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  1. #1
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    Question What do you think of this PC?

    Hello guys (& girls ),

    I am looking at the following Dell PC:-

    Intel Core2Quad Q8300 2.5GHz*
    4GB DDR2 RAM
    1TB 7.2k SATA Hard Drive**
    NVIDIA GeForce GT220 1024MB DDR3
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    16X DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer Write Capabilities
    20" HD Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor***
    What do you think about the specifications above?

    * Will there be any significant performance difference if I upgrade the CPU to Q9400 2.66GHz?

    ** Do you think I should upgrade the HDD to 640GB SATA RAID 0?

    *** I would like to add in another monitor. Do you suggest another Dell or should I go with a Samsung monitor?

    I would like to add that the PC will mainly be used for work purposes and some mild entertainment. I do not play games.

    Thank you.

  2. #2
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    The 50% extra L2 cache on the Q9400 might be worth getting if you run a lot of programs in the background (or do some serious photoshopping), but otherwise i don't see much benefit (i'm a bit out of date then it comes to CPU's though, and i've tended to buy AMDs).

    Unless you are doing a lot of video editing, i would avoid RAID-0. With 4GB of ram a fair amount of stuff is going to be kept in cache anyway.

    Really depends what your work consists of. If the only graphics-intense stuff you ever do is play the odd DVD, with everything else being www+word+powerpoint+email, it is overpowered if anything.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by RemyHorton View Post
    The 50% extra L2 cache on the Q9400 might be worth getting if you run a lot of programs in the background (or do some serious photoshopping), but otherwise i don't see much benefit (i'm a bit out of date then it comes to CPU's though, and i've tended to buy AMDs).

    Unless you are doing a lot of video editing, i would avoid RAID-0. With 4GB of ram a fair amount of stuff is going to be kept in cache anyway.

    Really depends what your work consists of. If the only graphics-intense stuff you ever do is play the odd DVD, with everything else being www+word+powerpoint+email, it is overpowered if anything.
    Thank you for the clarification. I am not doing anything heavy besides having 5 non-heavy programs, 3 browsers (each with 10 tabs) running at all time.

    Regarding avoiding RAID 0, is there any reason for that?

  4. #4
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    Just curious but how much are you paying for this Dell? I just built a Core i7 920 with a GTX 260 graphics card and an SSD w/1TB Drive for $1100. It might be worthy to hop on an i7 not only cause it would be better if in the future you ever do any higher end programs but also that it is more towards the edge. LGA 775 CPUs are slowly going away.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Depeche View Post
    Just curious but how much are you paying for this Dell? I just built a Core i7 920 with a GTX 260 graphics card and an SSD w/1TB Drive for $1100. It might be worthy to hop on an i7 not only cause it would be better if in the future you ever do any higher end programs but also that it is more towards the edge. LGA 775 CPUs are slowly going away.
    This PC cost $700+ without a second monitor, and will cost an extra $150 for another identical 20" monitor.

  6. #6
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    Ok, I forgot it includes the monitor. Then there is a bigger price gap. Well in that case I just picked up a 24 Inch Asus monitor on Newegg for $200. And its awesome Personally I would prefer that over Dell.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Depeche View Post
    Ok, I forgot it includes the monitor. Then there is a bigger price gap. Well in that case I just picked up a 24 Inch Asus monitor on Newegg for $200. And its awesome Personally I would prefer that over Dell.
    Well I don't really like Asus's products. What do you think of Samsung's monitors?

  8. #8
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    I really like Samsung, Asus and Hanns G for monitors. Samsung is generally more expensive. I like these monitors:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001314
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254035
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005132


    For that price range I would get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254044

  9. #9
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    Dell's Ultrasharp monitors are extremely high quality and most of Samsung's are as well.

  10. #10
    * Will there be any significant performance difference if I upgrade the CPU to Q9400 2.66GHz?

    No. There will not be any significant speed increase to justify the extra cost.

