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Another question from me...

I'm configuring my dell system and am wondering which upgrade will offer better performance:
-512Mb RAM to 1024Mb RAM
-64Mb integrated graphics to 128Mb dedicated graphics card.

These both cost the same, but I can't afford both I'm afraid.

Thanks

Reply 1121

PieMaster

Back in the day, if you chose onboard graphics they gave you a motherboard without an AGP slot (or PCIe x16 these days) which makes upgrading in the future impossible.
However, if the machines never going to touch a game or be upgraded, go for the RAM.

Reply 1122

browser

My possible new system;

Conroe E6600
Asus P5W DH Mobo
2GB PC6400 C4 RAM (either Corsair, OCZ or Geil)
Western Digital 250GB SATA2 16MB Cache (Raptors are still too overpriced)
512MB ATI X1900XT
Creative X-Fi Platinum Sound Card
NEC 4571A DVDRW (leaving another optical drive space free for the winner of HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray)
FSP 600W PSU (Crossfire Compatible)
Logitech Z-5450 Speakers (need the wireless rear since this is for my room with no carpet)
Akasa Eclipse-62 or similar (any suggestions?)

Monitors;
Dell 20" Widescreen monitor (or different brand with similar specs for lower price....suggestions?)
BenQ FP91G+ 19" Monitor

Ideas;
Now conroe is out, i felt i could safely buy now but then they go and announce quad core (december, I think???) To wait or not to wait?
RD600 chipset has been delayed so I don't think I'll wait with the motherboard.
Graphics....ATI and Intel.....slightly worried..........also with DX10 coming (possibility of buying a slightly cheaper card, then upgrading?...don't know too much about DX10)
Monitors.....I would have gone for 1 widescreen...but worried about gaming....maybe i should buy the widescreen first...see how it is and then see if I want to add a regular monitor????

System atm is just under £1800 inc VAT and Delivery

Reply 1123

sr4470

I'd get a Samsung Spinpoint or Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 instead of the WD hard drive, and change the FSP PSU for a Seasonic.

Reply 1124

JohnC

Do you reckon this is value for money?

£550 inc. vat.

Processor: AMD64 Athlon X2 4200+ 1Mb cache AM2

Memory: 1.0GB DDR2 533mhz

Hard Disk Drive: 200GB S-ATA2 3.0Gb/s 8MB buffer

Second Hard Disk Drive: None

Optical Drive: 16x Double-Layer DVD+/-RW

Second Optical Drive: None

Graphics card: NVidia GeForce 7600GT PCI-E 256MB DDR3 TV/DVI

Floppy Disk Drive: None

Operating System: None

Sound Card: Onboard Sound

Internet and Networking: Onboard 10/100 network card (Built-in)

Monitor: 19’’ TFT Monitor

Printer: None

Warranty: 3 Years Standard Warranty

Case: Compucase 6C5K

Motherboard: ECS C15GM

I also want to add this sound card for music listening.
http://lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=1242667

Reply 1125

Chris12345

yes, do you have a link?, graphics card is quite decent for that price i think

Reply 1126

JohnC

Yup

http://www.goldenelectronics.co.uk/item--PA0601-C51GM-Magazine-advertised-AM2-Dual-Core-Package--PA0601.html

Cheers.

Reply 1127

sr4470

Does it let you upgrade ram to DDR2-667?

Reply 1128

lamenter

Does anyone know what happened to Cube247?

It used to look like This but it looks like this Now.

The new website is all Intel which i do my best to avoid.

Reply 1129

Lecter

ghost101

If you dont mind id like to know what you think of it before the end of september please. A critical review would help me decide what to get at the beginning of october.

Thx

I own a Pegasus 665 with 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo T7200 4MB L2 Cache, 2GB Ram 667Mhz, 100GB SATA HDD 7200rpm, Nvidia Geforce 7600 go with 256MB dedicated Vram, 15.4 inch WXGA (1280x800) X-glass, Windows XP Media centre edition with the external DVB-TV tuner and USB bluetooth dongle.

