Celeron, Sempron and pentium Options.

[comnetlimited]

Hi all.
I am an AS400 programmer. Since my company will do away with AS400 in the next couple of months, I am planning to teach myself some VB.Net Skills (and other windows programming skills) before I went to a local PC shop to buy a PC. Here are my options.

1. AMD Sempron 2400 CPU, 40Gb Hard Drive, 128 Mb DDR SDRAM
2. Intel Celeron 2.6 Ghz CPU, 80Gb HD, 256Mb DDR SDRAM
3. Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz CPU, 256Mb DDR SDRAM

What would be the best option if I am to install VB and other windows programming tools?

I will appreciate your response.

Thank you

 

[addy]

Well, one thing I would say, is depending on what Operating system you are going to be using, I would look at getting more RAM than any of those systems above mention.

If you are going to be using Windows XP, then in my opinion, 512MB is a minimum for decent operation with 1GB a definite improvement.

RAM is pretty inexpensive these days and is one of the best value for money upgrades you can do for a system.

Other than that, I would recommend option 3.

 

[rvnguy]

comnetlimited,

I am sure you will get many responses to this, most probably varying substantially.

For my suggestions:

1. Win XP is the current standard with "Vista" on the horizon, XP runs/operates best with 1GB memory.

2. For robust desktop function(a personal threshold) I would opt for less than the fastest(expensive) CPU but try to hit the sweet spot in price/performance.

3. I would also not buy a packaged PC i.e. DELL, Gateway, HP etc. I would build your own either yourself or through a shop that caters to custom builds.

4. Do your research on motherboard specs, and attempt to obtain one that will offer an upgrade path when and if you need a faster CPU and/or their prices have dropped.

5. Don't skimp on the Power Supply, This is the heart of a system and cheap PS's usually do not include elec safegards as a quality PS does. This will assist in protecting your valuable investment. Not a hard rule, but check the weight of a low priced say 400watt PS vs a higher priced 400watt recommended as quality, weight.

In the end, you will end up with a system that is comprised of standard known quality components that will serve you well and if selected carefully, will provide an upgrade path. This might/will cost you a small margin more. Consider that to construct at the low prices many are offered at there must be some corner cutting.

Hope this gets you started thinking.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[paparazi]

comnetlimited
One CPU is your list stands out.

The P4 3.0gig (option 3) is BY FAR! the most powerful CPU on your list!

Of course the CPU is only one aspect of a system and you should be looking at a well ballanced specification which should include at least 512mb of ram, 80gig plus SATA hard disk, a socket 775 platform preferably with Intel chipset, or Socket 939 for AMD, seperate graphics card prefered but integrated video should be fine for your use (be aware that integrated motherboards are generally mini ATX so less upgrade slots) but again, fine for your needs.

PCI-express based motherboard prefered rather that AGP (this is for better future proofing) but a Intel socket 775 chipset motherboard with AGP instead would be fine.

My choice** cheap yet powerful integrated solution**
A system based on the latest NVIDIA GeForce 6100 + nForce 410 chipset would be a good choice for an integrated AMD socket 939 unit, you could pair this up with a low end Athlon64 CPU, this would give you possibly the cheapest/fastest 64bit capable solution.

Someone mentioned VISTA, well as you know, thats a 64bit operating system and if it was your intention to upgrade to that O/S you should be looking at a 64bit compatible CPU (not sure if any of your options are 64bit capable) you will need to check.

Good quality power supply esential if you want a trouble free stable system.
Martin











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[Nelviticus]

I agree with the above posters if you're going for the best-performing general-use PC that you can afford - however, if you're just after a cheap machine that you can learn a new programming language on, I wouldn't worry too much about the processor speed. Obviously get the best you can, but there are more important elements if you're on a tight budget (and based on the machines you're considering, it looks like you are).

Until you start building very large projects, the time it takes to compile will be fairly trivial - whether it takes six seconds on an ultra-slow CPU or twelve on a mega-fast one is a big difference, but both times are short anyway. What will make a huge difference to the painfulness of the whole experience is the amount of RAM you have, and 256MB is really not enough. As the others have stated 512MB is a workable minimum but 1GB would be better. If you don't have enough then Windows will spend a lot of time accessing virtual memory which is slow, slow, slow.

Almost as importantly, will you be learning any web technologies such as ASP.Net? If so you really need Windows XP Pro instead of Home, because Home does not come with IIS (Windows' web server) and cannot have it installed. Recent versions of Visual Studio come with a cut-down web server that you can get by with but it's no substitute for IIS if you want to do or learn any web development.

I speak from experience - last year I bought a laptop for studying for my Microsoft programming exams but I got one with XP Home. I struggled with this for a while but eventually bit the bullet and sold it and bought another one with XP Pro and it made life a lot easier.

Hard drive space - more is always better but if you'll just be using the machine to learn on rather than installing games and storing all your music then 40GB should be enough.

Finally, if your employer isn't going to buy you a copy of Visual Studio 2005 then at the moment you can download 'express' editions of all the Microsoft programming languages for free from here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[Nelviticus]

Oops - "whether it takes six seconds on an ultra-slow CPU or twelve on a mega-fast one" - I meant "six seconds on an ultra-fast CPU or twelve on a mega-slow one" but I'm sure you get the idea!

Martin - Vista will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. Or at least, the preview is available in both editions.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[PRPhx]

Y0our company is giving you the choice as to what pc? If they are paying for it, spend as much as you can to get the best performance. I would also look at the AMD Atkhalon 64 bit cpu. I'd aloso go with a min. og 1 gig of memory. 2 if you can afford it.

I'd also want a large SATA drive. They're fast and how adays fairly inexpensive. You might also want to think about adding a second drive for backups.

What kind of programming do you do? If you use large databases and test locally, more is definetly better in this case.

I work in a large company. The typical new computer is celron based. They are way to slow for what my department does (Corporate Records - we scan paper all day. I build programs and batch classes for scanning). Justifying a bigger, better machine may be necc. And in your case, as a programmer, is something you will need.

 

[ceh4702]

Ideally you want to program on the type of computer the code will run on. It is a toss-up between the P4 and the Athlon 64. Some P4's tend to run hotter so many people have purchased Athlon 64 systems. But many business buyers are still purchasing Intel Based Computers.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[gbaughma]

Would your company like to unload one of their AS/400's? I work on a couple of AS/400's, but I *really* want one at home that I can "play" with.



Just my 2¢

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