with batteries catching fire.

May only be for notebooks.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2003826,00.asp
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/07/dell_laptop_batteries.html
cheers

[Quantum]

Sorry, even for that price (Google tells me that's about £270), you could of probabily put something together yourself for a bit better.

Problem is compared to AMD X2s and Core 2 Duo, the Pentium D is pretty much obselete. If you were to buy your own hard drive you would find it quite cheap these days to buy something quite cheap at 160 - 200 GB. If I were you I would defintly look at adding another 512 MB of ram, it will make a difference.

I googled the "RADEON X300 SE 128MB HyperMemory" and according to this: http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?page=2&articleid=662

It is actually outperformed by a NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboCache 128.

For the price you're talking about I would highly look at getting something like a GeForce 6600 or 6800 (you can get some pretty good versions of these, clock speed, memory type and features all matter, try and see if you can get a site with some feedback or check up a site that benchmarks them). If you don't play much games that were made in the last 2 years, I guess a 7300 would be perfect then.

[kyopedlr]

The recall is for Dell laptops not desktops...

-kyopedlr

[weera]

Guys, I've been wondering about these  dual core CPUs.
Is Intel Dual Core CPU released? And was it Pentium D?
And what about this new CPU that'll be twice much faster than AMD?
And what'll be the name for this new Intel CPU?

Thanks alot for helping me out guys

[kyopedlr]

Dual cores been out for awhile... the newest ones are quad cores

-kyopedl

[texasboy]

Guys, I've been wondering about these  dual core CPUs.
Is Intel Dual Core CPU released? And was it Pentium D?
And what about this new CPU that'll be twice much faster than AMD?
And what'll be the name for this new Intel CPU?

Thanks alot for helping me out guys

This might help Weera.

http://www.intel.com/cd/products/services/emea/eng/desktop/processors/300131.htm?ppc_cid=ggl|c2d_uk_dualcore|k6D93|s

http://www.intel.com/personal/news/core2duo_events.htm

cheers

[kyopedlr]

personally I would wait a bit... they are still experimenting...

-kyopedlr

[TheNightWatchman]

Sorry, even for that price (Google tells me that's about £270), you could of probabily put something together yourself for a bit better.

Are you kidding?

A new 250GB hard drive I'm buying is $150
a 1GB stick of RAM i'm buying is about $120

The CPU itself is about $300

I haven't even started on anything else - this PC from Dell with the warranty I got is worth $1700 NZ

Plus all I'm looking at is, what will be the different in buying a new graphics card?

All I see is a few hundred down the drain... because I will be able to play some new game that looks cool that I will get bored of in a week, that's about it lol.

[TheNightWatchman]

Out of interest, what would be the worth in getting a ATI RADEON 256MB X600 PCI-EXPRESS X16 (I know nothing about Radeon), as this is being sold in an auction here (also with a lot of memory and a 250 GB HDD that I wanted... nice)

[weera]

This might help Weera.

http://www.intel.com/cd/products/services/emea/eng/desktop/processors/300131.htm?ppc_cid=ggl|c2d_uk_dualcore|k6D93|s

http://www.intel.com/personal/news/core2duo_events.htm

cheers

Thx for those links Tex..

[TheNightWatchman]

Wow just set up with dual monitors, it's so fun! Editing gonna be awesome now

[billyfridge]

I just got my new PC, so l got dual flat screen monitors now......so has Kyo, but he wont tell me how he uses them