Just brought a new computer!!! how good is it?

[Gselwizzle]

(Well my mum brought it cos i'm only 18 and have no credit. But im payin for it!!)

The computer i'm currentley using is a E machine 2.7Ghz Intel Celeron, 512mb DDR ram, 80gb HD, 64mb Geforce FX 5200.

I will have to play civ 4 on this computer (wen i get it) for about a week!

The computer i jus purchased is a Dell 3.0Ghz Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT Technology (3.00 GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB), 1024mb DDR ram, 160gb HD, 256MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 6800 with DVI

I up graded this graphics card from the 256MB PCI ExpressT ATI RadeonT X600 Hypermemory. I believe this is a good decision!? it cost an extra £80! (Also got a 19" monitor upgrade for free)

Could any1 please give me feed back on how well both systems will run CIV 4?
Wether £780 is a good deal?
And how good/ how much better is my video card upgrade?

Thanx in advance, very much appriciated

 

[Gustomucho81]

I don't understand why you chose PCI over AGP, is there a reason?

I havent looked around for new computer for a while, but when I bought mine I remember AGP was way faster than PCI..

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Sounds like you just purchased the same computer that I did. Exactly.

Mine should be delivered today

As for performance, by all accounts these specifications should run Civ IV with plenty of power to spare. It's not a top of the line system, but a solid middle of the pack. My personal advice would be to do this sort of research into computer specs before spending the money, but I guess that's up to you.

Your old comp should run Civ IV fine in the meantime. I have been running Civ IV on a much weaker comp - it's stable but excruciatingly slow.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

I don't understand why you chose PCI over AGP, is there a reason?

I havent looked around for new computer for a while, but when I bought mine I remember AGP was way faster than PCI..

There's a difference between PCI and PCI-Express. AGP was the old standard for graphics cards, and you can still buy AGP cards and motherboards. However, PCI-E seems to be the new standard... its performance is in no way related to the old PCI sockets.

 

[Shepherdboy]

I don't understand why you chose PCI over AGP, is there a reason?

I havent looked around for new computer for a while, but when I bought mine I remember AGP was way faster than PCI..

PCI-Express (which is different from PCI) is today's preferred graphics bus. PCI is generally inferior to AGP, but PCI-Express is the new cat's meow.

Jose

 

[Gselwizzle]

i have done about 7 days of research. And i have considering my budget (believe its tight) this is the best computer i can buy.

My current computer has AGP, the new one has PCI express. I think this is obvouisly an improved specification. As its a newer, and more powerfully computer.

As far as i know the 6800 Geforce 256mb. is a very good graphics. ( I HAVE READ MANY REVIEWS) better than the Radeon X600. I'm lead to believe it will be more than a match for full grahic settings on CIV4. Although there are more advanced versions of this graphics card!

Finally the Geforce 7800 is absolutely invincible and wud Murk(beat) on all other grahics cards. including the geforce 6800! I couldnt afford this grahics card tho....

 

[Gselwizzle]

Sparrowhawk Let Me Know How Things Go!

 

[TastySheriff]

Good system, although i woulda chose an AMD Athlon64 because A) Im a big old softie always cheerin for the little guy, and B) The pentium 4 is nearing the end of its Life, and if you want to upgrade 2 or 3 years down the road i dont think theyll be making any new pentiums using the same slot/chipset. The Athlon64 however should be using the socket939 format for quite awhile, and i expect that 2 or 3 years down the road youll be able to buy an Athlon64 X2 6000+ (or whatever theyll have come out with by then) and install it in your current mobo (assuming that you had gotten a mobo that supports socket939 initially). Of course this is just my prediction, and is for the most part unsubstantiated by AMD.

Of course since you bought one from Dell your not too interested in installing hardware yourself. My advice however is to, if you have any interest in computers, learn it. I decided once when i was 14 to build my own computer, even though i knew absolutely nothing about them (not even what a graphics card was, lol.) But 18 monthes later i learned and 6 monthes after that i built my first PC, which i still use. Building your own doesnt save you much money when building a computer from scratch, but you can fix most little issues yourself, and arent reliant on the non-existant dell customer support. Plu upgrading IS alot cheaper, and that saves you alot of money.

 

[francois9]

The Athlon64 however should be using the socket939 format for quite awhile.

Actually, the Athlons are moving over to socket940 next year. This will standardise all AMD CPU's on the same 940socket, as well as enabling DDR2 memory support.

That will, obviously, effectively render socket939 obsolete.

 

[Gustomucho81]

I did a little research on the PCI-e and AGP, everyone agree, PCI-e is the way to go, I just educated myself

 

[Mrdarklight]

PCI-E is definitely the way to go. It's faster than AGP, and you can run two video cards in SLI for a massive performance boost.

Looks like you got a good comp there, UK guy. And 780 pounds sounds good, that's about.... $1200? $1300? I may have to get one myself.

 

[muerteverde]

Good system, although i woulda chose an AMD Athlon64 because A) Im a big old softie always cheerin for the little guy, and B) The pentium 4 is nearing the end of its Life, and if you want to upgrade 2 or 3 years down the road i dont think theyll be making any new pentiums using the same slot/chipset. The Athlon64 however should be using the socket939 format for quite awhile, and i expect that 2 or 3 years down the road youll be able to buy an Athlon64 X2 6000+ (or whatever theyll have come out with by then) and install it in your current mobo (assuming that you had gotten a mobo that supports socket939 initially). Of course this is just my prediction, and is for the most part unsubstantiated by AMD.

Of course since you bought one from Dell your not too interested in installing hardware yourself. My advice however is to, if you have any interest in computers, learn it. I decided once when i was 14 to build my own computer, even though i knew absolutely nothing about them (not even what a graphics card was, lol.) But 18 monthes later i learned and 6 monthes after that i built my first PC, which i still use. Building your own doesnt save you much money when building a computer from scratch, but you can fix most little issues yourself, and arent reliant on the non-existant dell customer support. Plu upgrading IS alot cheaper, and that saves you alot of money.

Yes to the above quote. I am going to be building a new computer int he next year and did a whole lot of resarch recently because my only other pc was a Dell. I too, like the thread starter, woudl like the nVIDIA 7800 but because it is so expensive will probably settle for the 6800 or 6600. Oh, and PCI-Express is the new standard. I would get AMD over Intel too.

 

[oopsy poopsy]

PCI-E is definitely the way to go. It's faster than AGP, and you can run two video cards in SLI for a massive performance boost.

Looks like you got a good comp there, UK guy. And 780 pounds sounds good, that's about.... $1200? $1300? I may have to get one myself.

Well, I think PCI-Ex16 is capable of about 4 times faster then AGP, although I don't think the cards are going that fast yet (don't know for sure about that though). To get SLI you need a SLI board with two slots and it is not a massive performance boost. It's more like the new dual-core processors which don't really double your processing speed and two high end graphics cards will cost as much as his system all together so that's only for the most obsessed at this point. Until you're right at the very top of gfx technology your better off upgrading one then buying 2 of anything less then the best for SLI. I don't know specifics on the lasting power of socket 775 (intel) vs. 939 (amd) although previous poster seemed to counteract the theory that 939 was gonna last forever. All that being said, don't listen to any of this, your computer's nicer then mine and you'll enjoy it for quite awhile.

I do have one question though, if you get a dell do you know what the motherboard is in terms of chipset (chipset and chip socket being two completely different things) and manufacturer or have any options for upgrading the motherboard? I'm just curious about that one.