I think i want a new computer

[Wesley]

My current one is 5 years old. It has a pentium 3 processor and a 20G hard drive. It handles Dragon ok. Problem with it is we've filled the hard drive w/ music.

So, do I get a budget pc w/ 60-80G drive or something fancier? I anticipate collecting more music and photos. Is window media center software any good? Or should i not buy till Vista arrives and dual processors become the norm?

I realize a computer starts to become obsolete as soon as you buy it, but this seems like one of those times when pcs are going to change quickly.

[Jim]

You could buy a 120 gig hard drive to store media on and connect it with a USB cable, all for like $60

[Scott Pruett]

x2, just buy more storage if that's what you really need... you can move it around later if need be. Do you know if you have an open drive bay inside your PC? Huge hard drives are ridiculously inexpensive nowadays. I've got > 750gb spread between 3 drives.

[bob clark]

A Pentium 3 in computer terms is ancient. You can pick up a Dell P4_2.8GHz for under $500. And then add whatever you want onto it. I don't think they even sell 20GB hard drives anymore... even a 40GB is small by today's standards. 80 to 120 is average.

It's all about the money I guess. But you can always add the hard drive from your old Pentium 3 as a slave or storage drive to a new computer and have access to all the stuff on it. Not installed programs but files like mp3, doc, mpg, jpg etc. In other words, use your old P3 hard drive for storage. You can seamlessly access all the mp3s, jpgs and video files etc from it.

If I told you how much I paid for my new gaming computer you might have a coronary.... but it's time that you upgraded to a P4 and XP. All the new software coming out needs the power of a P4 to run right and the compatibilty of XP.

Some non-XP software won't run on XP but there is a "compatibility feature" built into XP that allows most older software to run on it.

You can always copy all the files that you want to save from your old hard drive onto the new hard drive (into a temp folder) and Format the old hard drive from within XP (it's simple to do) so that it'll be completely free (like new) to start storing stuff on.

[tprewitt]

check out this web site for some Dell deals
http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php

[DA]

wait until you can get vista and a dual processors and 64 bit.

[philquad36]

i build a64 computers here in aus
a64 cpu,moby,512 ram,120gig h drive, laughing
download xp, aint worth paying for.

[kilgore]

I've been monitoring Tomshardware.com for a while, and this is one of the better deals I've seen:

GATEWAY 508GE
PENTIUM4 - 3.2GHz - 512MB - 200GB HARD DRIVE - Dual Layer DVDRW & DVD DRIVES - MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME

Price (incl shipping)
$418.24

http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/508GE?mv_pc=pricegrabber

[bob clark]

Hi Kilgore,

You may want to re-think this particular Gateway. I'm not 100% sure but I don't believe it has an AGP or PCI-E (E = Express) slot on the motherboard if you ever want to upgrade to a video card. It appears to only have Integrated Graphics, which is just a "chip" on the motherboard that renders the graphics. If you want to game on it or do anything graphically intensive you want to make sure that any computer that you buy has an AGP or PCI-E slot on the motherboard so that you can upgrade later and install a video card. AGP is an old technology now... the newer computers use PCI-E.

You may be able to put a PCI video card in there (it only has 2 PCI slots) but they are getting rare and may be hard if not impossible to find. Plus they aren't as fast as AGP or PCI-E video cards.

It also has onboard (integrated) audio which is okay but if you want it to sound really good you'll want to add a decent soundcard in one of those PCI slots.

It's always nice to have the option to upgrade later but will probably cost 50 or 100 bucks more to get a motherboard that has an AGP or PCI-E slot on it.

2 PCI slots is very minimal. You'll be limited as to what components you can put in there like a TV tuner card or video capture card etc. Just something to keep in mind.

[PN]

Windows Vista (http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/21/vista-delayed-until-early-2007) has been delayed and it may be released in early 2007, but who really knows? So, therefore, if you need a new PC, I would not wait for Windows Vista to come out before you make your purchase.

Bob makes some good points about the PC you're considering and Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/) is an excellent resource/website. Gotapex? (http://www.gotapex.com/) is a site that I frequently visit when I need to buy a computer at a good price. However, I think getting a better PC might bust your $418 budget.

