DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

It’s been a while since my last “If I were to buy a new computer today …” blog, and a lot has changed since then, most notably the introduction of new processor lines from both Intel and AMD.

First, a little bit of history. Back in September 2007, I first wrote about what I would be looking for in a computer if I were buying one today. To get a better idea of the kind of system I’m looking for, please refer to the original blog entry, but to sum up, it would be a system for playing the latest 3D games as well as a system ready for Blu-ray playback, but one that is reasonable in price and without the need for overclocking. But overall, it’s all about the price performance ratio and finding the best system that offers the best ratio (so not necessarily a “budget” system, nor a “high-end” one). 

I will format this post a little different than previously, as I will be explaining the various parts up front, and then listing the specs table. I will also be looking at US parts and prices, despite being located in Australia, since this avoids issues with the exchange rate. Got a lot to go through, so let’s get started …

AMD Phenom II X3 720

CPU: Since the last post, Intel has released its Nehalem series, now called the Core i7. AMD has been busy as well, releasing a less radical processor in the Phenom II. I don’t want to get into it too much, but suffice to say that the i7 is way overpriced at the moment, especially if you add in the cost of expensive motherboards. The Phenom II series make more sense from the financial point of view, although it’s far behind the i7 in terms of performance. I’ve chosen the Phenom II X3 720, as it costs less than the ageing Phenom X4 9950, and offers slightly better performance. Yes, you miss out on one core, but then it offers an extra core compared to Intel’s Core 2 Duo range (which costs a lot more).
Pick: AMD Phenom II X3 720
Alternative: AMD Phenom II X4 810 – an extra core if you really need all four

Motherboard: The choice would be between a AM2+ or AM3 motherboard due to our CPU pick. The basic difference is that AM3 supports DDR3, whereas AM2+ supports only DDR2 – both will support the Phenom II processor. So while AM3 is more future proof, AM2+ is better value at the moment if you add in the cost of RAM. With the economy the way it is, I’m going with AM2+. I’m going with the 790X chipset, since the FX’s quad GPU support is not a must have feature. I’m sticking with a brand I know, Gigabyte. 
Pick: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Alternative: Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H – if you don’t need gaming, then the onboard Radeon HD 3300 will provide excellent Blu-ray decoding acceleration for $20 more than the MA790X-UD4P 

RAM: DDR2 is cheap and plentiful. 4GB is enough for today’s applications, especially if you’re still going to use a 32-bit OS. You’ll probably have your own preferences in terms of brand, but I’ve chosen Corsair 2 x 2G DDR2 1066 RAM at CAS 5.
Pick:  Corsair XMS2 PC2 8500 CAS 5 (2 x 2G)
Alternative: Corsair XMS2 PC2 6400 CAS 4 (2 x 2G) – if you want an extra bit of performance, go with these CAS 4 rated DDR2 800 RAM

HDD: TB drives are all the rage, so we’re going with two of the Samsung F1’s which are quiet and fast. We’re going with two for a simple RAID 1 setup, but you can grab more or less depending on which RAID you want or don’t want.
Pick: 2 x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD102UJ 1TB
Alternative: Go with just a single drive for a non RAID setup, or a RAID 5 setup with 3 drives

HIS Radeon HD 4850

Video Card: ATI’s 4800 series has been extremely popular, in terms of both price and performance. This is one area where it really depends on your needs, whether you want the best gaming performance, some gaming performance, or none at all (if so, then going with the motherboard with integrated graphics is the best choice – see above). The NVIDIA range seems expensive for the power they provide, and you should really only consider the top range cards for top performance. In the mid range, I still prefer the Radeon HD 4850 series for those who wants to dabble in gaming, but don’t mind turning down a few details here and there. The brand of the card is up to individuals, and you’ll have to look at the included HSF, software bundle and such (I’ve picked the HIS with free copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky until the end of May).
Pick:  HIS Hightech H485FN512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB
Alternative:  HIS Hightech H487FN1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB – the 4870 comes with more performance, 1GB of faster GDDR5 RAM as well, for those that want the few extra FPS

Sound Card: Still going with a on-board solution, which works well for most people that don’t require audiophile level quality. With ATI’s Radeon HD range, you can output audio via the graphics card’s HDMI as well.

Optical Drive: Still sticking with a Blu-ray reader drive. My thinking is that when Blu-ray media becomes cheap enough for everyday use, then drives will be dirty cheap and much faster than current offerings, so it’s not worth buying a Blu-ray burner drive at the moment. Of course, if you really must have 50GB of storage per disc, regardless of the price, then these drives are not too expensive.
Pick: LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray/HD DVD reader, CD/DVD burner
Alternative:  LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray/CD/DVD burner, HD DVD reader – add Blu-ray burning for $70 more

