Originally posted by Ketola:

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Originally posted by mfx2009:

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Can someone help me. I want to build a new pc as an upgrade to my current set up. I'm using an intel D945 dual core @ 3.4ghz. I haven't built a pc for a few years now and want to know what cpu's are faster. I believe xeon is a better choice but is getting dated. I don't want to spend a huge amount either. Thanks

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Xeon is not a good choice for a desktop computer unless you have specific needs for multi-CPU, multi-core setup. With Xeon you need ECC memory.

You might want to take a look at THG's CPU charts. You can pick which performance you want to emphasize and see which CPUs perform the best for that specific task.

In any case you pretty much need to build a new computer from scratch, since you can't really upgrade an LGA775 motherboard anymore.

The key points IMO for getting a snappy computer are (assuming you run Windows):
* SSD drive for booting and OS
* at least 4GB memory, preferably 8GB
* Windows 7 64bit

After that the CPU and GPU specs depend on what you want to do. For general desktop use, you'll do just fine with an Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD Athlon II X2 255. Do some Photoshopping, rendering, video encoding? Bigger is better. =)

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Originally posted by mfx2009:

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Can someone help me. I want to build a new pc as an upgrade to my current set up. I'm using an intel D945 dual core @ 3.4ghz. I haven't built a pc for a few years now and want to know what cpu's are faster. I believe xeon is a better choice but is getting dated. I don't want to spend a huge amount either. Thanks

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mfx2009

I think the most important thing to know is what do you want to do with your computer, and then price out the best quality you can afford, from what will work best for you. If you are thinking about a particular component, google it and see what others have to say about it. There are also places you don't go cheap on, like Power Supplies. $15 PSUs are not going to do it. Avoid them like the Plague!

You could also take a look at "Bare Bones" kits, and check out the components offered. You can do surprisingly well with the right combination of parts. A good place to start would be www.newegg.com there's a lot of information available there.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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It's a 2 disc CD set on USB for $111, not a good deal even if you like Lady Gaga, if you ask me.

You can buy it much cheaper here on CD's or MP3's if you are into it (her);

CD Universe

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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Russ,

I would agree with that fully USB sticks are far from reliable, slow, and really should only be used for temporary use. A SSD is too expensive and also comes with it's issues, I don't see that changing for at least 5 years as well. My other concerns would be, are they going to use these new platforms to use newer nasty protections from use much like iTunes does where you can only use your music on a total of 5 devices (computers).

Another point to consider is how do you keep track of the very small flash drives that they make now. There really isn't much real-estate to label them unless they purposely make them larger. This will be a real negative for the marketing chaps who would like to have advertising room.

It's funny I got two new 8GB USB sticks from Micro Center here in town and I've only used one of them a half dozen times before having to throw the thing out as it has gone bad already. This is more a fault of Micro Center as the sell some really poor crap and I typically won't buy memory they have branded theirs. I do have other flash sticks that have lasted years with minimal problems.

They could use an EPROM style flash that was write once and than only read, I would think that could hold up for many years but again will it perform well enough for music. If it was read only it could avoid the problems a normal flash drive experiences.

Well that's my two centavo's,
Stevo

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unique individual Digital identifier

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