View Full Version : Duo core? quad core? excuse me?
So it's time for me to get a new PC
I'm going for another Dell as the one I have has been great.
Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for? all this "whatever" core stuff is a bit confusing......when would one need a quad core for example? and what the heck does it mean!
JOERAZ
19 May 08, 03:18 PM
Hmm,, were do you start, lets just say unless your a serious gamer or use CAD the more popular affordable systems these days have Dual core E6000 or 1.7Mhz and 2 Gb ram with at least 320Gb HDD & a 19" monitor,,
Think thats right,, the best advise would probily be get the best you can afford as in all thigs electronic they will be out of date before you leave the store, esptially PCs.
I bought a good system recintally for almost £1200, but that alows me to have multiple applications running at once with not much lag, it has quad e6600 with 4GB Ram
Scott_W
19 May 08, 03:20 PM
So it's time for me to get a new PC
I'm going for another Dell as the one I have has been great.
Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for? all this "whatever" core stuff is a bit confusing......when would one need a quad core for example? and what the heck does it mean!
What do you plan on doing with the computer?
No point buying "the works" if your only going to be using the internet and a few office apps.
Scott.
essexmick
19 May 08, 03:30 PM
id go for the quadcore, but as scott says an all singing all dancing you dont need just for the net ss a dual core x2 would do, but if you have th emoney a quad wont need upgrading so quickly in the future
what budget you got ange
1200 quid joe what are you using it for???
We have just bought a Dell XPS 420. It is great - card reader (for our phone cards, camera cards, tomtom cards etc), easy to download music and then upload onto mp3 and mp4 players. Has TV tuner (but need to get your own ariel wire as it doesn't come with one). It has Windows Vista Home Premium, a cordless keyboard and mouse and speakers. I works for the adults in the house (all in our 50's) and the DD (10). I would say it's a good all round machine and at the moment is on special offer at Dell.
I will be using it to browse the net mainly.......I only play the sims so I know that needs a decent graphics card. The pc I have now makes the gamd lag a bit and I always have to restart it when finished playing or nothing works.
I do things like watch stuff on youtube a lot ........ oh and I watch big brother on it each year!
That's about it I guess. My budget is around £800 - £1000.......I always want more than I actually need (don't we all) :grin:
JOERAZ
19 May 08, 03:40 PM
It has a duel monitor graphics card with HDMI output for bedroom plasma,
1TB hard drive which is 60% full at mo,, have loads of pics and vids,
Image / video editing, browsing, some online gaming too now and again
HD sound package, wireless mouse & keyboard, 512mb dedicated graphics card, all componants are good branded products
also includes RTB 3 year warrenty
Oh another thing.....when i'm on the dell site and choosing what I want do I need a modem? or is the speedtouch thing I have my modem?......sorry to be so dumb :blush:
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/original/apple-logo1.jpg
essexmick
19 May 08, 03:43 PM
Oh another thing.....when i'm on the dell site and choosing what I want do I need a modem? or is the speedtouch thing I have my modem?......sorry to be so dumb :blush:
no you dont need a modem and yes it is..hey your not dumb you either know or you dont no dumb about it :)
essexmick
19 May 08, 03:44 PM
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/original/apple-logo1.jpg
lol trust you boz lol
essexmick
19 May 08, 03:46 PM
I will be using it to browse the net mainly.......I only play the sims so I know that needs a decent graphics card. The pc I have now makes the gamd lag a bit and I always have to restart it when finished playing or nothing works.
I do things like watch stuff on youtube a lot ........ oh and I watch big brother on it each year!
That's about it I guess. My budget is around £800 - £1000.......I always want more than I actually need (don't we all) :grin:
then got for the quad ange and get as much ram as you can
Scott_W
19 May 08, 03:49 PM
You know you'll get a better deal at Dell outlet i bought a laptop there and saved nearly £300 by doing this they still come with a 1 Years warranty.
I know loads of people that have done there.
Joeraz what's the hi def like streaming to the plasma?
I have hdmi output on the laptop to the plasma and will be building a HTPC set up when we redesign the lounge after holidays.