The laptop has SPDIF audio output.
The style of the laptop not tacky and the keyboard is slick, also being able to disable the touch sensitive mouse pad. On the keyboard, short cut buttons to open explorer and outlook.
Nice bright wide screen monitor and good viewing angles but with 1 stuck pixel.
Stable system and pre-tested system and benchmarked in addition to no bloatware unlike my brother’s Acer Aspire 9114 WLMi. And if all goes pair shaped, recovery software and partition are easy to use. The included Bullguard internet security is slick and not a resource hog as its all in one software package.
The laptop is very quiet and when the fans do kick in, they build up then silence.

I ordered the optional DVB-T USB which does integrate/works with XP media centre interface, all I need now is a remote. I haven’t properly tested the DVB-T but the channels it picks up are crisp as my desk is under my bed (being a bunk bed the frame is all metal). However, as I have DVB and Bluetooth, both not internal, thus taking 2 USB sockets plus a mouse therefore I require a USB hub.

I keep going for the DEL key which has moved and pressing the FN key instead of Ctrl like I am used to my desktop keyboard and the wrist rests get quite warm/hot

The 665 feels solid, screen is sturdy and stays where you put it. My brother’s Acer Aspire 9114 WLMi however feels slightly more fragile and my friend’s Toshiba Qosmio F30-117 is bulky.

So far FEAR combat plays well, slightly better than my friend’s Toshiba Qosmio F30-117 and brothers Acer Aspire 9114 WLMi. Played BF2 special forces online, at 800x600 @ 60Hz, everything on medium except dynamic lighting is low and 100% draw distance - very smooth!

My issues;

Port layout, the Ethernet adapter and cable on the right hand side so difficult using the mouse as gets in the way in addition to the Firewire, USB and monitor port.
Same chasis as the Fujitsu Siemens amilo M1437G.
Laptop doesn’t have a slot-in DVD/CD drive, Infra red, an integrated web-camera, S-video input (would be ideal to plug my PS2 in as I am not taking my TV to university).
Slight light leakage from the bottom of the screen but no noticeable.

I got 3Dmark05 score of 3494, AC plugged in and usual background tasks running as noting was disabled. 1.59 GB out of 2GB free physical memory.

In addition - Tested my brother's Acer Aspire 9114 WLMi,

3Dmark05 benchmark of 3410.

Laptop specs are 2.0Ghz T2500 2MB L2 cache, 2GB 667Mhz ram, 120GB 5400rpmHDD, nvidia geforce 7600 go 256MB dedicated vram, 15.4inch WSGA screen.
1.40GB out of 2GB free physical memory (so nothing was disabled e.g. antivirus norton 06 and other software/hardware such as the GPU out of the box).

Reply 1130

Jaffaholic

Thank you very much.

One thing id like to know would be, how long does the battery actually last. Im asking because a lot of laptops cant even get through a long film 150mins long.

However, thx for the post and pos rep coming your way (even though mine is pretty pathetic).

edit: damn, it wont let me rep you because ive done it recently :frown:

Reply 1131

ChrisH2107

I would consider myself to be of reasonable nous when it comes to computers, and thus have offered to help my grandfather in his search for a new one. Whilst I fully appreciate that the best deal for a high-end system can probably be sourced on the internet via some custom-spec ordering process, I need to consider that I am dealing with a man of 70 years. Accordingly, I intend to use the traditional process of visiting several high street shops before picking out the best deal. This way, he can see what he is getting for his hundreds of pounds, rather than feeling like a spectator as it whizzes out of his bank account whilst he waits for a box to arrive a week later. Furthermore, I reckon he will appreciate being able to walk into a shop and speak to someone face-to-face if he has any difficulties/problems, rather than having to converse with a company by email/phone or worse have to keep sending the computer away for checks and repairs. I'll also be setting it up with him, something I won't be able to do if he has to wait for delivery (I'll be back at uni). He won't be after something earth-shattering, performance wise (only using it for word processing, creating databases etc, browsing of the internet), though it would be handy to have a decent machine in case he gets more into computing and later requires the additional performance. With all this in mind, does anybody have any recommendations or warnings before I/he take/s the plunge on Monday?

