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ITS Computer Buying Guide

Table of Contents

Step 3: Desktop - PC

Price range:

  • Normal: $450-$1000
  • Extended: $1100-$1700
  • Power User: $1800-$4000

Please note: It is not necessary read all of this section. The information provided here exists for those people who want to know exactly what it is that they are buying. If you just want a quick summary, see our summarized configuration list. Also, if you read anything, please check out our memory (RAM) section.

Manufacturers

We lowly students at ITS can't officially suggest one brand over another, but here's a list of popular ones (ranked in no particular order):

Main-stream manufacterers

These manufacturers sell mostly desktops for "normal" and "extended" users users, although each usually offers one "high-end" machine or two (for a premium)

Specialized manufacturers

These manufacturers tend to offer desktops for the "extended" and "power users" out there.

Most of these companies sell their products directly from their web sites. You can also try third-party websites such as NewEgg, eBay, and others, but keep in mind that machines sold from these websites may or may not come with a warranty (it should be specified). In particular, used computers bought from eBay are unlikely to come with warranties, so be careful.

Things to consider when choosing a manufacturer:

  • The features you want - This seems simple but trips up many inexperienced buyers. Make sure you're buying what you want - if you want to watch movies on your machine, make sure that your manufacturer offers a desktop with a DVD drive - if not, go somewhere else.
  • Warranties - What kind of warranty does the manufacturer offer? How long does it last? If something breaks, do you have to send them your machine, or will they send someone out to fix it? Most major manufacturers offer many different warranty plans above the basic. Generally the included warranty is one year. We strongly recommend buying an extended warranty, considering that your computer will be a considerable investment.
  • Tech support - Does the manufacturer have 24/7 tech support? Has it been outsourced (e.g. Dell's tech support is located in India)? Look up your manufacturer on Reseller Ratings for some clues (although take this information with a grain of salt). This PCWorld article is also a good place to look.
  • Educational discounts - Some manufacturers have them, some don't (typically it's the larger ones that do). Make sure to root around on each company's website to see if they offer something like this.

Customizing your desktop: what to choose

Almost all manufacturers now allow buyers at least some form of customization, which is a good thing, but can also lead to a baffling amount of poorly-explained options. If you'd rather not read through lots of explanation, just check out the Normal/Extended/Power User suggested configurations at the beginning of every entry, or the summarized version.

Remember that there's no rush here. You have all summer to decide, so do your homework and make sure you're happy with what you're buying. Once you've finally ordered your machine, go on to Step 4.

Step 4: After your computer arrives >>>>


Processor ( CPU)

Normal:
Intel Celeron or Celeron D Processors
Intel Pentium 4 Processors
AMD Sempron or Sempron 64 Processors
Extended:
Intel Pentium D Processors
AMD Athlon 64 Processors
Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition Processors
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processors, 3600+ to 4600+
Power User:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processors, 4600+ to 6000+
AMD Athlon 64 FX Processors
Intel Core 2 Duo Processors
Intel Core 2 Quad Processors
Intel Core 2 Extreme Processors

With the possible exception of RAM, your processor (a.k.a. your CPU) is the most important part of your computer with respect to performance. For the most part, the faster your processor, the faster everything will happen in your machine.

Intel vs. AMD

Intel currently has the majority share of the desktop market, which means that most of the computers you will see will probably have an Intel processor. However, AMD's current line of CPUs offers similar performance, often for a lesser price. This means that many major manufacturers have started offering machines with AMD chips. Each manufacturer offers several product lines, seen above, which are designed to compete with each other. For example, an AMD Athlon 64 will be comparable to an Intel Pentium D within the range listed for the same user category above. The same is true of AMD's Sempron vs Intel's Celeron, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 vs Intel's Core 2 Duo, and AMD's Athlon 64 FX vs Intel's Core 2 Extreme Processors.

Hyperthreading Technology? What?

Some P4s come with an ability called Hyperthreading, whereby your operating system is "tricked" into thinking it has not one but two processors. In some situations, this can improve performance when you are running multiple programs at once. This means that these processors are much better at handling situations where you have multiple resource-intensive programs open at the same time (e.g. Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Macromedia Flash). However, if you're a "normal" user, you probably will never experience this situation.