Already have 2.5tb and pretty full up on that :)
Scott.
essexmick
19 May 08, 03:49 PM
It has a duel monitor graphics card with HDMI output for bedroom plasma,
1TB hard drive which is 60% full at mo,, have loads of pics and vids,
Image / video editing, browsing, some online gaming too now and again
HD sound package, wireless mouse & keyboard, 512mb dedicated graphics card, all componants are good branded products
also includes RTB 3 year warrenty
geez so not your avg net user then lol
i bought a quad amd phenom chip based pc for someone the other week and the chip didnt work on any mobo they had lol
I have looked on the outlet thing but don't understand some of the stuff there.........like what I definately need or what I don't. There's a dropdown box for a network card.......do I need that?
Scott_W
19 May 08, 03:57 PM
I have looked on the outlet thing but don't understand some of the stuff there.........like what I definately need or what I don't. There's a dropdown box for a network card.......do I need that?
What i did was look on there main site get the system set up i wanted i went for XPS M1530 ( laptop)
Then used there outlet and kept on looking till the right one came along with like 256 graphics card and 2 gig memory.
I seen that network option myself but all the dell systems have them already built in on there set ups ( Lan ports)
Scott.
essexmick
19 May 08, 03:57 PM
I have looked on the outlet thing but don't understand some of the stuff there.........like what I definately need or what I don't. There's a dropdown box for a network card.......do I need that?
if you have a router then you would connect via the network card so yes you need one
if you only have a modem then no
good point scott most motherboards come with a network card built in these days
Scott_W
19 May 08, 04:04 PM
if you have a router then you would connect via the network card so yes you need one
if you only have a modem then no
good point scott most motherboards come with a network card built in these days
It did nearly caught me out Mick till i checked on Dells site about the model and it said it had a LAN built in so i didn't need one with the network card.
Like i suggested double check the model your after and then look on the outlet.
Just ask if you need any more info Angie.
Scott.
essexmick
19 May 08, 04:10 PM
It did nearly caught me out Mick till i checked on Dells site about the model and it said it had a LAN built in so i didn't need one with the network card.
Like i suggested double check the model your after and then look on the outlet.
Just ask if you need any more info Angie.
Scott.
scott have you got a link to the site plz?
Scott_W
19 May 08, 04:20 PM
scott have you got a link to the site plz?
You can't seem to send the links don't work from it.
So...
Go to dell.co.uk and the top right search bar type in Outlet. Then the results will appear it's the top one there which takes you over to the outlet site.
Any problems let me know Mick.
Scott.
essexmick
19 May 08, 04:30 PM
You can't seem to send the links don't work from it.
So...
Go to dell.co.uk and the top right search bar type in Outlet. Then the results will appear it's the top one there which takes you over to the outlet site.
Any problems let me know Mick.
Scott.
ok trying it now thanks scott
Another question.....most of the processor size/speed? things seem to to be around 2.4
The PC I have now is a 3............does that mean they aren't as fast? or do I have to take into account the whole package as it were?
essexmick
19 May 08, 04:36 PM
is this (http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&~ck=betafrbsd) it, just checking
essexmick
19 May 08, 04:38 PM
Another question.....most of the processor size/speed? things seem to to be around 2.4
The PC I have now is a 3............does that mean they aren't as fast? or do I have to take into account the whole package as it were?
your existing one is i reckon a pentium 4 if you are going for a quad or dual core chip then thats fine its quicker than your P4
thing to rememeber quads have 4 cores duals have 2 your P4 had 1 :)
ok thank you! I see quite a few on the dell outlet............now it's having to be brave enough to click the buy button! scarey to thinki may buy the wrong thing!
So I take it if I get one from the outlet I just need a monitor and speakers?
essexmick
19 May 08, 04:54 PM
it looks like the 690,490 & 390 dimensions need a screen yes from what i can see
Does this seem ok?
SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
XPS 420 (System Identifier. FLV495G5)
XPS 420 Viiv Q6600 Quad Core 2.40GHz)
English - Vista Home Premium
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
System Price £452.06
Dell recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Operating System: English Windows Vista Home Premium
English - Vista Home Premium
Memory: 3072MB DDR2 667 [2x1024 + 2x512)
Hard Disk Drive: 500 GB HD (7200rpm)
Video: SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT card
Modem: Modem not included
Software: BT, AOL, Tiscali ISP Combination
MISC: 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black
Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard
Vista OnLine Getting Started Guide (WW
English - XPS 420 System Docs (UK power cord)
Assembley Mod
Image Restore - Vista
Scott_W
19 May 08, 06:44 PM
is this (http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&~ck=betafrbsd) it, just checking
Yes thats it Mick ( sorry was busy at work i ask you..... )
Does this seem ok?
SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
XPS 420 (System Identifier. FLV495G5)
XPS 420 Viiv Q6600 Quad Core 2.40GHz)
English - Vista Home Premium
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
System Price £452.06
Dell recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Operating System: English Windows Vista Home Premium
English - Vista Home Premium
Memory: 3072MB DDR2 667 [2x1024 + 2x512)
Hard Disk Drive: 500 GB HD (7200rpm)
Video: SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT card
Modem: Modem not included
Software: BT, AOL, Tiscali ISP Combination
MISC: 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black
Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard
Vista OnLine Getting Started Guide (WW
English - XPS 420 System Docs (UK power cord)
Assembley Mod
Image Restore - Vista
Thats fine Angie and you have plenty of hard drive space and a power graphics card should you play games or stream hi-def.
3 gig of memory is plenty for todays workings and most people will say 2gig is minimum now.
Scott.
Well what a mess that turned out to be!! I tried to buy it but problems.......I put a monitor in the cart and everytime I went to checkout it disappeared! tried again and again.
Guess I will have to look for another tomorrow and phone them :cry:
Scott_W
19 May 08, 07:05 PM
Well what a mess that turned out to be!! I tried to buy it but problems.......I put a monitor in the cart and everytime I went to checkout it disappeared! tried again and again.
Guess I will have to look for another tomorrow and phone them :cry:
Thats strange?
i know they have a 15min timeout if you don't do anything but i've never heard of that happening.
Try again tomorrow and see and go from there.
Scott.
So annoying! I even tried with firefox in case it was IE playing up but same result.
A question about monitors for anyone that knows.........can you use any monitor on a pc? there are some good bargains on ebay and was wondering whether I should get one from there to go with the new PC
kevbrydon
20 May 08, 12:24 PM
Have followed this thread with interest as I am upgrading mine gradually........Any Monitor will work with a PC...DVI is better............don't scrimp on your Monitor........thats the thing you stare at day in day out!!..so go for a DVI model and pay what you can easily afford
Scott_W
20 May 08, 01:56 PM
DVI is a cracking picture have my 19" hooked up to that and you can noticed it from VGA connection.
If you can try and go for DVUI but remember you graphics vard has to have a DVI output connection too.
Scott.
Well i'm not having much luck!
Managed to get the monitor at dell into my cart and stay there this time!
Went through all the form filling and payments only for it to come up saying the transaction could not be completed.
I rang and told them what had happened so did it all again over the phone.........the operator got the same response! it's nothing to do with my card, that's all fine...........seems something has gone wrong with their system. She is goping to call me back when it's sorted but she can't say whether the one I chose will actually be available now :(
Scott_W
20 May 08, 03:27 PM
Well i'm not having much luck!
Managed to get the monitor at dell into my cart and stay there this time!
Went through all the form filling and payments only for it to come up saying the transaction could not be completed.
I rang and told them what had happened so did it all again over the phone.........the operator got the same response! it's nothing to do with my card, that's all fine...........seems something has gone wrong with their system. She is goping to call me back when it's sorted but she can't say whether the one I chose will actually be available now :(
Sorry to hear that . When she calls you try and haggle you can do this with Dell if your willing enough to try it! .
If they offer you something else make sure it's the same spec or better than what you wanted don't settle for 2nd best.
If it's not as good then see what they will do for you and say to them it's not as good as the spec i wanted so what can you work out for me?
Scott.
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