pricing systems on dell outlet - quick cpu question

J

Jason

Limp Gawd
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Feb 20, 2003
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490
i'm looking at two systems, both nearly identical in price, and every other component save for the cpu (and mobo of course) will be identical. that is, same amount of ram, same hard drive, etc.

system one features: AMD Athlon II X4 620
system two features: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500

which is the better processor?
 
oh, and just for the hell of it, there is yet a third system which features: AMD Phenom X3 8650

i believe the original phenom's weren't that great. correct? this is definitely a phenom and not a phenom ii.
 
Gaming E7500

Everthing else 620

Forget the phenom

Personally I'd go 620 .
 
this system will be for my mother. she will do absolutely no gaming (unless you count solitaire, heh). primary use of the machine will be web browsing, e-mail, some light photo editing, and most importantly, she is going to hook up a web cam so that she can do video calls (via skype) with my sister who lives overseas. the web cam is a logitech quickcam pro 9000.

specs of the system i'm looking at:

AMD Athlon II X4 620
6 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (4 DIMMs)
750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
Windows 7 Home Premium

Certified Refurbished
 
well if the coupon code i picked up at slickdeals is still valid, we're looking at around the $450 mark. :)
 
already have a monitor, as well as speakers.

is it even worth trying to build a rig at this price point? ($450 max)

i don't have an OS license, so there's roughly 25% of the budget gone right off the bat.

if i were to build, i'd probably go with something like this:

athlon ii x4 620
gigabyte ud3h (790gx chipset with radeon hd 3300 igp)
g.skill 4gb (2 x 2gb) ddr3 1333
 
Nope, you could, but you would get about the same componets. New egg has cancelled a lot of the combo deals, to make more during christmas it seems.

The mini Vostro is just want she wants/needs, especially if you need a monitor. Order with 3gb ram -$391 and your done. If she doesn't need the LCD, get the 620.
 
yeah she doesn't need the lcd. she has a 19" that's just fine for her needs. i'm going to go with the certified refurb. i just can't pass up the savings. i'm looking at a better cpu, three times the ram and three times the hard drive capacity.

her old dell is a single core celeron with 512mb of ram. i'm pretty sure it was built in the late 90's or very early 2000's. this new system is going to blow her away and then some.
 
noooooo!

just realized the coupon code i have is expired. so it looks like i'm going to have to sit and wait on the next outlet deal to arrive in my inbox.

sonofa!
 
Sad to say, but if she is anything like my wife, she won't use 10% of the capacity of the computer.
 
the thing is, my mom is more like a grandmother. she doesn't have any grandkids yet, but she's an extra generation behind the times in terms of technology. i just recently got her used to the idea of tabbed browsing, except there's one slight problem. she never closes old/unused tabs. she opens up her browser and then just overloads it with 50+ tabs. so while i know she doesn't really need all that beefy of a system, the better cpu and extra ram will help to alleviate her inability to click the close tab button.
 
Jason said:
the thing is, my mom is more like a grandmother. she doesn't have any grandkids yet, but she's an extra generation behind the times in terms of technology. i just recently got her used to the idea of tabbed browsing, except there's one slight problem. she never closes old/unused tabs. she opens up her browser and then just overloads it with 50+ tabs. so while i know she doesn't really need all that beefy of a system, the better cpu and extra ram will help to alleviate her inability to click the close tab button.
Click to expand...

You could disable the tabs (both IE8 and FF can do this).
 
so here's another option i've stumbled upon. this is a new hp system, as opposed to the refurb dells i've been looking at. what do you guys think?

AMD Athlon II X4 620
4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (2 DIMMs)
500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
16X DVD +/- RW
Windows 7 Home Premium

this is brand new coming in at $429.99 (before tax/shipping).

it's 2GB less ram, however the hp system features ddr3 1066, whereas the refurb dell has ddr2 800. also, the hp only has a 500GB drive, whereas the dell has a 750GB drive.

is the hp a good deal? as far as OEMs go, i've only ever dealt with dell, but from what i hear hp is the only other big player these days.

edit: i'm also curious as to whether or not it would be worth it to bump up to the x4 630. i believe all you get is a higher clock speed. not sure if there's any bang for my buck there.
 
bumping up to the x4 630 takes the price to $499.99

if i leave it at the 620 and bump up the ram from 4GB to 6GB, that takes the price to $509.99

unfortunately, it turns out i can't wait around for the next dell outlet coupons to surface. apparently my mother is planning on surprising my sister christmas morning with a conference call comprised of a whole room full of relatives. she needs the system built and shipped asap. she's willing to forego here $450 max budget and up it to $525 on the high end.

heads starting to spin considering all these options.

option one: jump on the hp system i've outlined above
option two: jump on the hp system but upgrade to the x4 630
option three: jump on the hp system but upgrade to 6GB of RAM
option four: go with my original dell refurb system, which is also the most expensive option

so what would you pick? one, two, three or four?
 
Last edited:
sorry for the triple post. i'm a little worked up at the moment trying to secure the best deal i can. i just wanted to make note of the fact that she is convinced she wants a quad-core system. i agree with gwarren and jeremyshaw, she'll probably never fully utilize a quad-core, but she's certain she simply can't settle for a dual core.

if anyone has any recommendations whatsoever for a quad-core system that can be had for $525 or less, i'm all ears!
 
Jason said:
so here's another option i've stumbled upon. this is a new hp system, as opposed to the refurb dells i've been looking at. what do you guys think?

AMD Athlon II X4 620
4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (2 DIMMs)
500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
16X DVD +/- RW
Windows 7 Home Premium

this is brand new coming in at $429.99 (before tax/shipping).

it's 2GB less ram, however the hp system features ddr3 1066, whereas the refurb dell has ddr2 800. also, the hp only has a 500GB drive, whereas the dell has a 750GB drive.

is the hp a good deal? as far as OEMs go, i've only ever dealt with dell, but from what i hear hp is the only other big player these days.

edit: i'm also curious as to whether or not it would be worth it to bump up to the x4 630. i believe all you get is a higher clock speed. not sure if there's any bang for my buck there.
Click to expand...

Seriously, this is all she needs. Go with 4gb thats all you need. You could even put folding at home on it, and it'll run and she'll never know. I say that with the understanding you have permission to put it on her machine.
It will fihelp us to find a cure for cancer, and she'll have more power than she needs.
 
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