Wait for USB 3.0? http://www.usb.org/press/USB_CES_2010_Media_Alert_FINAL.pdf
USB 3.0 was announced at the Jan CES show but I doubt you're going to get 3.0 off-the-shelf anytime soon. USB 2.0 will do just fine. Systems might get it but it's going to take peripherals another year or two to become mainstream. If you waited for every new piece of announced technology before buying you would never buy a thing! As for the system. Nice specs but being HP I'd want to see the actual component specs. One thing I don't see is the kind of system board. How may PCIe, PCI slots, etc, and what are all the other ports? And what kind of case is everything going to be in? One thing I've found with HP, Dell and Gateway systems are their cases are extremely tight. For a desktop system I prefer a tower that has room and easy access. That bring up another point - the power supply. What kind of power supply is in the system? Again, the power supply in these systems are bottom of the barrel. What I mean is the wattage is at the minimum it can be. Forget ever trying to add another video card - especially one that requires its own connection to the power supply. Here's a useful chart showing recommended P/S amps/wattages from http://compreviews.about.com/od/cases/a/PSUWattage.htm: * Small Form Factor - 15A (250W) * Mini-Tower - 25A (300-350W) * Mid-Tower - 35A (400-500W) * Full Tower - 40A (600-650W) * Dual Video Card (SLI) - 60A (850W+) I can't tell you how many times I replaced a P/S in these kind of systems because it blew out. Then you are left with finding a P/S that will fit the proprietary case. And when you find one it's going to be similar specs to the original which means it's going to blow out too. Something else I noticed in the system specs you supplied is the RAM is only DDR3-1066MHz? The top range for DDR3 is 1600MHZ! 1066MHz is the top range of DDR2 memory. So why not get a system that can handle DDR2 memory? The CPU is definitely the most expensive component in the system (probably $1,000+). I've never paid that much for a CPU. But even so, with the components this system has it's probably not even close to exploiting the CPU's full power. 1600MHz RAM would do so much better with the Extreme CPU - but even then you have to deal with the system board and if it can handle the 1600MHz memory speed. That's why I asked about the system board specs. If the board only has a 1066MHz bus then forget putting anything greater than that in the system. HP is giving you entry level stuff. Which is likely why the price is so low. Bottom of the spec components yields cheaper price but makes consumers think it's great stuff. Sure anything compared with what you described as having now will blow you out of the water, but getting to the 8 year mark with a system like this is not very likely. Realistically I'd put a high performance system life between 5-8 years. Ten years is really pushing it. I prefer building my own systems. This way I can spec out exactly what I want. John -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of PabloSr Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 19:02 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NF] Is this a good price? If you plan to spend this kind of money, I suggest you wait for systems with USB3.0 unless you plan on using a card for this capability. =========== *PabloSr* * -----Original Message----- * From: [email protected] [mailto:profoxtech- * [email protected]] On Behalf Of Joel N. Fischoff * Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 4:43 PM * To: [email protected] * Subject: [NF] Is this a good price? * * http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?desti * nation=review&email_id=1569632&jumpid=in_r329_emailconfig * * What's a good price for this system? Or any other comments most * certainly * welcome? * * * Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit * * Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-980X six-core Extreme Edition [3.33GHz, 1.5MB * L2 + * 12MB shared L3 cache] * * 24GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [6 DIMMs] * * 1.5TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 1TB * * 1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters] * * Blu-ray writer & Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD burner * * Premium Wireless-N LAN card and Bluetooth * * 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio * * No TV Tuner * * Integrated 7.1 channel sound with front audio ports * * HP Stereo Speakers with subwoofer and remote 50W * * HP deluxe wireless keyboard & wireless mouse * * Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 * * Norton Internet Security 2010 - 15 month * * 4-year HP Care Pack House Call Service * * Hasbro Classic Games Bundle * * Laplink PCmover Software * * Total price after instant rebate is around $3,600. * * * I considered other systems, but Gateway doesn't give me the ability to * configure and Dell... well, I stopped trying when, when trying to * create a * similar system, it started showing numbers like $5,500, a price I'm * not * willing to pay. Best Buy doesn't have anything even close to this * system. * * My criteria are mostly that I want this system to serve for the next * 8-10 * years at least. I also like the idea of multiple monitors (which the * video * card should allow me), with one playing video while I do other stuff * in the * other. That's the primary reason for the power of the processor, the * amount of memory, the video card, and the speakers. I also * occasionally do * video editing, which my current computer can barely handle, which is * another reason to want to have a lot of power. * * In any case, any comments are welcome. Where I could get something * similar * even cheaper's always good, but, like I said, the thing I'm looking * for * most is reliability and something that can last. * * * Thanks (again), * * Joel * * [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/031801cae8d1$16156430$42402c...@net ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