[teyrn]

I bet for 400 he could get a base machine and use his current monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Swap the hard drive out of the PIII and toss it into the new tower. You may have to reinstall windows, you have a 50/50 chance of it booting and just install new drivers. With a base machine like this you can start upgrading peice by peice as your budget allows each month. The only thing you would need to purchase up front would be the tower with the motherboard the CD/DVD and or CDRW/DVDRW combo drive a larger hard drive to store media on intigrated graphics and sound with the ability to upgrade to what was mentioned above with AGP or PCI-E. All your software is on your old drive with the OS so you wouldn't need to purchase any software yet.
My 2 cents on the thing. But like mentioned above don't put yourself in a corner by getting something that is in your budget but isn't upgradable.

[kilgore]

Good points about being upgradable. My method has been to upgrade a computer after two years, use it for two more years, then get a whole new computer. Is this similar to others' timelines?

The Gateway does have PCI-E x1 and x16 slots (empty), and onboard audio does tend to be lame, but the "wow, this thing is way better than my PIII!" factor should keep Wesley happy while he saves his pennies for memory and PCI cards.

[Wesley]

My solution: Staples had a 80G external hard drive on their clearance table for $45. So that will do for now, I guess, although it is very tempting to do Teryn's idea.

Thanks for all the great ideas.

[bob clark]

Good points about being upgradable. My method has been to upgrade a computer after two years, use it for two more years, then get a whole new computer. Is this similar to others' timelines?
I kept my last computer for 3 years and upgraded both the processor and the video card twice. I got lucky when I bought it because it featured a new model motherboard that allowed me to start at the bottom of the processor line (P4_1.3GHz) and the board stayed viable all the way up to a P4_3.0... with the help of an adapter.... more than doubling the processor speed. Sometimes you'll get a motherboard that's gets obsolete real fast because the processor class ends abruptly.
The Gateway does have PCI-E x1 and x16 slots (empty), and onboard audio does tend to be lame, but the "wow, this thing is way better than my PIII!" factor should keep Wesley happy while he saves his pennies for memory and PCI cards.
You're right. The Gateway 508GE does have a video PCI-E slot in it..... cool.
Video Output Interface PCI Express
Expansion Slots PCI Express x16 x 1 • PCI Express x1 x 1 • PCI x 2
It didn't indicate that on the page you linked to. I should have searched further.

Here's the Gateway 508GE Desktop Computer (http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/3724/4425nv.shtml) webpage and its specification (http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/3724/4425sp4.shtml) webpage.

When you're ready to upgrade slap a basic but good $75 Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Brand=1137&N=2010360057+50001137&Submit=ENE&Manufactory=1137&SubCategory=57) soundcard in there and crank it up. Or one of their less expensive models. A good set of 7.1 powered speakers would help too.

Then to make a gaming computer out of it install a relatively fast video card in there. But you'll be limited here by the 300-watt power supply. All the top of the line video cards require 450-watts or higher. But there are many mid-level video cards that can run on 300-watts. Just make sure you check the system requirements of the video card that you decide upon before you buy it.

Computers are strange in that you can buy one like this Gateway 508GE Desktop Computer for just over $400. That's a lot of stuff for the money. But you can spend over $600 on a single top of the line video card. I have an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard that uses two video cards. I spent over $1,200 just for the cards. And one of them fizzled and I've been trying to get it replaced for the past 3 months. nVidia better get on the stick soon and get a new video card here or I'll jump ship and go ATI Crossfire next time!

[Andy]

My take is buy a new system rather than upgrade. Things do wear out and break over time, so you might have a longer usage just buying another one. Check out the gotapex site mentioned in the thread, wait for something like a 1/3 off coupon or similar cash off coupon for Dell, and check out the Dell site. IMO they are the price/performance leader out there, and they could set you up with a great machine for your uses most economically.

[bob clark]

I agree with Andy. If your computer is 5 years old then it's time for a new one. You could always add another hard drive to an old computer for storage if you really need the space but when you do get a new computer you'll be stuck with a new hard drive that you may have no use for. I say this since the newer computers come with huge hard drives (or you can always order one with an even "huger" hard drive) and the price for these hard drives are relatively inexpensive when they're bought as part of a computer or computer "package" because of Dell and Gateway's etc bulk purchasing ability. You pay a lot for an external USB hard drive.

It makes no sense to pay the extra money for an external, usually USB, hard drive because they cost so much more than an internal hard drive.

