need a little help with new computer purchase

tipptop29

just about to order a new computer the spec im getting is as follows

General Specification -
Case: Standard Tower (Black)
Upgrade to 550w PSU
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor
Motherboard: Upgrade to GA-P35-DS3L
Hard Drive: 400 GB S-ATA
RAM: 4GB DDR 2 Ram
Drives: 16x DVD/RW (+/-) & Software
Built-In Card Reader
Sound: On-board


Monitor: 22” Hi-Def LCD Flatscreen
Software -
Operating: Windows XP Home Edition
General: General Utilities & Software

i have a choice of video cards
GeForce 8600GT 512MB PCI express 179 euro
is being recommended

is this video card good enough to run a 2 or 3 monitor setup ?

any suggestions or advice much appreciated

ZZR1100

tipptop29 wrote: »

just about to order a new computer the spec im getting is as follows

General Specification -
Case: Standard Tower (Black)
Upgrade to 550w PSU
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor
Motherboard: Upgrade to GA-P35-DS3L
Hard Drive: 400 GB S-ATA
RAM: 4GB DDR 2 Ram
Drives: 16x DVD/RW (+/-) & Software
Built-In Card Reader
Sound: On-board


Monitor: 22” Hi-Def LCD Flatscreen
Software -
Operating: Windows XP Home Edition
General: General Utilities & Software

i have a choice of video cards
GeForce 8600GT 512MB PCI express 179 euro
is being recommended

is this video card good enough to run a 2 or 3 monitor setup ?

any suggestions or advice much appreciated

the Geforce 8600gt will run 2 monitors max.
you will need either 2 Nvidia cards SLI or a single matrox card which supports 4. Also get VT multi display software if u plan on using multi monitors

tipptop29

will the video card software not run the 2 monitors

valor

do not get that video card its as loud as a train

ZZR1100

tipptop29 wrote: »

will the video card software not run the 2 monitors

yes the card will run 2 monitors through windows no problem . VT Multi display is an addon u can get which among other things adds a few buttons to the title bar allowing u to move windows between monitors with a single click

Hitman Actual

I think you're cutting it a bit fine with a 550W PSU with those specs,
especially if the Quad is one of the earlier 65nm processors (the newer 45nm obviously aren't as power hungry).

tipptop29

thanks 4 all the help as i have no clue really what all these things are/mean
but in general am just trying to buy a good computer to last 4or 5 years

so in summary

i need to up my power supply, would a 650 w psu or750 w psu be good enuff

and can some 1 post the name of a suitable matrox card( i presume these are stand alone video cards as well)there are so many to choose from on their website, or other exact video cards that will do the job rite aka nvidia sli but which 1s?


again thanks 4 the help
jake

luckylucky

This Pc seems very high end. Are you a gamer as well?
If it's for playing poker and just about most other stuff, I would have thought it was overkill. That is no need for a Quad processor and probably not for such a high end graphics card either.

I'm thinking of buying a new pc too. So a quick couple extra questions?
just wondering what people think of Vista in regards to poker playing and which version should I get?
On the Portuguese Dell site at the minute I have the choice of Xp Pro(my current operating system), Vista Business or Vista Ultimate (Ultimate version is €50 extra).

4 GB v 2 GB. I can have loads of poker sites and several poker tables, poker apps, office apps and other applications open at the same time. Would having 4 GB instead of 2 GB make a big difference?

tipptop29 wrote: »

in general am just trying to buy a good computer to last 4or 5 years

You might want to rethink this line. This has also been my attitude, but after discussing this on another computer forum I've been persuaded it's the wrong way to think about it.

Why?
Say you buy a high-end pc now to last you 4 or 5 years, within about 18 months that high end pc will be inferior(perhaps even significantly so) to what a new cheap but reasonable computer would cost you. That is you could buy a value pc that would be very adequate for your tasks now, upgrade in 2 years time to a better value pc. All for less than the high-end pc that has to last you 4 or 5 years. Anyway just worth thinking about I think.

tipptop29

COST OF THIS PC IS 1500 WITH 1 MONITOR

have plenty of other monitors about
i tend to have a lot of business software on the machine as well
nothing too technical difficult to move from machine to machine but beyond me
and it can be expensive to get the shop to do it
tend to game a bit also and as i got broadband this month hope to do a bit more

so spending a few hundred on a machine to last 5 yrs ish seems ok

ps operating system will be xp as ever1 i talk to says vista is hell

Macspower

your spec looks pretty good and is more of a gaming PC than a poker machine....