    ** Do you think I should upgrade the HDD to 640GB SATA RAID 0?

    Depends on your use. For me personally I am not a big fan of RAID. I dont like to couple my HDs...when one of them fails then all of them fail in a RAID setup.

    *** I would like to add in another monitor. Do you suggest another Dell or should I go with a Samsung monitor?

    For me personally, the best investment I ever made was a 24 inch monitor 1920x1200 from HP. Now I dont say it has to be HP but I can tell you that the jump from 20 to 24 inch is huge. There are 24 inch monitors from LG available now that are cheap and good. Check them out.

  11. #11
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    Well for the HDD I am planning to go with 640GB SATA RAID1 instead. I was not aware that such options exist.

    However, AFAIK this is a software based RAID. What are your opinions?
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  12. #12
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    I like those specifications a lot.

    How much would it be for you to upgrade that Dell to 8GB of memory?

    -mike
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  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike - Limestone View Post
    I like those specifications a lot.

    How much would it be for you to upgrade that Dell to 8GB of memory?

    -mike
    It will be about $180 extra to upgrade to 8GB RAM, and about $90 extra to upgrade to 6GB RAM.

    My question is, will Windows 7 be able to fully utilize these RAM? or will they go into boot, cache, etc only?

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by JLHC View Post
    It will be about $180 extra to upgrade to 8GB RAM, and about $90 extra to upgrade to 6GB RAM.

    My question is, will Windows 7 be able to fully utilize these RAM? or will they go into boot, cache, etc only?
    It'll be used for cache, etc. unless you're using programs (such as virtual machines) that will take up the RAM. Otherwise, there's not much else free RAM can be used for so it depends what you mean by W7 "fully utilizing" the RAM.

  15. #15
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    The Q9400 is worth getting, although I would favour a small SSD for the OS and a 500GB or so drive for storage.

    I dont really like Dell desktops though personally, lack build quality and can be a pain to get replacement parts for.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by JLHC View Post
    Hello guys (& girls ),

    I am looking at the following Dell PC:-



    What do you think about the specifications above?

    * Will there be any significant performance difference if I upgrade the CPU to Q9400 2.66GHz?

    ** Do you think I should upgrade the HDD to 640GB SATA RAID 0?

    *** I would like to add in another monitor. Do you suggest another Dell or should I go with a Samsung monitor?

    I would like to add that the PC will mainly be used for work purposes and some mild entertainment. I do not play games.

    Thank you.
    Have you considered the Dell Studio XPS 8000? It has the new Core i5 processors which will offer a fairly considerable performance increase over the old socket 775 Qxxxx series. Prices start at $699, it's another $100 or so to match the same RAM and graphics of your current spec.

    Take a look at something like:
    http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=19979&page=7 (note some of the graphs are lower is better and others higher is better)

    That's comparing the new chips to a Q9650 which is quite a few models higher in the old Qxxxx range, and quite a bit faster than the Q8200. The low end i5, the 750, beats the Q9650 in pretty much every test.

    Anand also have a review with Core i5 750 and the Q8400, slighly faster than the Q8200 (and also includes the Q9650, so you can get an idea on the difference between those as well)- http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=3634&p=10.

    I moved to a Core i7 setup back in January, the new Intel architecture simply screams - would really recommend spending the little extra at this stage. You'll also benefit from DDR3, and with DDR2 prices increasing, I don't think it'll be long before DDR3 is cheaper when you want to throw some more RAM in later down the line. Overall, right now, I can't really the see point in picking the older Qxxxx series and socket 775 Intel setup. For cheaper builds, AMD is generally better price-performance wise, and then above that Core i5 and Core i7 is the sensible route.

    I run with 6GB DDR3, and Windows 7 seems to use all of it (obviously you need to use 64-bit to benefit).

    That said, depending on your work purposes, you might be better just saving some money and getting a cheaper quad core AMD build. Really depends what your work involves!
    Last edited by tickedon; 10-25-2009 at 09:18 AM.
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  17. #17
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    go for the higher L2 cache and make sure to use SSDs.... it made a world of difference on my machine.
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