If all you do with your computer is surf the web and store pictures then an old computer might suffice. But I would heartily recommend doing a format of the hard drive and clean installaton of the OS if it hasn't been done in 5 years. I can only imagine how "sluggish" it must be.... especially if your hard drive is getting full. But you'll need large storage capacity like a CD-RW to back up all your files... and if your computer is 5 years old you may not have one installed. It's only a matter of time before something on it fails and you don't want to start throwing good money after bad having it "repaired" on such an old, outdated computer. You may want to start backing up the things on it that you really want to save before the hard drive fails and you perhaps lose everything.

The prices of a decent mid-level computer are really low for whatja get. It amazes me at how inexpensively (in the scheme of things) Dell and Gateway etc can sell them for. And they're even a little cheaper when you buy them through the Home Shopping Network etc.

And like Andy says, if money really is a problem then look around for a 1/3 off coupon or a special or whatever. Some people get a kick outta that "new car smell". I getta kick outta the new computer "plastic" smell!

But try to aim for a computer that has some upgradability to it. Like we discussed before, at least a PCIe slot for a video/graphics card. Many low-end computers don't have one. For example, at Dell, their E-310 doesn't have a PCIe x 16 (graphics) slot but their E-510 does.

Dell has an up to 1/3 off deal right now if you buy online. (http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs)

And it's really important to get a good monitor. After all, that's what you'll be staring at for many years to come. At Dell, you can upgrade from the standard 17 inch to a 19 inch monitor for just $80.

I just saw at the Dell website, if you qualify for their financing (which I wouldn't recommend... it's probably a fairly high APR) their low-end computers start at just $11 a month. Anyone can afford that by picking up cans on the side of the road. Ouch, my arms hurt just thinking about doing that! :) And a lot of the newer programs aren't written with Win98 or ME in mind.

This is for those who have a lot of money to spend on a computer... don't wait on MS and their new "Vista" OS (Operating System). Even if it were released tomorrow you'd still want to wait at least 6 months until most of the "major" bugs are discovered and patched. And it'll be years before programs, games and sims are written exclusively in 64 bit. And dual processors are a big waste of money unless you have or need a special program that needs that kind of performance and can take advantage of it. Games and sims aren't written for dual processors.... at least not yet. And so far the testing has shown that the new 64 bit technology in Vista is making games run slower.

[PN]

Unlike earlier video games Quake IV does benefit from dual core processors. (http://quake4.ravengames.com/)

http://leoville.tv/radio/ShowNotes/Show227

[bob clark]

Unlike earlier video games Quake IV does benefit from dual core processors. (http://quake4.ravengames.com/)

http://leoville.tv/radio/ShowNotes/Show227

Hi Paul,

Are you ready to play TW2005 yet? Since the Masters was on today I was gonna download and install the Augusta course for 2005 and play along. But there isn't one for 2005. There's one for 2004 and 2006 but not 2005. So I just re-installed Augusta (which I already had in storage) into my copy of 2004 and played along. Ya gotta love Amen Corner.

Phil Mickelson won if you weren't watching.

I broke down and ordered TW2006. I need a new toy so.... It should be here sometime this week. It was only $18. I needed a DVD player so while I was shopping at Amazon I threw Tiger in the cart!

I knew there were a couple games out that could use dual processors. There's an old chopper sim (I forget it's name) that could use P3 dual processors... but for the most part the game developers don't waste their time writing for dual processors since so few computer owners have them. I see that you linked to Leo LaPortes (Leoville) website. I used to watch him all the time on TechTV before G4 took it over and completely ruined it! Leo ran P3 dual processors a long time ago. He said it helped him with "multi-tasking".... before multi-tasking was a common feature.

Games and sims aren't written for dual processors.... at least not yet.

I should have qualified that sentence. Since there are now quite a few people with dual core or Hyper-Threading processors I imagine the game makers/writers will be taking it into consideration. Hopefully the combat flight sim writers will since they are very processor-reliant. Moreso than First Person Shooter and the other types of games are.

I just read that Quake 3 was capable of using dual core or dual processors too. But with Quake 4 you need to download and install the new patch to get it to work. That's weird.

This update enables Quake 4 to take advantage of the Hyper-Threading technology of Intel(r) Dual core processors. Players who have computer systems with this processor will notice significant performance gains in Quake 4. With the update, systems with a single core processor which uses the Hyper-Threading technology will have a performance jump of 25% compared to non Hyper-threaded processors. Dual core processors with Hyper-Threading technology will see a performance increase of up to 87%.

In short, systems with this technology will see the game run much faster than ever before. What hype!!!

