[clug-talk] Hardware advice

[Gustin Johnson]

Dick Angus wrote:
<snip>
> 
> My budget is in the $700 range and lower if possible. I want 500Gb+ 
> disk, a DVD/RW, and a multi-card reader on it. Also, a good graphics 
> card for the type of work I do. I can't decide if I should go for a 
> 3.0Ghz quad chip and 4-6Gb DDR2 memory or a 2.33Ghz quad chip and
> 4-6Gb DDR3 memory? I'm leaning towards the faster chip and the DDR2,
> but I'm confused about the DDR3 being faster memory and would that be
> noticeable given what I do with it?

I tend to go with as much RAM as I can afford.  Having said that, I am
pretty happy with a single core centrino (circa 2005 running 1.5 Ghz), 2
GiB RAM and integrated Intel video.  I have another machine that has a
newer Intel GPU and one of the newer Core2 Duos @ 2.66 Ghz.

If all of this stuff is running locally (I keep all my data on the
network, especially pictures and music) you may be better served by just
upgrading to a newer and faster hard drive.  The Western Digital "Black"
edition drives are good price for the performance.  To get faster you
need to spend a lot more on a Velociraptor or even more on a decent SSD
(most of them suck).  The 500GB WD Black goes for less than $70 at
Memory Express.

Out of curiosity, what is the current CPU that you are using?  Run the
following to find out:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
> 
> Staples has an Acer box with an Intel 8200 chip, 6Gb DDR3, and an ATI
>  4350 card with all the other stuff for $739. A DDR2 box appears to
> be about $100+ cheaper. Do you think I Would notice the difference?
> 
If you timed them while doing complex graphics processing you might
notice a difference.  One of my Photoshop loving friends recently
upgraded to an Intel Core i7 and an ATI 4870 from a Pentium D @ 3 ghz.
A batch job that used to take 10 minutes now takes 20-30 seconds.
Depending on your usage, YMMV.

For a GPU I would probably recommend an ATI 38xx, 48xx, 49xx.  These are
all supported by the open source radeonhd driver.

> On top of all that I'm going on a road trip to Reno and San Francisco
> in a few weeks and wonder if I'd be better buying it down there? I
> did some searching on Google, but couldn't get much on local
> companies (kept getting DELL, HP, Office Depot, and such).
> 
I would actually wait for the new Intel Core i5 to hit the market.
Buying anything other than an i7 or an i5 is investing in a technology
that is dead (RIP Front Side Bus) IMO.

If you can afford it a Core i7 with a newish ATI is a pretty smoking
combination.  The Core i5 is a more affordable variant and is what I am
waiting for before I upgrade.

AMD has announced a new Phenom that looks interesting, but since I have
been very unhappy with the last few releases from AMD, I am taking a
wait and see approach.

Hth,

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