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Please HELP. I dont know which processor i should get.

P

Phantom589

Member
Ok i am buying a new PC, im buying from dell because i can get 40% off the total price, or i wouldnt buy from the, but thats alot off!.
This is the system

Dell XPS
Media center edition
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4 DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ Native Command Queuing
256MB PCI Express? x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800
and theres some other stuff

BUT i still dont know what processer to get, im looking at either

Pentium® 4 Processor 640 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB)
OR
Pentium® 4 Processor 650 with HT Technology (3.40GHz, 800 FSB)
OR
Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3.0GHz, 800FSB)

i have no idea which one would be best. Im basically trying to decide between the 650 and the D 830. Im gonna use the pc for gaming, multimedia and obviosly lost of internet use. I need to know which is the better overall processor. I know the D is better at multi tasking (which i do often, but not too heavy, prolly just photoshop, alot a firefox windows, itunes and mabey a download or something else) but it is not as good as the 650 for gaming, which i also want to be able to do nicely. As long as i can nicely run games like BF2 and Doom3 online and smooth and a good graphics setting, it doesnt matter to me. Will i lose alot of multitasking if i get the 650? and how bad is the pentuim D really at gaming? can someone please help me decide which to buy. I really appreicate any thanks. oh yea and is that system good overall? i really wish i could go AMD...
 
Why couldn;t you buld one ? Hundreds of noobs do it every year, with help from the people on these forums. Why can't you ?
 
Mark has a valid point, I don't think its not that he doesn't want to answer your question but is trying to provide you with the best opportunity for you to realize the ultimate power that you can have for the $ you invest. I am responding due to your last statment in regards to owning a AMD product. From the sounds of your post you would probably be better served if you did go the AMD route. Their cpu's provide more punch when it comes to gaming and depending on the type of cpu MB combo you go with their won't be much that would be sacrificed if you chose not to go with AMD (they stand up well with the newer cpu's).

He is correct when he says their are a lot of people here to help others...specially if you are sincere in what you are trying to accomplish. I am one of those noobs that has built his own system and I found this site to be a valuable asset. I hope you reconsider the direction you are taking and check out the site (using the search feature) as well as reading threads on your content area for a wealth of knowledge. There will be people here willing to give you ideas on what products to buy for your system as well as threads available to help you put it together.

Another factor to consider is cost. You can "USUALLY" put something together cheaper than what you pay for as a whole system especially if you figure in the quality of each component.

good luck


jd
 
this system will cost me 1300 for all the stuff (also including surround sound system, good audio card, 3 year warranty, and other extras). I just dont have the time nor do i really want to build my own pc, i really just rather buy one even if its a bit weaker. If i was to have to choose, which would be better the 650 or the 830 dual?
 
I bit weaker ? try a LOT weaker and a LOT hotter. As far as which one, its a choice of horrible or outrageously horrible.

Build an X2 system for what you do....
 
Phantom - Mark is not being biased or fanboyish. X2's really are just better. And so is building your computer. There's no comparison.
 
I would also suggest building an X2 system, but given the options you have listed I would go with the Pentium D dual core, it will be a little slower in single threaded apps than the 6xx series, but will excel in multi-tasking, video encoding and rendering.
 
I am too busy at the moment to come up with a lit that fits the $1300 budget. Can somebody build a decent X2 system for this guy ? (as in find the parts)
My quick list :
X23800+ $375 shipped
Neo4-F $89
memory, Patriot 1 gig $83 (not sure on this price)
Video X800XL $300 ???
and the rest...

Oh case Antec something, and an XP90 to cool it, and OC to 2.4. I don;t know where this guy lives, can;t see a profile. If he was close to Portland, OR, I;d build it for him.
 
Try to Imagine dual Opteron 246's all on a chip that fits in an $89 motherboard ! And uses less power than an Athlon64 3200+ newcastle !
 
