Spec Advice Before I Order New Computer

Hi guys,

Before I push go on this new PC, can you advise if these specs will work with SL or if I need to change anything?

I have searched the forums before posting btw, and this is what I came up with:

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4500 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.20GHz, 800 FSB)
Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3


Do I need more or less of anything? Advice from you experts greatly appreciated.

If this is posted in the wrong place, sorry. Serious answers only please - in plain language, not computer jargon.

Thank you!

If you can afford it, 2 more GB of RAM. Should run like a dream!

More RAM is always nice, but 2GB is more than enough. This all sounds fine. Keep in mind that you can uprade at a later date, which is often cheaper than buying a higher spec PC in the first place.

Totally agree.

/me looks enviously at that 8 series number ...

Thanks for answers so far guys.

@Cristalle: Was hopin you'd respond - I read some of your tech posts.

I'll wait till the end of the day in case I get more answers, then I'm pushin go on that baby! Whooo!

Hi Solanghe

Honestly, Conan and Theo are right in that your system is sufficient - more than sufficient, really, but I suggested more RAM because people that have beefier systems than what you listed see the fewest real problems with the viewer, and they STILL crash from time to time.

It really depends on the goal. If you have the cash and desire, go ahead and splurge on the extra RAM. Because by the time it becomes cheaper to upgrade, SL will likely have even more strenuous requirements to run properly.

Ram is cheap right now but SL runs fine for me with 1GB of Ram.

Like I said, more RAM is nice if you can afford it. You don't need it, but you don't need to run SL at all come to think of it. Life would be incredibly dull if people only bought things they need. Get more if you can, but don't sweat it if you can't. When buying or building a PC, if you are on a budget and have to prioritise, your priorities should be as follows;

1. RAM
2. Graphics Card
3. Processor

The processor, although often quoted on fancy sales hype, is one of the least important bits (yes you need one, but it doesn't have to be cutting edge, unless you are doing something processor intensive like editting digital video).

Well, the extra memory isn't really that much more, it does fit into my budget. Also, I really don't want to have to do what I did last year with my current system: buy the upgrades, open the box, plug it in... etc. Bleh. I know it only takes 15 minutes but I'm lazy guys.

I have a question about the Duo Core processor - I read some posts where a few people indicated that there could be a problem with that type of system, as opposed to single core? Or am I way off with that?

Ok it's either because I went to my Uncle's funeral earlier today and had too much to drink or because he's making sense, but my word, I'm in agreement with Conan! This is an even rarer moment than being in agreement with Chris Norse, with or without the theme from rawhide playing in the background!

As for the RAM, more then 2gb's you wont notice a difference in SL. If you use your computer for photo & video applications then you might consider the upgrade.

I sometimes run SL on a old AMD Athlon XP (1.79ghz) with 768mb's ram and a 512mb Radeon 9550 agp card. Granted my install of WinXP has been heavily modified and stripped of useless nonsense. I get some of the same performance(fps @ high detail) as the new high end PC i have in SL. If I were to use it for photo editing or video stuffs, i'd want to pull my hair out waiting.


Just remember. RAM is really cheap now days. Depending who's building the PC you are buying, they might charge you double what you would pay for another 2gb of ram at the local PC store. My local PC store had a sale on a few name brand RAM deals, something like two 1gb chips for under $100.

For the record though, I use the following two systems;

Intel P4 2.4ghz dual core
512mb Ram
ATI Xpress 200with 128mb

AMD Sempron single core 1.6ghz
1gb ram
ATI Xpress 1200 with 256mb

The first runs SL flawlessly on XP. The second used to work, and is the system I'm referring to in the "Client won't launch" thread. It used to work fine until last week.

The OP's system is overkill in every respect - but that's no bad thing, because it means he will have little upgrading to do in future.

Yes, good point. It is cheaper, and I guess it's worth the 15 minutes it takes to install it. Even for us lazy folks.

Just make sure your motherboard has empty slots and supports that much ram.

Well, you may be right that the system is "overkill" but keep in mind I am not building this machine myself. I am purchasing it pre-made and you can only buy certain components with certain machines. I could get a lesser machine that may not be overkill, but I would have to settle for a different graphics card with less memory; for example.

Also, the OP (me) is a SHE.


Solanghe

I sooooo need a new computer. I'm running SL on 512 mbs of RAM, if you can believe that, and honestly don't have any more problems than a lot of others I read about on here, and on a 5-year old Dell Dimension 8250. However, that particular model required a certain type of memory, and will cost me almost $500 just to upgrade memory. I'm getting a new computer when income tax refund time rolls around. Does anyone know anything about Windows XP after the first of the year. I'd rather not have Vista, since I've heard that eats 1 GB alone, and I'm planning on at least 2 GB's when I get a new one. However, I've heard that Windows XP won't even be an option after the 1st of the year. Is that true? I couldn't find anything out about it online, but maybe i just don't know where to look. If that's true, would I still be able to buy Windows XP OS and downgrade to it after a new computer? Would still be more economical than buying more RAM and a better graphics card.

My understanding is that SL does/did not use the processors efficiently and that sometimes the computer would get "confused" in sending process to each processor. The solution to that is to go to the task manager and set the affinity of SL to one processor or the other.

There is a debug menu option to run multiple threads, but the biggest performance boost will be to other applications running simultaneously with SL, rather than SL itself.

try asking nicely for a Windows XP instead of the Vista *half-grin*

kinda off topic or maybe not but the monitor, a good monitor can improve the experience. i feel a huge difference between my work monitor and this one at home.. things look so much better there... and i purposely will not advice any specs because i'm very bad with names, nicks and specs.

no more pc's for me tho, i'm seriously thinking about a mac. and i'm saying this here so i can materialize the idea faster. thank you for helping me doing it by starting this thread. %)

Vista's memory requirements are grossly over-exaggerated. I'm using it on a 1GB system and rarely see my memory usage on task manager go above 60%. However, Vista does have a few quirks though, and really is not finished.

Hi Sunni,

I know that for now you can still get Windows XP on a Dell. There are 4 or 5 models that you can choose from at the moment. I don't know if they will be available after the new year though.

At the website, go to "Still looking for XP"? That link will lead you there.

Yes, that's what I've heard....the quirks, I mean. Would love to stick with Windows XP if possible, just read somewhere that it won't be available on computers after Jan. 1, 2008. But it's still okay if I can just buy it and install it myself.

Thanks, Solanghe!

Right, this is what I recently read when I did a forum search on the subject. I saved it for reference later. Thanks Christalle!

If you are running 32 bit Vista then 3G of RAM is all you really can use... the OS will not be able to address anything more than that.

If you are running 64 bit Vista then by all means get as much RAM as you can fit into your system.

.d