Spec Advice Before I Order New Computer

This is the thing tho innit? Better slightly overloaded if it's in your budget.

Your very welcome!

Thanks to all for your good advice. I feel better now about the upgrade. Yays!

yw

assuming you've made sure to get compatible/supported parts, and you know the problems you might run into with Vista (and the common fixes), your system is fine...

if my 700Mhz 384mb Ram 128mb ATI 9200 AIW can handle SL your new franken-rig shouldn't have any issues'tal

Do not use VISTA! My load times going around to different places in SL was 10 times what it was using XP Pro. I actually wiped the disk and reinstalled XP it was so different.
It was Bad!

Also--check the kind of graphics card that SL recommends--Mine is not the one--it works
ok--but if you are serious about SL get the one it is optimized for especially since you are going for a new computer anyway.

Just my two cents.

You don't need more then 2 gb of ram. Anything over 2 is just a waste of money as it doesn't do anything more then just 2 gb do.

that all depends on what you do with it... I can (and have) capped a 4gb systems memory before

Get the 3 yr warranty.

It should run just fine.

I'm not big on Vista at the moment tho.

Besides, DDR2 RAM is SO damn Cheap!!! $25 for 1 GB of DDR2-800?? WOWZERZ!!!

And an 8600 GT should be pretty nice, especially if you're still running on an AGP card.

#1: RAMBUS RAM? Twas an expensive thing foisted on people by Intel.

#2: Windows XP will supposedly be available as OEM till the 31st or longer from what I hear. If you need it now, and can part with a HUGE sum of $137 for a FULL version of Windows XP Professional.... www.9software.com

if you can afford it change the 8600Gt to a 8800GT but apart from that everthing is good

The more ram the better..........reguardless if it shows in the UI..... have 4 giga installed. Client is stable and happy.

I think the listed specs in the original post look fine. They're kind of entry level for the newer hardware classes, but that OK. I'd probably agree with all the suggestions for more RAM though. RAM is so ridiculously cheap these days, there's simply no reason not to add more if you can.

Since Vista was mentioned, I will say this. Be prepared that performance for the first few weeks is going to be absolutely dreadful. Vista does this funny thing of monitoring your behavior for the first few weeks to learn how you use your machine, so it can try to optimize itself to your habits. I think the whole concept is ridiculous, as it's one of those "by monitoring the experiment, you change the experiment" type of deals. Its learning behavior slows everything down so much, you end up either not doing a lot of things you'd like to do, or else doing them in a different way than you normally would, so the thing can't get an accurate picture of what you really do anyway.

Simple things like opening programs can take so long in those first few weeks, you find yourself leaving things running that you would normally shut down, just because you don't want to have to wait 3 minutes again for the damned thing to start the next time. It's terrible.

Even so, Vista does get better after a few weeks. You just have to be patient and let it do its thing first. Unfortunately there's no way around that.

Also, be prepared that when updates come out, your system can become completely unusable for up to 20 minutes at a time on both shutdown and startup while the OS reconfigures itself to the update. It's really annoying. Why it can't just install the update, prompt you to restart, do a perfectly normal shutdown like XP would, and then do a slightly delayed startup like XP would, I have no idea. Thankfully, those larger updates are relatively few and far between (most don't take that long), but since you never know which one's gonna be a killer, you find yourself habitually refusing updates for days at a time, just to avoid those potential 40-minute reboots. And that can mean security risks and other problems, which is obviously not good.

If you can get XP, I'd highly recommend you stick with it as long as you possibly can. I've got Vista on my laptop because there was no other option, but on my desktop, I'll be keeping XP for as many more years as it can possibly be maintained. While Vista's not quite as bad as some make it out to be, it's got no shortage of what I can only describe as SUCK! I've got no problem believing Microsfot took a page out of the Tommy Boy book when they created it, "If you want me to take a dump in a box, and slap 'guarantee' on it, I will." Just substitute the word "guarantee" for the letters "OS" and it fits perfectly.

Regarding Vista; there are absolutely no serious system stability issues at all. The quirks I refer to are merely annoying niggly things that can be fixed easily, but which a customer shouldn't have to do themselves in my opinion; things like the famous "COM surrogate has stopped working" issue (anyone who has Vista and uses AVI files will have encountered this) - easily fixed, but annoying. Other than that, there are many useful innovations associated with Vista. Despite being memory hungry in itself, it is more efficient at allocating memory to other applications than XP was, so overall this cancels out it's own excessive memory use. Overall, having used it for a while, I'd say it's slightly more frustrating to use than XP with service pack 2 is, but much better engineered than XP was when it first came out. Think back to when XP came out - it had more holes than a collander.

I've found that if you are using Vista with anything intensive like SL, switch off the damn shiny sidebar thingy. That running seems to eat a tonne of memory and CPU usage on my machine.

Also, use the Readyboost feature to (apparently) speed things up by using a USB memstick as additional RAM. I didn't think it would actually work - but it does seem to make a difference to SL somehow...

Deu. x

Hi Rebecca,

Just wondering what your thoughts were when you made this suggestion?