I would go for a better power supply... power supplies are all about brand names.... a 700 watt corsair for example is prob equivilant to a 1300 from "Icantbelieveit'snotcorsair"... so recognised brand names here... 500 will do the job but allow a little space for expansion...

the 8600GT is an ok video card but so so much better is available for not a lot more.... 9600 is a great card for the money and if you play games consider the 8800ST or the GTS... my GTS laughs at Crysis

make sure to get decent ram... 4GB of fast ram is pretty cheap so no need to skimp

where are you buying from? consider www.hardwareversand.de for some of the best value around and they build it for 20 euro... if you need any help with the spec give me a PM as I've been through this one recently

Macspower

just see you post there now..... 1500 is quite a lot for the spec you've mentioned....
xp is still the way to go and is what I put on mine.....

i'll go and spec one now on that site and see what I come up with similar to your build...

Macspower

have a lok at this for example..... i've skimped on case and some bits but no monitor included but the stuff is well capable of gaming as well as poker....

phantom_lord

i'd never go back to xp after using vista.

Macspower

phantom_lord wrote: »

i'd never go back to xp after using vista.

I think I'm just afraid of it......

Macspower

heres a spec similar to your original one....

luckylucky

phantom_lord wrote: »

i'd never go back to xp after using vista.

Can you tell us why. I haven't used Vista at all yet, normally I'd prefer to use the latest stuff but there seems to be a lot of negativity vis-a-vis Vista.

Hitman Actual

luckylucky wrote: »

4 GB v 2 GB. I can have loads of poker sites and several poker tables, poker apps, office apps and other applications open at the same time. Would having 4 GB instead of 2 GB make a big difference?

You could download Rivatuner. It's mainly for Graphics card monitoring/auto-fan settings, but there are loads of other general monitoring options there as well. Find the Physical Memory plug-in and you can see how much memory your system is using with all your applications running. Or the easier way is to just use Task Manager and look at the Processes tab.

But I doubt you're using even a 1GB of your mem with those apps. The only reason I could see to go with 4GB at the moment is if you're upgrading to Vista and going to be gaming and/or doing media-intensive jobs like converting DVDs, etc.
To the OP:
When it comes to the processor, the only real reason to go with a Quad is, again, if you're doing media-intensive jobs. Alternatively if you want the main power for gaming, get a good Core 2 Duo instead and spend the extra money on a GTS (or GTX if the money will stretch) graphics card. If you find the Duo becomes a bottleneck (highly unlikely), they're extremely overclockable.

Also, if you do go with the quad, get a decent cooler (Tuniq Tower I think gets good reviews). Don't stick with the stock cooler. Those quads run very hot. Good PSU's and coolers are extremely important.

I know you're talking about getting 5yrs out of a PC, but the specs you have are not really future-proof. For a start DDR3 memory is hitting some level of maturity these days so maybe consider getting a DDR3-compatible motherboard, and some DDR3 RAM. Your €1500 budget might not be able to stretch that, but it would give you a more future-proof base.

Like lucky says, you won't build a PC now that will last for 5 years. It's a constant cycle of replacing parts every 12/18 months, and having a good upgradeable base may be very cost-effective in the long run.

Hennessy

phantom_lord wrote: »

i'd never go back to xp after using vista.

Wait till you have your first Vista crash. I was going to agree with you earlier today. Then I come home. Reboot and my PC is back to almost new. Old desk top. Missing recently installed programs. Gadgets are back. Even the Windows "Welcome" message stuff is back. IE7 is like a new install and I have lost all my Fav's. Event a system restore to two days ago changed nothing.

I would be fairly PC literate but there is no good reason for this. I get some "Rundll32" stoppped working. All I did last night was install poker.com and Gutshot


All my Downloads are gone too

Hennessy

Hennessy wrote: »

I would be fairly PC literate but there is no good reason for this.

orly?

How about you created another user admin account last night to get jiggy with z network to access the notebook? And when you rebooted you logged into that "new" fresh account. You tool!!!!

You may laugh people but I was quite upset considering I had downloaded about 20 gigs over the last few weeks.

So eh yeah. I am finding Vista is quite good once you get used to it.

And stuff :(:o

mdwexford

lol, vista ftw