CPU choice

spakkker

Those cpu's use an 1156 m/board which is more than double the cost of a g31/41 m/board and the g6950 is no better than a decent pentium DC for20 quid less.
i3 -530 good cpu but new tech so not cheap. It's complete overkill for what you need.
i5 - overpriced and not necessary for your needs.
Fact is an e3300 system would probably leave your current pc standing -I don't know your current pc specs but if you are taking a shop's advice it's a cert.

Snooze

chris.lewis wrote: »

Ok well the i3-530 is £99.99 on novatech and the G6950 is £81.99 so only £8 difference I would defiantly pay £8 extra for a processor which is twice as powerful according to benchmark figures. But as people have rightly pointed out your not going to be doing much a bit of bbc iplayer isnt going to challenge either cpu so its totally down to whether you think its worth the extra £8!!

:rotfl::D

The i3 530 is a 2.93 gig processor! A bit of an overkill for surfing, email and MS Office! I can do all that just fine on my 17 year old ThinkPad which has a 0.8 gig processor in it!

Of course people are right to say buy the best processor you can afford but equally you've got to put it into context with what you plan to do with it. You'll never need nor use 2.93 gig and a standard-ish 2.1/2.2 gig will do the job just as well. It's up to you though how much money you've got to burn.

jem16

spakkker wrote: »

Fact is an e3300 system would probably leave your current pc standing -I don't know your current pc specs but if you are taking a shop's advice it's a cert.

Currently using an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ with 1GB Ram.

Snooze

jem16 wrote: »

Currently using an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ with 1GB Ram.

There's nothing wrong with that processor. In fact it's already overkill for what you want. Why exactly are you wanting to upgrade? And what do you hope to gain by upgrading to an i3 530 ? You're not going to notice any difference at all. You might notice a slight improvement if you stick another gig of memory in it, particularly if you're running Vista, but other than that you're wasting your money.

weegie.geek

Given what you use it for, why on earth are you replacing that? Stick some more ram in it and you'll be sorted.

Snooze

weegie.geek wrote: »

Given what you use it for, why on earth are you replacing that? Stick some more ram in it and you'll be sorted.

Agreed. I can't figure it out either. :huh:

fwor

jem16 wrote: »

Currently using an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ with 1GB Ram.

I run my 3-tuner MythTV combined frontend and backend server on one of those!

If you're getting poor performance with the sorts of tasks you mentioned, there's probably something more fundamental wrong (e.g. incorrect system device drivers or malware?).

spakkker

Well e3300 is about 33% faster cpu but that is not a vast increase. I guess the pc shop is there to sell pc's.
You don't say what op. system , xp or vista?? Another gig of ram would help- esp. with vista.
A fresh install of O.S. usually helps to speed things up - maybe you could treat yourself to another h-drive and keep the os drive clear of data, d/l's, music, photos etc.
Agree with last few posts.

jem16

OK - confused you all!

I'm a self-confessed techno geek. Computer systems are my interest and weakness perhaps! I like to be up to date and change systems every few years.

My current system is 4 years old - at one point was probably used for more intensive work but never gaming - left that to my sons! It already has 2 hard drives to keep OS apart from saved data.

Several items on the current system appear outdated now. I have a card reader that only supports 512Mb - yes I could just replace that I know. I'm currently running XP and would like Windows 7. I'd also like an HDMI port and currently don't have one.

In February when I first started looking I was getting some blue screens of death - virtually unknown with XP in my previous 3.5 years. IE crashes at times. I know - all of this would probably be resolved by a reinstallation of OS. However it may be hardware related as with previous similar issues which have resulted in new PSU or M/board. Can't be bothered with that to be honest as it took quite a while to get to the bottom of it.

I like to be up-to-date and have the money available - might as well treat myself so to speak. The current system will become my back up PC. I'm the ICT Co-ordinator at work so like to keep ahead of things.

Yes I know - I'm mad but it's my main interest.

As to the shop I use. They have known me for over 15 years and know that I know what I'm talking about. They will give me good advice - I was there when the shop was a one-man business and used it before even the current sales manager was appointed. They always give me good service as I have bought many systems and recommended them on several occasions over the years - they build it exactly the way I want it. If anything went wrong I know I would get priority treatment. The shop is not trying to sell me a PC - I'm trying to buy one and know the sales manager well.

What I am looking for - and may well get my answer when the sales manager gets back to me - is whether I should go for the i3-530 or G6950?

fwor

Ah, Ok. In that case I'd definitely go for the i3-530, because whether you ~need~ the extra grunt or two extra (virtual) cores is pretty much irrelevant.