PC tower

[honeycake]

so i'm planning on buying this, What do you guys think of the specs



Motherboard - Intel G41 775 DDR3



CPU - Intel E3400 2.6Ghz Dual Core


Memory - 8Gb DDR3


Hard Dirve - 2000Gb SATA II


Optical Drive - DVD+-RW

let me know

[Brandon]

Plenty of hard drive space, 8 GB is decent RAM, 2.6 ghz dual-core isn't bad but it all depends on what you plan on using your computer for. Provided you got good prices for them, then I'd say that it's a good start.

[honeycake]

yeah just read the total of the dual core is 5.2ghz so 2.6ghz x2 i will just want to use it for a few games and internet also the price is reasonable

[David]

You should get a graphics card if you're going to be playing 3d games.

Edit:
Get 4GB of ram and a 500GB or 1TB HDD (You can save maybe $50-$100). You should get a better CPU and motherboard.

[Digilodger]

I don't know. The specs you've provided looks rather fishy to me. The motherboard and CPU don't match up with the RAM, hard disk, and optical drive. Is this a custom-built PC? It doesn't make any sense at all. Anyone else feeling this way?

Maybe I'm just over-analyzing things but . . . are you sure that this is legit?


If it's not a secret, how much are you paying for it? And where are you buying it from?

[tk338]

At a quick glance, not amazing if I'm honest.

If you are custom building look for the better parts not higher numbers.

Starting with the processor; latest ones out are quad-core, the slightly better ones anyway, sure you need an ok processor speed, but cores are important to, as is the bus speed and whats its going to support, bear in mind the rollout of usb 3 is imminent/happenning. Also its important to remember just because its dual core doesn't mean you times the number by 2, or if its quad core by 4. The processor speed is going to stay the same really just programs that support it can use multiple cores.

Ram, its all very well having a lot of ram, but your motherboard needs to be able to fit it on plus what speed ram is it?

The hard drive, you need to make sure you can connect it to the mother board first! Not sure if your board supports sata hard drives? 2TB is huge, unless you are going to be having a huge library of games, be running some extreme photo software editing suite working with massive files or video or music production. For ALL of those you'll need either a very high performance graphics card or soundcard and a much higher spec pc.

I don't know a ton about computers and maybe I haven't explained everything right, but from looking at it, i do know its a bit of a mismatched system. If you are going to be building yourself its all very well, but how much do you know about building a computer, simply not protecting against ESD can destroy computer parts just by you holding them if you dont protect against it. How about plugging it all together, loading it up for the first time, what about the parts that are missed off this list?

Kudos to you for going out there to look at doing a homebuild/upgrade?, but there are other options which may save you money in all honesty, and give you more of a balanced system.

Any questions come ask here and people will help

[Sheppy96]

I know some of this has been said before, but I would consider spending less money on the RAM and harddrive (is 2000Gb correct?). I would maybe go for a Quad-core processor and 4Gb of RAM. Just having lots of RAM won't make a computer fast - you need a good balance of everything. Also a graphics card would be good. If you want any help with finding one that suits your needs just PM me If your looking for even an entry-level gaming PC, make sure you get a good power supply so it doesn't get in the way of future upgrades. (I'm paying that price currently :/)

But seriously the processor is very hard/impossible to upgrade so make sure you get a good one. Do A LOT of research to check that the components are all compatible. Spend less money on things that can be upgraded later (eg. RAM).

PM if you need more help
~ Sheppy96

[honeycake]

Hey thanks for your help everyone i'm not a big gamer tbh i just like surfing the net and using paint lol also i use skype a lot, the graphics card however is intel x4500 onboard graphics

[Sheppy96]

Yeah onboard graphics card do @?!&%* to play games to be honest. Is this custom built? If so you could buy an entry-ish level graphics card like mine (nVidia GT240). I'm upgrading my graphics card to something new as it's starting to be left behind by some games that will be coming out october (war games :P). If your just doing a bit of gaming (eg. sims 3 or something like that?) then that graphics card would be plenty for you. If your just using it MAY suit you better to have a laptop for portability, but expect to pay more for a laptop that can run games decently vs. a desktop that can do the same. Plus PC is more upgradeable.
~Sheppy96

[Digilodger]

Originally Posted by honeycake

Hey thanks for your help everyone i'm not a big gamer tbh i just like surfing the net and using paint lol also i use skype a lot, the graphics card however is intel x4500 onboard graphics

The more specs you provide, the less sense it makes. Now I really think this is a scamming scheme.


So if you don't mind, I would like to ask my questions again:

Could you please tell us where are you buying this from? And how much is it? Is it custom built?

Thanks!

[tk338]

Originally Posted by honeycake

Hey thanks for your help everyone i'm not a big gamer tbh i just like surfing the net and using paint lol also i use skype a lot, the graphics card however is intel x4500 onboard graphics

If you're prepared to sacrifice gaming, and all you use it for is the net, paint, and skype you no way need anything high spec.

