Lately I've been considering getting a new computer that puts out alittle more juice.
But I would like some advice and/or opinions from you lot before ordering anything. :)
I don't got all the money in the world so I need to be alittle picky.

So, let's first look at what I'm considering:

Dell Dimension 9200
* Intel® Viiv™ Core™ 2 Quad-Core Q6600-processor (2,4 GHz, 1066 MHz, 8 MB buffer)
* 2048 MB 667 MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2 x 1024]
* 500 GB seriell ATA RAID 0 stripe [2x250GB 7200 o/min-station with DataBurst™ buffer]
* 256 MB nVidia™ GeForce 8600GTS grafics-card

And what I'm replacing it with:

* Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz (2 CPU's, Dual Core I believe, each of which operates at 3.40GHz. Or so I understand it.)
* 1536MB RAM, I forget what type though. Definatly DDR2 SDRAM. Not really important really cause these are of older design. :)
* 73 GB Maxtor 6Y080M0 Harddrive (Also got 1 internal 120GB harddrive and one external at 250 GB aswell, but these would be moved over to the new one)
And lastly, my joy and pride :)
* 512 MB DDR3 ASUS EAX1900XTX grafics-card

Now you might be thinking "You crazy? You gonna switch out that with an 8600GTS?!?"
Or maybe you're thinking it's about time to lose that x1900 card, I don't know. :)

If it's the former, I am thinking about moving over the x1900, which is why I'm choosing the 8600GTS card. It's the cheaper option. My only other option would be a 768 MB nVidia® GeForce® 8800 GTX card. But it would cost me darely to upgrade to that.

Another thing I'm not sure of yet, is, I have the option to get it with either Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, or Vista Home Premium. But I'm not sure I'm ready to get Vista just yet.


So, question is, would it be worth it?

Any opinions welcome.

i'd just move over the X1900 and be done with it, especially if you'll be sticking with XP for a while. the X1900 offers similar performance on DX9 games when compared to the 8600. that way, you can save yourself a couple hundred dollars, and then you can get yourself an 8800 or an HD2900XT down the road when a lot more DX10 games are available.

otherwise, that should be a decent rig, although i'm not one to go with a Dell. anyways, good luck with everything, and i hope you get some good deals. :)

Well, the thing is, I have to buy the 8600. It's part of the rig. :)
There's no getting around it.

What I was thinking was, that the x1900 might still be better than the 8600 in the new rig. But me, I wouldn't know that until I tried it. ;)

How much is this Dell going to cost you?

How much is this Dell going to cost you?

Exactly! Dell arent known to put premium components in their systems.

I'd really recommend a DIY!! We can help you get it just the way you want it...anything to help you stay away from Dell !!

Also, why quad core ?? Theres not many apps out there that will push a dual core. Unless you are into HD video post processing and graphical/design apps...then x4 wont be entirely relevant *yet*

I'd stick to a c2d/Am2 mainboard that has quad core upgradeability and focus your cash instead on a gfx card :) It all depends on what OS and games you plan to use... The Dx10.1 gfx cards arent due anytime soon, so an 8800GTS 620MB will kick much ass for a good time to come !!

mtfbwya

Mainly, this is for gaming purposes.
I'm still not happy with the preformance of my computer even after I got the x1900 card installed, although it was a noticable change from the previous grafics-card.

The x1900 is about a year old now I believe. The rest of my rig, that is mainboard and CPU and harddrive (partitioned into C:/ and D:/ ), is well over 2 years old now. And the rest again, soundcard and DVD drivers etc, extra internal HardDrive, are scavanged from even older computers of mine.
You could say it's very DIY. :D

So I'm looking for something fresh and new again. My sis has had Dell for years now and has been very satisfied with them. And currently, her rig outpreforms mine, which I don't like, obviously. :p Even after I got the x1900.
I live in Norway, so maybe they assemble Dell PC's better than over in the States maybe? :p I don't know. :)

The rig will cost, if I can get the currency exchange right from NOK to USD, about 8,500 Kr, which equals something like 1,455 $.

About the quad core, yes, I've heard it doesn't really give as much as you'd expect. Not compared to a dual core (like you said, yet :) ).

All I might just need is a new motherboard and CPU.
But that's when I'm getting myself out on deep water, where I have no business being. :D I'm kinda like someone who thinks he knows well enough about these things, but when push comes to shove it turns out I don't. :p


Like I said, any suggestions and opinions are welcome.

I don't know the stores in Norway but normally when you assemble your own PC you can get better quality/price ratio and you can customize the PC to get what you really need and want (some places can assemble them for you if you don't want to do it yourself). Also, when you want to upgrade, it might be more complicated with Dell. It might be worth asking for store recommendations on a Norwegian tech forum :giveup:

The 8600gts won't give you a better performance than the x1900xtx. If you want to see an improvement, go for at least the 8800gts (640MB version if possible): http://xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce8-roundup.html)

...then you can get yourself an 8800 or an HD2900XT down the road when a lot more DX10 games are available.

