Question:
Which Is A Better Mix of Graphics, Process & Memory?
anonymous
2010-09-25 05:04:29 UTC
I'm looking to buy a computer that can play Oblivion but also be used for school work.
I wish to know which graphics card, processor and memory mix would work best of the following and thereby which computer is better.

AMD Athlon™ II X4 640 Quad Core Processor (3.0 GHz)
1GB NVIDIA Geforce GT220
4GB 800MHz Dual Channel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core™ E6600 Processor
8GB 1333MHz Dual Channel- ( 2x4GB)
1GB ATI Radeon HD5450

Also which is better. 8GB=4x2GB or 8GB=2x4GB?

Thanks
Eight answers:
anonymous
2010-09-25 05:43:31 UTC
I would definately suggest AMD Athlon™ II X4 640 Quad Core Processor (3.0 GHz)

check out at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ATI+Mobility+Radeon+HD+4250&x=0&y=0&tag=klnprk-20



Also check out at Ebay

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574865779&toolid=10001&campid=5336440665&customid=klnprk&mpre=http%3a%2f%2fshop.ebay.com%2fi.html%3f_nkw%3dgraphics%2bcard%26_sacat%3d0%26_odkw%3dAudio-Technica%2bAT2020%26_osacat%3d0%26_trksid%3dp3286.c0.m270.l1313
?
2010-09-25 12:21:08 UTC
You'll definitely want the new quad core AMD processor over the Intel Dual Core. That's an old CPU, it's not even a Core 2 Duo, which itself is a generation old behind the new Core iX series. You won't need any more than 4GB for playing Oblivion or anything else, unless you plan on doing video editing or running a ridiculous number of applications at once. But the Athlon II X4 can handle faster memory than 800MHz -- buy the fastest you can. The price difference isn't that much but the performance increase will be worth it.



2x4GB is a better configuration if you want to have room to expand your RAM in the future. Most motherboards have four RAM slots, so putting two 4GB stick in would leave the other two slots empty for future expansion. But 8GB is way more than enough for anything a regular gamer and user will ever use, so I'd save money if you're going to put 8GB in and go with the 4x2GB configuration.



Either video card is fairly weak. If it were me, I'd get the AMD chip, put 4GB in a 2x2GB configuration at 1066 or 1333 MHz, depending on what motherboard you choose, and I'd wait to buy the system until I could afford a decent video card. It's probably about twice the cost of a cheap GT 220, but Newegg has a Radeon 4870 card for $100 after a $30 rebate:



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436&cm_re=radeon_4870-_-14-150-436-_-Product



That's the card I'm recommending right now to people looking to build a decent gaming rig at a cheaper price point. It was the flaghsip single-GPU solution of their 4-series of offerings, it blows the GT 220 out of the water and is faster than ATI's newer, more expensive Radeon 5770 and 5830 cards. If you can afford the extra money for the 4870 you will be much, much happier playing Oblivion or any other game. The GT 220 and Radeon 5450 are rather anemic.
?
2010-09-25 12:12:01 UTC
The Pentium is so old...why not go for a Core 2 Duo instead?



You won't need a quad core for Oblivion and you definitely won't need 4 cores for school work. Not unless your school work includes video editing or 3D rendering software...having 4 cores is just a waste of money and will end up slowing you down because not all software can use all 4 cores...so they only use 1 or 2 and because they tend to be clocked lower to prevent the chip from melting, you end up with less productivity.



Honestly, Oblivion is an old game and would probably work well with any of those video cards...I would suggest the cheaper one.



Also, unless you're doing video editing, 3D rendering, or anything else that can lead to very large files, you do NOT need 8 GB of RAM. You can do 3-4 GB and that should suit the needs of running games as well as school work and anything else like video watching/surfing the web, etc.
Valdis K
2010-09-25 12:15:25 UTC
Keep in mind that Oblivion plays just fine on a PS/3, which has 256M of memory - so the 4G/8G won't matter. Either one will get most schoolwork done just fine. Might as well get whichever one you can get cheaper.



Also, remember to pay attention to stuff like what sort/size hard drive you get, and spend a few extra $$ for a good DVD/BluRay player and possibly a burner.



And buy *something* to back the computer up with, even if it;s a 1-terabyte USB external hard drive.
Winston
2010-09-25 12:08:45 UTC
This is hard to choose!!! One has 8GB of RAM running at 1333MHz but has a slower processor but then you have one that has a faster processor but only has 4 GB RAM running at 800MHz. This is hard to pick!!! Well I'll just say the 1st one is good enough. Oblivion and school work does not require lot's of RAM.



2x 4GB is better.
Antrikshy
2010-09-25 12:11:53 UTC
If you are getting the machine from a manufacturer, ready-made, it surely works well. Choose one with the better specifications then. I'd go with the first one, because you probably don't require more than 4 GB of RAM, if you want to use it for school work and high-end gaming. I'd be content with it. It will be cheaper too.





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?
2010-09-25 12:12:08 UTC
both are low end video cards look into nvidia 460

cause of games, but ati is shortly comming out with 6xxx series

intel is comming out with new cpu's and lga2011 boards with quad channel ram the cost of i3/i5/i7 will drop.

ram its timings that matter in games between the 2x4 4x2. but spend the extra on the video card.

video card is your most important factor in games.



e6600 bench 2170

x4 620 bench 3121 much faster

a cpu chart

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html



gt220 546

hd5450 325

a video card chart

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
anonymous
2010-09-25 12:06:50 UTC
The Athlon is better. As for the memory, it doesn't really matter.


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