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Apr 17th, 2009
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Have specs...which computer better for software developer?

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Please help me decide what is better now and 2 years down the line.

1.(Cheaper PC)
Intel Core2 Duo 2.8Ghz E7400(3MB) CPU
2GB DDR2 RAM
250GB SATA II -7200RPM HDD
Midi Tower Case
DVD Writer +/_ ( 22x) DL (8.5GB)
Onboard sound w/ speakers
17" LG LCD Monitor
Optical Mouse + Keyboard

2.(Slightly more expensive PC)
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.3Ghz Q8200 CPU
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB SATA II-7200RPM HDD
MSI 1333FSB MB
Coolermaster Elite Chassis + 350W PSU
DVD Writer +_ ( 22x) Dual Layer (8.5GB)
Onboard sound with speakers
256MB ATI 3450 VGA Card
19" BenQ LCD Wide Monitor w speakers
Gbe Lan
Keyboard & Optical Mouse

Please help me decide according to these points

1.I am software developer and I want to a multicore pc for testing and variety purposes.This pc will be on network
2.The price of the 2nd (more expensive pc) is 136% more than the cheaper one ( cheaperprice * 1.36 = expensiveprice)
3.Which one is faster ( I ask so I can know if the core 2 quad pc is not worth its hype)

Also...
Are either PSUs enough for the computers(Cheaper Pc's psu is standard)
Will windows XP Prof. be suitable for either computers , and is windows vista better(The pc will not have an operating system installed so I will install)


Thanks!
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stoymigo is offline Offline
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since Aug 2008
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Apr 17th, 2009
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Re: Have specs...which computer better for software developer?

Dont get XP, its on its last legs, it wont get any updates apart from critical security ones after this summer. Also it doesnt get on that well with newer hardware without some tinkering (installing on SATA/RAID requires modifying the install media or faffing around with floppy drives)

Vista is probably better. By "This pc will be on network" do you mean an active directory domain? If so, get business or ultimate, they can join domains like xp pro can.

Also, a 350w PSU will be a bit tight. ~400-450w is the reccomended minimum for most pcs these days (probably 500-550 for the second pc you specified) although you could probably get away with it

Speaking from experience, i can say a 19" monitor is probably better for coding (ive got a 13.4" laptop with an external 19" monitor and its great)

Personally i say go for the first PC,with the changes i mentioned above. The quad aint worth it in my opinion. You may want to upgrade the ram from 2 to 3 or 4 in the future, but thats dirt cheap (2gb of ram online is under £25 in some places) especially if you want to virtualise or run memory hogs like MSSQL and Visual Studio.
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jbennet is offline Offline
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Re: Have specs...which computer better for software developer?

I search internet, and the Quad I mentioned is the low range , maybe I will look at building a pc because I've done it before.

Thanks again
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stoymigo is offline Offline
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Re: Have specs...which computer better for software developer?

No problem. Are you a gamer at all? Or is it just for work alone?

The core2 would do fine for both, really.
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jbennet is offline Offline
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