Single, Dual, and Quad Cores

Dual-core chips actually do have two processors squeezed onto the same physical chip. However, like Hyperthreading, this won't double performance unless you're running two very resource-intensive applications at the same time, or one big program that supports multithreading. Only power-users should ever run into this situation, although everyone's experience will be much "smoother."

For many years now, the industry has gradually increased performance of their processors by increasing their clock speed and cache size (for the most part). This approach is finally beginning to yield diminishing returns, so Intel and AMD are moving into dual-core technology. Dual-core chips should become standard on most computers in the next year or two.

The following series are dual core:

  • Intel Pentium D (Note: Despite the similarity in the name, the Celeron D is NOT dual-core.)
  • Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2
  • AND Athlon FX 60
  • Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme
Even more recently, Quad Core processors have begun to emerge. As with Dual Core, Quad processors have four processors all put on the same package. Unless you do intense multithreaded processing, such as very specialized mathematical or scientific computing, you are unlikely to benefit from a quad core.

The following series are quad core:

  • Intel Core 2 Quad

The Naming Scheme: What Do All These Numbers Mean?

For a long time, both Intel and AMD associated the speed of their processor with just one statistic: their clock speed (e.g. 2.8 GHz). Unfortunately, there are many other factors that contribute to performance than clock speed, such as front side bus frequency (FSB), cache size, and basic architecture differences. For example, the Athlon 64 and Pentium M families of processors both have clock speeds close to 2.0 GHz, but frequently outperform Pentium 4s running at 3.0 Ghz and up.

Intel Naming Scheme

In response, for recent Pentium and Celeron processors Intel has departed from the GHz specification in favor of a "we assign this processor a three-digit number that we hope reflects its performance" naming convention. This is how it works:

  • The first digit refers to the family of processor. For the Pentium 4s, this number is either a 5 or a 6. Dual core Pentium Ds and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors are assigned a number starting with an 8 or 9. The differences between these sub-families (or, rather, the lack thereof) is discussed later on.
  • The second digit is directly tied to the clock speed of a processor inside its family (the higher the number the higher the clock speed).
  • The third number indicates various features that may exist on each processor. A processor with a number ending in 5 has a slower front side bus frequency (FSB) than other processors of that family with a number ending in 0. Other digits indicate other features.
See the entire list of numbers and the statistics they represent.

Thus, a 6-series Pentium 4 running at 3.2 GHz with 2 MB of L2 cache is now known as a Pentium 4 640.

5xx vs. 6xx

Okay, so what's the difference between the 5xx and 6xx families of processors? Is a 660 a lot faster than a 560?

Short answer: No, not really. The 6xx series has 2 MB of L2 cache (twice the 5xx's 1 MB), has a few architecture changes, and supports a better form of thermal throttling, but (surprisingly) tests have shown that performance differences between the 5xx and 6xx sub-families are very small. Given this, you should not pay substantially more for a 6xx series processor.

The one thing that the 6xx's have going for them is native 64-bit (EM64T? ) support. There are a few 5xx's that support EM64T? (their numbers are marked with a trailing "j"), but these are hard to find. While there are presently very few uses for 64-bit processors, there are likely to be uses in the future.

8xx vs 9xx
Intel's dual core chips are classified into two families: the 8xx and 9xx families.

The main difference between these two families is that the 9xx chips have twice as much L2 cache as the 8xx chips (2 MB per core instead of 1 MB). This makes the 9xx processors preferable. Recently, the prices of the 9xx family have dropped, and often the price difference between a 8xx and 9xx processor is not substantial. If this is the case for your manufacturer, go with the 9xx family.

Core 2 Numbering
Core 2 Duo chips are badged as E****. Core 2 Quad chips are badged as Q****. Core 2 Extreme chips are labeled as X****. Quad-core Core 2 Extreme chips are labeled QX****. Generally, the higher the number following the letter, the better. The E4*** series has a slower front side bus than the E6*** series.

AMD Naming Scheme
AMD has an arguably simpler naming scheme for most of their processors. Each processor is assigned a performance rating. For example, an Athlon 64 3800+ has a performance rating of 3800. This number by itself doesn't mean much, as the performance basis was a processor AMD made many years ago, and is no longer sold. What is important is relative numbers. An Athlon 64 3800+ will be slower than a 4000+. These ratings transition somewhat between product lines as well.