That's what ID the makers of Quake 4 say. But when independent testers ran their tests the performance gain is varied... not near those numbers. And those increases, depending on whether you're running Intel or AMD, are only that high at the lower resolutions like 800x600. Who plays a game at those rezs? Hopefully no one... games look terrible at the rez. Most people with high-end gaming rigs run at 1600x1200. I run at 1280x1024 because the print is easier to read. It's bigger. I wish they'd find a way to make the type stay the same size at the higher resolutions. It seems weird to me that they can't or don't. But at the higher rezs dual cores even LOSE performance. I'm not sure about dual processors.

Dual processors should run faster than a single dual core processor. They're called "dual core" but they really aren't. There's one main or "big" core and there's another smaller core that kinda helps out.

Below is what they're saying about it at the AMDZone (http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=216&page=1)

As you can see the results above now show improvements from the patch, but only at best about 15%, and that quick drops to about 10%, and then down to 5% and 1% at the highest resolutions. This is a far cry from what id says Intel CPUs with dual core and HyperThreading will get. With Intel working on this code one would have to wonder if they are doing anything to cripple AMD's performance particularly when HyperThreading in so many cases actual drops performance.

With AA and AF turned on we again see good increases sometimes approaching 50%, (at 800x600) but lose that advantage a bit earlier with our 1280 results. Certainly we see that currently with the Nvidia driver issue ATI has a definite advantage in performance with this 1.05b patch.

For now we see that there are indeed some positive benefits for the patch with ATI in the clear lead for now. We are working on additional testing including Pentium 4 single and dual core results. We are also waiting on updated drivers from Nvidia that will provide other fixes. Also new is the 1.01 patch for Call of Duty 2 that we have started testing that also ads dual core benefits. Expect additional benchmarks for that game soon as well.


I have an SLI motherboard with 2 GF 6800 Ultra video cards on it. I read all the hype about it before I bought it and knew that real world results wouldn't compare to the hype. I was hoping to get a 50% increase... I'm getting about a 30% increase with my favorite combat flight sim Lock On: Modern Air Combat. Some games and sims get even less of a performance increase and from what I read MS Flight Simulator 2004 even loses performance.

Unless or until a game or sim is written solely for dual processors/cores or dual video cards in mind will we be seeing any big performance increase. And since so few people own them now (at least dual processors) they're forced to write the games for both single and dual. It's the old saying... "Jack of all trades but master of none"!

PM me a day and time that you want to play TW2005 and I'll be ready. And tell me what tee you want to use and what "difficulty" setting you're playing/practicing at. I'll send ya my IP addy then. Have you seen Trevor around here lately?

[PN]

Hello Bob,

I was on the same page with you with single core processors and games but even Leo Laporte now (Saturday, 4 March 2006 → Show 227) thinks that dual core processors are the wave of the future for this industry.

It's too bad about TechTV, RIP.

I think I can tee it up this coming Wednesday. I will send you a Private Message on this topic.

[Wesley]

My credit card is twitching ar that dell 510 sale. What do you guys think? Is that a good deal? Would you get the 20" wide screen monitor? Any other upgrades?

[Patonb]

Not sure which 510 your looking at, but the best pre-config one, you shouldd up the RAM, 40bucks i believe for 1G. I'd get a bigger drive, 80's okay but you probably thought the 20 wwas HUGE 5yrs ago. My laptops wide screen and i love the w/s for viewing. To bad it only comes in a 20"

Oh... Id go dual drive dvdrw dved. Even tho they both do ar DVD readers, this would just put less work on the burner so it'd last longer.....Plus you can disc copy. ;)

Ohpart 2... Up the video card, or maybe even better buy one yourself.... SE and/or LE cards aren't thier best models.

Oh part 3..... maybe the mouse too, optical mice don't get as dirty as mechnical ones.

Configed with a 20"wdscreen, 1g ram, 250G hd, optical mouse and Nvidea card its 1327.00 and thats mainly the screenn upgrade......not too bad at all.

[PN]

Would you get the 20" wide screen monitor?
YES!