Samsung T240HD

Monitor: 22″ seems to be the sweet spot in terms of price, but I prefer 24″. You can spend a little, or a lot here, and it really depends on your needs. But I like to spend a bit more on your monitor, because a good one can last several computers, and it’s the only part of your PC that you have to interact with everyday. Most people would probably want a 16:10 ratio monitor, this will give you 1920×1200 resolution. However, there are more monitors carrying the 16:9 ratio (1920×1080, 1080p), which is the same ratio used by widescreen TVs and is most suited for connecting to game consoles or Blu-ray players. The problem with these 1080p displays is that it lacks the vertical resolution of 16:10 monitors (1200 lines versus 1080 lines), and so you won’t be able to display resolutions like 1600×1200 for example, despite having a horizontal resolution that’s greater than 1600.  I went with the Samsung T240HD because it had HDMI input (the more popular 2443BWT does not). If you are serious, then look for S-IPS or VA type displays, including the Dell UltraSharp range.
Pick: Samsung T240HD 24″
Alternative: ASUS VW246H – A cheaper 24″ with 16:9 as opposed to 16:10 (lower vertical resolution), good for Blu-ray

Case: I’m keeping with the Antec Sonata Designer, which comes with a quality 500W power supply that is more than enough to power the above system. 
Pick: Antec Sonata Designer 500
Alternative: RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP – a more fancier, yet cheaper option, also with a 500W power supply

So that’s the system picked out. All you need is to add an OS (get XP, and then wait for Windows 7), and a keyboard/mouse combo. Here’s the full system spec and prices (note that comparison with October 2008 prices removed since that was for Australian prices, and this time, we’re using latest Newegg.com prices) – changed parts in blue, unchanged in black:

So that’s a system that will play all the latest games, albeit not always at the highest quality, and will play Blu-ray movies without breaking a sweat. It’s not the cheapest system available, but it’s full of quality parts and it will last you many years.

For the next issue, it will all be about waiting for the Core i7 prices to drop, perhaps Intel could release a few lower spec’d models at lower prices to compete with the AMD chips. Otherwise, the Core 2 Duo line-up doesn’t fare too well compared to the new Phenom II’s. 

See you in a few month’s time …

It’s been a couple of month, but I thought now would be a good time to do the fifth edition of ““If I were to buy a new computer today”. The personal reason why it was a good time to update this feature was that I’m in the process of buying a new computer myself. Yes, the trusty old AMD 2600+ is being put out to pasture.

Back in September 2007, I first wrote about what I would be looking for in a computer if I were buying one today. To get a better idea of the kind of system I’m looking for, please refer to the original blog entry, but to sum up, it would be a system for playing the latest 3D games as well as a system ready for Blu-ray and HD DVD playback, but one that is reasonable in price and without the need for overclocking. This is still the system that I will “imagine” to build today, which is slightly different to the requirements of the computer that I will buy this month. My computer will be more work related, will still require Blu-ray/HD DVD playback, but less emphasis on gaming.

So let’s not waste any time. Here are the specs of the computer, including comparisons with the last specs from May (as compared to May: upgraded parts in blue, lower prices in green, higher prices in red). Note that some parts have risen in price due to currency fluctuations (the $Aus has been hammered lately).

Ok, as mentioned above, the currency fluctuations here in Australia has been crazy over the last month or so, partly to do with the world economic crisis. So we have a situation where a PC that’s much more expensive in Australian dollars, but much cheaper in US dollars. The AUD was probably overvalued back in May, and now it may be undervalued, so that explains the price differential. For those earning US dollars, now is a great time to buy a computer here in Australia though thanks to the generous exchange rate and computer retailers not having caught up yet. And I have taken this opportunity to upgrade a few parts to make the system fresh enough for the second half of 2008.

Let’s go over each specification. As usual, I will provide alternatives, including rival AMD/ATi offers.

CPU: We’ve gone quad! The Q8200 represents a good value quad core processor that uses the 45nm process shared by the more expensive quad-core chips, but at a price that’s closer to the original Q6600 (65nm). Performance wise, it’s similar to the E8200 in dual-core only apps, but faster than the Q6600 and E8400 in quad-core enabled applications, which are more and more common these days. For future proofing, we’re going with quad core.
Alternatives: For a few dollars less, you can get the Intel E8500 dual-core processor or the AMD Phenom 9950 quad-core. Of these two, the 9950 is better value, and it is much faster than the Q8200. The Q8200 is less power hungry, but if you take into account the performance of the 9950, it is probably more worth it for the extra power it uses (get the 125w version).

Motherboard: (Update) We’re going with the Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R, which is basically the same board as last time except it supports DDR3 only. Didn’t see the point of keeping DDR2 support when we’re not using it, and this way, you can have up to 4 DDR3 slots rather than being limited to 2. The price remains the same. It’s a very fully featured board (HD audio, RAID, 0/1/5/10), with all the options you would expect and outputs galore.
Alternatives: For your AMD processor system, you might consider the Gigabyte MA790X-DS4 for $175. This is a very similar featured motherboard to the EP45T-DS3R and it uses AMD’s latest 790X chipset.

