PC Guru's...Need an opinion

[Kino]

Hey folks...I'm in the market for a new PC and found that Tiger Direct will do a 4 payment plan on new PC's (I'm not independently wealthy). I've got my eye on this dual core set-up from Visionman. Would you mind giving it a once over and explaining to me the goods and bads?

Thanks...

[CJohnson]

Doesn't look too bad...the only downside I see is that with the Core 2 Duos being released right now, you're upgradability is limited. That may not be a huge deal to you, but they are some sweet new processors. It should be plenty powerful enough for 95% of everything unless you're doing some hardcore gaming.

I might keep away from the XP 64-bit bundled in there. While I use it, there's some incompatibilities with some apps that I find at the weirdest times. I'd stick with regular old Windows XP for now. Keep in mind the Windows Vista will come out in 6 months or so, and its the replacement for XP. You may want to factor that cost in.

It's a decent price, so I think you'll be good. Cool looking case too!

[Lael_TG]

The most important question is: What do you use the computer for?

Internet? This is plenty fast- the Core 2 Duos will be significantly faster, but also will boost the price. Intel has/will slashed prices on a number of their processors, but I don't know if those savings have occurred yet.

Games? The 7300 video card is a budget card. You might be able to play most existing games, but the life of this card is limited.

Other? 3d modeling or art or music- each one requires different things: Lots of memory, a high-resolution screen or a premium sound card.

Figure out what you want to do with it, then you'll be able to better decide if you need it.

[Kino]

Thanks for the information so far. I inquired about dropping the XP Pro 64, but they told me it's a packaged deal. So I'm shopping other units, or looking to configure my own. Games?...Well yeah...if I'm going to have a desktop rocket, of course I wanna play some games on it. Not so concerned about the 7300GS so much as I am in upgrade capability. If I wanna upgrade the grafix card later on, I want to know that the motherboard and existing processor is going to be able to support it.
My IT guy here at work thought that the system may be overkill.

[Lael_TG]

The key that you'll want is to get a system with a PCI Express interface and I would suggest 1GB of RAM. Everything else is really based on your preference.

I usually check www.pricewatch.com to figure out the best product for the price to help me decide what to buy. You can find reviews of different products at www.tomshardware.com and www.anandtech.com

Good luck!

-L