[dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation

Many thanks to all who responded.  My email service (Road Runner) went down
after I sent my request this morning.  It has just come back so I am just
now reading through all of the suggestions.

Building a computer would definitely be the absolute cheapest way to go for
most people, but I am so inept when it comes to hardware that I would
probably end up paying a professional to fix all of my mistakes, and it
would end up costing me more in the long run.

I agree that it makes sense to buy quality and that we get what we pay for.
I do not personally know anyone who has purchased an emachine, so I was
unsure of their quality.  Thanks for all of the great input.

The suggestions on processors was interesting.  It seems to come down to P4
or Athlon XP.  Are their processor speeds equivalent?  Does a P4 3.0 GHz
have the same processing power as a Athlon XP 3.0 GHz?

The disk drive will definetly be a much larger capacity than what it is
replacing.  Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to partition
it?  Should there be a "small" partition for the operating system and
programs, and the remainder be a "data" partition?  Or are there reasons to
have more than 2 partitions?  Are there optimal sizes for partitions?

Joe O'Connell



-----Original Message-----
From: Bobby Heid <bheid at appdevgrp.com>
To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 3:43 PM
Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation


|Joseph,
|
|As a developer, I would suggest that you stick with a P4 class machine (or
|one of the upper end AMDs if you lean that way).
|
|I do not know where Emachines now stand, but IIRC, they were not that good
|when they came out.
|
|I personally would recommend one of the Dell's if you want name brand or
|either build yourself a machine or have a trusted local shop build you one.
|
|I would have at least 512MB RAM, preferably 1GB.  Win XP really runs better
|with 512 compared to 256.  Especially if you are developing in MS Visual
|studio (Dotnet or 6).  I have 1GB in my system at home and after a
|development session, I see the amount of RAM used over 512MB many times.
|Note also that the RAM in that machine is slower than the "standard" RAM
out
|now.  It uses pc2700, many of the newer machines/mobos are using pc3200 or
|higher and also utilize dual channel access to the RAM.  All of which makes
|for a speedier system.
|
|A 60GB drive should be ok, Although larger is always better.  You can
always
|add another one later.
|
|I guess all of the above is moot if you just don't have the $$$ for the
|above.  But you can get some good prices on a Dell.
|
|As an example, the following Dell is $709 with free shipping (after MIR)
|Dell Dimension 3000 Series:
|
|IntelR PentiumR 4 Processor w/ HT Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB)
|Operating System: MicrosoftR WindowsR XP Home Edition
|Shipping Rebates: Save $99 on shipping with mail-in rebate. Price shown
|before rebate.
|Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options:
| 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
|Memory: SAVE $50! 1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
|Hard Drive: 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
|CD or DVD Drive: Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW
|Drive
|Floppy Drives and Additional Storage Devices: 3.5 in Floppy Drive
|Productivity Software: WordPerfectR, Powerful Word Processing
|Security Software: No Security Subscription
|Monitors: 17 in (16 in viewable,.27dp) E773c CRT Monitor
|Keyboard and Mouse Bundles: Dell Quietkey Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll
|Mouse
|Sound Card: Integrated Audio
|Speakers: No Speaker Option
|Video Card: Integrated IntelR Extreme Graphics 2
|Mouse: Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
|Network Interface: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
|Modem: 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem
|Internet Access Services: 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
|Dell Media Experience: Dell Media ExperienceT
|Digital Music: Dell Jukebox - easy-to-use music player and CD burning
|software
|Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Trial, Photo Album
|Starter Edition
|Document Management: AdobeR AcrobatR Reader 6.0
|
|To see/modify this configuration, use E-Value Code: 6V592 - D30SO.
|
|You could shave some off of this by going less RAM, smaller HD, etc.
|
|Hope this helps,
|Bobby
|
|-----Original Message-----
|From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
|[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Joseph
O'Connell
|Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 9:45 AM
|To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
|Subject: [dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation
|
|
|I am looking for hardware suggestions and comments.
|
|My primary development PC just lost its hard drive.  The boot sector is bad
|so I cannot reformat it.  The PC is about 4 years old, so instead of
|replacing the hard drive, I started lookin for "deals" on new computers.
|
|Office Depot has an emachine for $370 that includes:
|Celeron D Processor 330 (2.66GHz)
|256MB DDR PC2700 memory
|60 GB hard drive
|DVD-ROM/CD-RW
|8-in-1 memory card reader
|17" flat screen monitor
|
|For $100 the system can be upgraded to include
|Celeron D340 Processor (2.93GHz)
|512 MB memory
|DVD-ROM and CD-RW
|
|>From the Intel web site, I learned that the processor includes 256KB L2
|cache and 533 MHz Front Side Bus.
|
|Although this is not the fastest computer, it is quite a step up from the
HP
|Pavillion 733GHz Pentium that it will be replacing.
|
|Does anyone have experience with emachine?  What is the difference between
|Celeron and Pentium processors?  This seems like a terrific deal, am I
|missing something?
|
|The operating system is Windows XP Home.  I will replace it with Windows
|2003 Terminal Server.  Any suggestions on how to configure the hard drive?
|Multiple partitions?  If yes, what should each contain?
|
|All suggestions/comments/ideas are greatly appreciated.
|
|Joe O'Connell
|
|
|
|
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