Infact at a push you'd get by on a netbook if you didn't mind the smaller screen. It'd be a hell of a lot cheaper, portable and probably have a built in webcam. A low end Samsung would be perfect for you.

If not a laptop, or; if you're set on a tower/monitor set up...

Again you don't need anything special. If you're looking to save money you could go for practically anything and it'd satisfy those needs. My laptop is over 2 years old, 2gb of ram, on board graphics, intel 2ghz core 2 duo and the hard drive is 320GB I believe. I still do some light gaming on it, serious web browsing, photo editing at a slightly slower pace but I work with huge images. Skype, msn, emails, and I'm getting into programming. It can run virtually most of it simultaneously and its not struggling the majority of the time.

If its a custom build for cheap money you'll be able to build something, but if you just want a pc that works, go for a reliable name and something slightly future proofed.

I don't mean this in a nasty way but you are by no means a power user, and specs like 8GB of ram are really way above your level of need, as is a 2TB harddrive!!

To sum up, you'll get by with most anything. Anything on top is a bonus. If you want a pc by all means get one, but if you could put up with a smaller screen you'd save yourself some serious bucks with a netbook with added portability

[honeycake]

thanks but this is going to be set up for me and my family to use and my boyfriend and no doubt he'll want to play a few games but as for me not as much, also i have a laptop but i'll be using this for going out and about laptops seem to not like me as much i've had 3 so far, but i only need to buy the tower not a monitor i have one but thanks for the advice.

[Digilodger]

Originally Posted by honeycake

thanks but this is going to be set up for me and my family to use and my boyfriend and no doubt he'll want to play a few games but as for me not as much, also i have a laptop but i'll be using this for going out and about laptops seem to not like me as much i've had 3 so far, but i only need to buy the tower not a monitor i have one but thanks for the advice.

You don't understand the problem here. The seller of this tower is trying to sell you more than what you actually need. Hell, to be correct, he or she is trying to sell you more than what you can actually use.


----------------------------

Let's take a look at the specs that you've provided us, in layman's terms:

Motherboard - Intel G41 775 DDR3
CPU - Intel E3400 2.6Ghz Dual Core

Memory - 8Gb DDR3
Hard Dirve - 2000Gb SATA II
Optical Drive - DVD+-RW

"graphics card [...] is intel x4500 onboard graphics"

Very vague specs, so we can't we sure. But your RAM, hard disk, and optical drive gives the image of a powerful gaming system, costing over $1000 USD.

But then when we take a look at the motherboard, processor, and graphic card, that image is completely crushed . Now we see system that costs LESS than $400 USD, probably somewhere around $325 USD.

They do not match! And let us remind ourselves that a computer is only as powerful as its WEAKEST component.


If you try to load up all 8GB of the RAM, this system will not be able to handle it. Sure, the motherboard can handle up to 8GB, but to actually fill up more than 4GB, you would have run a lot of resource-intensive programs; I can't see how your processor and graphic card can handle that load. I can't even see how one can fill up 3GB of RAM on this thing. Same with your hard disk and optical drive, for such weak motherboard, processor, and graphic card, this thing comes with WAYY too high storage and temporary memory.


----------------------------

You cannot use all of these storage and memory resources:

1. You don't have the mean and usage to fill even half of the storage and memory, and
2. This thing cannot handle it if you try to use up 8GB of RAM anyway.

In other words, whoever selling this is trying to get you to throw your money out the window, for nothing!

[Honey Badger]

I would shy away from that setup. First of all, both the motherboard and the processor are already 4 years old. Secondly, the RAM that was selected is not compatible with the motherboard, and will not work. You are limited to DDR2 memory at 800Mhz FSB. You can have the 8GB of RAM, but, only with two identical x8 double-sided DIMM's, which can be tricky to come by as everything now is x16.

The board has two DIMM sockets and supports the following memory features:

• 1.8 V DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs with gold plated contacts, with the option to raise the

voltage to support higher performance DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs

• Dual channel interleaved mode support

• Unbuffered, single-sided or double-sided DIMMs with the following restriction: Double-sided DIMMs with x16 organization are not supported.

• 8 GB maximum total system memory. Refer to Section 2.1.1 on page 39 for information on the total amount of addressable memory.

• Minimum total system memory: 512 MB

•Non-ECC DIMMs

• Serial Presence Detect

• DDR2 667 MHz or DDR2 800 MHz SDRAM DIMMs

• DDR2 667 MHz DIMMs with SPD timings of only 5-5-5 (tCL-tRCD-tRP)
• DDR2 800 MHz DIMMs with SPD timings of only 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 (tCL-tRCD-tRP)

For the same price, you can be looking into much newer technology without the limitations that the current board has. With gaming in mind, you'll probably want a motherboard that doesn't even have onboard graphics, you'll want one that requires a seperate video card.

Send me a message if you have any questions, I do Information Technology for a living, this is part (very, very, very slight part) of what I do on a daily basis.