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#1
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Future proofing a system
My parents want to buy a new computer, and I'm wondering what CPU they
should get. They have used their current Windows 98 computer for 8 years now, and I expect that they would use the new computer for 8 years, so I want to try to future proof the CPU. Would a E2180 be good enough, or maybe step up to the E4500? Or even a E8200 or a Q6600? Those are the CPUs that Dell offers. Maybe getting the quad-core Q6600 would be the best bet for future proofing? But then again, my parents aren't going to do much multitasking, and they're just going to check email, use the browser, download some videos and watch DVDs. Maybe a dual core will be good enough for them. What do you think? |
#2
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Future proofing a system
In article c511deb9-f49f-46b3-bd6f-178ea024e3d1
@w74g2000hsh.googlegroups.com, says... My parents want to buy a new computer, and I'm wondering what CPU they should get. They have used their current Windows 98 computer for 8 years now, and I expect that they would use the new computer for 8 years, so I want to try to future proof the CPU. Cheapest you can get. If they're keeping them for that long, there's no way in hell can you future-proof. -- Conor I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams |
#3
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Future proofing a system
wrote:
My parents want to buy a new computer, and I'm wondering what CPU they should get. They have used their current Windows 98 computer for 8 years now, and I expect that they would use the new computer for 8 years, so I want to try to future proof the CPU. Would a E2180 be good enough, or maybe step up to the E4500? Or even a E8200 or a Q6600? Those are the CPUs that Dell offers. Maybe getting the quad-core Q6600 would be the best bet for future proofing? But then again, my parents aren't going to do much multitasking, and they're just going to check email, use the browser, download some videos and watch DVDs. Maybe a dual core will be good enough for them. What do you think? I'd be happy with a dual core. A quad core helps, if they do multimedia tasks with long run times (like shrinking a DVD). A lot of other activities will be handled smoothly on a dual core. If you look at this example of prebuilt computers, the price shoots up, but wouldn't really help your parents that much. The $949 box on the left, has a quad running at 2.4GHz. The $3599 box on the right, has a processor overclocked by Gateway, a quad running at 3.66GHz. So computing wise, dropping an extra $2651, buys a 50% faster processor. (Of course, the expensive machines have gaming video cards in them as well.) http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598059.php Look for a dual, with as good a clock rate as you can find, at a reasonable price. If the machine is stuck with Vista, then 2GB memory minimum. Memory is dirt cheap now, so if there is a good time to purchase more memory, now is the time. A 32 bit OS can handle 4GB max (minus address space for hardware busses and cards). At prices around $25 per gigabyte, it shouldn't cost a lot to upgrade (although if bought from Gateway/Dell/Acer web sites, they'll charge more). And if you cannot find what you want, then build your own. That way, you can dispense with crap you don't need. On the Dell page, I selected the XPS 420 desktop starting at $999. That offers better options for processors than the Inspiron customization page offers. I selected the largest case for the computer that I could (on the premise it'll be easier to add upgrades to later). The closer a PC case is to a standard ATX casing, the better chance you can use a standard power supply with a higher rating. And for modern video cards, some of them are rather long, so if there was ever a reason to get a video card, you want a good sized case. The super-tiny cases may only allow "low profile" upgrades, and you'll be cursing if ever faced with the need to add hardware to the box. Then I went to the customization page for the XPS 420. Instead of the Q6600, a quad at 2.4GHz, there is an option for an E8400, a dual at 3GHz. It is a "$0 upgrade". That will run cooler, and for average tasks, run a bit faster. Compared to the Pentium 4, an E8400 at 3GHz, is equivalent to a Pentium 4 at higher than 4.5GHz. The new processors have a higher IPC (instructions per clock), which is why the clock rate doesn't have to be as high, to get work out of them. There is no such thing as future-proofing. As time passes, machines are designed as "throwaways", with little room for upgrades. For example, the Intel processor socket will change soon, and LGA775 will fade away. Since the machines currently ship with LGA775 sockets, you might as well get a clock rate as good as possible from the "mainstream" processors group. If a dual 3GHz costs $200, and a quad 3Ghz costs $1000, and the quad part of it doesn't get used very often, then the dual 3GHz will be the sweet spot. If your parents did nothing but movie editing, then I might consider the quad 2.4GHz as better for multimedia. The more modern and recently purchased their multimedia applications software is, the more likely a program would be to use the multiple cores of new processors. If you're doing email, that will always use a single core, as there is no point to changing how email is done. Vista will help suck the life out of the new machine, sort of a hardware tax if you will. For example, when you do a file copy in Vista, you might notice a 10 second delay while the transfer happens. This is because of the software architecture and decoupling/deferring concepts. It is not caused by a "slow processor" or "broken hardware". It is a design decision by Microsoft. Buying an even faster processor tends not to fix such things, as they are "bugs/features" of the new OS. But with a 3GHz choice made, you can at least say "it doesn't get any better than that". Part of the mad disk thrashing you'll see in Vista, when the machine starts, is prefetching stuff into memory. The memory is used as a holding place. If the user needs memory, the prefetched stuff is instantly discarded, to make room. It means, in some situations, an activity can happen faster (as the info is prefetched), while in other situations, you'll be listening to the disk chugging along (as more prefetching is happening). There are other OS choices, but your parents may not be Linux buffs :-) HTH, Paul |
#4
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Future proofing a system
" wrote:
My parents want to buy a new computer, and I'm wondering what CPU they should get. They have used their current Windows 98 computer for 8 years now, Their main problem is probably Windows 98, don't you hate messing with it? If they have at least a Pentium III, Windows XP can run smoothly with just a RAM and maybe a hard drive upgrade (at least 512 MB RAM and a hard drive two or three times their current disk usage). If they desperately need a new monitor, that might do better with a whole system upgrade. Maybe getting the quad-core Q6600 would be the best bet for future proofing? But then again, my parents aren't going to do much multitasking, and they're just going to check email, use the browser, download some videos and watch DVDs. In my opinion, a computer is far from ideal or efficient for watching DVDs. The other stuff requires little power. Windows XP has a built-in picture viewer, they'll like that for pictures. For future proofing, I think quad is the way to go, but maybe not for light users. Good luck. |
#5
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Future proofing a system
wrote...
My parents want to buy a new computer, and I'm wondering what CPU they should get. They have used their current Windows 98 computer for 8 years now, and I expect that they would use the new computer for 8 years, so I want to try to future proof the CPU. Would a E2180 be good enough, or maybe step up to the E4500? ANY current CPU will work for them! |
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