Build for Friend

[sefaen]

When I told my friend I was building a new PC he was interested to know if I could build one for him as well. He does drafting and is looking for something to run CAD. His budget is a bit smaller than mine at $1000. He doesn't do much gaming, but wants to be able to play the new Starcraft and possibly Halo 2 on his PC.

This is the list I made for his PC:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 0226.50 zipZoomFly.com
Mobo: EVGA 122-CK-NF66-T1 0096.99 ZipZoomFly.com
RAM 1: OCZ OCZ2P800LP2GK 0107.98 NewEgg.com
RAM 2: OCZ OCZ2P800LP2GK 0107.98 NewEgg.com
GPU: EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR 0109.99 ClubIT.com
PSU: Cooler Master RS-750-ACAA-A1 0139.99 ZipZoomFly.com
Case: Cooler Master CAC-T05UW 0049.99 NewEgg.com -10
HDD: Western Digital WD5000AAKS 0104.50 ZipZoomFly.com
ROM: Pioneer DVR-212DBK 0039.99 ZipZoomFly.com
______________________________________________________________________
Total: 0983.91

Actually... It's a pretty good budget PC IMO! This also includes all the shipping costs.

What do you guys think?

[Jimmy0]

Go for the E6750 over the E6600, cheaper and better.

For Optical drives I recommend Lite-On because of their reliability, and also if you get their retail package you also get burning software included.

With the RAM I presume you are getting 2x2GB packs, if you are fine, but remember that you need a 64bit version of Windows to be able to utilise all 4GB. (I also see you haven't factored in the price of OS, so you may want to do that)

[sefaen]

I haven't heard that you need a 64-bit version of windows to use 4GB of RAM. This is news to me as I know a standard version of Windows XP Pro can handle 8GB.

I have heard that Windows Vista sometimes will not load properly with over 2GB of RAM preloaded and that a solution to this is either to download a complicated patch or more simply, install with 2GB then install the other 2GB.

Both my friend and I can get Vista from school for about $18 so it's a non-issue.

Also as I stated in my other thread Pioneer is just a personal preference . Also i am not sure what burning software is included, but I only use Nero.

In general software is a non-issue as we can get it through school cheap at the bookstore if needed. The expensive stuff we can buy on an annual license. 64-bit versions of Windows though I can't purchase at our bookstore (yet). So I'd be looking at at least $150 for an OEM copy.

[blue60007]

The maximum supported memory for a 32-bit OS is 4GB (2^32 bytes), less some for OS overhead. Usually the actual maximum is around 3gig, give or take depending on your set up.

[Katreat]

I agree with Blue on that one. The maximum ram any 32 bit OS can use is 4 GB. With system requirements it is brought down to about a 3.2 GB of usable ram. If you have more in your system it might show up but the OS will not utilize it. For practical purpuses 2 GB will handle most software requirements. I am a firm believer in more ram but if you are building on a budget I would recomend 2 GB and use the savings to upgrade elseware unless you have specific software that will realy work better with lots of ram, at that point I would consider a 64 bit OS.

Kat

[sefaen]

Ok... I did a little searching and found out that Vista 32-bit business does indeed support 4GB, but about 512MB (more or less depending on hardware) is addressed. So you are actually utilizing the entire 4GB, but some is being used by the system. So is it more practical to have less than 4GB absolutely not. Is it more practical to have more? That's apparently also not practical according to Microsoft. I wasn't aware that they were limiting the retail versions to just 4GB, but 4GB is pretty much the minimum I would get for any new system.

http://www.vistaclues.com/reader-que...windows-vista/

I may end up with the 64-bit version after reading that article.

[blue60007]

Microsoft didn't make up the 4gig limit. It's a limitation of a 32-bit system. A CPU in 32bit mode can only address 2^32 bytes of memory. Go to 64-bit, and now your theoretical maximum is 2^64 (which if my math is correct, about 17 million terabytes)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32-bit

You might have 4 gigs installed but the software can only use 3 gigs or so. That other gig isn't being used for anything. The system is using some of those 2^32 addresses to address things on the PCI bus and whatnot.

[Katreat]

So is it more practical to have less than 4GB absolutely not.

It is very practical to have less than 4 GB. Most programs (games specifically) show little or no gain running on a system with more than 2 GB of ram. So, unless you are specifically running a program that really shows a performance increase by adding more ram you are doubling your cost for little or no gain.

I personally like the best bang for the buck and would rather put that cash toward a vid card upgrade or better cpu.

Kat