Replies by PM welcome, no need to clog up this area and detract from the tecchie atmosphere if you don't want!

Cheers in advance :smile:

Reply 1132

Jaffaholic

Would your grandfather mind that much if you bought it online? I understand that he would want to speak to someone face to face, but really that can only be done at PC World, where the additional warranty is done by them. For all other places, youd still have to phone up and get an engineer to your house.

Reply 1133

ChrisH2107

Well, I'll see what he thinks about the idea of getting it online. Perhaps I could show him some in a PC World store, before then demonstrating how he can get the same or better online, cheaper. I'm guessing the users of this forum wouldn't recommend PC World?

Reply 1134

sr4470

I've been buying PCs\PC components for over 7 years now and have almost always found them cheaper online.

Reply 1135

PieMaster

ChrisH2107

I'm guessing the users of this forum wouldn't recommend PC World?

For complete systems, hell no. The only time I buy things from there is if they have silly reductions on TFT's or if I need something quickly.

'Local' PC shops will be no better, they often just resell things from ebuyer or dabs anyway.

Reply 1136

Lecter

ghost101 - its the thought that counts :biggrin:

.
To be honest, I have had the laptop on the mains and not had the opportunity to test it unplugged. I did for 1 hour run it off the battery but it drined pretty quick but the GPU and CPU weren't set on power saving mode when the AC is disconnected.
Also, I have noticed 1 stuck pixel and 1 dead pixel, I am peeved off about that :mad:

In addition, I don't know why the hell Rock don't change the chasis as this as I have already mentioned is similar to a year old Fujitsu Siemens amilo M1437G.

Ok guys, cheers.

I have just been looking at the evesham laptops range, I configured their top 15.4 inch laptop with MCE, DVB-T, gold warrenty and 2GB ram and came to £1491. Thus paying an extra £220 compared to my Rock for an integrated webcam and T7400. The T7400 CPU which is £100 more than the T7200 on the rockdirect site, whether the extra 0.16Ghz makes a difference, G-d knows in addition to £120 for an integrated webcam :O

Reply 1139

Zerforax

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Inspiron 1300(N09136) Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735a (1.70 GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2 (Does not include Operating System Re-Installation CD) Unit Price Incl. VAT £439.50
Catalog Number: 202 N09136
Module Description Show Details
Base Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735a (1.70 GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2 (Does not include Operating System Re-Installation CD)
Memory 512MB 533MHz Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x512)
Keyboard Internal Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
Hard Drive 60GB (5,400rpm) Hard Drive
Modem 56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter
CD/DVD Drives Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW with Software
Wireless Local Area Networking For Pentium® M Processors - Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card
Shipping Documents System Documentation
Gedis Bundle Reference List N09136 - DHS 1300 (2)
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 8.5 - English
Standard Warranty Collect & Return, 90 Days Service only
Cover It with Dell Support Services Basic Package, 2 Year At-Home Service
AntiVirus & Security Software Free - Upgrade to McAfee® Security Centre™ 36-month Protection
Power Supply 60W AC Adapter
Digital Photography Combo: Paint Shop® Pro and Photo Album® Trial
Order Information Inspiron Order - UK
Primary Battery 4 Cell, 29Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Carrying Cases Free - Deluxe Nylon Carry Case
Dell System Media Kit No Resource CD
SecureData Software Ghost 10 - 90 Day Trial
Dell Media Experience Dell™ Media Experience 3.1 Basic - Inspiron
Adobe Reader English - Adobe Reader 8.5.8
Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.
Network assistant Network Assist - 90 Day Trial
LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280x800) TFT Display

Laptop from Dell... £500 basically with delivery charge with it... worth it or not?