New Desktop spec?

Nasher · 27 June 2009, 21:27

I’m getting a spec together for our next desktop PC at home.

I’m happy with most of what I want, but I’d like some constructive views from experience on the difference between:

Intel Pentium Duel-Core and AMD Athlon Duel-Core

And

Intel Core2 Quad and AMD Phenom Quad-Core

I’m leaning towards the AMD Athlon Duel-Core or even the Phenom Quad-Core at the moment, depending on how the budget holds up with the rest of the spec.

I’m also thinking about moving away from Norton for the first time, despite never really having had an issue with it.
I know what a lot on here think about Norton, but what about Kaspersky Internet Security v8.0? It appears to Cheap to be any good at the moment.
What other ‘complete solution’ security packages should I consider?

Thanks

Nasher.

codprawn · 28 June 2009, 00:07

Norton - grrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AVG free is still very good but starting to get bloated. Kapersky is good but why pay when you can get AVG for nothing?

How do you connect to the internet? If it's with a broadband router it will have a very good firewall built in so no need to run another one.

As to CPU to be honest the most important thing is the graphics card - even if you don't play a lot of games onboard cards leave a lot to be desired.

Make sure you have plenty of RAM.

Of course it all comes down to what you want to spend. Some of the duo cores will run faster than the cheaper quad cores.

Beware of Dell machines and don't buy any Emachines or other PCworld junk!!!

The best bet is to have a look at this - brilliant specs for all price ranges!!!

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buy...should-i-buy/1

Avoid all the adverts etc and use the drop down box - very good info there.

JSP · 28 June 2009, 00:24

Don't forget to get the most powerful power supply your system can take, it improves things allot!

With out starting the mac~V~gates (how many times as that been said?)
Have you looked at a Mac pro tower running with vista as well as the OP? Great tool to build on

codprawn · 28 June 2009, 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSP

Don't forget to get the most powerful power supply your system can take, it improves things allot!

With out starting the mac~V~gates (how many times as that been said?)
Have you looked at a Mac pro tower running with vista as well as the OP? Great tool to build on

Thats why I said to avoid Dell. We were given a good spec Dell which we use as a TV/mulitmedia server - added some extra drives and then went to add a graphics card. The PSU was only 280w - not even enough to handle the drives properly.

Dell are a nightmare if you ever want to upgrade.

As far as the OS goes still not a fan of anything Apple - the best OS ever was on the Amiga - Gateway were going to release a new Amiga in 2000 that would run anything - Microsoft were so scared of it they bought them out - and shut it down!!!

We still use a very modified amiga for certain things............

AndrewH · 28 June 2009, 01:00

Just on the Anti-virus side - I'd agree to steer well clear of Norton (ditto McAfee). With either of those two you need to expect to see a serious hit on your overall performance.

Whilst AVG maybe free I've found a number of systems that rely on AVG only to find out the hard way that the database is not as up to date as you might like

Kaspersky is certainly an option, but also don't rule out Computer Associates, NOD32 or F-secure (the latter being used by a large number of the UK universities to protect the accounts of their staff and students). CA have certainly established their credentials in the business market and they claim the majority of the Fortune 500 companies use their AV. Whilst I'm in no place to confirm or refute that, I have used their AV for a number of years and found it to be a good option. That said I've been using F-secure for the last year or so. NOD32 is a popular choice amongst the IT geek/guru squad.

IMHO, avoid anything that targets home users; software targetted at larger enterprises is often leaner, meaner and less intrusive.

HTH

codprawn · 28 June 2009, 04:02

other essential progs are adaware by lavasoft - they do a good free version and also malwarebytes - it's amazing and free!!!

Nos4r2 · 28 June 2009, 07:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

other essential progs are adaware by lavasoft - they do a good free version and also malwarebytes - it's amazing and free!!!

I gave up on Adaware.I now use Spybot Search and Destroy with the system setting protector running permanently (it picks up everything and more that Adaware did), a hardware firewall (part of the wireless Router) along with free Zonealarm - because it stops anything accessing the net if I don't want it to-and AVG free.

Hightower · 28 June 2009, 10:11

I use Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and for the money it's the mutts nuts. I used to use F secure and found this good too, however my copy was a free be at the time and the cost of a years subscription was much more than the rivals, which is the reason I changed to Kaspersky.

Novatech sell this much cheaper than retail outlets do and last year you could pick up a 3 user disc for about £18. That makes it virually free in my eye's and it's never let me down.

Can't comment on the chip sets, however Novatech have a good forum Nasher, might be worth posting this there. I think alot of the moderators work at Novatech and if you're going to use them to puchase some gear it might be a good avenue

slimtim · 28 June 2009, 10:33

as far as anti virus goes...

I used to be a big fan of free AVG and zone alarm until AVG started to go downhill and zone alarm gave me problems with vista. I also ran adaware until one day I found that it was hogging a MASSIVE amount of resources for no reason and made my start up times 2-3 minutes instead of 30 seconds or something. I had always stayed clear of norton for the reasons that everyone knows about...resource hogging etc. However, my dad bought the new improved version from PC World for £20 which included 3 licenses so I thought I'd give it a go. The difference is staggering and I love it. It sits there quietly, uses very minimal resource and has some clever features. I'd recommend it and the reviews are good too.

As for the PC. The new Pentium i7 processors are supposed to be the nuts but are fairly expensive. As others have said, probably better to spend the extra on RAM. Having said that however, Vista 32bit will only use 3.5-4gig of RAM, any more is just a waste of money. You will need Vista 64bit to use extra RAM but you may run into slight problems with program compatibility. As for AMD, I think its a case of you get what you pay for. They are good, but not as good as the pentium equivalents and so are cheaper! It used to be the other way around but AMD have some catching up to do.

I will be building my own PC soon, that way I have complete control over the components that go into it. When you buy from Dell etc. you will get a budget case, power supply, motherboard and other things like slow RAM to make it look like you are getting value for money. Building a PC is not that hard and doesn't work out that much more than the cheapest Dell which would have crappy components inside. The spec I'm looking for is i7, 6gig of fast RAM, 1TB+ hard drives, nice case and powerful PSU, good motherboard with upgrade options, half decent graphics, blue ray drive and some other bits and bobs for £8-900 (ex monitor). If you were looking to spend a similar amount and already have a monitor then might be a possible route for you to take!

I really should be out in the sun rather than typing all this

JSP · 28 June 2009, 11:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by slimtim

as far as anti virus goes...

I used to be a big fan of free AVG and zone alarm until AVG started to go downhill and zone alarm gave me problems with vista. I also ran adaware until one day I found that it was hogging a MASSIVE amount of resources for no reason and made my start up times 2-3 minutes instead of 30 seconds or something. I had always stayed clear of norton for the reasons that everyone knows about...resource hogging etc. However, my dad bought the new improved version from PC World for £20 which included 3 licenses so I thought I'd give it a go. The difference is staggering and I love it. It sits there quietly, uses very minimal resource and has some clever features. I'd recommend it and the reviews are good too.

As for the PC. The new Pentium i7 processors are supposed to be the nuts but are fairly expensive. As others have said, probably better to spend the extra on RAM. Having said that however, Vista 32bit will only use 3.5-4gig of RAM, any more is just a waste of money. You will need Vista 64bit to use extra RAM but you may run into slight problems with program compatibility. As for AMD, I think its a case of you get what you pay for. They are good, but not as good as the pentium equivalents and so are cheaper! It used to be the other way around but AMD have some catching up to do.

I will be building my own PC soon, that way I have complete control over the components that go into it. When you buy from Dell etc. you will get a budget case, power supply, motherboard and other things like slow RAM to make it look like you are getting value for money. Building a PC is not that hard and doesn't work out that much more than the cheapest Dell which would have crappy components inside. The spec I'm looking for is i7, 6gig of fast RAM, 1TB+ hard drives, nice case and powerful PSU, good motherboard with upgrade options, half decent graphics, blue ray drive and some other bits and bobs for £8-900 (ex monitor). If you were looking to spend a similar amount and already have a monitor then might be a possible route for you to take!

I really should be out in the sun rather than typing all this

Nasher just steal your thread a moment.

Tim, I've just let the last of my camera gear go. Main computer has gone too but I have some software if you want it.
Photoshop CS3 Extended
Lightroom 2
Capture one pro
So many plugins you'll need a new harddrive
Noise ninja

slimtim · 28 June 2009, 11:52

ooooo, PM sent.

Back to the thread....

chris123 · 28 June 2009, 12:33

I think a lot comes down to personal preference. You can look at all the different benchmarks for different processors, but do they have any relevance in the real world?

For what it is worth, the last few computers I have built have been based around AMD processors with Asus motherboards, Nvidia chipsets and Nvidia graphics cards, and they have all been stable and reliable. I helped build a pc for my FiL at the same time as one of them - he used an Intel processor with Intel chipset and ATI graphics at slightly higher cost and if there was any performance difference you would need a benchmark suite to find it.

What I think is more important is the component manufacturer. Having had issues in the past I avoid 'own brand' components. In particular, I stick to branded memory (Crucial or Kingston), power supplies and graphics cards.

I use Eset's NOD32 for anti-virus, and have done happily for a number of years. There is a new Eset 'all in one' package which has mixed reviews. I got sick of Zonealarm nagging me so just use Windows own firewall - there is a fair body of opinion that software firewalls are no better than snake oil anyway.

Cheers

Chris

codprawn · 28 June 2009, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

I use Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and for the money it's the mutts nuts. I used to use F secure and found this good too, however my copy was a free be at the time and the cost of a years subscription was much more than the rivals, which is the reason I changed to Kaspersky.

Novatech sell this much cheaper than retail outlets do and last year you could pick up a 3 user disc for about £18. That makes it virually free in my eye's and it's never let me down.

Can't comment on the chip sets, however Novatech have a good forum Nasher, might be worth posting this there. I think alot of the moderators work at Novatech and if you're going to use them to puchase some gear it might be a good avenue

Novatech have great prices and are brilliant to deal with. They also have a few shops dotted around.

Avoid Ebuyer like the plague - seriously!!!!!!!!!

Hightower · 28 June 2009, 16:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

Novatech have great prices and are brilliant to deal with. They also have a few shops dotted around.

Avoid Ebuyer like the plague - seriously!!!!!!!!!

We have one locally and really pleased we do too

Andy Moore · 28 June 2009, 18:55

Buy a 24" Apple iMac. Stunning.

Nasher · 28 June 2009, 20:46

Thanks for all the help and replys guys

I've always shopped at Novatech for my PC stuff and am happy to go back.

As Hightower says, we have one quite local and they keep a lot in stock.
As an aside they also proved the cheapest a year or so ago when we wanted a 42" LG telly.

Rather than build one myself like I did last time I'll probably go with one of their standard systems and order it with a few upgrades.

I used to use Macs all the time at work and I do like them.
The new PC is however for the whole family, including homework duty for the smaller Nashers and Mrs Nasher who is a teacher. I think swapping betwen the two wouldn't do them any favours whilst they are learning.
Middle Nasher I'm told will also need a Laptop in September for school

Nasher.