DellHome - Dimension E510 with 2.8Ghz P4 820 Dual Core, 512MB DDR2, 128MB PCIe x16 Radeon X300 SE, 80GB HD, CD-RW/DVD Combo, for $701.40 with FREE Shipping including NEW 20" UltraSharp Widescreen LCD!
There`s a bunch of new Dell coupons on eBay that`ll drop this baby down another $35 so if you haven`t jumped on this yet, you need to do so now as there seem to be redemptions still left! The last time they had this was ages ago and it didn`t last all that long. Thanks to the nice big 40% off coupon, you get one with a FREE upgrade to a 2.8Ghz Pentium 820 Dual Core processor ($100 value), 512MB of dual channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533Mhz (previously a $40 upgrade), 80GB S-ATA 7200RPM hard drive, 128MB PCIe x16 ATI Radeon X300 SE video card ($40 value), 48x CD-RW/DVD Combo ($30 value), integrated 7.1 channel audio, 10/100 networking, Windows 2005 Media Center Edition, and a 1 year warranty. A hot upgrade to the 20.1" widescreen Dell UltraSharp 2007FPW LCD monitor with VGA, DVI, S-video, and composite (attach your VCR to watch TV on it!) worth $529 is also included!

http://www.gotapex.com/

[Patonb]

There's something wrong with the gotapex description, Dell ony charges $1.00 extra for the 250G sata drive not 40, the Nvidia 256mb card is 40 bucks more.... The price of 1327 i said was without the 40% and with 40 off its down to 796.00.

not sure how gotpex works but i assume its just a deal finder and you buy from their site.

[PN]

I don't think this deal is going to last much longer with the 20-inch wide screen LCD monitor. The coupon codes did not work at XPbargains (http://www.xpbargains.com/) or gotapex (http://www.gotapex.com/). I had to go to slickdeals (http://www.slickdeals.net/#p7324) You will need to use coupon code BF55TC4P3X$PDH. Just configure your system and make sure to add in the 20-inch LCD wide screen display. I configured the system with the $8 Recovery CD for Windows XP Media Center, and the 1GB of RAM for $40. Patonb made some good suggestions. My price before the coupon was $1,229; after the coupon code it was $737.40. It appears this Dell does come with free shipping.

Good luck.

[alan]

If you have a friend who's good with putting computers together, you can build a system (that's what my computers have been since I first got into bbs-ing in the '80s - fellow sysops and I would meet at computer shows, and buy new, faster parts when we wanted to upgrade. I still upgrade that way - one of the former sysops still takes care of my computer, either for upgrades or to fix problems.)

My first computer was an IBM PC with 256K and two 360K floppy drives. I added a 20 meg drive and upped the memory to 640K when I started my bbs in 1986. Since that computer, I haven't bought a complete system. My current machine is an Athlon 2600+ CPU on an Abit KX7-333 motherboard, 512M Ram, 120 Gig of hard drive space (mostly empty.)

[teyrn]

Building your own system is always the way to go if you want to gurentee you have the exact setup you want with the hardware you want. Today though you can buy a complete computer + all the software for less then what you can buy parts and software for yourself and put together. However if you already have the software you want on OEM disks or other media that isn't propritary then building your own PC is definatly the way to go.

[Patonb]

Definately Teryn........ I'd buy a full low-medium level computer, and build/customize a medium -high end system. But when you can get a decent do-all good but nothing supurb system for 1000 with all software..... building one itsn't to economical.

[scoty20]

Definetly agree with you guys who suggest custom build system.I just got my rig assembled last year october,spec:

Amd Athlon 64 3000 1.8GHZ(currently running on 2.7GHZ@1.42v*overclocked)
Dfi LP UT NF4 SLI-D(we can run 2 graphic cards on the motherboard)
Twinmos SP 2x 512mb DDR433(timing 2-2-2-5@245Mhz/3.3v)
MSI 6600GT 128mb/128Bit PCI-E
80GB WD Sata
Sansun 500w Modular PSU

It cost me Malaysian Ringgit 2910/usd 700 plus.

Good enough for gaming,workstation plus my hobby overclocking.:)
Btw i'm looking for a partner from the USA who is quite good in computer hardwares and have tons of exprience in buying computer hardwares online ie; monarch computer,newegg,tankguys etc.I'm going to start my online sales in Malaysia and if i bring in the stocks from the mentioned online store,i'll get better price compared to local supplier.
Anyone intrested??give me a message.In the same time you can earn $$ for example 3% of my purchase value.You just have to order the items from the online stores and repack it to ship to me via USPS(cheapest rate i could find) of course i'll pay you before you buy the items.Need honnest guy or girl.