Actually, I would not recommend getting a DirectX 10 Card yet in any form. Even though this update is not required or even that important, a new update from MS is going to be released for the DX10 engine (to 10.1), that will NOT be compatible with current DX10 cards. Like I said, it's not even a very important update, but right now, there aren't even enough DX10 required games to make it worth your while. Stick with your current card.

But in any case, good luck!

Figured out what mainboard I had again.
It's an ASUS P5GD1.

D333, I guess I can get pretty much whatever I want if I decide to just upgrade my current one. As for store recommendation, there's only one store in town I trust. :)
Plus I get discount there. ;)

I just need pointers to what's good or not.

And currently, her rig outpreforms mine, which I don't like, obviously. Even after I got the x1900. What are the specs on your sister's system? IMO you've got a pretty decent system already that will run most games out there just fine so I'm curious to know what your sister's system has under the hood if it outperforms yours.

If you have a Pentium 4 running at a non-overclocked 3.4 GHz then you likely have a CPU that uses hyperthreading which isn't a true dual core. I always thought of hyperthreaded processors as having something like 1.5 cores. :p

Oh yes, and I'm also one who thinks you should DIY instead of buying from a manufacturer. :D

Actually, I would not recommend getting a DirectX 10 Card yet in any form. Even though this update is not required or even that important, a new update from MS is going to be released for the DX10 engine (to 10.1), that will NOT be compatible with current DX10 cards. Like I said, it's not even a very important update, but right now, there aren't even enough DX10 required games to make it worth your while. Stick with your current card....

10.1 is an important update indeed(see thread on mainpage) but it is not one that should influence **current** purchasing decisions !

It all depends on what games/what rez/what OS. Generalised statements arent really detailed enough to be helpful to anyone.

@Jan... Dell in Norway vs US vs Namibia isnt really relevant to build quality. They all use the same components. Dont forget, more than 90% of PC components are manufactured in Asia.

There is only one time I recommend pre configs to people, and that is if they are not confident to build/fix/maintain one themselves. A young and clever person like anyone here should be able to build a super gaming pc with no probs, with good research :)

While your at it, you can build it the way you like... if you are a Lan gamer, a great case to build in is the Thermaltake Lanbox
http://www.pc-infopratique.com/images/banque/lanboxit3.jpg)
(LCD screen is an add on)

or if you are a fan of smallforms, you can go past any of the shuttle P2 series (my sn27p2 is due any day now!)
http://img.clubic.com/photo/000000FA00263596.jpg)

its should ne noted that the shuttle cases only allow two exp slots, which are usually taken up by one multi GPU card if you run a gaming rig. A Lanbox has more exp slots(4)

The 8600gts won't give you a better performance than the x1900xtx

cmon D333!! Does anyone expect that a card from nvidia budget G80 range will fare well against ATIs flagship Dx9 card..

Still, if you game at a modest rez, it will get you by - and will continue to do so once the dx9 sdk is totally superseded. :)

Most people Ive come across who like the 8600 are mediacenter system builders, as the 8600 is available with passive cooling, and has native H.264 decoding/purevideo 2 support(which the 8800 series dont have)

mtfbwya

It would be cheaper and better to upgrade what you've got instead of blowing ~$1400.00US on a Dell.

You've already got a kicka$$ graphics card. My advice would be to hold onto it until this whole DX10.1:rolleyes: (basically M$ giving the finger to all early-adopters of DX10 hardware) nonsense is straightened out.

How old are your harddrives? Slow drives are the most common performance bottle-neck in any computer. Even 2 cheap, modern 7200.10 drives in a RAID-0 would probably give you a dramatic performance boost.

If you want to get a new motherboard for a new Core2 Duo or Quad CPU, I think that just about everyone here would recommend ASUS hands down, myself included. Make sure that it has Intel's new P35 chipset and not the older P965 for stability and upgradeability reasons.

DDR2 RAM is really cheap in the States right now and probably worldwide due to a glut in the market, so you can get at least 2GB on the cheap. Lots of people here like Kingston. I prefer Crucial with their Micron D9 series chips myself.

Core2 Duo is the most overclockable CPU in recent memory, so you can get a cheap one and an aftermarket heatsink and crank it up to >3GHZ in most cases, where it will out-perform any other CPU out there by a considerable margin. Aside from pin-modding, Dells don't overclock at all, AFAIK. Core2 Quad (especially the latest stepping, G0) also overclocks well, but you'll need a top-of-the-line aftermarket heatsink to get the most out of it and as Astro has already pointed out, quad-core isn't really necessary for most people yet. It all comes down to whether you think C2Q is worth the extra ~$150.00US it will cost over C2D. Maybe it is.

You could probably get all of these components for less than half the price of that Dell (or a little more than half if you opt for C2Q) and essentially have a brand-new computer. Best of all, you won't have to deal with Dell's customer service reps, whose main purpose in life seems to involve doing everything in their power to keep from having to honor the warranty that you paid good money for should something go wrong (yes, I know this from experience;) ).