I need advice

[Nnem]

So the time is rolling around where I need to think about a new compy. I plan on waiting until about summer time, hoping some products go down in price. I do however, have a basic set of specs I am looking at. I just need some advice on how well of you think I will be. My main goals are to play HJ, WAR, and Portals with no problems whatsoever!

Basic Specs:

3.2 x2 Processor
4 gb Ram
512 mb video (pci express, at least)
400 gb total space


I realize that the brand/model of these matters alot. So lets assume I am getting what is midly expensive now, assuming it will be cheaper in 6 months.

 

[cordy_CinVin]

So the time is rolling around where I need to think about a new compy. I plan on waiting until about summer time, hoping some products go down in price. I do however, have a basic set of specs I am looking at. I just need some advice on how well of you think I will be. My main goals are to play HJ, WAR, and Portals with no problems whatsoever!

Basic Specs:

3.2 x2 Processor
4 gb Ram
512 mb video (pci express, at least)
400 gb total space


I realize that the brand/model of these matters alot. So lets assume I am getting what is midly expensive now, assuming it will be cheaper in 6 months.

Everything your looking at getting is gonna be fine. Word of advice though if I may. You'll have a better look at what card to get come next month when more of the dx10 cards are released so I wouldn't set your sights on a gfx card atm anyways wait till january and then start looking at them.

Processor is good just keep in mind quad's will be released early next year also so it will push the duo's down quite a bit in price I'm assuming. Which should be benificial to ya with buying it next summer ish.

But imo you'll be good with what you have listed there its easier to make the decision of course when its closer to your buying time, that way ya can look at price/performance specs and get a good idea of what your getting for your money.

 

[WatchMaker]

Portals won't require as much as you think. Just make sure you -atleast- get something like, or better, to a 7600.

 

[Sylvado]

Most of your cost is going to be for RAM. I don't think you will get much bang for the buck after 2Gb. If you do go for 4Gb XP will assign 2Gb to the OS, check back with me then because there is a boot.ini change you can make to allow 3Gb for applications. Still I would put that money elsewhere in the system, you can add more RAM anytime.

 

[HJ-Navarre]

Processor is good just keep in mind quad's will be released early next year also so it will push the duo's down quite a bit in price I'm assuming. Which should be benificial to ya with buying it next summer ish.

I would stick with core 2 duo for now, even with the Intel Quad processors coming out. Intel's quads are not monolithic and there are 2 cores on 2 separate dyes which have to share the front side bus so 'Quad' isn't necessarily 4 times the computing power at this point. They will also run slower than the current core 2 duos and cost about the same price. AMD is supposed to deliver a monolithic quad on a single dye later in 2007 which should make AMD worth taking a look at again. (Yes, folks, I read Maximum PC on the crapper. :-B That's good book learnin'!)

 

[Sylvado]

I would stick with core 2 duo for now, even with the Intel Quad processors coming out. Intel's quads are not monolithic and there are 2 cores on 2 separate dyes which have to share the front side bus so 'Quad' isn't necessarily 4 times the computing power at this point. They will also run slower than the current core 2 duos and cost about the same price. AMD is supposed to deliver a monolithic quad on a single dye later in 2007 which should make AMD worth taking a look at again. (Yes, folks, I read Maximum PC on the crapper. :-B That's good book learnin'!)

The Duo's are very nice, they run cooler and will do 4 instructions per cycle as opposed to 3 for DualCore.

 

[Zink]

I wish I had money to build myself a new comp...
There will be better stuff than what you want out by then, so it will be cheaper but no longer as good as it was before.

 

[Orba]

I would have to agree with a lot of what other have said, atm 2gig of RAM is more than you need atm, if you buy more then you will get little to no performance increase for the money you paid out. Better of stick with 2gig and using the money to perhaps get a slightly better processor or something.

I built a new machine a few months ago and have to agree that the Core Duo runs amazing cool, if you were thinking about overclocking then its a great chip to work with. And a great chip even if you don't plan to overclock.

Since you are looking at switching to Duo then you will be getting a new MoBo, you might consider looking at one with two PCI slots and is crossfire/SLi compatible even if you don't plan on getting two video cards atm. It gives you the option of an easy upgrade at a later date no matter if you go ATI or nVidea. Both are now available for a reasonable price as with Catalyst 6.11 ATI added software Crossfire, removing the need for a master card in Crossfire systems.

 

[Nnem]

I would have to agree with a lot of what other have said, atm 2gig of RAM is more than you need atm, if you buy more then you will get little to no performance increase for the money you paid out. Better of stick with 2gig and using the money to perhaps get a slightly better processor or something.

I guess it would help to mention that I do ALOT of software development type stuff. The 4 gb of ram is mostly in anticipation for .NET III, and a few other tools rather than all games...sorry for that