X2 is AMD's 64bit dual core desktop CPU's, they are superior to the Intel dual core in every way. They are faster, cooler, use less energy, and overclock better than Intel chips. They are the best CPU's that are available right now, period. They range in price from the 3800+ thats slightly under $400 to the 4800+ that sells for $850-1000

Most would recommend the 3800+ for price to performance ratio, because it can easily overclock to 2.4ghz (4800+ speed), and spend the money saved on better video card.
Something like this would whip up on the Pentium D pretty hard🙂

motherboard EPOX 9NPA Ultra $95
CPU X2 3800+ $385
Ram 1gb Corsair VS $90
Video BFG 7800GT OC $385
Hard Drive WD SATAII 160gb $82
DVD burner NEC 3540 $50
Case/PS Antec Performance 3000 $139


Thats just over $1000 without monitor and sound
 
What ?? Why? It will do ? Well, after you get it, don't come back here, as we will say " I told you so, what did you get that crap for ?"

Sorry, I have no tolerance for ignorance.
 
Originally posted by: Phantom589
yea so ive decided Pentium D 830 will do. I plan on building my next one
Click to expand...

Good luck, those things run incredibly hot..there is a reason why Intel had to release the Pentium-D at the lower end of it's clock speeds, while AMD was able to run at it's higher speeds..even Intel admited the pentium-d was just slapped together(2 of the extremely hot 5xx series chips thrown together in one package). If you insist on getting the Dell, I would get the 650..you will lose 33%-50% more performance when the 830 starts to throttle..
 
I know this is not why you came to this forum, but I'm going to tell you something unexpected which may help you quite a bit: get a custom-built system.

If you don't know how to build it, yourself, I'm sure most anyone from anandtech would be happy to do it for you. If you can't find anyone else, I'd be happy to put something together. That way, you won't get ripped off by a big-name vendor like Dell or HP. And your system will be amazingly fast.

Just make a thread announcing your location. Ask for help from someone in a similar location. Before meeting, make sure they are OKed by the Anandtech population in general. They will be able to build you something absolutely amazing for a lot less money than that Dell hog. If you can't find somebody in your location, don't worry. The cost to ship it to you will be less than the premiums charged by Dell or HP.
 
ok..about all these heat issues, how exactly will they affect the system? will the processor slow down when it gets too hot? doesnt dell know that it does that, and dont they put in stuff to keep it under control?
 
Originally posted by: Phantom589
ok..about all these heat issues, how exactly will they affect the system? will the processor slow down when it gets too hot? doesnt dell know that it does that, and dont they put in stuff to keep it under control?
Click to expand...

Yes, the heat causes issues. When the CPU reaches a certain temperature it starts to throttle. Throttling basicly "pauses" the proccessor every certain number of cycles to try and cool it down. While the clock speed stays the same officialy, this causes the CPU to run a lot slower. Since the clock speed doesn't actualy drop, a lot of people aren't even aware it's happening, since the general computer user typicaly doesn't know any better.

Short of water cooling, there isn't much they can do. My 3.4ghz 550 was throttling even cooled by a thermalright XP-120, arguably the best air cooled heatsink available. Even water cooled it ran at 57c, while my dual core AMD runs at 51c overclocked on the stock amd heatsink. Granted, you may not neccessarily start throttling, but if you look around these forums, you'll see that not many people went with a pentium-d, and those who did seem to have some serious heat issues.
 
Listen... your system is pretty nice.

And it sounds to me you really want the "if something fails, I want someone to yell at"... so go Dell.

Just a suggestion: I recomend you do not post on these forums for this kind of subjects. 98% here have built their own machines and, whereas not as many are knowledgeable, most recognize AMD as the best processor solution.

I think the sort of opinions you are looking for could be found on the forums at C|Net.

Strictly answering your question, Pentium D is a better choice.
 
Originally posted by: Aenslead
Listen... your system is pretty nice.

And it sounds to me you really want the "if something fails, I want someone to yell at"... so go Dell.

Just a suggestion: I recomend you do not post on these forums for this kind of subjects. 98% here have built their own machines and, whereas not as many are knowledgeable, most recognize AMD as the best processor solution.

I think the sort of opinions you are looking for could be found on the forums at C|Net.

Strictly answering your question, Pentium D is a better choice.
Click to expand...

Wrong ! The Pentium D is never the better choice. You ar the one who has to live with his concience when he's pissed at what he bought.
 
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