OT computers

 

Gold Member
Username: Cenus

4, 2 0

Post Number: 2355
Registered: Jan-05
ok im getting a new computer since were upgradeing to dsl, so what kind of specs should i look for in a new computer, so far im looking for pentium 4 processor, windows xp, atleast 512mb ram, 100gb hard drive, anything else i should look for in specs? and were trying to keep it below $500 for a tower.
 

Silver Member
Username: Grebnereon

Post Number: 239
Registered: Mar-06
dont get a dell, thats all i got to say
 

Gold Member
Username: Dustin3

Tigard, OR U.S.

Post Number: 3797
Registered: Oct-05
hey, jexx and berny know alot bout comps. i'll tell them to come over :-)
 

Gold Member
Username: Drsmith

Montana USA

Post Number: 1099
Registered: Nov-04
whats wrong with dell
 

Silver Member
Username: Makmillion

MN United States

Post Number: 829
Registered: Apr-06
get alot of ram... ive got 768mb and i desire more :P
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1153
Registered: Oct-04
sorry Dustin. thats not much of a system. I have my last computer sitting under the desk that has more power than that. i'll sell it to you for way less than $500.
 

Gold Member
Username: Chaunb3400

Huntsville, Alabama U.S.

Post Number: 9310
Registered: Jul-05
i dont like intel processors

and get as much hard drive space and ram as u can afford....it might be overkill...but u will never run out of space
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1155
Registered: Oct-04
yeah, AMD all the way, but whats this hype about the Intel Duo CPU? I wonder how it does?
 

Platinum Member
Username: Project6

Post Number: 11250
Registered: Dec-03
A better idea would be to get an external hard drive. Having to use the built in hard drive for storage slows down the PC with lots of clutter.

An external hard drive will (almost) ensure that your data is separted from any malady that will strike the PC.
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 528
Registered: Mar-06
Dell is sweet, i have 2 of em, a laptop and a desktop... I have a Dual Core 3.0GHz with 3gb ram, (2) 250Gb SATA harddrives and a 256mb radeon x600se PCIe in the workstation i payed only 800 :p and the laptop, is Intel Duo 1.66GHz also dualcore, 1gb ram, 100gb harddrive and 128Mb radeon x1300 only payed 750 :p dell is awesome, and as for the amd vs intel debate, i used to follow amd but now i am intel, they have surpassed amd in both quality and price. Compare a processor speeds,performance and price.. Intel always wins. AMD isnt a bad chip dont get me wrong, you will pay 2x's as much for a amd dualcore compared to a intel dual core. Amd is better known in the gaming world.. but i dont think many people have tried the newer intel dual core pprocessors they are super sweet for there price and great performance... and if you get to the topic of Intel Xeon processors.......those are badddd
 

Gold Member
Username: Cenus

4, 2 0

Post Number: 2356
Registered: Jan-05
lucas, thats why i need some help i really don't know that much about compter specs.
 

Silver Member
Username: Bernymac

Rialto, CA United States

Post Number: 363
Registered: Sep-04
Build your own computer. my 2 cents =).
 

Silver Member
Username: Makmillion

MN United States

Post Number: 864
Registered: Apr-06
^^^agreed!

It could cost a bit more for you to build it with parts from a retail store.. so shop online at reputable(spelling?) dealers.. like newegg and make sure you get quality, don't skimp on the hardware.

you might also think about building a machine capable of running win/vista.. it looks like a pretty sweet program :-)
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 537
Registered: Mar-06
Dustin, dont listen to them goto Dells website and search throught the refurbs u can find awesome systems for pretty cheap, and they all come with a year warranty.. and if you want u can extend the warranty, even to the point where u can tell them u spilled water on your computer and they will fix it hasstle free :-) i even see pentium D's in systems for under 500$ with pcie 128mb video cards and 80gb + harddrives all with atleast 512 ram.... those are steals

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/Invent orySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

check it out, and if you have good credit... you can get the PC on credit tooo :-)
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 538
Registered: Mar-06
Building your own computer costs ALOT when you are going for performance and all, he is trying to keep it around 500$, you will have a crap PC building it yourself for that price range. (Thats why i am suggesting dell refurbs, half are used other arent, other have dents\scratchs but all of them i ordered that said dent\scratch had no damage what so ever, and others were just built and never shipped because of canceled order and well software and hardware cant be resold as new once used )