AMD Athlon FX chips have a different naming system. Essentially, they are named FX-yy, where yy is a two digit number. The numbers started at 51, and each new processor released in the FX line has been labeled with a higher number. So, within the FX line, a higher number is better. For comparisons to other processors, the current FX chips are architecturally similar to the Athlon 64 X2 processors.


System Memory (RAM)

Normal:
1024 MB (1 GB)
Extended:
1024 MB - 2048 MB (1 GB - 2 GB)
Power User:
2048+ MB (2+ GB)

Memory comes in megabytes (MB), and, typically, the more the better. For those who are interested, a better discussion of what RAM actually does for your computer can be found on the RAM page of our computer glossary.

IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU BUY A DESKTOP WITH AT LEAST 1024 MB (1 GB) OF RAM.

Yes, we mean it. Once you run out of RAM, you have to start using virtual memory, which will slow your computer down to a crawl.


Operating System

Normal:
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Business
Extended:
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Business
Power User:
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Ultimate

In terms of Operating Systems, you will most likely be limited to some edition of Windows Vista. There are 4 available editions: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. Home Basic is, as the name suggests, a very stripped down version of Windows without many features for media support, and without extras such as Aero. As such we would recommend you avoid it. (Note: While we recommend against Home Basic, we will support it. If you are buying a computer where you can choose which edition to have installed, we would recommend you choose Home Premium over Home Basic. The price difference is fairly small, and you will almost certainly find the additional features worth the small price premium.) Home Premium improves upon Home Basic, and is somewhat similar to a mix between the old XP Professional and Media Center editions. Vista Business is fairly similar to XP Professional. Vista Ultimate contains all of the features found in any version of Vista, and is for the more serious users. More information on the different versions of Windows Vista

NOTE: Some computers come with the option of having no operating system installed (as a way to decrease cost). While ITS has a site-license for Windows, it only covers machines that at one time had a version of Windows installed. In other words, you have to buy some kind of Windows operating system for your computer, if you wish to use Windows.

What happened to the Media Center Edition?

Microsoft used to offer a version of Windows XP called Media Center Edition, which had added media support for applications in home theater PCs. With the transition to Vista, Home Premium and Ultimate now contains the functionality that used to be in Media Center.


Hard Drives

Normal:
80 - 160 GB 7200 RPM
Extended:
160 - 300GB 7200 RPM
Power User:
300GB+ 7200 RPM SATA
2 SATA drives in a RAID
10,000 RPM SATA Drive

Hard drives are permanent storage for all of your data. This is where all of your papers, presentations, music, and digital photos will be stored.

Almost all desktop hard drives now spin at 7200 RPM, so this value may not even be listed by your manufacturer. Certain high-end machines offer super-speed drives at 10,000 RPM, but these are very expensive.

More importantly, hard drives have varying capacities, measured in gigabytes (GB), which is a measure of how much data they can store. This number typically varies between 80 and 250 (or more). Keep in mind that Windows XP will by itself takes up about 5 GB. Add in other commonly forgotten things like your browser cache and other random "stuff" that tends to accumulate over time and this number grows to about 10 GB.

Things like Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations take up very little space (my mother's 10-year collection of books, papers, and letters still fails to fill two gigabytes of space on her hard drive). The largest culprits tend to be digital photos, music, games, and movies. Raw digital photos (fresh off your camera) tend to be extremely high quality and run about 700KB - 1.5MB, meaning you can fit about 20,000 pictures on a 30 GB drive. Music .mp3s tend to run between 3MB and 5MB, so a typical music collection (~2,000 songs) will take up around 10GB. A modern game tends to consume between 2GB and 5GB after install. Movie sizes can vary wildly depending on their resolution quality, but a decently compressed full-length movie tends to run around 1.5GB (an uncompressed full movie can vary between 4 and 8 GB).

What's this SATA business?

SATA is the latest generation of hard drives that has replaced the older ATA133 (a.k.a. IDE) drives. SATA drives offer slightly faster transfer speeds than their IDE cousins, while the new-and-upcoming SATA2 drives promise to be about twice as fast as IDE drives.

Power Users (especially those who are into film capture and editing) may want to consider buying a computer with a SATA RAID array. RAID arrays treat an "arrays" of multiple drives as one very large, very fast drive.


