New Computer Purchase

My 5-year old Dell is crapping out :cry I think it has developed senile dementia. :banghead I've tried everything I can think of to keep it going, but further upgrades would only be a waste of time and money.

So have to crack open the wallet and buy something. I can get a pretty decent company discount through Gateway Select and am considering the following:

CPU: Intel 2 Duo Processor E6600 (2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 4MB cache)
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Board: Intel 975X Chipset with DDR2
RAM: 4096MB 667MHz Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (4-1024MB modules)
HD: 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA II/300 hard drive w/ 16MB cache
Drive: 48x/32x/48x CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Drive: 16x Double-Layer Multi-Format DVD Writer DVD±/R±RW/CD-R/RW
Monitor: Gateway 22" Widescreen High-Definition LCD Display
Chassis: Gateway 7-bay BTX tower case
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 7500LE 256MB (512MB shared) G72 NTSC
Power Supply 700-Watt

Considering I haven't bought a computer in 5 years, does this look like a decent purchase for about $1800 (U.S) confused

Will be mainly used for digital photography, games, music.

 

I would say a sensible collection.Choose the software carefully, for Vista, if you want photography, games etc:
I did a post of links for Vista compatable programs.
Below is that information
Microsoft hardware advice for Vista

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window....mspx?mfr=true

Microsoft advice on cpu, and Graphics for Vista.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window....mspx?mfr=true

And

Vista drivers site

http://www.radarsync.com/vista/
Compatability list
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.ph...atibility_List
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.ph...List#AntiVirus

 

I use a similar graphics card, but I am not a gamer, so its o.k for me, but you might consider upgrading, as Vista love the graphics.

 

personal i would get 2 -250GB in a raid before a single 500GB

 

Thanks for the good info. I'll keep those things in mind when I go to make my purchase.

Just curious, but why 2 x 250GB verses 1 500GB? Any advantages/pitfalls I should be aware of?

 

I wouldn't worry about the RAID. I've tried it and for normal use it doesn't offer much of an increase in performance. Plus if one of the drives fail, you will lose the data on both.

 

I agree with WyatT, on raid setup.
If you use more than one drive I always set up the other(s), as slave to my main c drive, as you can save data, on that and if the main drive crashes, you just repair/reinstall on c drive, and all your data is accessable, still.

Incidently. if this computer is setup by Gateway, good.
If not I was reading an article the other day, by a Gorden Laing, of Personal Computer World magazine, wher he has done some test installs, with 975x motheboards, and there can be a problem with recognising the dvd rom- and Vista stopping installing, because it cannot recognise the controller, on the motherboard, and had to finish installing with an external usb dvd drive.
Although Vista has got plenty of drivers, some that it has not can cause problems installing.
I will come back with more onfo - Liverpool and aA C Milan have kicked off second half.

 

You might want to wait w/ vista. Why exactly do you want it? I would get it but maybe use the xp-cdkey from your old machine to re-do the system when you get it.

Raid-0 is good if you are gaming. If not gaming and you get a good discount, why not 2 500 gig drives in Raid - 1 ?

Although XP really won't use 4 gig of ram to it's potential, and may even slow it down in some instances.

Also, why not beef up that vid card to a Geforce 8800 series for the DX10 support and bitch'n gaming graphics?

I want a discount....whaaaaa

 

Purpleweenie, You cannot use the XP key from the other machine - you should know that.

 

If you are no longer going to use the old machine you can remove the sticker and put it on your new machine. As long as it is only activated on one system.

 

Try it, if it's an oem, and microsoft will wga it.
Unless it is full version, the liscence is for a single pc.

 

It's ok, I do it all the time w/ Dell/Gateway/HP and so on that people bring in w/ bad mobo / processor or completely fried all together and they would rather buy a new system that order the outrageously overpriced oem boards and sometimes having to rpl expensive DELL RamBus.

I take the old cd-keys and put them on used machines I put together with spare parts and isntall winxp home / pro and am able to activate them w/ MS no prob. As long as I only have it on 1 system there is no issue with MS, I have even asked them during one of my phone activations.