Mick, i wouldnt suggest using Windows Vista unless it is better now, i was running windows vista beta realease about 6 months ago (MSDN realease) and it would crash over and over, they may have fixed those issues by now, but really if your using the machine for gaming and such, go with windows XP, vista is a resource hog. And both of my PC's will support it :p i seen some on the refurb page for as cheap as 400$ that would be able to support it...
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 539
Registered: Mar-06
building a pc like that will cost.....
100~ for video card
100~ for motherboard
100~ for good processor
40~ for sound card if not onboard.
40~ for ethernet adapter if not onboard.
50~ PC case
50~ Power Supply
50-100~ Cd-rom
30~ for 3.5" Floppy (if desired)
50~ 512mb ram

my figures may be off but that is a rought estimate of basic prices for halfway decent hardware... tell me what you think is easyier?
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1159
Registered: Oct-04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102669
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1160
Registered: Oct-04
you may want to stick more ram in it and a better video card.
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1161
Registered: Oct-04
DUDE DONT GET A DELL. They use cheap mobo's and ram. I worked at a computer store and a guy got a dell against my advice. there was a game that wouldn't run on it. i swapped the ram out and the game worked. dell makes thousands of those computers and if they can save a few cents by buying cheap ram and motherboards then they will do it. the few cents adds up for them if they are making thousands of computers.
 

Gold Member
Username: Theelfkeeper

Stockbridge, GA USA

Post Number: 3179
Registered: Feb-05
www.Tigerdirect.com
build your own, only get what you need. you really don't need top of the line on half the stuff. just make sure you got a ton of RAM and a deceint processor speed.
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 543
Registered: Mar-06
Ok, well think about this..... they have warranty.. they will send new ram and u send the old struff back with shipping provided by them...and everytime i get ram its always kensington ram from dell... Kensington = Good Ram
You must not have seen dell p's like i have the pos ones of course will be a pos
 

Silver Member
Username: J_baby15

Kentucky

Post Number: 610
Registered: Feb-06
I dont like Dell's simply b/c about 60-70% of them that I have to work on at the shop are Dell's, and that kinda gets old, same problems over and over. I've actually startd to like iMacs, but i wouldnt suggest that. Im gunna say your best bet is to build one...but did anyone figure in the price of software tho when you said building it?? Thats gunna add to it....So i dont think he'll have the money.
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1163
Registered: Oct-04
yeah im sure that the high-end dells are good. i think that the high-ends even use asus mobo's, but he said that he had $500. i personally would buildmy own, but yeah look at tiger direct they have good deals on already built machines. my buddy bought a good one from tiger direct cheap. just shop around man.
 

Gold Member
Username: Alias747

MN

Post Number: 1376
Registered: Apr-05
I agree, computers are SOOOO easy to build yourself these days and then you can decide what you want to put in them. I just so happen to have a complete computer system that I am trying to get rid of. I was going to be ebaying all the peices individually anyway so if you just want some of the parts or the whole thing, I can hook you up. This is what I got (I built this sytem from the ground up myself):

~AMD 3700+ socket 939 processor (AMD pwns Intel)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103622

~2 gb of Dual Channel Corsair ram (4x512)

~Asrock dual motherbaord (asarock is a Asus company)

~(2) 80gb SATA hard drives.

~X300 SE PCI-Express video card(not good for high end games)

~Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (AWESOME soundcard, amazing sound quality.)

~DVD Burner

~CD Burner

~19" BenQ Flat panel LCD (Practically brand new.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090

~Blue case with blue LED Fans


I think that is all i got lol. Anyway if you are interested in the whole thing or just parts drop me a line: alias747@hotmail.com

If anyone else is interested in anything feel free to contact me as well. :-)
 

Bronze Member
Username: Likeapuma

Washington/Utah

Post Number: 56
Registered: Aug-06
Hey Dustin, what do you use your computer for mostly? If you usually just surf the net, and download music for cd's and use word for typing, then everything you listed is plenty good. If you do a lot of things like photo editing, or program coding, of usually run many programs at once, then going up to 1 Gig of Ram would be very helpful. Otherwise, just stick with what you listed. You can get a machine like that for very little money, and it'll do everything you need.

