zulu9812
The Newbie Nightmare
The computer I'm thinking of buying has pretty much everything I'm looking to buy:
AMD Athlon XP 1800
512MB DDR PC2700 Kingston
80GB HDD w/8MB cache
52x CD-ROM (Samsung)
16x DVD (Pioneer)
64MB on-board video
SoundBlaster Live! Player 5.1
120W speakers
keyboard+optical mouse
onboard modem + onboard LAN
15" Monitor (1024x768, .28)
1 yr RTB warranty
(I can cannabilise CD-R drive, OS and Office software from old computer)
Now, the questions:
1. Is it true that I won't really see the benefit of a super-fast processor, since today's programs don't use the full potential. Should I just opt for a slower processor for a cheaper price?
2. AMD XP or P4?
3. Is the 8MB cache on the hard-drive really worth the extra cost?
4. Is that 1 yr warranty really worth anything. Should I go for a computer with a longer warranty? Hardware problems are usually outside the scope of my repair expertise (being a software man), and I just bet that if anything does go wrong it'll go wrong once into the 2 year period. And does return-to-base mean that I have to send it back, or will they come and get it?
5. Will I see significantly faster speeds on this set-up with PC2700 RAM, or will PC2100 be the same in effect?
6. Should I even bother with a DVD drive? I'm not planning on watching any movies on my PC, and the only other use I can think of would be for the free DVDs you get with computer magazines. Can anyone think of any other reasons to get a DVD drive?
Finally, I'd quite like to be able to keep my old computer and share files between it and the new one. So I can keep my new computer solely for gaming and 3D-modelling, and use the old one for the internet. How would I go about setting up a simple network so as to share files between the 2, using Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP pro as the OS's?
AMD Athlon XP 1800
512MB DDR PC2700 Kingston
80GB HDD w/8MB cache
52x CD-ROM (Samsung)
16x DVD (Pioneer)
64MB on-board video
SoundBlaster Live! Player 5.1
120W speakers
keyboard+optical mouse
onboard modem + onboard LAN
15" Monitor (1024x768, .28)
1 yr RTB warranty
(I can cannabilise CD-R drive, OS and Office software from old computer)
Now, the questions:
1. Is it true that I won't really see the benefit of a super-fast processor, since today's programs don't use the full potential. Should I just opt for a slower processor for a cheaper price?
2. AMD XP or P4?
3. Is the 8MB cache on the hard-drive really worth the extra cost?
4. Is that 1 yr warranty really worth anything. Should I go for a computer with a longer warranty? Hardware problems are usually outside the scope of my repair expertise (being a software man), and I just bet that if anything does go wrong it'll go wrong once into the 2 year period. And does return-to-base mean that I have to send it back, or will they come and get it?
5. Will I see significantly faster speeds on this set-up with PC2700 RAM, or will PC2100 be the same in effect?
6. Should I even bother with a DVD drive? I'm not planning on watching any movies on my PC, and the only other use I can think of would be for the free DVDs you get with computer magazines. Can anyone think of any other reasons to get a DVD drive?
Finally, I'd quite like to be able to keep my old computer and share files between it and the new one. So I can keep my new computer solely for gaming and 3D-modelling, and use the old one for the internet. How would I go about setting up a simple network so as to share files between the 2, using Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP pro as the OS's?