Optical Drive(s)

Normal:
DVD-ROM or CD-RW/DVD combo
Extended:
CD-RW/DVD combo
Power User:
DVD-R/RW burner

Optical drives read (and sometimes write to) optical media, which means CDs and DVDs. Desktops typically offer three different kinds of optical drives:

  • DVD-ROM - This drive can read both CDs and DVDs but can't write to either (this process is referred to as "burning" a CD/DVD).
  • CD-RW/DVD combo - This drive can read and burn CDs and read from DVDs (but can't burn DVDs).
  • DVD-R/RW burner - This drive can read and burn both CDs and DVDs.

If you like to make your own music mixes and burn them to a CD, then you probably want a CD-RW/DVD combo. CDs are also a good way to back up your data, as long as you don't have many gigabytes of it (a CD holds about 700MB-800MB of data). If you are accustomed to making movies, or need to back up large amounts of data, then a DVD burner is for you (DVDs can store about 4.7GB). Optical drives also tend to have a lot of technical jargon associated with them in reference to their speed and compatibility, such as:

Speed: The speed of a drive reflects both its read and write speed. Almost all optical drives now read CDs at 52x. CD burners typically top out at 24x write speed. DVD drives/burners use the same "x" notation, but on a different scale: most DVD drives burn at 4x, 8x, and 16x. Note that even though these numbers look "smaller," than their CD counterparts, they burn CDs just as fast as the fastest CD burner.

-R vs. -RW: CD- and DVD-Rs can be written to ("burned") only once, while CD- and DVD-RWs can be written to many times (this number varies but approaches 1000 for high-quality media).

+/- compatibility (DVD-R/RW only): DVD-R/RWs come in two flavors: + and - (e.g. DVD+RW vs. DVD-RW). Most DVD burners are +/- compatible, meaning that they can burn both types. The - format is more compatible with more home entertainment (set-top) DVD players than its + cousin.

Double-layer (DVD-R/RW only): A typical DVD can hold about 4.7GB of data. Double-layer (a.k.a. "dual-layer") DVDs can hold almost twice this: about 8.5GB. Many commercial movie DVDs are double-layer. If a DVD-burner is dual-layer compatible then it can burn dual-layer DVD-Rs. Unfortunately, a single DL DVD-R costs about $10, and you will rarely (if ever) find need to burn such a large amount of data onto a single DVD (i.e. it can usually be split up amongst multiple DVDs). In other words, there's no reason to pay premium for this ability.

Thus, an "8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability" can burn just about anything, including R/RW media, +/- media, and dual-layer media.


Graphics (card)

Normal:
Integrated graphics/cheapest discrete card option
ATI Radeon X1600, X1300, X1050, 9550
nVidia GeForce 7300
Extended:
ATI HD 2400, X1900, X1800 series
ATI Crossfire X1600
NVidia GeForce 8500 series, GeForce 7600 series
Power User:
ATI HD 2900/2600 series
ATI Crossfire HD 2900/2600/2400, X1900/1800
NVidia GeForce 8800/8600, GeForce 7900 series
NVidia SLI GeForce 8800/8600/8500, GeForce 7900/7600

Graphics solutions for desktops come in two forms: an integrated chip on your motherboard or a discrete expansion "card" with its own processor and RAM. If you never plan on using any 3D applications (e.g. computer games and certain computer-assisted design (CAD) software), then an integrated approach will probably serve all of your needs. However, if you plan on watching a lot of movies, then you might want to consider getting a machine with a low-end graphics card (e.g. something made by ATI or NVidia, such as an ATI x300), as these cards can help make your movies run smoother.

If you plan on using 3D intensive applications, we suggest buying a card from the Extended or Power User categories. Here is a list of all of the card options, in order of decreasing performance.

  1. ATI HD 2900 Crossfire, nVidia GeForce 8800 SLI
  2. ATI HD 2900, nVidia GeForce 8800
  3. ATI X1900 series Crossfire, NVidia GeForce 7900 series SLI
  4. ATI HD 2600 Crossfire, nVidia GeForce 8600 SLI
  5. ATI X1800 series Crossfire, NVidia GeForce 7800 series SLI
  6. ATI X1900 series, NVidia GeForce 7900 series
  7. ATI HD 2600 series, nVidia GeForce 8600
  8. ATI X1800 series, NVidia GeForce 7800 series
  9. ATI X1600 series Crossfire, NVidia GeForce 7600 series
  10. ATI X1600 series, NVidia GeForce 7600 series, nVidia GeForce 8500

ATI vs NVidia
ATI and NVidia are the two companies that dominate the graphics card market. Many people choose to exclusively support one brand over the other, but the truth is that both companies make excellent and very comparable products.

