Dell XPS 710

[Master Nikolaos]

Hey, I´m thinking of getting a dell XPS 710, and since I wanted to save a bit of money, I was wondering what kind of difference the processor speed would make when running a game like Medieval II Total War or any other demanding game for that matter.

Now, I´m not too familiar with the new Intel 2 Core Duo CPUs, and I wanted to know how the performance power of a CPU of this kind would compare with a 3.2Ghz Pentium IV with HT Tech when the Core duo CPU is 1.86Ghz.

The reason for my question is that one of the dell reviews had a person state that even in Oblivion, there would be practically no lag at all( assuming he put all the game options on highest), and the CPU speed he has is 1.86Ghz.

What do you think??

[Zhou]

Hey, I´m thinking of getting a dell XPS 710, and since I wanted to save a bit of money, I was wondering what kind of difference the processor speed would make when running a game like Medieval II Total War or any other demanding game for that matter.

Now, I´m not too familiar with the new Intel 2 Core Duo CPUs, and I wanted to know how the performance power of a CPU of this kind would compare with a 3.2Ghz Pentium IV with HT Tech when the Core duo CPU is 1.86Ghz.

The reason for my question is that one of the dell reviews had a person state that even in Oblivion, there would be practically no lag at all( assuming he put all the game options on highest), and the CPU speed he has is 1.86Ghz.

What do you think??

A couple of points...

If you're getting an XPS 710, you might want to wait for the release of the new 720 (coming very soon) as that will feature some upgraded specs. I'm not sure how much you want to spend, so if you're going for <$3,000, I would not wait for the new series to come out.

As for the CPU question...well, CPU speed means everything to a game like Medieval 2. In fact, the game isn't GPU-limited, instead, it's limited from the CPU. So in that sense, the faster the CPU that you have, the better.

In regards to your inquiry about a comparison between a P4 3.2 to a Core 2 Duo (i'm going to use the 6600 as they are the best ones out in terms of cost/benefit) @ 2.4 ghz, well it is simply very hard to compare. Depending on which P4 model you have, it'll likely have smaller L1, L2 cache sizes, which will affect performance. The front-side bus is also faster, another crucial aspect in performance. In addition, the Core 2 architecture is drastically different from the old P4's and this leads to further productivity gains (in the amount of work done per cycle). While the Core 2 Duo is rated as 2.4 ghz, an effective rating (so you can compare it to an old P4) is something more along the lines of 9ghz+. Like AMD has been drilling into our heads for years, clock speed isn't everything, it's all about amount of work done per cycle!

There is only one drawback here and that's the problem with M2TW. The game wasn't coded to support multiple processors, so in that sense, while you will still see gains in FPS from a newer Core 2 Duo processor, you aren't seeing the game using the CPU to its full potential. If you're looking at a rig specifically to play Medieval 2 then, get a dual core CPU as opposed to a quad core as the extra two cores will not benefit you at all.

[garion333]

There is only one drawback here and that's the problem with M2TW. The game wasn't coded to support multiple processors, so in that sense, while you will still see gains in FPS from a newer Core 2 Duo processor, you aren't seeing the game using the CPU to its full potential. If you're looking at a rig specifically to play Medieval 2 then, get a dual core CPU as opposed to a quad core as the extra two cores will not benefit you at all.

Excellent answer and he is completely correct, imho. M2 (and a number of other games) are stuck in a weird world where they want to run on the newer computers, but they weren't designed for dual or quad core, which sucks because everything is now dual or quad.

The only thing I would add is . . . build your own for less $$ and get a better computer. The only thing you won't get is the Dell support. But it's fun to research and build one's own comp and just about anyone can do it. All it requires is the ability to read (reviews, articles, etc.) and some patience with the build.

[Master Nikolaos]

Well, taking that into account, lets see how a computer like the following would run Medieval II Total War:

PROCESSOR
Intel® Core™2 Duo processor E6320 (4MB L2 Cache,1.86GHz,1066 FSB)

OPERATING SYSTEM
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD

MEMORY
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs

HARD DRIVE
160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive:
16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

VIDEO CARD
768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX

SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

Also, the reason why I don{t wanna build my own rig is because of the Dell payment options which are a lot more healthy to my pocket right now than buying everything.

[garion333]

Also, the reason why I don{t wanna build my own rig is because of the Dell payment options which are a lot more healthy to my pocket right now than buying everything.

With NewEgg, if you use their Preferred Account and spend over $500 you no payments for six months (see here), plus a 1.1% discount (big deal). After that, it's just like a Dell PA (i.e. a credit card).

As far as how that computer will run M2, well, it should do pretty well. 1 GB of RAM is pretty low especially when it's rated at 667mhz. If you built your own computer you could get a better motherboard that will allow you to get better RAM (800 mhz+). And you really want 2 GB so it doesn't bottleneck your computer.

What's the cache on the Hard Drive? Is it 8MB or 16MB?

The processor and video card look good (I just hope they give you a PSU with a lot of oomph for that card).

Anyway, you should be able to run the game on decently high settings, but probably not the highest on everything. Even though your video card is completely top of the line, everything else isn't quite as good and as we've said, M2 is all about the processor . . . for the most part.

You'll be able to run something like Quake 4 without a hitch. Hell, with that video card Oblivion might actually run on its highest settings.

[Master Nikolaos]

If I increased the CPU Speed to 2.4 or 2.66 and got 2gb of ram, would that help?? and how much in each case of CPU?

[Zhou]

If I increased the CPU Speed to 2.4 or 2.66 and got 2gb of ram, would that help?? and how much in each case of CPU?

Yeah, that'll do the trick. the difference between 2.4 and 2.66 is marginal (i'm assuming you're talking about the 6600 vs 6700) because of the wonderful overclocking abilities of the processors. You can easily just overclock a 6600 to run at 6700 speeds without problems.

I would say go for the 2.4ghz processor as opposed to the 1.86 or 2.67 one.

[SkyShadowing]

Speaking as the proud owner of an XPS myself, here are my specs. They run Oblivon and MTWII perfectly on highest settings (MTWII with Unit Scale on huge, too)

Duo Core 2.66 ghz processor
512 Nvidia GeForce 7900
2 gigs of ram

[Master Nikolaos]

Thanks guys, hopefully this will help me make a better buy. I hope the intrest rates don´t get to me for it!!!!! LOL

[garion333]

And this will save you money. You might have to do what I did and sit at your computer for three hours refreshing every ten seconds or so to get the really good coupons, but I saved over $600 on an $1800 laptop.

Definitely get the RAM, but depending on how much more the best CPU is (which it is probably overpriced), I would stick with the mid-range CPU. Like Zhou said, you can overclock.