New Computer Time
 

Okay folks...it's time for Fink to upgrade his old hag.

I used to be really into the computer industry but I have since fallen out of it.

I don't need anything SUPER hardcore, just something that will be able to run Vista smoothly and the very few games that I play.

The basic things I can figure out: cases, DVD burners, floppy, hard drive

I just need help with the guts.

Like I said nothing extreme, maybe a gig of ram (if it's not much more I can probably swing 2 gigs) and that's about it. I'd rather wait for DX10 cards to come down in price but if you know of a good one let me know.

I'll go start doing some research and check back tomorrow.

Night all, thanks for lookin!

Fink:devil:

I'm on my 4th or 5th DELL and I've always had good luck with them. Last one we bought was a Saturday special on HSN or QVC, don't remember which one it was.

My DELL laptop has been reliable up until my HD took a dive, but that was probably my fault considering the abuse the machine gets and takes.

:guitar:

Ya gotta quit using your PC Brian as a work bench for when you hammer out those nifty Hi-Lift adapters.

I have a Dell XPS 410 with 2 Gig of RAM with Intel Duo core 6400 @2.13GHz. If you want to build one, that processor is not to expensive and is very nice. I have another computer I built with a P4 3.06 HT, that the duo core beats hands down. I am partial to ASUS motherboards.

Not really sure if this helps but like Brian, I always buy dell's. They're cheaper than most and seem to last. My desktop is a celeron that's been going for the past 6 years. I bought a laptop in December and I've been loving it since.

I always look at gotapex.com as they have specific builds by Dell at pretty cheap prices. My laptop, pre Vista, was under $800 w/ a dual core, 1 gb RAM, DVD burner, 160 gb HD, nicer screen, built-in blue tooth and upgrade to Windows XP Pro. I like pro plus it gave me a free upgrade to Vista.

If you're a gamer and will be using the upgraded Vista, I would suggest 2 gb of RAM from what I've read.

I would really prefer to build as I hate all of the crap software that Dell puts on the system...and nowadays they don't even include driver cd's. Every year or so I like to reload the operating system and with Dell you have to do the PC Restore function but you still have all the Musicmatch and Sonic and all that crap.

I love Dell, I recommend them to all my family and friends who don't know how to build computers but as for me....I'd rather build.

I do agree with you that Dell's are awesome! I love my Dell laptop but as for desktops, I like building.

Thanks for the suggestions though guys and I agree ASUS does make great boards. It's mainly suggestions on specific chipsets and specific processors.

Any suggestions on those would be awesome, I'll need to do this in the next month or so.

Fink:devil:

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 $190

MOBO:
Asus P5NSLI (NVIDIA 570SLI) $100
DFI Infinity 975X/G (Intel P975X) $140
ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI $140

Video (DX9):
GeForce 7600 GT (Midrange) $160
GeForce 7950 GT (High Midrange)$300

RAM:
Corsair XMS 1GBx2 @667MHz $200

You won't go extreme...so here I go again:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4ghz...has the 4MB cache)
ASUS mobo...they tend to be reliable
1GB (2x 512) or 2GB (2x1GB) of good Corsair or OCZ memory (my recommendation)

Which video card platform you lookin' at? Crossfire or sLi? I'll be going sLi...

Do you have anything you can reuse right now? How many watts does your PSU run right now??

Depending on how much you're willing to reuse you can get away with spending $700-$1000 for a good reliable computer.

If you are going to build go with AMD proccessors. You really dont have to go with dual core. Most of the people with dual core dont even know the purpose of it. Definately stick with ASUS. They are the BEST IMO. Go with and NVida graphics cards. NVida and AMD with ASUS works very good. It runs smoother than any other combination. Also stick with PCI-E slot. Dont save money with the AGP. It will cost you more down the line. You dont need a sound card either. Unless you are setting up a speaker system. Otherwise the motherboard sound card is pretty good. Use a min of 1 gig of ram. You will regret using less. Besides Vista needs a min of 512 and you never want to use the minimum.

