Computer Advice

After all of the near misses finding a 'deal buster' over the past few days, I am looking at a quad core system

Quad Core Intel Q8200, 8GB RAM, 640GB drive - $569
23" HD widescreen monitor - $169
Vista Premium with free Upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium

My only issue is that the Q8200 is a bit obsolete and does not have virtualization. This would be useful for me running virtual XP for full compatibility with older software and games. Otherwise I am dependent on Windows 7 compatibilty.

Microsoft does not allow virtualization with Home Premium - it's a $150 update to Home Ultimate. Also, a quad core chip with virtualization would add $100-150 to the system price.

It's not worth paying $250 to bring my old software forward.

Is there any other reason not to buy a Q8200 system? Is it still worth having a quad core without virtualization?

Hi,

I'm running it now. It's a copy of XP SP3 running in Virtual PC. There isn't even full integration there. Whoop-ee.

You can just get a copy of VirtualBox 3.1 for free and run an older copy of XP, Win98, DOS/FreeDOS, or Linux/WINE in there. You can still run your older SW. It won't be as "fast" as it would be with VT-x extensions, but it will be much faster than what these programs were initially specced out for.

Don't believe the hype about XP Mode and virtualization. You can still do it on the quad-core quickly.

Thanks,

That's what I just read here

The E8200 does not support Intel VT technology. This technology provide some extentions to enable support of 64 bit guests in a VM enviroment. It also will give a small speed advantage compaired to a non VT enabled computer. However the E8200 will run VMware with no problem at all.

As for the 8Gb of ram that would depend on two factors.
1. The host O/S is a 64 bit version.
2. You are running more than one VM on the conputer.
If the answer to both of these are yes then 8Gb will be fine.

Of course here they say some bad things about the Q8200

The Q8200 is just about the worst quad core Intel ever released, and almost nobody's buying it but noobs and noobs' parents. Read any of the hundreds of threads on this forum about the Q8200 and everyone will say the same thing: STAY AWAY.

The Q8200 is 64-bit but it doesn't have virtualization technology. It isn't even worth the asking price at Newegg; new ones are going for $150 on eBay.

If you must have a 45nm quad, at least get the Q9300 which you can find for about $179 new on eBay (and at Micro Center, if you have one around). Better yet get the Q6600; that motherboard will overclock it to the stratosphere.

So I am conflicted. I will still have a 23inch HD monitor and a pretty powerful computer, but the quad core only works in some high end games and I will start out with a low-end video card.

Still, this will give me a jump and hopefully another 5-6 years before another upgrade.

I think I'm going to get the Gateway LX6810-1.

Now I just have to check the specs on the GeForce GT120 that comes with it to see if it supports HD.