-C
 

Gold Member
Username: B101

Queen City, NC USA

Post Number: 3604
Registered: Sep-05
lol

Im actually a computer engineer also as electrical....

any computer is good, its a pc... lol
personally I build my pcs, BETTER than DELL or ANY MANUFACTURER....

Im not just braggin either, I can build them in 15 mins, installing the OS is the longest part....

and please lets not start a INTEL VS AMD....
thats been discussed for many years...

personally INTEL P4 with HT anyday....
with atleast 1GB or DDR2 memory....

and what makes a PC FAST is not the processors speed or GHZ.... its the processors FSB (front side bus) normally in MHZ not GHZ!


:-)
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 548
Registered: Mar-06
ya computers are easy to build,(i also work as computer\networking tech. so i do it for a living too) for 500$ i doubt he can build one better then what dell offers on there refurb page.. have nay of you even checked it out? VERY CHEAP dell takes pretty much all the software,OS and all and eats the price from the software because well... you cant resell and it has aready been installed for sombody else regardless of if they got the computer or not, i mean there is a small charge but it clost to nithing for the software..BTW its the older dells with problems, mostly Optiplex if anything will give you ram problems and these are the GX270\280's i have worked with damn near every models delll has and there top of the line stuff.. that may be why i find dell good... BTW i never had one problem with my dell's.. either did my dad\sisters and all them have dells to :p
 

Silver Member
Username: Mixmastaspig

Canada, Canada Canada

Post Number: 764
Registered: Sep-05
I run:
Dual AMD 4600+ processors and its wicked as noted above (AMD pwns pentium)
2gigs of ram (1x2g sticks)
320gig hard drive...soon to be 570, add my old 250
Cheap Nvidia 7700 le or GS card...not great
19" lcd flat screen 8ms repsonse time

I paid $1299 for everything noted above (Canadian)a friend made his comp (from scratch) for over 2 grand and my store bought one is better now and he had his computer for about 4-5 months before I bought mine....



Basically anythign more than 2 gigs of ram is used for digital imaging and such as more ram is almost unnecessary with little gains from it....unless you rip a dvd, while playing a game, with 10 programs running.....This is what I was told from a computer buddy of mine...so it might not be exaclty true




Also B how can you find your computers FSB speed???

thanks
 

Gold Member
Username: Lbeckner

Tulsa, Ok Usa

Post Number: 1167
Registered: Oct-04
Oh no you don't Isaac! I offered to sell mine first. Mine is +1 faster and will sell for -1 $. lol.
 

Gold Member
Username: Safe_cracker

Chicago, IL US

Post Number: 1626
Registered: Jan-06
The P4's are obsolete. The Intel Centrino duo2 is a much better processor add that with about 4 gigs of dual channel ram and you got a winner. I no longer have a need for a desktop, so i use a brand new Dell XPS M1210 2.33 ghz with 4 gigs of shared dual channel ram, 85whr battery, bluetooth, Wifi, DVD/RW combo burner and a 160gig 7200 HD, ya that is a 160 GIGS just sitting on your lap, lol. This thing weighs in at a mear 4.3 lbs and kicks @ss. It cost me almost $2800 but what the hey, I can take it anywhere and snag someones wireless connection for free, lol. I have two other dell laptops and they all perform flawlessly (lattitudes). Polo..
 

Silver Member
Username: Th3pwn3r

Chicago, Illinois U.S.A

Post Number: 475
Registered: Jul-06
Stay away from Dell and Gateway.I have owned 1 of each and had plenty of problems.Everyone I know that has had either of those two brands of computers has had problems.Building is a great idea but only if you know what you are doing.Pick up a copy of MaximumPC( www.maximumpc.com ) and they should have a step by step guide on how to build a budget pc from scratch.As far as all you biased guys saying AMD is better than Intel you're all wrong.Each brand has its up and downfalls.Intel makes a much better multi-tasker,while AMD's processor's focus on one APP better.Oh and btw,I'm curious about this...have any of you seen a AMD processor over-clocked past 6GHZ?I saw in Intel pushing 6.5 GHZ(Unstable) and running smooth at 5.5GHZ(Stable) and no...it didn't over heat, this was all done using a Phase Change Cooler(Vapo-Chill).But building is the best way to go :-)
 

Gold Member
Username: Basshead86

Try Google

Post Number: 6677
Registered: Aug-05
i own a Dell and have never had any problems......must be the users.....
 