Tomshardware.com is a great place to do price to comparisons and to get very unbiased reviews.

If you play games definatly go dual core. You won't see alot of difference now, but very soon you will. Expecially with Vista. I am also biased toward the AMD side. But with dual core you get a good proccessor either way.

TigerDirect.com and NewEgg.com are great sites to get components. DONT GO TO BEST BUY OR CIRCUIT CITY. They will rip you off.

AMD makes dual core too. Its the X2. If you are into gaming and have some spare cash go with the FX chip.

I guess even a blind hog will find an acorn eventually. That is pretty much the system I have. I upgraded exactly a year ago.

I have always built my computers ever since my friend helped me build my first one. This is probably my fourth one in the last 9 years and it has been my best-no doubt due to the components. I have the ASUS A8N-E motherboard, NVIDIA GEForce 6800 video card, Seagate 250GB HD, with an AMD Athlon 64 X 2 3800+ cpu. I agree on that combination, because this is the most stabile machine I have ever had.

I went with 2 GBs of Crucial RAM (for now). I do think the dual core helps, but I am not educated enough to know for sure. I know I can do multiple tasks without bogging down. I second using only the on board sound-it has come a long way. Mine sounds great. Even on my last PCS cheapie motherboard it was good. Sound cards are really unnecessary now unless you have a good reason for one.

By the way, I like Enermax power supplies too.

Sweet! Thanks for all the replies.

I'd really like to set this computer aside and maybe use the components and put them into a cheap school-type case and donate it...there is an after-school program that I help out with sometimes and they could use a good computer or one of the little kids that I volunteer with.

Sounds like a good setup, I have AMD right now and it is running fine but everyone has been saying to go dual core. I heard that the quad-core processors are coming out this year...anybody know when?

I will probably end up going sLi, I love my ATI card right now but most of the games I have have a relationship with NVIDIA so I'll just go with them.

I do agree, ASUS is badass when it comes to mobo's so I will go with them for sure.

As far as a retailer/wholesaler, Newegg.com all the way...I have literally spent over $5000 with them in the 7 years I have been doing business with them and they have been amazing!

Thanks for all the help guys, now just gotta do some configuring and figure out when to bite the bullet.

Hey on a side note, I can hijack my OWN thread right? lol

Does anybody know if Apple will be releasing a new Nano anytime soon? I am getting ready to get a 4gig one soon and was just making sure it wasn't going to be upgraded anytime soon...thanks.

Fink:devil:

For the nano I dont believe they are. If anything is going to replace it, I THINK its going to be the Iphone. But dont quote me on that.

My thoughts; I do this for a living.

Vista "needs" 2gb of ram, if you get only 1gb use XP Pro. Normal operations of vista take more than 512mb of ram.

That said Vista + Nvidia right now = no SLI. NVidia drivers don't support SLI config with Vista at this time. NVidia is also planing on not supporting many of its legacy products with Vista do you homework here, (I would not use NForce at all with Vista at this time).

What I would buy:

E6400 or E6300
2gb of your favored blend of ram (the fastest you can swing)
Asus P5B-E
ATI X1950XT (Best card in it's cost range, and will get you through till dx10 is needed)

I troll through several deal websites daily for computer parts cheap, in that reguard I got a PS (550watt asus) for free, and my case for fairly cheap. I don't believe in spending $100 on a ps, and $200+ on a case.

Check these techbargins.com , and techdeals.net they will lead you to some decent savings.

All those parts + case + ps you should be able to get for less than 1k. Leaving you with a computer that will last for 3-5yrs. Plus the good thing about Intel right now is that LG775 chipset is compatible with both dual and quad core, giving you the ability to upgrade in the future when quad core comes way down in cost.

When they come out with the 8 & 16 core chips :nerd: