New PC (Gfalls is a legend)

[Bernard]

I picked up my new PC yesterday, it makes my old one look like a calculator .
A Gfalls original, if anyone's thinking of upgrading I'd have no hesitation in recommending him (credit where it's due).
Happy days

[Myfeckin FTO]

Do you/did you not have a discount with Dell ?

[Bernard]

I had a 10% discount but it involved a load of hassle and for the spec I got it would still have been more expensive.

[Dilogoat86]

Hmmm, what's the spec.

I'm a bit of a PC nut myself. If gfalls isn't around to help I do everything and anything with PCs and laptops. Pretty much any job is €50 unless it's an instant fix in which case it's on the house. Free advice too

I also supply free software for those of you who like to buy expensive anti-virus and anti-malware software.

Home networks
Home PC builds to any spec
Office PCs for small - medium offices

You name it

[Dragonheart]

Glad its up and running Bernard, god job getting it all together gfalls. From what Bernard was telling me before its a pretty awesome spec!

[Dilogoat86]

In my 13 years using PCs I've never had anything but trouble with Dells. I'm sure that's down to the sheer volume of them around but they always seem to have SOMETHING up with them. I always recommend people to go for smaller manufacturers when it comes to buying notebooks and laptops.

[CJ]

In my 13 years using PCs I've never had anything but trouble with Dells.

I've had the opposite experience, I've purchased hundreds of business systems over the years with a very low failure rate - certainly no different from any other manufacturer. Dell laptops on the other hand can be touch and go, they're not as rugged as they could be for the average business user and don't take abuse well. I purchased over €100,000 worth of servers, storage arrays and SANs from Dell last year, the kit is very reliable. Most of the datacentres that I've managed have been wall-to-wall HP, I was skeptical about enterprise level Dell kit to start with, suffice is to say that I'll be dealing with them again. Dell have upped their game (but reduced their Irish presence ) in recent years and I wouldn't discount them. Credit where credits due!

CJ

[Dilogoat86]

Point taken. Where I work too it's wall to wall HP also. There's about 50/50 with the workstations dell/HP. I feel it's more the injustice I felt as a child when Dad bought a new Dell that was meant to be amazing...and then it had windows ME and NO expansion capabilities...then it just started to die. The average home user still has older Dell desktops too which are the bulk of the ones I've had issues with. I also found that they used to be VERY expensive compared with other manufacturers too. The higher the spec the further from reasonable the prices became. I can understand that you're also buying a complete system with a years home warranty but there was a time a few years back when £ for £ I could build a machine with everything equivalent to a standard machine for similar money. But comparing their XPS systems I could build a better machine for less than half the price. I remember when a fully loaded top of the range XPS was 5-6k and my better hand built machine was delivered and installed for less than 2k.

[gfalls]

Dell isn't the full name you know. To us in the trade they are called "Feckin' Dells...!"... Mind you the business Optiplex are usually sound. Not really upgradeable, but little workhorses for what they are. Home Dells? Forget em'...!

If anyone want something similar to the beast I built for Bernard, just let me know..

[Myfeckin FTO]

..........
If anyone want something similar to the beast I built for Bernard, just let me know..

What's the spec of this beast exactly?

[gfalls]

..........
If anyone want something similar to the beast I built for Bernard, just let me know..

What's the spec of this beast exactly?

AMD 2.6 Quad Core, 4GB DDR2 6400, Gygabyte Mobo, 500GB HDD, 1GB DDR3 Ati Sapphire Graphics, Asus DVD Burner, 650W PSU, Multicard Reader all enclosed in a Coolermaster Midi Tower.
Loads of room for expansion and upgrades..!

Nice build for Bernards budget..

[Dilogoat86]

Mind I asked what the overall cost was? Seems a pretty good spec? What OS did you go for?

[gfalls]

Mind I asked what the overall cost was? Seems a pretty good spec? What OS did you go for?

You may ask Bernard if he wants to disclose the price, tis not for me to say. The O/S is Win7 HP 64 Bit...

[Dilogoat86]

I like Windows 7. Got it free through work otherwise I don't really see much of a benefit over XP Pro just yet. Specially since it's only 32 bit. Could really do with a 64bit OS. All the hardware and none of the use.

[CJ]

All the hardware and none of the use.

Especially those extra spare CPU cores. Anyone know of any desktop apps that can take advantage of more than 2 cores?

CJ

[Dilogoat86]

Folding at home?

[CJ]

Folding at home?

Folding@home is a distributed computing (DC) project designed to perform computationally intensive simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics

Its hardly a run of the mill desktop app!

2 vs 4 cores,a bit out of date but worth a look with the subject matter in mind. I'm not taking away from Gfalls build by the way, its a cracking spec. I would probably opt for quad core myself as I trick about with multi-core aware database systems and desktop virtualisation from time to time. Theres a mindset that 4 cores are better than 2, if your OS (and more importantly) your apps are multi processor/core aware then quad core is the way to go. If you're a run of the mill users with limited functionality requirements than duel core is more than sufficient and can often be process requests faster than quad core (assuming a faster clock cycle in the latter).

CJ

[Wildhound]

It should be run of the mill though! All PS3s come with it installed by default which I thought was a nice touch.

To be fair, while applications/games which take advantage of multiple cores are still a rarity, there is still a fairly large bonus in having them. Namely that individual programs will run on separate cores, allowing your PC to actually function as a multimedia system.

[Dilogoat86]

And since multi core CPUs are the future then having one now means that it will only become more and more used. For example, the next architecture of AMDs processors focus only several single function cores rather than their current 2,3,4 core CPUs that have identical cores. In future we will have task specific cores with different clocks speeds to handle appropriate tasks, like the cell processors in PS3s. We will be seeing home PCs that will have 12 or 16 cores in the not too distant future. Roll on technology.

[CJ]

Roll on technology.

I'm with ya on that point.

Multi-core (and to a lesser degree, multi-threaded) CPUs only came about when the 'big 2' hit a wall in terms of the power consumption requirements and heat dissipation of CPUs clocked in the region of 4Ghz, the workaround was to start throwing extra cores into the mix. 2 x 3Ghz cores doesn't mean 6Hz of processing power, total clock speed growth isn't directly proportional to the number of CPU cores (a common myth).

While I'm all for bucket loads of clock cycles and fast FSBs, PC architecture needs to move forward in proportion with processor advances (i.e. a holistic approach to system architecture). The move away from parallel bus communications in lieu of faster clocked serial interfaces helps to a degree the entire bus architecture needs an overhaul to provide adequate gains in performance. I predict a move away from Northbridge\Southbridge chipsets towards an InfiniBand type bus architectures - its prevalent in high end server implementations but has some way to go in terms of making an appearance at a desktop level. USB 3.0 will change things marginally in terms of external device interoperability but I don't believe its impact will be as significant as some pundits might have you believe. To cap it all, the OS and s/w manufacturers need to get on the bandwagon and make use of all of this extra data processing ability (especially @ the desktop level).

CJ

[Wildhound]

In future we will have task specific cores with different clocks speeds to handle appropriate tasks, like the cell processors in PS3s.

That's not how cell processors actually work. They SPEs are usually more or less identical and are assigned a variety of tasks by the PPE. What you're proposing actually sounds like a backwards step, a throwback to the days of maths co-processors. One of the huge advantages of modern desktop microprocessors (even over cell) is that they're so flexible.

From the literature I've read on cell it seems the the goal is actually quite the contrary - to integrate peripheral functions like graphics and sound processing into a CPU rather than having dedicated cores or chips for each task. This is advantageous for home entertainment systems (like PS3) and I would expect to see it continue to excel in that area.

[gfalls]

Photoshop CS4 64 bit, loves multicore, but you need a 64 bit o/s....just like Bernards..

[Muad_dib77]

I think I'm running a dual core amd 64 4600.. it so long since I bought it I cant remember...

Just the other day I thought... Hmm I ought to upgrade my computer..

immediately followed by..

why would I...

..nothing really needs 16gb and quad cpus..

instead I ended up getting a niftly little standalone NAS unit 2x 1tb drives set in raid.. handles all my movies and tv stuff.. streams them into my sittingroom.. and whats more it has a built in torrent client so I can just queue stuff up and when it's done it's ready to watch..

Of course this is all legal.. Love it.. Actually considering getting shot of the desktop..