Buying a PC

[SCORPIO]

I'm gonna start shopping for a home PC. I wanted some input from some of you PC experts. As far as brand names, speed, memory ect....Looking to spend around $1000. Will be used for internet.....cd burning and most other basic functions. Also, any info on which DSL to choose would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Milo Hobgoblin]

UGH

Go to a reputable l;ocal dealer and have them custom build a PC for you.

Asus motherboard.
Athlon Chipset
GeForce 4 or Radeon 9700 video card.
Creative Labs sound
7200 rpm 8MB Western Digital hard drive
Aluminum case
Decent 22 inch monitor (for looking at pron of course)
DVD player/CD-RW
Thrustmaster joystick/throttle/pedals
Win XP pro

Without the monitor...that could easily be built for $1000.00

 

[DarCSA]

Skip out on the 22 inch monitor and go with a 17 or 15 and spend the money on DVD-RW/CD-RW drive. Thousand is a little low.
7200 rpm 8MB Western Digital hard drive
I Hope you were kidding here. I have more memory in my Palm Pilot. If you are not a gamer skip the joystick and ****. Brand names don't mean crap when putting them together it is cheaper to a local dealer and have them do it but Dell and Gateway have come a long way in their prices and they have fallen greatly. You can get windows or linux, motherboard and chip are the only hold back, the motherbpard will determine how much memory you can get. Just shop around man you can get a bang up system for $1000.

 

[windwords7]

I hope you mean 80gig Hard driveMilo! I can barely keep my 40gig from getting to full.

 

[WYD02]

Id say strip out the computer you have and build and custom build the next one. You probably have alot of decent parts from your current computer. Case,cd-rom,floppy for example and buying a completely new system would waste some money unless you wanted to have 2 computers. I am doing the same thing for my mother now. She will be going from a 250mhz comp to a 1.67Ghz with 256mb ram etc.... and with the addition of a LCD 15in', I think I was coming in around 450 bucks for everything. Saves quite a bit of money huh?

WYD

 

[SCORPIO]

Thanks for the replies guys.

WYD, I don't have a PC at all. I have only had PC access at work . So I'm looking to get a good system. Just thought I'd ask aroud here cause many of you prolly have a PC at home and have some insight on what to look for. Keep'em coming.

 

[jweave23]

Guys he means an 8MB buffer on the hard drive, which is desirable.

 

[windwords7]

I see weave. Hey did you get my PM? Also, do you have any reasons why my new MSI motherboard can not see my WD400 harddrive?

Thanks bro!

 

[WYD02]

In that case, bump on the local dealer... they will build you a computer more suited for your needs at a lower price than gateway, dell, compaq, etc. For like 750 bucks, I saw a pretty decent deal at: http://www.accubyte.com/applications/search/itemdetails.asp?sku=SYSAX2064C

This doesn't include monitor, so add another 120 bucks for a nice 17inch.

OR, you could give me the $1000 and I'll build you one bad mofo - complete with those cool glowing cases lol...

Either way, I'd say put the bulk of the money towards your cpu,motherboard,ram, and HD size and just don't get anything fancy like a burner, optical mouse or wireless keyboard/mouse, etc etc.

 

[Bean]

what they said is good i'd def get a cd-rw drive at least tho... dvd-rw's are still sorting out format standards...

and a 8mb buffer is desireable

1000 is a little low tho for a system AND a 9700 card... you could build the system with a raedon 9000 for that price...

IF you can try and get a Palomino core Athlon.... and IF you can, get a Soyo Dragon KT400 board, its better than the Asus, of course it costs more

run some nice memory too, the Asus will do DDR333 (PC2700), but the Dragon will do DDR400 (PC3200), the dragon will be a good bit faster

good luck

-------------

i work at bestbuy, if you just wanna BUY a good system for a good price... look at the VPR Matrix brand... they've got a 2.8ghz P4 setup for $1100 with a DVD-RW, the model is the 5110

 

[WYD02]

and for an extra 50 bucks, you can get our "bend you over" product replacement plan... ... I used to work there too...

heh
WYD

 

[windwords7]

Well bro's I have now bought a new, killer, motherboard and a 80gig 7200 HD on top of my new video card. I guess I may as well uprgrade the whole thing now!

 

[jweave23]

Jake, got your PM, I'll give you the link when I get home, need to make sure it's still there.

 

[Bean]

and for an extra 50 bucks, you can get our "bend you over" product replacement plan... ... I used to work there too...

heh
WYD

lol you must have worked for a shitty bestbuy then ehehe... our particular store treats you like a king/queen when you buy one...

you prolly worked in media didn't you? Or you'd know PRPs aren't available on computers

 

[pogue]

If you want to buy a brand name system, I'd recommend a Dell or Alienware. Dell has some used and refurbiushed systems that are good at a low price. The plus about Dell is they have really good service and support. Alienware systems are mostly for gaming but still look cool and have lots of options.

If you want to build your own, its easy. I'd look for a motherboard deal on www.pricewatch.com and buy a good AMD chip that has the memory, fan and everything else with it. I usually buy most other stuff at www.tigerdirect.com, but they have pretty poor service so make sure you know what you're getting. Otherwise, a local shop should have what you need. If you're going to build your own make sure you get some static wrist bands and be very careful when installing the chip.

If you need any help, let me know. I'm an A+ certified hardware tech (wooo!) and I worked at CompUSA for two years doing support (don't buy from CompUSA).

Good luck!

 

[WYD02]

I'd also advise using some thermal grease to bind the chip to the heat sync if you choose to do it yourself. It creates a tighter seal and helps dissipate heat away from the chip.

 

[Matthew D]

I would second the Dell or Alienware ideas... both are great systems.. I have a Dell now with a 19" monitor, 512 mb on the RAM, 80 gig hard drive.. LOVE IT.. bad thing is everyone else in the family does also..

 

[ex_banana-eater]

I hope you mean 80gig Hard driveMilo! I can barely keep my 40gig from getting to full.

i have a 40 gig and have never had any space problems. if you need to save money id go with one @ 7200 RPM

 

[ex_banana-eater]

heres what id go with

17inch moni
high speed cdrom/writer
256 mb RDRAM (at least-go up to 512mb)(make sure you get RD, none of this DDR bullshit. i think DDR only processes about 300mghz or something per second, while RD does 800mghz per second)
dvd rom (dont get burner)
if you are going to get any printers/digital cameras i would go with HP... their product quality is high inprinters, but not PCs.
with the RAM that you would have, the processor speed shouldnt matter much, just make sure you get 2.0ghz or higher.

 

[ex_banana-eater]

If you want to buy a brand name system, I'd recommend a Dell or Alienware. Dell has some used and refurbiushed systems that are good at a low price. The plus about Dell is they have really good service and support. Alienware systems are mostly for gaming but still look cool and have lots of options.

If you want to build your own, its easy. I'd look for a motherboard deal on www.pricewatch.com and buy a good AMD chip that has the memory, fan and everything else with it. I usually buy most other stuff at www.tigerdirect.com, but they have pretty poor service so make sure you know what you're getting. Otherwise, a local shop should have what you need. If you're going to build your own make sure you get some static wrist bands and be very careful when installing the chip.

If you need any help, let me know. I'm an A+ certified hardware tech (wooo!) and I worked at CompUSA for two years doing support (don't buy from CompUSA).

Good luck!

bump on AMD