Need puter help.

[Crazyredhead]

I am looking for a new computer. I am getting one with 500 gb of hard drive and 3gb of memory that is expandable up to 8gb.. Which is better AMD or Intel. I have a lot of games for the computer, not to mention my kids like the games on the internet. I love Mah Jong and have a lot of these games. I have heard that AMD is good if you are into games, am I correct?

[gunsage]

Expandable up to 8GB, eh? Good stuff. I'm assuming, then, that it's a 64-bit system? Anyway, AMD is where it's at when it comes to high performance, but I've heard that support isn't so great. Basically put, I get constant updates for my nVidia graphics card even though it's YEARS old. I've heard AMD isn't all that great about that, but obviously I can't speak for them one way or the other.

Either way, with that amount of RAM and HD space, you're already on the right track. Here's what I'm going to say...what kinds of games do you like? If you're not interested in "cutting edge" gaming, don't worry about it. You mentioned Mah Jongg, that's why I ask...it's not exactly graphic intensive. Now, if you said, "I WANNA RAWK OUT CRYSIS," yeah, then you'd probably need more advice.

[Broomjockey]

Honestly, there's not a huge amount of difference. I believe how it actually pans out is AMD's cheaper, but Intel's slightly more powerful. I'm running a 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad, and I've had *no* problems. But Gunsage's right. What kind of games are you running? Casual games aren't going to tax your system, so just get whatever works in your price range.

The big determiner is the motherboard and graphics card. If you want a super-high end system, those are what are going to determine what chip you get. Dual NVidia cards, you'll probably have to look at AMD, as there's not a lot of Intel SLI motherboards.

If that last sentence was complete gobbledygook, grab an Intel. They're fairly solid, and have good support.

[lordlundar]

Expandable up to 8GB, eh? Good stuff. I'm assuming, then, that it's a 64-bit system?

Or the OP isn't aware that a 32-bit system doesn't acknowledge more than 3GB in RAM.

The popular shift has been Intel lately, though that can change with AMD announcing their true quad core processors. AMD is still a great choice for the money, but if you have the money to burn and want it now and not some time from now, go Intel quad core and as fast as you can afford. If you really want to wait, I would say wait for the AMD quads to show up.

[Broomjockey]

Or the OP isn't aware that a 32-bit system doesn't acknowledge more than 3GB in RAM.

I thought they'd take 4, but would only display 3? If you're right, I was wasting a gig in my old system.

[Crazyredhead]

I have Scrabble, Monopoly, about 5 Mah Jong games and still going. I was planning on getting W.O.W (maybe), Call of Duty 4, and maybe some more similar games for the kids. Oldest daughter loves Solitare, the boys love cartoon network and Nick and other internet games. Youngest daughter loves Anime. I also have company software from my job that I do online and there minimum requirements are XP. I'm not sure how much space DSL takes, if any, but I am with AT&T. I have MP3, IPOD, and a Garmin Forerunner 205 (GPS running watch). I will be burning CD's, downloading music, and maybe even a movie or two. My daughters love You Tube and plan on making short video/movies of there favorite Anime shows. They also chat on Gaia, so I would need several different types of protection software.

Basically this is the only computer between Me (mostly), my husband and 5 kids. It took my hubby years to figure out how to work this computer, he's going to be completely lost with the new one (he-he), he still cannot operate the mouse very well.

Wht is the best way to dispose of the hard drive? Is reformatting it enough? I have 7 years of our life stored in this computer and I don't want it getting into the wrong hands.

[lordlundar]

Wht is the best way to dispose of the hard drive? Is reformatting it enough? I have 7 years of our life stored in this computer and I don't want it getting into the wrong hands.

A DoD class rewriting program will cover the data (there's another thread here that covers some options) but if you have no intention of passing it on, destruction of the platters with a hammer or strong acid is the best bet. If you go acid, remove the platters first so you can ensure the acid gets to the data, and not get wasted on the shell.

I thought they'd take 4, but would only display 3? If you're right, I was wasting a gig in my old system.

It's a loose number between 3GB and 4GB. I don't think anyone has pegged it down absolutely. But beyond that number, it just doesn't see it.

[RichS]

I do a lot of work with video myself, and my suggestion is to pack as much hard drive space/memory/CPU power you can afford.

Sounds like you're good on hard drive space and memory. Intel is the performance leader at the moment, but AMD isn't too far behind, and is getting ready to release new processors based on their Deneb core. Intel is slowly releasing processors based on the Nehalem core.

What does all that mean? Better performance at lower power usage for lower prices thanks to competition. When you look at systems, be sure to get ones based on the Intel Core 2, or AMD Phenom or Athlon 64 x2 processors - no Pentium, Celeron, or Sempron.

All of the kids' internet/casual games would be doable on a base configuration, but for WOW, Call of Duty 4, and all other games of that type, I'd make sure to get a good performing graphics card. Good price/performance ratio would be the cards based on the nVidia 9600GT - I have one made by BFG, and I doubled performance compared to my old graphics setup. If you have a 19" or larger monitor, I'd go with an nVidia 8600GT.