Crossfire and SLI
A little while ago, NVidia pioneered a dual graphics solution called SLI, which allowed a power user to connect two graphics cards to their computer. One card would work on half the screen, while the other managed the other half. This ended up giving huge performance gains over using a single card (not double, but very good). However, this is a very expensive option, since high end graphics cards easily run $300-400. ATI later came out with a similar technology called Crossfire.

If top performance is necessary for you for 3D applications or games, you may consider investing in SLI. But keep in mind that graphics cards are quickly outdated, so be wary of spending too much on fancy SLI/Crossfire setup.


Networking Card (Ethernet)

Normal:
10/100 Ethernet connection
Extended:
10/100/1000 Ethernet connection
Power User:
10/100/1000 Ethernet connection

In order to connect to the Pomona network, you need an Ethernet connection of some kind. Nowadays, these come in 10/100 and 10/100/1000 (gigabit) varieties. So, what do these numbers mean? They're a measure of supported transfer speeds in Mb/s (mega bits per second). Used to hearing mega bytes instead? So are most people, but since there are 8 bits in a byte, network vendors get to "inflate" their numbers.

If you will mainly be using your network connection for surfing the internet, then a 10/100 card will do you fine. Power users who will be transferring lots of large files around the network probably want to invest in a 10/100/1000 (a.k.a. gigabit) Ethernet card/controller.


Software

Normal:
None: free from Pomona
Extended:
None: free from Pomona
Power User:
None: free from Pomona

Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, etc.) is really expensive. So are firewalls and antivirus programs such as McAfee. Luckily, you can get such programs for free from Pomona! Just note that you won't be able to install these programs until you get to campus. If you are ordering your computer early in the summer and won't be able to live without them until September, you'll need to buy them from the manufacturer.

More information on licensed (i.e. free to students) software can be found here.


Monitor

Normal:
User preference
Extended:
User preference
Power User:
User preference

CRT vs. LCD

At the moment, there are two "families" of monitors available to the general public: CRTs (Cathode Ray Tube) and LCDs (Liquid Crystal Display). CRTs look and operate like traditional televisions, while LCDs, also known as "flat panel" monitors, are just that: very thin.

So what's the difference? First of all, CRTs are significantly cheaper than LCDs. On the other hand, LCD's take up a lot less desk space, which may be a concern for a cramped first year. Keep in mind that CRT monitors are extremely heavy - a 17" CRT can be more than 35lbs, and a 19" CRT can be more than 50lbs. Also, LCDs are much easier on the eyes (long-term use of CRTs usually causes eye-strain), and tend to have more vibrant colors and better picture quality. However, if you get a cheapo LCD, there's a good chance the image quality will actually be worse than an CRT, as LCDs of this type exhibit color "banding," where lines (i.e. text) will change thickness as one moves across the screen. In the end, it's really a matter of your own personal preferences. If you're going to be using your computer for extended periods of time, an LCD screen is probably a good idea.
Note: All laptop screens are LCDs. If you've never seen a desktop LCD monitor before, try borrowing a friend's laptop and trying it out for size.

Size

Monitors come in 14", 15", 17", 19", 20", and even larger varieties (this number is measured diagonally from one corner to another). Again, it's really up to you how large you want to make it. People who use computers a lot tend to appreciate large screens, such as a 17" or 19" (personally, I'm in love with my 19" LCD and can't stand to use anything else anymore). Casual "normal" users can probably get away with a 14" or 15" screen without feeling cramped.

If you're into video editing, web development, programming, or anything else that requires that you have a lot of windows on the screen at one time, you may want to consider a 19" or 20" screen, or even a dual-monitor setup (although these are very expensive). In order to do this you need a video card with dual video outputs (most low-range and all mid-range cards offer these).

Note: When you are comparing sizes between LCDs and CRTs, you generally need to add about 1" to the size of an LCD to get the equivalent size CRT. This is because CRT monitor sizes include the overscan area which isn't actually viewable. LCD monitor sizes exactly match the viewable area.

 
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