 

Well I'll be dangled ! Purpleweenie - Seems it is how you go about it, not as the liscence was described and plonked on my efforts. - I never got one accepted. Good for you.
As Purpleweenie says, Vista is difficult, but I still believe if you get it together before you install, then it is a very nice system - just too much wga stuff, and issues with the old.
Follow up on 975X niggles with Vista.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=123203&page=2

 

ERRRRRRRRRRTTTT!!!... OK man, Let me prepare you because you have no idea what you are going to put yourself through with Vista. Ok First let me address the 4GB's of RAM you want, well I have 4GB's too and If you have 4 GB's Vista will only read 3071 MB's. So be aware, if you want 64bit be my guest because it will support all 4GB's. But I do advise you to read up on 64Bit before you go out and buy it. I know the solution to getting the 4GB's working kinda properly. Well there is a Function in you need to use in the Command Prompt and its called BCDEDIT. With this you can use this command to open up more Ram in your OS

"BCDEDIT /set PAE ForceEnable" That command is god... if you want more Memory out of the 4GB's. Ill give you a link that should explain this too. go here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929580 Ignore the Server 2003 Crap, but Read the whole thing trust me. This is a Huge Issue... Also you have been warned... Vista will eat 600-800 MB's of RAM easy and I aint kidding But 4GB's is enough and is actually perfect . I do not know if Vista will ever really show you thats its seeing 4GB's of RAM(Honestly I do not know how to read the Task Manager on Vista for how much memory I have left) But I was able to play Dark Messiah Maxed out again and it loaded it , Other times it would Crash and say "No Memory is Left" something like that... yes I was pissed :banghead . And when installing Vista make sure you make some kind of Vista Driver CD before you try to install it cause that may give u a BSOD if theres Incorrect Drivers. But all in all Vista is alright. and it Runs smooth on my Comp to see wat I got refer to this link http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=124846

 

Thanks for all the advice... I'll keep it in mind as I press forward with my purchase.

You want to hear something really funny??? My first PC was a Tandy 2000 that I bought in 1991. roflmao (yes go ahead and laugh) Upgraded it a year later with a Soundblaster Sound Card, then added a CD ROM. But, couldn't play any of the newer games because I needed more RAM. So, went out and dropped $500 on some RAM I think it was only 1 or 2 MB. Even though the slots were there in the motherboard, the DOS/BIOS wouldn't recognize the memory. Talk about pissed off! When I called Tandy (Radio Shack) for support, they pretty much told me I was out of luck. I'd only had the darned thing for less than two years and found out it was obsolete the day I bought it. :cry

Anyhow, I typically get a new computer about every 5 years. I normally try to get as much processor speed, RAM, and Hard Drive space as the budget allows for. I had already heard that Vista was memory hungry, so figured 4 GB should get me by. I'm not a big time computer gamer, so the video card was less of a concern for me. Besides, can upgrade that at anytime if needed. I'll mainly use it for Music applications, multi-track recording, sequencing, and such. My wife is into digital photography, but still a novice, so don't need anything fancy for her either. Figured, if she decides to make it a career, she'll get her own system anyway.

My 11-year old son is the super gamer, but his Xbox is keeping him satisfied for now. It's very embarasing to have an 11-year old kick your butt on a video game. It has almost cured me of gaming alltogether. I still beat him at chess.

Anyhow, if I get into any trouble with the new system, I know where to come for good advice

 

We all get caught in the early days, so, really, a computer is as good as what you want to do with it.
There are plenty of older systems, that run very well for the average user, and I always bought Dell, until I learnt that it was pheasable to build my own, and customise it to my liking.
With the complete costs of building a computer, at this present time, there are some good deals going from the manufacyurers, and if anyone is going for Vista, I recommend purchasing one , already configured, but, if you have a little savvy, to build your own, then great, but like you are doing, check on the parts, and reviews, or, just ask someone here at majorgeeks, as they all give excellent advice, and don't forget - IT's FREE!! -
Vista, by the way will not give you the full aero graphics, with any AGP graphics card,- to benifit you ned a pretty reasonable PCI-e graphics card.