Tech questions thread

[Vader AL]

I had a question about Vista but thought I'd start a general tech section for questions about electronics devices, computers, software, etc.

So here's my question; I'm getting a new desktop computer from Dell and I have the option of XP or Vista as an OS, so for those who are tech savy and can foresee the future, should I go for Vista? I know it's had it's bumps in the road but I'm guessing Microsoft will work those out in the future so I'm leaning towards getting Vista over XP. So should I go with Vista?

Oh second question, I'm going for the Dell Inspiron but I added these features to it, will this limit me in any way other than playing high-end games?

Dell Inspiron Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8200 (6MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1333FSB)

Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4DIMMs 4GB84 [311-7245]

Video Cards ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 128MB X24PRO [320-6182]

Hard Drives 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

 

[Darth Caedus]

Personally I would go for XP, service pack 3 is supposed to be great. Vista has a lot of security flaws (from what I read). I personally have XP, don't like Vista too much.

Everything looks good except for the video card. You wouldn't be able to play full resolution on most game with a 128 MB video card (they have 512 MB video cards out)

 

[darthviper107]

I would say XP 64-Bit version if you can, There's no reason to get more than 3GB of RAM for a 32-Bit OS.

Also, your memory is in the form of 4 separate sticks. That type of RAM is extremely cheap, and you'd be limiting yourself that way, get two sticks of 2GB then you can upgrade with two more later on to max out at 8GB.

Change the video card, that one isn't very good. I'd recommend maybe an GeForce 8800GTS 512MB Which should do fairly well with High-end games, (except for Crysis of course)

 

[Vader AL]

Personally I would go for XP, service pack 3 is supposed to be great. Vista has a lot of security flaws (from what I read). I personally have XP, don't like Vista too much.

Everything looks good except for the video card. You wouldn't be able to play full resolution on most game with a 128 MB video card (they have 512 MB video cards out)

Thanks for the info!

Also, your memory is in the form of 4 separate sticks. That type of RAM is extremely cheap, and you'd be limiting yourself that way, get two sticks of 2GB then you can upgrade with two more later on to max out at 8GB.

how do i know if it's in 2GB rather than 1 GB per stick? Here are my options, or is it not list here?:
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs [subtract $180]
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs [subtract $130]
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs [subtract $80]
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 4DIMMs [subtract $30]
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs [subtract $110]
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs [subtract $60]
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4DIMMs [Included in Price]

 

[lcummins]

Thanks for the info!



how do i know if it's in 2GB rather than 1 GB per stick? Here are my options, or is it not list here?:
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs [subtract $180]
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs [subtract $130]
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs [subtract $80]
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 4DIMMs [subtract $30]
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs [subtract $110]
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs [subtract $60]
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4DIMMs [Included in Price]

The number of DIMMS (or sticks)... so 4 DIMMS would be 1GB per DIMM and 2 DIMMS would be 2GB per DIMM.

On May 21st, Dell is supposed to start shipping Vista with Service Pack 1 installed which fixed a lot of the issues people were having, including speeding up file copies!

Also, they have quit installing XP on machines except for certain models (normally business) and using "downgrade rights" to install XP for clients, so be sure you can get XP.

I will say Vista with SP1 myself. I've been running Vista 32bit at home and 64bit at work, and haven't had that many issues with it, other than older programs that aren't compatible. Since this is a new machine, you should have no hardware issues unless you plan to use devices you currently own, so make sure there are drivers for Vista if you go that route.

 

[Vader AL]

is it better to stay away from the "sticks" and go with another type or does it matter as far as performance?

 

[lcummins]

is it better to stay away from the "sticks" and go with another type or does it matter as far as performance?

You have to buy what the computer can use; the "speed" of the memory and the form factor, etc. Dell will only list memory that you can put in your computer configuration, so it really is just the choices of how much and how many. If it is a 32bit processor, get 2 to 4 GB. 4GB is the limit on 32bit OS. If the processor is 64bit, then try to get as much ram as you can afford, using the fewest DIMMS possible, in order to leave slots open to easily add more if you want to later. Also, usually the faster bus speed is preferable; that is, between the choices you have, the 800MHz would be better performance (usually), but not always... sometimes, the motherboard is designed for the lower speed but will work with the faster memory (which just runs at the slower speed), so it is actually best to match the memory speed to what the motherboard is designed for.

 

[lcummins]

...Also, your memory is in the form of 4 separate sticks. That type of RAM is extremely cheap, and you'd be limiting yourself that way, get two sticks of 2GB then you can upgrade with two more later on to max out at 8GB...

Actually, it will depend on the computer model on the maximum amount of memory it will hold. We have Dell workstations at work that will hold 32GB of RAM! When we ordered them about a year ago (with 8GB of RAM installed) they were about $5000 each... if we had gone with 32GB of RAM, and that was the only change, it would have added about $32,000 to the price because each 4GB DIMM was something like $4000 each!!!

 

[darthviper107]

Well, my board only has four slots but it says it supports 16GB--However, for that type of RAM (800Mhz DDR2) it doesn't have 4GB sticks so it can't really support that. Most boards though only support 8GB, but really, the DDR2800 is SO cheap right now. My ram was $200 when I bought it, 2x 2GB and now it's $70.

 

[Vader AL]

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)

or

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8200 (6MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1333FSB)

I'm assuming the quad core, however, I've read that sometimes the duos are quicker. Is that true?

 

[Sick Boy 82]

The Duo does have a faster FSB, so it will be quicker in most aspects, but it all depends on how many operations you will have running at once. If you want to play video games, decode a DVD and encode some videos to MGP4, then go with the quad-core, as it won't slow your system down. But if you aren't running that many operations at once, then there is no real need for the quad-core.

 

[Vader AL]

The Duo does have a faster FSB, so it will be quicker in most aspects, but it all depends on how many operations you will have running at once. If you want to play video games, decode a DVD and encode some videos to MGP4, then go with the quad-core, as it won't slow your system down. But if you aren't running that many operations at once, then there is no real need for the quad-core.

thanks man.

 

[darthviper107]

Also note that some programs won't take advantage of Quad-Core. Most programs have just started supporting dual-core and haven't gotten to quad yet, (like games), so unless you run lots of programs at the same time or use something like 3ds Max or Maya then you can't take full advantage of it yet. There are still some really great dual-core processors.


I would also recommend people to get Intel systems. AMD is horribly behind and you don't want to be stuck with an AMD processor and motherboard since you'd have to replace everything the next time you upgrade.