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Thread: What to buy for EUR 4k?

  1. #1
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    What to buy for EUR 4k?

    Okay, a big dilemma for me. With some freelance software development job I did recently, I earned quite a nice amount to add on my savings account. But I don't want to save it all. I think it's time to consider buying a new computer and I think that with up to four thousands Euro, I can buy a pretty decent system. (I've earned more tan this, though. It's just the maximum limit that I want to spend on a computer.)
    My old Intel Pentium III system at 800 MHz is still doing fine, it's just not very fast compared to what is available.

    Now, since my interests is mostly in software development. I am using Delphi 2005 or Delphi 7 most of the time. I also do a bit of web development too, and in general most of what I am experimenting with is related to processing data. It varies a bit, depending on what I am interested in at a certain moment. I've written my own mailreader once, created some ASP site that resizes images with a webservice linked to it too and have done all kinds of interesting small projects.
    I do admit to play games on my PC once in a while too, but not that regular anyways.

    Now, my knowledge about hardware is a bit limited. Building my own PC is therefore no option. will just have to go to a local shop and tell them what I want, then see if what they can offer me is satifying enough.

    The processor should be an extremely fast Pentium IV thingie, maybe even two. (Intel, since I dislike the other brand.) And then of course lots of RAM. About 2 GB or more. A large harddisk, although I would prefer speed over size in this case. And of course a lot of USB ports since I have quite a few USB devices. A good graphics card too, although since I'm not a gamer I can do with just an average good-quality card here. (I do want a very high resolution like 1600x1200 or better, though.)

    So what would my options be for this amount of cash? Would it be enough? Or should I perhaps wait a few more months for the next Intel processor and Windows Vista? Are there things I should think about? The disk for example, SCSI, IDE or whatever? Maybe something additional to it?

    Oh, well... I'm going to wait a few weeks before making this decision so until that time, any nice hints and tips would be welcome.

    (I might be a genius with software, the hardware part is still mostly unknown territories for me...)

  2. #2
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    Well...serial ata maybe just as fast as scsi...although I still like scsi for it reliability.

    You could also go with a dual processor machine...with lots of RAM.

    We use XEONs in our servers...

    Here in North America...you can get a pretty decent dell server...that would ROCK as a workstation...for about 2500 USD

    Forget onboard video...and get a nice card with 256+ memory

    Just thoughts

    MLF
    How people treat you is their karma- how you react is yours-Wayne Dyer

  3. #3
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    Hmmm,

    A Ticket to the UK for starters.

  4. #4
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    Originally posted here by mark_boyle2002
    Hmmm,

    A Ticket to the UK for starters.
    I've been in the UK plenty of times and except for half my family living there and almost all of my soon-to-be-family-in-law living there, I don't have much to find there, in the UK. Most of my friends live in the Netherlands. And the phone is an excellent way to stay in contact with our families.

    But maybe computers in the UK are less expensive than in the Netherlands. I doubt it, though.

  5. #5
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hi Katja ,

    I have just worked out that I am legally old enough to be your grandfather so there is no point in "chatting you up"

    SERIOUS

    If you are using this for business I would recommend SCSI and a RAID1 array. The speed of the processor will not be that important to you, neither will dual processors (the software needs to be written for them)

    Now is not a great time to buy major kit.............a lot of new things are coming onto the market?

    I would stay with what you have now, or get something not too expensive

  6. #6
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    Using it for business? Well, that's a minor discussion point. I am still studying but have done some minor freelance work in the past. (It helps to have a father who is doing freelance work.) It's more a long-term investment to keep my knowledge up-to-date with more modern systems.

    And you are right. There seem to be a lot of new things coming to the market. Which is exactly why I asked this question, to be more up-to-date about the latest things.

    To be honest, the system that I have now was more expensive than the one I'm planning to buy. I bought it about 5 years ago and it's still performing quite well. I did add a bigger harddisk to it and a DVD-writer and upgraded the RAM to it's maximum (512 MB) but this old thing is now at a point where the next upgrade will affect the motherboard and/or processor. Which is why I'm thinking about a new one. And I'm planning to buy something powerful enough to last me at least 5 more years before I start thinking about how slow it becomes. :D

    About the dual-processing... My interest lies in software development. I think it would be an interesting challenge to write software for a system with two processors. :D Most modern compilers will be able to handle this. Some of my older software (games, etc.) might not work with this, though, so that will take some experimenting.

    SCSI/RAID sounds interesting to me, but I have to keep in mind that I will need quite a lot of diskspace. Currently, I have 200 GB of diskspace in my PC and about 15 GB of it is still free. (And don't remind me of the two 60 GB external harddisks that I also have, both full.) I don't think I would miss most of this data though. It's just that I have a tendency to not delete things. :D
    I have considered to have two harddisks for that reason, though. One reasonable small but bloody fast one for the OS and whatever data I consider important and a second harddisk that should be a lot bigger but which can be slower too since it would be used for the less important data of mine. (One of the things I do is make ISO images of any CD I own and store this ISO on my harddisk, for faster access.) But I wonder if you could combine a SCSI/RAID1 dis setup with e.g. a second E-IDE based harddisk with hundreds of gigs of diskspace. :D

    Thing is, I want quite a lot but at one point, EUR 4K isn't enough anymore. But the money isn't burning in my pocket anyway. It's there, for when I buy by new system. Right now, I just started to browse around. :D

    (Oh, I got a warning that this post contains too many smilies. :D So that's why they are disabled.)

  7. #7
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    Check out www.pless.co.uk for prices.

    I haven't seen many people even close.

  8. #8
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    but wait "soon-to-be-family-in-law ".

    Were not even dating yet. Stop talking about my mom like you own her already !

    God damn it. I hate it when girls get ahead of them selves.

  9. #9
    AO Decepticon CXGJarrod's Avatar
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    Originally posted here by mark_boyle2002
    but wait "soon-to-be-family-in-law ".

    Were not even dating yet. Stop talking about my mom like you own her already !

    God damn it. I hate it when girls get ahead of them selves.
    /locks Mark back up in his cage

    Your scaring away all the womenfolk again Mark....
    N00b> STFU i r teh 1337 (english: You must be mistaken, good sir or madam. I believe myself to be quite a good player. On an unrelated matter, I also apparently enjoy math.)

  10. #10
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    /locks Mark back up in his cage

    Your scaring away all the womenfolk again Mark....
    Hey I explained before. That whole thing with the donkeys and the beetroot never had anything to do with me.

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