New Setup - What do you think?

[axioma]

Hi there,

I am currently looking around for a new machine. Im wanting something fairly top of the range, however I am not interested in gaming performance as thats not really something I do any more.

This is what im currently looking at, I would be very grateful if anyone knowledgeable in these things could take a look over it to see what they think. Cheers!

- Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz CPU
- Abit AB9 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
- NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
- Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache
- Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Home Edition



Everything OK? Would you reccomend a higher spec machine? Anything you would add/change?

Thanks again!

[goldtoes]

Seems like a pretty solid machine. you should be set in the processor, RAM, video. the only thing i would personally replace is i would get XP Pro instead of Home, but not too much of a difference, just more advanced with more networking options.

[Gugel]

I hope you're planning to get a nice sound card cause integreted sound crds suck. A lot.

[Gugel]

Also, are you building this system yourself?

[goldtoes]

[ QUOTE ]
I hope you're planning to get a nice sound card cause integreted sound crds suck. A lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

eh, it depends on what you are using it for.

i used to play games, CoD2, etc on my old system using the onboard sound and it worked fine.

keep in mind i didn't listen to any music or play movies on this machine, though.

you will def. need an additional sound card if you are looking to have more than 2 speakers. such as surround sound, etc.

[buckslayer80]

Upgrade that processor. Get a Core2 Duo Extreme quad core, smokin' fast. Those are a bit pricey now, but the new AMD Turons are getting good reviews. Plus they're a little cheaper than the regular Core2s. Everything else looks OK if you're not a gamer.

[BiPolar_Nut]

I use onboard sound running thru my tv/monitor puny lil 1" spkrs....works fine for poker....and when fed to the home theater, works fine there.

Another machine that does audio recording of analog and midi, 100% NEEDS a low latency high-end audio card.

Obv, to get 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround you'd need an x.1 sound card and enough speakers.

Onboard sound is perfectly fine for system sounds, most games, and even dvd's unless you want full surround....and even then some onboard sound chipsets are 5.1 or greater.

I'd take onboard 5.1 fed thru digi coax to a 5.1 home theater system over some expensive 2 or 4 channel separate card any day....and I'd take a cheap 2 channel onboard setup over a $100 nicer soundcard any day if all I did was play poker and listen to mp3's on the box.

Onboard sound only sucks if you need more features than the onboard chipset supports. Same as video. I have several onboard video boxes I'm MORE than happy with.....cause they're console-only servers. Who the hell needs an uberl33t 3D card on a farking server?? Same for sound. 2 channels is more than enough for poker/system sounds and stereo mp3 listening.

[Freakin]

[ QUOTE ]
I use onboard sound running thru my tv/monitor puny lil 1" spkrs....works fine for poker....and when fed to the home theater, works fine there.

Another machine that does audio recording of analog and midi, 100% NEEDS a low latency high-end audio card.

Obv, to get 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround you'd need an x.1 sound card and enough speakers.

Onboard sound is perfectly fine for system sounds, most games, and even dvd's unless you want full surround....and even then some onboard sound chipsets are 5.1 or greater.

I'd take onboard 5.1 fed thru digi coax to a 5.1 home theater system over some expensive 2 or 4 channel separate card any day....and I'd take a cheap 2 channel onboard setup over a $100 nicer soundcard any day if all I did was play poker and listen to mp3's on the box.

Onboard sound only sucks if you need more features than the onboard chipset supports. Same as video. I have several onboard video boxes I'm MORE than happy with.....cause they're console-only servers. Who the hell needs an uberl33t 3D card on a farking server?? Same for sound. 2 channels is more than enough for poker/system sounds and stereo mp3 listening.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wish that more popular motherboards had onboard video nowadays.

FWIW, i've used onboard sound on my last 3-4 systems. Most higher end motherboard have onboard sound with 5.1 analog plus they usually also have a optical or spdif out

[Upstairs]

[ QUOTE ]
...the new AMD Turons are getting good reviews. Plus they're a little cheaper than the regular Core2s.

[/ QUOTE ]

I checked this out and I think they're called AMD Turion, and they are for notebook computers.

[Beavis68]

the intel sound and vidoe is pretty good. The sound is very good, and the video does about everything but high end 3d gaming.