Quad core processers

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Has anyone ever gotten a computer with a Intel Core 2 Quad Processor, if so what do you think of it?
Also has anyone gotten a computer from gateway and what do you think of them? I'm asking because I'm planing on buying a computer from them if i can get the money together and I'm trying to get opinions about it.

I plan to buy a quad core AMD system next year some time.

I got the Q6600, and it works fine, I do distributed computing (primegrid) and doing quite well.

PC companies don't actually "manufacture" their PC's. They just assemble purchased components. The components used in PC's are all made by only a handful of companies. So whether it's a Gateway, Dell, HP, or whatever isn't going to make any difference on the reliability. I would suggest you find the company that provides the best support and the best deal at purchase. For what it's worth, I've owned Gateways, Dells, and e-machines in laptops and desktops.

Also, I would recommend that you be cautious of Intel processor based systems with integrated graphics. Usually, upgrading the graphics in those systems can be very difficult and sometimes, not even possible. That can be a hard lesson learned once you're bought the machine.

Climber I hate to disagree with you but it does make a difference, yes many companies buy their parts from third party vendors, but its WHICH third party vendor they buy from that makes a difference.

Another issue is whether their parts are industry standard, thats one reason I wont buy dell, most of their power supplies can only be bought from dell.

My last two computers have been from HP, they do use industry standard power supplies, so you can replace them(which is nice when you want to put in a high end graphics card.

Voss,

Good point!

If anyone intends to do their own repairs or likes the flexibility of industry standard, I would agree that they should avoid Dell.

I was speaking strictly to reliability. And Dell's propriety pinout doesn't affect reliability.

As for who the third party vendor is, well, there's only a handful, and the PC companies are all using the same handful. For what it's worth, this is becoming more and more common in consumer electronics. TV's, stereo, microwave ovens, radios, etc...anymore, the name on the front is just the reseller.

I'm not particularly adept with software but I did time in the army a long time ago as a radar mechanic so I know some of the fundamentals of electronics. There is a store here in Helsinki where a customer can choose an empty metal cabinet and a motherboard and assemble the computer himself. You can save a bit of money and the motherboard comes with a manual showing how to do the wiring. It takes me a couple of hours to assemble the computer and slip in the various extra cards. It's not very difficult.

I highly reccomend doing the research and building your own. You'll save money and learn quite a bit. In the end you'll end up with a lot more stable system because it won't have all the crapware that companies install on their systems.

As for a Quad-core system, unless you're doing things that require multiple CPUs and are actually written to take advantage of them, it's pretty much a waste of $$$. In the current crop of CPUs stay away from AMD as they underperform vs. the Intels both directly and price/performance ratios at the high end chips. AMD still wins on the low end price/performance rations.

Last Gen CPUs (PIV vs. AMD), AMD was the clear winner but they're struggling with their dual and quad core offerings being able to perform at the level of the Core 2 and Core 4 lines of Intel.

The E6600 by Intel is the best chip on the market for price/performance that gives you enough ooomph to be able to handle just about any possible workload.

Self built PC's is always the way to go.

Doing an install of the motherboard,processer,video card, power suppy case the works yourself will not cost less. You will have a better computer with more slots if and when you upgrade. The guys like dell use a lot of shortcuts to get the price 5 percent lower or whatever the margin that day was. And AMD works fine but be sure to have a good fan on the processer top and exhaust fans, they put heat out like a little space heater.

I tend to agree, but maybe the situation is particularly acute here in Europe? When I bought my first PC back in '95, I wasn't particularly pleased to be delivered a box of bits, devoid of any kind of manuals (nor warrenty details) which left me having to build my own kit, but I subsequently lent weight to the possibility of building to my own spec.

As soon as that was a practical or desirable possibility, though, I discovered it was so much easier and cheaper to profit from supermarket offers, which I could strip down and mix and match, to my hearts content.

As for having a good fan etc., I've had to work so much on my PC configuration that I've discovered that my AMD processor disturbs no one, even with my side panels off!

If you know what you want and it's not bargain basement stuff... plan ahead time... know exactly what each part to get and why... then you can actually make a PC for cheaper than the big box shops.

I built myself a new PC this past February for about $1800... the same thing from Dell, Gateway, Alienware, etc... was running about $1000 more.

Of course my PC is a big bigger than most folks would build... Core 2 Duo E6600, 4 GB Ram, 2 WD Raptor 150GB drives, 2 WD Cavier SE 500GB drives, etc...

A cheap PC and you're better off getting it pre-built as the big companies get discounts that better what you can get. A good rig for games/media creation/what not than you can probably build it cheaper.