Any suggestions?

[Leshrak]

Originally posted by Rosuav
Don't know where I missed it, but I can't find your URL?

OOPS! Sorry about that, the link is here (Dell Dimension E521):
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=DDCWBA3&s=dhs

DVD-RW seems a tad over-spec for a basic gaming machine, unless you need to make DVD backups. If it's possible to downgrade that, could probably save a good few dollars.

DVD-RWs have come down in price by a LOT over the last year... They now cost about the same as CD-RW drives did 1-2 years ago (and they also include a built in CD-RW).

I would recommend it just for future ease of not having to upgrade, but it is personal preference. If you do take it out and go to a standard DVD/CD-RW drive, it knocks $30 off the price.

[Savaric]

Sorry, I'm gonna try to sneak this in here... Since this topic has to do with computer specs

I'm looking at a new computer, it belongs to a friend of mine's aunt. It's a dell but I'm curious about these specs she sent me. I'm wondering if someone can decipher them *cough*Rosuav*cough*

You guys can bash Rosuav all day long but I find him very useful!

Short snippets:

TF811 PROCESSOR, 820, 2.8, 2MB, PENTIUM D SMITHFIELD FOR DESKTOPS, B0
1 MJ930 BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP), MATRIX,SMITH,MINI TOWER, PENTIUM D SMITHFIELD FOR DESKTOPS, 820, 5150/E510
1 N2313 MODULE, INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, INTERNET SERVICE

F6405 MODULE, INFORMATION, NO RAID, DIMENSION
1 F9011 MODULE, DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 1G, 2X512, 533, 1R, NON ERROR CORRECTION CODE

Is that 2.8 the computer's speed? The different models of cpu's is all chinese to me.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Leshrak
OOPS! Sorry about that, the link is here (Dell Dimension E521):
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=DDCWBA3&s=dhs

I would recommend it just for future ease of not having to upgrade, but it is personal preference. If you do take it out and go to a standard DVD/CD-RW drive, it knocks $30 off the price.

Ahh, didn't realise you couldn't go for plain CD-RW. Yeah, go for the full DVD burner if it's only $30 difference.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Savaric
You guys can bash Rosuav all day long but I find him very useful!

So do a lot of people. Doesn't earn me money, respect, status, or anything, but it does earn me work

Is that 2.8 the computer's speed? The different models of cpu's is all chinese to me.

As I understand it, this is a Dell Dimension E510 or a Dell Inspiron 5150 (the Inspirons are the budget versions of either Dimensions or Latitudes - Desktops or Laptops). 2.8GHz is the clock speed (820 is the Intel model number). 2MB would be the cache (bigger cache improves performance - 2MB is fairly reasonable).

The description is a whole lot of individual lines, where each line represents one component. N2313 just says it comes with "INTERNET SERVICE" software - either that just means it comes with Internet Explorer, or it means they've put some ISP information on there. Doesn't affect the system specs. F6405 is even more useless. It tells you that you don't have a RAID card. (Gee, thanks. Was I expecting to get one in a basic desktop system?? Why not just say nothing unless there's actually a card in the box??) RAID is for putting multiple hard disks in your computer and having the data either spread (for performance) or duplicated (for reliability) across them - not something your average desktop needs. F9011, however, is significant. It says you have 1GB of memory, in two modules - harder to upgrade, but cheaper, than having 1GB in a single module.

Dell really haven't made their specs particularly easy to read, but they could redeem themselves nicely if their codes (F9011 etc) were all clearly detailed on their web site. *shrug*