Gold Member
Username: B101

Queen City, NC USA

Post Number: 3607
Registered: Sep-05
polo, u cant just make a wireless card just win u over to dell... lol but yea 160gb is big on a laptop, but they make bigger sizes... if u had a laptop shell, for a cheaper price, u can make a better laptop....
:-)

Mike the Front Side Bus, is always on the box of the processor, u must also match the motherboards, FSB also... make sure its the same or faster...
 

Gold Member
Username: B101

Queen City, NC USA

Post Number: 3608
Registered: Sep-05
i love it how EVERYONE knows about computers... I can give yall a test right now... LOL
trust me, most wont make it through these classes... "COMPUTERS"
 

Gold Member
Username: Safe_cracker

Chicago, IL US

Post Number: 1627
Registered: Jan-06
B I know that but this laptop is faster than a lot of desktops, guarranteed plus it is 4.3 lbs and totally portable.Plug your T lab into your desktop and bring it with, NUFF SAID, lol. I am a portability freak because I travel a lot so I need access with me at all times, so I have completely done away with a dektop, so has many others. The only thing a laptop cannot replace is a gaming platform but they are working on that. Polo.. :-)
 

Silver Member
Username: J_baby15

Kentucky

Post Number: 611
Registered: Feb-06
B man i didnt know you was a cpu engineer. I'm startin college next year to major in computer engineering and networking.
 

Gold Member
Username: Redliner

Wilmington, Ma

Post Number: 2630
Registered: Jun-05
i just bought a dell laptop and have been using dell desktops for like 5 years never had a problem with them
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 550
Registered: Mar-06
In most cases it is the user also i think, sh!t goes defective when it overheats just like AMPS!! if you dont keep good care on your computer (blowing out the dust, good cooling in the room ect of course you can end up having hardware problems, and as for software problems... dont even look at the manufacturer that would just be nUb activity going on (a dumb user) Polo, the Code Duo is awesome :-) i love it my laptop is faster then all of my friends workstations, and they payed more then i did!! lol but none of them beat my workstation yet. Overall i still think intel surpassed AMD about a year ago.. BTW dell offers AMD now too.. B ill pass your test, do i get your system for doing so? lol


MARK, to check your FSB that you are running, reboot your computer and when you see your processor info it will say xxxFSB or xxxxFSB x's being the numbers, also another thing you gotta watch for it the cache, the bigger the better :-) it will also say that when booting and bios POST, if you dont see it in there during your computer booting up enter bios and goto display system\processor information but dont change anything if you dont kno what your doing or you can fux somthing up in there
 

Silver Member
Username: Mixmastaspig

Canada, Canada Canada

Post Number: 766
Registered: Sep-05
lol its Mike but thanks for the help!

Robert, I did some lab requirements thing with my comptuer and it says "You have 2.40GHz performance rated at 6.90GHz" I have dual AMD 4600+ so does this mean anything?

Upload
 

Silver Member
Username: Johnfiac

IL USA

Post Number: 574
Registered: Mar-06
how does it rate it at 6.9GHz? even with dual core its not like that, the only thing the secord core\ or second processor is for is so it can process 2 things at once instead of 2... am i right?
 

Silver Member
Username: Bernymac

Rialto, CA United States

Post Number: 373
Registered: Sep-04
www.pcclub.com or look up frys electronics. There might be some other sites for other things. But I guess buy a "company" based computer rather than build one yourself. I rather build my own since I know what I want and how I want it and so forth.
 

Silver Member
Username: Mixmastaspig

Canada, Canada Canada

Post Number: 769
Registered: Sep-05
I went through gamespot to find out the requirements and I did the requirement test there, done by system requirements lab

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

I bought my computer, made sure I knew what was in it. Got my computer litterate buddy to look at it, They actually let him open it up and look at everything and he told me to get it as he built his computer from scratch as well and he said that this one is better than his in all aspects (besides video card) and he paid about $700 more than I did about 4 months ago.
 

Gold Member
Username: Cenus

4, 2 0

Post Number: 2357
Registered: Jan-05
LOL well thanks for all the info, but i guess i didn't need it, cause yesterday when i got home my dads GF allready bought a new computer, http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=5007497 so pretty much this whole thread is useless for me, but it was great read on what to look for in computers.
« Previous Thread Next Thread »



Main Forums

Today's Posts

Forum Help

Follow Us