RAM Question

[Gfted1]

So I was eyeing a new Dell XPS 9000 (below) and a question arose. They offer 6GB "Tri-Channel" RAM or 8GB "Dual-Channel" for around the same price. Which is better? Also, if you see any weakness in the build, let me know, Im particularly eyeing that GT220. Is that a good video card?

 

Studio XPS 9000:

Intel

[CoM_Solaufein]

From what I read there isn't really much of a gain to tri-channel. In tri-channel you need to have three RAM installed at any given time compared having two for dual.

[Mera]

Im particularly eyeing that GT220. Is that a good video card?

Uh no, it's a low-end card. Choose GTX260.

 

Actually why don't you go with XPS 8000? After a brief look only difference seems to be the CPU. Instead of i920 you get i750, which is usually faster than 920. Cheaper too.

[Gfted1]

^Good to know, thanks. I always subsribe to the theory that bigger is better so I wouldnt have had any idea the "lower" processer was the better choice.

 

While the GT220 was the lowest choice available on the selection screen, I thought the 1GB of memory was good. Dunno if I can swing the increase in cost for the GTX260.

Edited November 16, 2009 by Gfted1

[Purkake]

Check out the System Guides on techreport to get a general idea of what's good these days.

[I want teh kotor 3]

They offer 6GB "Tri-Channel" RAM or 8GB "Dual-Channel" for around the same price. Which is better?

Depends on your proc. For the 920 you have here, I believe you must have tri-channel. In fact, tri-channel is generally better, as it leaves more room for expandability down the road, usually up to a maximum of 24 gb (6 x 4 gb). For the 750, you need dual channel, which is an older configuration. The 920 is generally much better, though. In fact, I can't remember a single test in which the i7 bested comparably clocked P55 i7s, to say nothing of the X58s (like the 920).

 

Also, if you see any weakness in the build, let me know, Im particularly eyeing that GT220. Is that a good video card?

 

No, get rid of it. It's very low-end; in fact, IIRC, its a rebranded 8800. If you can, wait a few weeks, because nVidia is expected to release the GT300 series, which should lower the prices of the 200 series, and let you get a graphics card worthy of the name. Everything else looks good.

[Masterfade]

No, get rid of it. It's very low-end; in fact, IIRC, its a rebranded 8800. If you can, wait a few weeks, because nVidia is expected to release the GT300 series, which should lower the prices of the 200 series, and let you get a graphics card worthy of the name. Everything else looks good.

 

If GT220 is a rebranded 8800 then it'd be offering terrific value, but sadly 220 is more like a 8600.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Why are you looking at per-built systems? For that price you could, most likely, make a PC with better parts yourself.

[Arkan]

Why are you looking at per-built systems? For that price you could, most likely, make a PC with better parts yourself.

 

Maybe he doesn't want to build it himself?

 

Gfted, that looks strikingly similar to the Dell I just bought. I have the GTX260 and it runs Crysis with everything maxed out at 1280x1024 (monitor's native resolution) like a hot knife through butter. I only have 4gigs of RAM, though.

[Gfted1]

Thanks for the good info everyone.

 

@DN: I just prefer prebuilt because its easier, and all my previous Dell purchases have been trouble free and long lasting machines.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

@DN: I just prefer prebuilt because its easier, and all my previous Dell purchases have been trouble free and long lasting machines.

 

Ok, no problem. I just thought I'd ask since it might save you some money - I do agree about Dell though, I've been Dell laptops for some time and have never had any major issues with any of them. The same goes for the numerous Dell desktops my parents have owned through the years. Still, I'd not buy the graphics-card from Dell as their prices for those are normally a bit high.

[Humanoid]

The rebranded 8800GT is called the GTS250.

 

The i5 750 is the mainstream offering, compared to the i7 series it loses the Hyper-threading feature which while handy for some applications, does not count gaming among them. Therefore it is considered the best value gaming CPU around.

 

The i7 860 and i7 920 are priced almost identically and perform roughly as such. The difference is that the 920 plugs into the premium and more expensive X58 platform while the 860 makes do with the same P55 platform the i5 lives on. The 920 is easier to overclock (which I don't think is of interest to most buyers of pre-built systems), while the 860 has a faster turbo mode. Turbo mode is the system in which the clock speed of the individual cores is automatically boosted when not using all 4 cores at the time (which has a tangible performance impact in many games).

 

The difference between X58 and P55 is tri-channel vs dual-channel memory (no practical difference for gaming) and twin x16 PCI-E slots vs x16/x4 or x16/x8 (which just means it'll be faster in by somewhere south of 5% when equipped with dual high end video cards). By virtue of the motherboard costing less and not having to install as many sticks of memory, the P55 platform can make for fairly decent savings. The rule of thumb for new purchasers is this - people who need X58 already knows they need X58 and why; everyone else defaults to P55.

 

 

Now for the practical stuff - I'd say buy the XPS 8000 instead. This as far as I can tell downgrades the CPU from a 920 to a 750, which is a negligible loss for gaming. This chops off $300 off the listed price. $180 of that goes towards upgrading the video card to a GTX260. The rest you can put towards a better monitor - $120 gets you an upgrade to a 24", which along with the video card upgrade brings to the total package price to the same point as the base XPS 9000. So in all you lose a tiny bit of CPU power, gain a huge upgrade in any 3D programs, and will have the monitor to do it justice. It's a tradeoff I'd take every time.

 

P.S. If you can swing an extra $60 it's probably worth upgrading the RAM in the 8000 to 8GB just to guarantee getting 4 matching 2GB sticks. 6GB is a bit of a silly number for dual-channel, it implies 2x2GB + 2x1GB sticks.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Humanoid

[Gfted1]

Very detailed and informative, thank you.

[Gfted1]

A bit of clarification please. You said the 920 and 860 were roughly comparable to each other and only provide a negligible advantage over the 720 wrt gaming but in another paragraph say the 860 has a "turbo mode" which has a significant impact in gaming. So, in the interest of not being obsolete right out of the box, why wouldnt I go with at least an 860?

[Purkake]

Did you check out the link I posted above? They do a pretty good job explaining what is good at which price point and why, plus they have detailed reviews of all the cards, should you be interested.

[Humanoid]

A bit of clarification please. You said the 920 and 860 were roughly comparable to each other and only provide a negligible advantage over the 720 wrt gaming but in another paragraph say the 860 has a "turbo mode" which has a significant impact in gaming. So, in the interest of not being obsolete right out of the box, why wouldnt I go with at least an 860?

 

My mistake by omission. All i5 and i7 CPUs have turbo mode, it just behaves slightly differently in that the 920 does not speed itself up by quite as much.

 

When all 4 cores are operating, they have the following clock speeds:

i5 750 2.66GHz

i7 860 2.8GHz

i7 920 2.66GHz

Yes the 750 and 920 have the same stock frequency, but because the technology is slightly different the 860 and 920 end up being almost the same speed in practice.

 

With 2 cores active and turbo mode on it goes to:

i5 750 3.2GHz

i7 860 3.33GHz

i7 920 2.8GHz

The difference in clock speed is now suddenly magnified. In this situation both the 750 and the 860 will beat the 920.