Hardware geeks opinion

Milan Fiori · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:11 am Post subject: Hardware geeks opinion

So last month (on my birthday no less) I won a new computer on a contest on a website a frequent, and today it was finally completed being built and is being shipped out. And I wanted some opinions on what people think about it. Since I'm more about software than hardware.

Processor: XPS 630 Intel Core2 Extreme processor E8300 (2.83GHz 1333FSB) w/Dual Core Technology and 6MB cache (One of the bigger things I want an opinion on)

Memory: 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz x3 (So 6gb total. Corsair brand as far as I can tell good stuff I think)

Graphics: 512MB Radeon ATI HD 3870 (This is biggest thing I want an opinion on, along with the processor.)

Hard drive: 500GB NCQ SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache (Another thing. Specifically what's the different between this and a RAID HD)

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card (I somewhat know about this already)

Monitor: AOC 2216SW Black 21.6" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 3000:1 (Is AOC a good brand?)

Um yeah I think that's the big important stuff. It's a Dell XPS, set up for heavy online gaming. Compared to my crappy laptop it's still a huge improvement, but I'm curious how good these items actually are.
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Decado · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:45 am Post subject:

What OS is it being shipped with?
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Kohaku · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:29 am Post subject:

The graphics is still very much usable, even though there's the new one (radeon 4850 & 4870 that's been getting rave reviews at Toms Hardware). You could play pretty much all recent PC games at high resolution with that, so, unless you wanted to impress your friends with out-of -this-earth graphics benchmark score, stick with it. (but still, if you wanted an upgrade, 4850 is just below $200).

The processor, well, it's one of the best your money could buy. The memory is enough, but since the price of DDR2 6400 went down skyrocketing, you might want to consider an addition of 2 GB, especially if you use Vista.

For the hard drive, 500gb with 16mb buffer is a standard for gaming enthusiast, and I think you'd have little needs to go beyond that number. RAID is a setup for two hard drive, and I didn't really reccomend someone doing it (that's why they usually keep it optional.)

AOC is another respectable Taiwanese brand, and 22" is a good size, still not too huge for your eyes and standard desktop table. And the sound card is good, not for audiophile ears, but still really good. And did you get any speakers?

With that, you could conclude that your system is quite a badass. My own specs isn't half as good as yours, honest. Lastly, conggratulation!
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Milan Fiori · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:39 pm Post subject:

It's being shipped with Vista, though from all the horrible things I've heard about it, I might break down and put XP on it. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks Kohaku, answered most of questions!

I had a feeling it was slightly outdated, but that's okay, out dated stuff tends to be more stable, and I'm poor student so... upgrading now isn't needed.
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Kohaku · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't say it's outdated, it's still really good, and I think if you try to buy it yourself, it's still above $2000 all.
Especially, if you're a poor student (like me), things like these are more than enough.

Glad I could help you with this old hobby of mine , oh, and happy belated birthday, too.
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