Is this computer any good?

[Adrian II]

Yes, it's that bloody Dutch amateur again. So sorry.

I posted this before in the Apothecary, but it seems hardly anyone noticed it. Hence:

A friend of mine wants to purchase this Dell computer, but she is not sure if the specs are right for her purposes. She needs a comp with (1) 150 GB hard disc space, plus all the works for (2) gaming and for (3) video and photo editing.

Does the following (possible) Dell order fulfill her requirements? I am grateful for all comments and suggestions.

• Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT technology (3.00GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2MB cache)
• Legit version Windows® Media Center Edition 2005
• 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz (2x512) Memory
• 256MB ATI Radeon® X600 HyperMemory graphics card
• 160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA hard disc with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
• Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
• 16x max. DVD+/-RW Drive
• Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio
• Dell USB 2Button Wheel Mouse
• Dell basis USB Keyboard - US/Euro (QWERTY)
• System Documentation with European Power Cord
• Gedis Bundle Reference 5150 Basic D12515
• Microsoft® Works 7.0
• Photo Album™ SE Basic
• Paint Shop™ Pro® Studio

[Beirut]

Looks tasty. Good horsepower, decent video card, lots of good RAM. Those are the basics that you need, the rest is just trimmings.

It's not the best, but it's pretty damn good. Up the CPU and the video card a bit and you'd have a top-shelf system. Which probably isn't really needed.

[Adrian II]

Looks tasty. Good horsepower, decent video card, lots of good RAM. Those are the basics that you need, the rest is just trimmings.

It's not the best, but it's pretty damn good. Up the CPU and the video card a bit and you'd have a top-shelf system. Which probably isn't really needed.

Thanks for the quick input, dear Beirut.

Speaking of upping the CPU, what about the Intel Pentium D (Dual Core)? That is optional with this Dell.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

IIRC the dual core processors do not help with much, because most programs do not support multi-threading or whatever they call it. They also show hits in at least some programs iirc, including most if not all games. But if it is a much more processor than the 3.0ghz one that would compensate for it. Unfortunately Dell doesn't sell Athlon64's that I know of, otherwise I'd be able to give you a much better and cheaper processor quite easily.

[Proletariat]

Would she be willing to consider Athlon? I just got mine with similar specs for about $1,000. So far it's been great.

[LeftEyeNine]

AdrianII, just like Prole said, I need to remind you that any PC user should forget about Intel monopoly. The only reason Intel stands so strong with a market share around %80-85 (not latest ratios) is since they were in the market alone for tooooooo long. AMD processors can work out very well, and it's been a legacy that "AMDs overheat and burn". Intel's one newer CPU core had serious problems with overheating while AMD sustains its quality under performance/cost terms and never faced such problems recently.

Tip : Do not get stuck with the frequency of your CPU (that is Ghz), keep a close eye over L1, L2 caches as well. The only difference between a Celeron processor and a P4 processor was Celeron having no such caches (or very low ones) though both working at the same frequency. And that's why you would not prefer a Celeron for a gaming computer.

Gaming and photo editing will need more RAM, me thinks. 1GBs of RAM is enough, of course, but if there is any extra many I'd recommend it spending it on one or two more modules of RAM. (Consider buying 2* 512 RAM instead of buying a single 1GB RAM. So that you can benefit "Dual DDR" tech)

The ATI x600 video card did not convince me about its capabilities. For a new computer, I suggest looking at Nvidia 6600GT, 6800 (always keep off LE series) or the new Geforce 7 series. I'm not much into ATI video cards but I can easily agree on ATI 9800 Pro or XT video cards being very capable and powerful.

The x600 is not a crappy video card. But video card should have higher priority in case the configuration is changed.

Hope this helps

Once more again, the best way to build a powerful and less-costing machine is keeping off the branded systems and building your own brand with your own preferences