[gunsage]

acknowledge more than 3GB in RAM

I thought it was only two.

[Broomjockey]

I thought it was only two.

Definitely not. My P4 had more than that.

Crazyredhead: Make sure you get a really good graphics card, if you're planning on getting games like CoD 4. You haven't mentioned the card yet, so I'm a little concerned. For games like that, it's basically just your RAM and graphics card that improve gameplay noticibly once you're past the minimum specs. As well, if you want to play movies or do video editing (like your daughters plan on) a better graphics card will help with that. With the newer cards and processors, certain ones tend to work together better. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it's AMD and ATI are partnered, and then NVidia and Intel. So you can either pick your card based on your processor, or your processor based on your card.

[digilight]

In addition to the advice about the Graphics Card can I make a few suggestions as well.

Power supply, get a heavy duty one (any advice on output????) I don't do gaming rigs just office type myself. I do know that the stock supplies are usually crap. I can also tell you that as you put more goodies into the box you can draw too much power and cause it not to post.

Cooling. Get all the cooling gear in there that you can afford. Fans and the like. YOu don't wanna fry your toy in the summer heat.

UPS (Un-interupted Power Supply). Acts as both a battery backup and a highend surge protector.

Oh yeah, have fun and enjoy it. Sounds like a kick ass rig to me.

[RichS]

Definitely not.I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it's AMD and ATI are partnered, and then NVidia and Intel. So you can either pick your card based on your processor, or your processor based on your card.

Not entirely true - I've had several AMD processors with an nVidia board (currently an Opteron with the 9600GT), and Intel processors with an ATi board (now a 3.0 GHz. P4 with an ATI 9600XT).

What you have to watch out for is certain motherboards with nVidia/ATi chipsets not working with the other companies' cards. An example would be last week - a customer purchased one of the base systems. His son proceeded to yank on the monitor cable so hard that the video connector on the nVidia nForce based motherboard broke off. My boss proceeded to replace the onboard video with an ATi PCI Express-based video card - wouldn't work. He then tried an old PCI video card - that worked. He tried a replacement PCI Express, also ATi - no go.

When I came in, I looked on the motherboard manufacturers' web site, and found out that it wouldn't work with any ATi video cards. Got an nVidia card, worked perfectly.

So, before you replace that video card, read the motherboard/computer manufacturers' manual or website to make sure the replacement will work.

[Broomjockey]

Not entirely true - I've had several AMD processors with an nVidia board (currently an Opteron with the 9600GT), and Intel processors with an ATi board (now a 3.0 GHz. P4 with an ATI 9600XT).

Well, I know that they can work together, I just heard they were doing some sort of optimization. I dont' think any of the companies are foolish enough to be completely incompatable like that. At least I hope...

[lordlundar]

Those boards are specific set up if you want to link video cards together. If you're looking to link two Nvidia video cards in, you need a board with SLi and if you're looking to connect two ATi cards, you need a board with Crossfire. If you're only going with one, you just need to make sure the board has the expansion slot for the card (PCIe or AGP)

[Eric the Grey]

Wht is the best way to dispose of the hard drive? Is reformatting it enough? I have 7 years of our life stored in this computer and I don't want it getting into the wrong hands.

Why get rid of it? From the sounds of things (2 Parents + 5 kids...) you could make use of a second PC. Unless the old one is dying completely, I'd suggest transferring all your files over to the new one (files and settings transfer wizard) and doing a clean re-install of windows on the old one. You'd be surprised at how much better it'll work after that.

If the computer is dying, I'd suggest just pulling the drive from the old box and adding it to your new one, assuming it can take it. If you daughter is into Anime, and like me, she goes the bittorrent route for the newest stuff from Japan, you'll want all the extra space you can get.

In addition to the advice about the Graphics Card can I make a few suggestions as well.

Power supply, get a heavy duty one (any advice on output????) I don't do gaming rigs just office type myself. I do know that the stock supplies are usually crap. I can also tell you that as you put more goodies into the box you can draw too much power and cause it not to post.

Cooling. Get all the cooling gear in there that you can afford. Fans and the like. YOu don't wanna fry your toy in the summer heat.

If you're building a new system, this is good advice. Pre-built systems however, tend to have strong enough power supplies to handle what's in them when they are sold. You may need a bigger power supply if you add on to the base system (more drives, a bigger video card, etc).

Well, I know that they can work together, I just heard they were doing some sort of optimization. I dont' think any of the companies are foolish enough to be completely incompatable like that. At least I hope...

As far as I know, the only time you have to worry about AMD vs Intel when it comes to video cards, is if you plan to do SLI. SLI is the process of using two Nvidia graphic cards, linked together to draw the display. It's used by gaming enthusiasts who want the absolute best and fastest display. In order to use SLI, you must have an Nvidia motherboard (with an Nvidia north bridge?) I'm writing this from memory, so my details may be somewhat off.

The main thing about video cards is, unless you're planning on doing SLI, there is no reason to worry about AMD over Intel. I'm currently running an Intel chip, and an Nvidia card, and it runs just fine.



Eric the Grey