YM: kingmaker_20@yahoo.com
MSN: kingmaker_20@hotmail.com

Dr.Wise,if this type of deals not allowed here in CC forum,pls enlight me.:thinking:

[LaoziSailor]

Back in 2003 this was a good configuration. If I stayed with the concept that I would like today what I had then, what H/W configuration would I be looking at today?
Koolance, CPU-200G Cooler for Water cooled kits
Koolance, HD2-1 2nd Hard drive Cooler for Water cooled kit RetailUsing
Koolance, MB-GOLD Copper Motherboard Cooler for Water cooled kits Retail
2x Koolance, HD-1 Hard drive Cooler for Water cooled kits Retail
ADI 7n1 Flash Media Bay Reader 3.5" 7n1 Black Color-OEM
SteelPad Mousepad 4S - RETAIL
SteelPad Padsurfer - OEM
Antec Cobra A26 UV Activated Round 133 ATA Cable Model 77227 Retail
Antec Cobra F16 UV-activated plastic Round Floppy FDD Cable Model 77217 Retail
Koolance PC2-601BW Jet Black Color Full tower Liquid Cooling case Retail
Plextor 52x32x52 PlexWriter Premium E-IDE (ATAPI) CD-RW Drive BLACK- Retail
Optorite DVD+-RW Dual Retail Drive Model DD0203 BLACK Retail
2x Arctic Silver's NEW Premium High-Density Thermal Compound: Ceramique . 2.7-gram( ~0.8 cc. ) tube
SAMSUNG 1.44MB BLACK FLOPPY DRIVE Model# SFD321B/LBL - OEM, DRIVE ONLY
2x Seagate 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120026AS - OEM
Logitech Cordless MX Duo - RETAIL
2x OCZ Dual Channel Optimized DDR PC-3200 High Performance. The Ultimate High End Memory 512MBX2 Model# OCZ4001024ELDC
HITACHI CML174SXWB 17" Black LCD MONITOR - RETAIL
ASUS Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron Processors, 800Mhz FSB Model# P4C800-E DELUXE Retail
ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FC). 460W
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 512k 800MHz FSB | socket 478 w/ Hyper Threading Technology - OEM
ATI All-In-Wonder RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DDR 8X AGP RETAIL
Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 - RETAIL Deja VU?! :What the

would I be looking at something liike this? or what would you change?


PROCESSOR AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 Processor @ 2.6GHz, 1000MHz FSB, 2 X 1MB L2 Cache
CPU COOLER Cooler Master Aquagate Liquid Cooler with Radiator and 120 mm Speed Adjustable Fan
SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black
MAIN BOARD Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X 16 2000 MT/S FSB, PCI-E, DDR400 w/ RAID
MEMORY Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 X 512MB) PC-3500 DDR 434MHz Memory
HARD DRIVE 1 Western Digital Raptor 74GB S-ATA 150 10000RPM Hard Drive
HARD DRIVE 2 Western Digital Raptor 74GB S-ATA 150 10000RPM Hard Drive
RAID SETTING RAID 0 Striped Drives - For Performance Purposes (Must use 2 identical drives)
HARD DRIVE 3 None.
SLI VIDEO 1 & 2 Quad NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology Featuring Four GeForce® 7900 GPUs @ 500 MHz
SLI VIDEO 3 & 4 Total 2GB GDDR3 Memory, 32 Vertex Shaders, 96 Pixel Pipes, & 153.6 GB Memory Bandwidth
CD/DVD/RW 1 Internal NEC Dual Layer ND-3550A Black 16X DVD+/- R + 48X CDR Rewritable Drive
CD/DVD/RW 2 None.
RECORDING SOFTWARE Ahead Nero 6 OEM Suite DVD/CD RW Software
SOUND Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
TV TUNER None.
MODEM None.
NETWORK CARD Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Port
FLOPPY DRIVE 1.44MB 3 1/2" Floppy Disk Drive
CASE CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Silver / Black Aluminum Case
POWER SUPPLY PC Power & Cooling 850W Silent SLI Ready Power Supply
CASE MOD None.
CASE COOLING Level 4 TyphoonTM Cooling system w/4 surround Case Fans
KEYBOARD Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse (Blue LED Key Illumination) USB Wired Standard Keyboard
MOUSE Logitech G5 Laser 2-Tone Mouse USB + PS/2
SPEAKERS Logitech Z-5500 505W RMS THX Certified 5.1 Speaker System
PORTS 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game/Midi and 6 USB ports
MONITOR None.
OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition with SP2