[ubuntu-za] New Computer

[frans]

On 12/09/27 17:47, Lee Sharp wrote:
>
> On 09/27/2012 09:50 AM, Bill Cairns wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I am thinking of a new computer. Can anyone comment on the Gigabyte
>> motherboard GA-H61MA-D2V?
>
> I like Gigabyte.  My last 3 motherboards have been Gigabyte, and I 
> speced a Gigabyte board for a client "white box" roll-out.
>
>> CASE GIGABYTE GZ-M1 4IN1 W/320W PSU
>> MB GIGABYTE GA-H61MA-D2V LGA1155 DDR3
>> INTEL CPU CORE I7 3770 3.40GHZ
>> MEM 8GB DDR3-1333 TRANSCEND
>> HDD 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM SATA 6GB/S 32MB
>
> I have a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, which I got specifically for the 6 memory 
> slots a little over a year and a half ago.  Yours has 2 slots.  
> Upgrades mean removing the memory and throwing it away. But yours also 
> maxes at 16gig, which is low by todays limits.  I have 24gig in mine, 
> and it rocks.  Makes more difference than CPU.  Total specs...
>
> Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
> INTEL CPU CORE I7 950
> MEM 24GB DDR3-1333
> HDD Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT1 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB cache 5,900 RPM
> Nvidia GTX550 Ti graphics
>
> I am thrilled with it.  Very fast, and lits of room.  Note, however, 
> that I buy systems every 5 years or so, and run them forever.  So this 
> will be long in the tooth in 4 years when yours is already replaced.
>
> My advice, get the most memory you can afford.  The hard drive and 
> video can be upgraded later, but memory is a pain to upgrade. 
> (Especially when the standard changes and the prices for the large old 
> stuff goes way up!  And if your motherboard is maxed out...)
>
>             Lee
>
My first question usually are what will the system be used for?

8GB of ram is plenty, even by today's standards, but can still become 
too little if you plan to run some virtual machines high end graphics 
designing programs and  some large video compilations...all of which 
this machine is great for...if you're a home user and do it for a hobby, 
even for watching videos this system will be plenty. I had my previous 
system for more than 5 years and it ran great on 2GB of ram and dual 
core CPU, it got replaced because the Motherboards supporting the CPU 
went to: "Are you crazy asking me to get that for you!!!!!" Status last 
year.

So unless you plan to compete with Lee :) great system, it could work 
for the next ten years before you really need to replace it, unless you 
are a power hungry performance user, that like everything to happen 
yesterday...then you might consider going bigger. Remember also that 
needs change as you learn, so it might be plenty today and lagging next 
month, My current system is the AMD FX 4 on a MSI Board and 4 GB ram, a 
250GB sata drive, and gtx460, it will be plenty for say the next 3 
years...though I would really like to upgrade the ram... I do not yet 
need to upgrade though. for our office I would like to go at least 24 - 
48 GB ram and 16 core cpu's with 1 tb hard drives and some virtual boxes 
running on it.

-- 
  When working on a computer you have to know enough:
  To fake what you don't know.
  Google what you can't fake.
  How (and when) to 'motivate' the computer to do what Google won't tell.

Frans de Waal
IT Manager/
Dormakorp