RAM: Still sticking with the same DDR3 memory as in May. Prices have dropped again during this time. As mentioned before, there really is no benefit to getting DDR3 memory unless you are overclocking to the max (and even then, DDR2 is probably enough), or if you prefer the power saving nature of DDR3 memory. The only other advantage is that they may be easier to sell off in the future once DDR3’s superior bandwidth is actually useful. 
Alternatives: If you plan on overclocking your system, faster DDR3 memory can be had. At this stage, there isn’t much benefit to get DDR3 anyway until faster FSB speeds are available, so you might save a bit of money and get 4GB of PC-6400 (800 MHz) rated low latency (C4) DDR2 instead (you will need to make sure the motherboard you get supports DDR2). You can also opt for the C9DHX range of DDR3 memory from Corsair, with has enhanced cooling, but it’s mostly unnecessary if you don’t overclock your memory. With the AMD system, you can only use DDR2, which is great as it’s much cheaper and you can actually get 4 GB for the same price as 2GB of DDR3.

HDD: After reading good review of the Samsung 750 GB drive, I’m including it in the specs. The extra 250 GB is obviously an improvement, but probably not as important as the price drop that comes with it.
Alternatives: If money is more important than space, then getting the 500 GB drive for $24 per drive ($95) may be worth it.

Video Card: A new quarter, so a new GPU to go along with it. The Nvidia GTX260 is their latest card that will give you a performance boost over the 9800 range. It’s not the best value card, I must admit, as you can get a card that’s nearly half the price but much better than just half the performance.
Alternatives: As mentioned, you can get a cheaper card that is not as powerful as the GTX260, but much cheaper. The Nvidia 9800 GTX+ at $299 is tempting as it gives similar performances to the GTX260 in games that don’t benefit too much from having more stream processors, but the cheaper ATi Radeon 4850 is the best value at $249 and it will give you similar performances to a 9800 GTX+.

Sound Card: Still going with a on-board solution. Until HDMI audio output gets sorted out, it’s probably not worth getting a new sound-card for your PC. HDMI audio output would allow the pass-thru or decoding or several of the new HD audio formats, which is not possible through SPDIF/optical due to insufficient bandwidth.

Optical Drive: Still sticking with the Pioneer Blu-ray reader drive. Not much point in buying a Blu-ray writer at the moment as media prices are still high, and prices are sure to drop any day now.
Alternative: The LG GGC-H20L is also at the same price, but reads HD DVD. It’s also a lightscribe DVD writer.

Monitor: An upgrade with 2 more diagonal inches, and full HD resolution (1080p) to fully take advantage of Blu-ray playback. Prices have come down a lot, although the price I’m quoting here includes a local cashback offer.
Alternative: If money isn’t an issue, then you can get the Samsung 2493HM for $100 more. It is an improved model on the 2433BW. If you want HDMI, DisplayPort and equally excellent quality, then the Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP is worth considering, although it costs an arm and a leg at $669.

Case: A change here, but mainly for those that want something in silver, not black. It’s a quiet case too, also part of the Antec Sonata family like the Sonata III featured here previously.
Alternatives: There are lots of alternatives to cases, and it depends largely on taste. The one that I’ve seen lots of good reviews for is the Antec P182 case, but the style is not really to my taste and it costs more than the Sonata III despite not including a power supply unit.

You might now be wondering what are the specs of the work computer that I plan to buy, so I’ll tell you. For the optical drive, I already own a LG GGC-H20L that will go into the computer. The monitor is also taken care of after I purchased a Dell 24″ on discount (and I mean discount – $499 down to $258, or only $US 176). The rest of the system, shown below, consists of a few parts that are the same as the selection above, plus the rest from the “alternatives” selections:

AMD Phenom 9950
Gigabyte MA790X-DS4
Corsair 2 x 2GB 8500 C5D Twinx
2 x Samsung 750 GB SATA
Asus Radeon 4850 512 MB
Antec Sonata Designer

(Update)

I eventually went with a different system altogether, and one that’s much closer to the system recommended by this post. Here are the specs:

Intel E8500
Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R
OCZ 4GB 1333 C9
2 x Western Digital 640GB WD6400AAKS
Asus 512 MB 4850 

In a normal situation, you would be better off going with cheaper DDR2 memory, with the extra $100 savings going towards a better GPU or CPU (or rent), but I got a special deal with this package so even though getting DDR3 memory is a bit of an overkill, I’m sticking with it.

Whether you go with the selected system, or my work computer, the value for money has never been greater. For $US 1,400 (or just $US 950 for my work system, although the monitor and optical drive is not included in the price), you can get a system that plays all the latest games at high detail and resolution, plus Blu-ray on a monitor that displays all 1080 lines of resolution. And it can do some work too!

With Intel’s new line-up just around the corner, all of this will be come outdated rather quickly, but if you don’t mind buying a system with little upgrade potential, then now or waiting another month or two is a good time to buy (I haven’t upgraded a PC in years, they last longer than before and by the time you need more power, it’s cheaper to just buy a new one than to upgrade almost every single component). I suspect the next edition of this feature will have a vastly different PC from the one above.

See you in a few month’s time …