I always advocate the longest warranty...but recently there has been more hardware returns then ever before. There could also end up being recalls. Its too much of a pain to rely on each manufacturer warranty and the usual one year is not long enough anyway.

Here is a personal example. last April I purchased an Alienware ALX with All the best stuff. ($8000) Performance is fantastic...BUT....

After a week a Ram chip went down, they sent me a new one. Things were fine for a month and a half then the nvlddmkm.sys errors (do a ssearch on that) and insane over heating began. I sent it back to Alienware. They had to replace the Ram again, the Quad intel Processor, the Dual 8800 Nvidia cards. 4 days after getting the Machine back, the battery socket on the motheboard died. I sent it back to them. They replaced the nvidia 680i motherboard and sent it to their final testing department, who sent it back to their techs again hwo had to replace the Motherboard again!, the Processor again and the Video Cards and Ram again.

During all of this time I was very much in touch with literally hundreds of people having similar problems.----go to the NZONE nvidia forum and take a look....then go to the ATI forums and see the same things.

As I researched the issues further I found that a few years ago fundamentally different, new, and "better" chip manufacturing technigues are being used....so even more then usual I'd recommend ONE centralized warranty rather then hoping for the best. Had i built the machine myself, I would be in nearly in the shipping and receiving business, having to send out all those separate components---so my point is you want ONE company repsonsible for as long as possible.

Now if this scares you don''t go thinking you will buy the latest MAC with Leopard. Even loyal MAC cultists with new machines are freaking out--and of course it's really all the same hardware anyway.

Now the biggest benefit of a good, solid warranty like with Dell or Alienware....is that if all these recurring hardware issues keep happening....they will be forced to even send me later model hardware one, two or three years from now.

BTW Vista is not the issue. Vista is definately a major improvement and it will be getting better after the Service Packs. It is annoying at first, till you get use to it and see the logic in the variou snew security improvements. Main issues have been Drivers and Hardware. Don"t listen to the Sour grapes, anti Vista stuff---even after all the horrors Nivida and ATi drivers have caused, it was Microsoft that had to send out temporary hotfixes to make up for the bad drivers. Drivers have also improved greatly in past 2 months. Microsoft helped put on the pressure.

Yes, I agree. I usually go for the 2 yr and then purchase an additional 1 or 2 year before it expires. I learned that the hard way, much as you mentioned in your own example.



Nah, I'm a PC girl. My roomate has a MAC with all the bells and whistles but I like my PC better.



Yes there seems to be LOTS of different opinions on Vista. I will wait to see how it goes with it. I don't like it I can always wipe it and install XP, since I have the program. Thanks for your response!

What an adventure! Whew.

I blame Dell. Seems the alienware systems have taken a nosedive. I too have had some of the same issues you have Rebecca.

If you have a bit more money to spend, I'd stretch the budget to get an NVidia 8800GT video card; I would expect that to make a bigger difference than either a faster CPU or more RAM. The 8800 just totally pwns SL; look at the frame rate statistics that LL released, and you'll see that it's way ahead of anything else. WindLight seems, if anything, to widen the gap.

Not to derail, but I've been eyeing an Alienware rig lustfully for a while now (althought not the 8k one!), with the plan of pulling the trigger after the first of the year when finances allow. Is there an issue with the quality? I have always heard that they are some of the best around. I don't want Dell, and I don't particularly want to build it myself. Where else should I look?

It has nothing to do with Dell owning Alienware. They are still separate companies. The problems with the newer hardware has been effecting all computer system brand names.

Dell is excellent. If you buy a higher end Dell and have the good Gold Support Warranty you are covered. With Dell you can even get a 4 year warranty. Dell does not cut corners with components like many of the other companies and they stand behind their product in the long term. Their OEM versions of some components are often better versions then stand alone retail versions. They are much more cautious then other companies--Alienware included--- when it comes to releasing various configurations. They do more testing and have access to the new components before others. As far as building ones own system, to see the RMA nightmares that group is having right now.,...read the Nvidia nzone forum. The savings is not worth the aggravation.

With Dell I would recommend the XPS series for gaming or the high end Precision Work Station line for heavy rendering. I own many Precision Work Stations and a couple XPS systems. Honestly with my last purchase I was taking a chance with Alienware. Alienware support for the top of line ALX system is good as far as calling them on the phone, but they take forever to get things fixed.

You cannot go wrong with Dell.. For lower priced systems, I'd stick with Dell and would not go near HP or Sony. You also want to buy from a company that will still exist in 4 years.

I've noticed that most of the vocal anti Dell people are kids who grew up with their parent's 499.00 Dell Celeron they detroyed, and so they blame Dell and associate the brand with their parents.

The Dell Wide Screen LCD monitors are superb.

The quality of the Alienware cases is the best. The parts are all top of the line, as are the equivalent priced Dell systems and their cases although more bland are clean as a whistle inside as well.

I have a Dell Dimension 8400 and I am very happy with it. I added some memory for SL and will have to eventually get a new video card once Windlight becomes unavoidable, but otherwise it is a great machine, at least for me. I love how the case is hinged, it makes upgrading very quick and easy.