[Monomer]

Originally Posted by alexander

If you are looking at graphic design, DONT get a dell monitor. If you buy nothing else from them, get a Mac monitor. They are by far the best quality for their price, amazingly good contrast, you will look at your picture on a dell monitor after that, and it just won't look right

I am concerned about the Dell monitor. We have a Dell laptop and the colours on the screen change when the viewing angle is changed slightly. I called Dell and asked about their monitors and they assured me that they have a uniform colour, but I've heard otherwise. Is it possible to buy the computer without the monitor?

Originally Posted by Tormod

You don't really say what kind of graphics work (the package you suggest implies web design). Photo editing requires different hardware than, say, video editing or animation work. For web design only, most current computers would work fine.

I want to do photo editing and web design, but at this stage I'm not planning on video editing or animation work.

Originally Posted by freeztar

My brother, who owns a Mac (he's a photographer), swears by his Mac. He claims that Photoshop comes with much more for the Mac than it does for the PC. I'm not sure how true this is, but it would be worth researching in your case Monomer. As a musician, I get by just fine with my PCs.

I would absolutely love to buy a Mac, but it would cost an extra $1000 for a system comparable to the Dell. I've been looking at the graphic design jobs advertised and so far only one out of about a dozen have asked for someone with mac experience.

All of the computers we have at work (>200) and all the computers at the universities (countless) are Dell so I figured they can't be too bad. Also, I can still get the Dell with Windows XP since I haven't heard good things about Vista. I was rushing through this decision process because the Dell computer I have my eye on has a special (free upgrade to 500GB) that runs out tomorrow, but I might just have to take the time to look into this further. I can't afford to spend too much money on a computer, but I certainly want the best I can afford and I'm happy to pay a little bit extra if I need to.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[alexander]

Originally Posted by freez

Yes, but you're talking about a corporate account right? Dell has two levels. Business and personal. The business deals come with much better tech support and better components (from what I've heard). Can you confirm or deny this Alex?

i can do both, confirm and deny this, and, at the same time

it really depends on the level of support you have. When i fixed machines for Optos, and they have a large dell program going on, i could basically visit a website, and order whatever it is i needed for that machine, and dell would unquestionably send it to me, in like 4 hours (means i order a part at 7am, its there by 12-1pm). Then we also fixed machines for Hologic (seriously big workstations), their plans were different, but they had gold support for everything, which in a matter of a transfer bumps you up to people who know a little bit less stuff then me (oh but so true, i would tell them what is wrong, and which parts i need, after a while, they stopped questioning me...)

We also fixed lots of other people's machines, and the level of support is nowhere near the same, but you can get bumped up, as long as you make them believe you know what you are doing. Also use their online chat, that gets you support quicker, and you get bumped up faster.

Now the part where i deny something. Dell uses the same parts in the same models of machines, it does not matter if it goes to a corporate account or a single user, so they are just as reliable, or, not reliable, whichever way you swing...

I never really liked dell, but they have, in my eyes the best support out of most PC manufacturers..... except for Apple....

[Monomer]

The IT guy at work suggested I check out this site which is located in the city and allows me to build my own machine.

I read through this thread and since it's a couple of years old now I was wondering if anything's changed and is one still better than the other? Is the Intel E6550 better than the AMD AM2 Dual Core 5600? Also, which is the better graphics card: ASUS “256MB” ASUS Nvidia 8400GS 16x 3D PCI-E or “256MB” Asus ATI 2400Pro 16x 3D PCI-E?

[alexander]

Better is a relative term, for, you see, it depends on what you consider to be good and what you consider to be not-so-good.

If you are buying an amd mobo with a socket AM2 on it, then you would be waaay better off with a Phenom 9750 processor, and that would run laps around an E6550.

As far as graphics go, always been an nvidia fan myself, though amd is getting better with their latest creations, for graphics purposes, at a lower level, you are better off with nvidia...

[alexander]

I'd also go with Intel for this stuff, for now.... unfortunately

Oh, also, this is fresh, NVidia just released their specification for their next gen card. It seems that they will not support DX10.1, will still be confined to DDR3 Will have some PhysX Stream processors... Well, for graphics, stick with AMD Radeon 4000 series until Nvidia catches up

[Monomer]

Originally Posted by alexander

I'd also go with Intel for this stuff, for now.... unfortunately

Why?


I've spent a long time trying to compare Nvidia with ATI, Intel with AMD, and the reviews are varied. Ultimately I don't want to play games, I just want great graphics. I also want a fast machine that won't freeze up when I'm trying to multitask.

Also, I intend to buy the machine with Windows XP, not Vista, but will that make a difference? Am I missing out by not getting Vista, or am I saving myself some hassles?

Sorry for all the questions, forgive my ignorance! I've never looked into computers this much before, but because I want one for a specific purpose I thought I should make a more educated purchase.

I had another look at the computers on offer at the site linked above, and the motherboards available are:

• ASUS P5N SLI Nvidia SLI Chipset Motherboard (with an Intel processor)
• ASUS M2N-X Plus AM2 Nvidia Chipset Motherboard (with an AMD AM2 processor)
• ASUS P5K-1394 Intel Chipset Motherboard (with an Intel processor)
• ASUS M2N-SLI AM2 Nvidia SLI Technology Motherboard (with an AMD AM2 processor)

So, should an Intel processor be coupled with Intel motherboard, and an AMD AM2 with a Nividia?

[alexander]

If you are planning to buy now, then here is the current state of affairs:

graphics - while it performs more float point calculations, it has quite a few fewer shaders, and at this point, unless you are using the GPU in a cluster to render crap, you are better off with NVidia

Why?

Because, Phenom x4 right now gets outperformed by a Core2Duo in almost every aspect. I am really pissed off at AMD for this, it seems to me that they have been focusing a lot of attention on graphics card design, and not payin attention to the fact that for the past year, or so, they have been falling behind the processor wars. It's generally a cycle like that, but it still aggrevates me, that after such a HUGE win, on getting Intel to comply with their extension of the x86 assembly with their new 64 bit instruction set, they are falling this far back with their x4 processors, I realize it's cheaper, i realize it's more efficient, but goddammit don't get beaten by a processor with 2 cores less, run a higher memory bus, run more calculations per second, vectorize certain applications, i dunno, just get to just blow both x2 and x4 out of the water, and claim your processor throne back!!! Opterons were SUPER nice, it's time for a new opteron!

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Monomer

Also, I intend to buy the machine with Windows XP, not Vista, but will that make a difference? Am I missing out by not getting Vista, or am I saving myself some hassles?

One thing to keep in mind here is compatibility.

If you buy/build the system with XP, everything should work fine. If you buy a Vista computer and then add XP later, you can run into problems with hardware compatibility. For example, I bought my laptop in November with Vista pre-installed (it was made to run Vista). I installed XP as soon as I got home and spent the next day or so trying to find drivers for everything and getting everything to work well. I never found an XP driver for my on-board soundcard, so it doesn't work unless I run Vista (for this reason, I made my system a double boot - ie I can choose XP or Vista at bootup). Keep this in mind when you are looking at components. You can go to the manufacturer's web site and check for drivers there.

[alexander]

well, if he is building a machine, i would give you over a 99/100 chance of having all the hardware supported

besides, if your audio card is not supported, you just buy a creative labs one (they are the best)

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by alexander

well, if he is building a machine, i would give you over a 99/100 chance of having all the hardware supported

I would certainly hope so.

besides, if your audio card is not supported, you just buy a creative labs one (they are the best)