Development system for about £1,000

[pgudge]

I am looking to get a new system purely for software development, Visual Studio 2005 (Power and Memory hungry).

The only part I am sturggling on is the CPU. Is a Intel Core2 Duo E6600 Processor with 4GB RAM or a Xeon 5120 with 2GB RAM the better option.

I have read about that the Xeons are purely for Server environments, but some guy at Dell told me they are very good for desktop too.

Like I said above, this is purely for Development, internet, emails, office blah, no games.

thanks.

PaulG.

[staffsMike]

I would imagine the E6600 will give more power. That Xeon is 1.86ghz vs 2.4ghz of the e6600.

Is it a dell you are buying?

I built a system for my dad with an E6600 for the same purpose.

[dangel]

C2D and 4 gig. Loads of memory is useful for running Virtual PC (good for software testing) etc as well as tons of VS2005 apps. I doubt the Xeon is better anyway - lower clock speed right?
Much as this will cause people to howl - i'd also recommend Vista over XP because the accelerated desktop seems to seriously speed up VS2005 for me. Go 64bit too to use all that RAM too.

Bet Dell's margins are better on the Xeon system

[pgudge]

Thanks for the prompt replies.

Yes, I will 100% be getting them from Dell, I am looking at the Precsion 390 with E6600, they come in at about £1,050 with other little things added.

I was thinking of getting the 32bit Vista, do I need X64 when using 4GB RAM?

Thanks again, PaulG.

[abeacock]

Yes, you will need Vista 64 to get the most out of your 4GB.
Windows Vista Not Seeing My 4GB Ram

[KingLouie3]

You will need x64 OS when using 4GB.

See if Dell will give you a better deal on the memory.

I think you can get 2GB DDR2 667 memory module from scan for approx. £50.

I use the E6600 cpu for development work on a Vista x64 OS and I had no problems with it.

Hope this helps!

[mountainmachine]

Plenty of upgrade routes with the E6600.