A friend of mine wanted to get a Dell and was asking my opinion of what to get. He doesn't really do anything that needs much power (he's using AOL over his DSL connection -- that kind of guy), but he tends to keep computers for a very long time (he's upgrading from a P3-550).
I was recommending the XPS 400 with a Pentium D 930 (just because it's runs cooler than the 820), 2 GB, and a GF 6800 (so he can have something that's not a TurboCache/HyperMemory card).
As far as hard drives, though, I'm not sure what they're using. The options are:
I'm thinking maybe they're using all Seagate stuff, since Seagate has 16MB 320/500GB drives, but I think all their 250GB drives are 8MB cache. I'm really not sure, though.
This guy isn't going to come close to using 250GB. He's not going to do video editing, and probably won't see much of any benefit from RAID 0. I'm thinking he might as well just stick with the default 250GB drive, but if the 320GB drive is a faster drive, he can swing the $50 pretty easily. Of course the $40 for a 320GB RAID 0 also looks like a good deal, but two 160GB drives might actually be slower for everyday use since they're probably previous generation drives.
I just don't know. I can't make much of a decision without knowing the specific drives they're using.
Obviously the "DataSafe" drives are just mirrored instead of RAID 0. If it would be easy to break the RAID, it might be nice to just get that and turn off the mirroring then put all his data on the 2nd drive.
I was recommending the XPS 400 with a Pentium D 930 (just because it's runs cooler than the 820), 2 GB, and a GF 6800 (so he can have something that's not a TurboCache/HyperMemory card).
As far as hard drives, though, I'm not sure what they're using. The options are:
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ 8MB cache [Included in Price]
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ 16MB cache [add $50 or $2/month1]
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ 16MB cache [add $180 or $6/month1]
DataSafe 160GB (Includes main hard drive plus a hidden reserve hard drive) [add $40 or $1/month1]
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DataSafe 250GB (Includes main hard drive plus a hidden reserve hard drive) [add $120 or $4/month1]
DataSafe 320GB (Includes main hard drive plus a hidden reserve hard drive) [add $220 or $7/month1]
320GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 160GB SATA 3Gb/s HDDs) [add $40 or $1/month1]
640GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 320GB SATA 3Gb/s HDDs) [add $220 or $7/month1]
500GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 250GB SATA 3Gb/s HDDs) [add $120 or $4/month1]
I'm thinking maybe they're using all Seagate stuff, since Seagate has 16MB 320/500GB drives, but I think all their 250GB drives are 8MB cache. I'm really not sure, though.
This guy isn't going to come close to using 250GB. He's not going to do video editing, and probably won't see much of any benefit from RAID 0. I'm thinking he might as well just stick with the default 250GB drive, but if the 320GB drive is a faster drive, he can swing the $50 pretty easily. Of course the $40 for a 320GB RAID 0 also looks like a good deal, but two 160GB drives might actually be slower for everyday use since they're probably previous generation drives.
I just don't know. I can't make much of a decision without knowing the specific drives they're using.
Obviously the "DataSafe" drives are just mirrored instead of RAID 0. If it would be easy to break the RAID, it might be nice to just get that and turn off the mirroring then put all his data on the 2nd drive.