Preserved Topic: Looking for Advice on buying a new Computer

I am interested in upgrading my computer. I generally like to get something near the state of the art, but I don't want to pay for bleeding edge technology. I currently have a P3 550, with a Geforce 2 PCI video board. My current system has a 100MHz motherboard and only PCI slots. It's a Compac, and it doesn't look like it's too upgrade-friendly, so I may be better off with a new system. I don't know of any good component suppliers and I'm not too interested in building my own at this time, but on the other hand, I like to know what's "under the hood" and I would like to be fairly confident I can upgrade components later without too much trouble.

I also would like to try out some games I haven't had the horsepower for, so I want to make sure and get a good video board. My first priority is compatibility, then features, then speed. I don't care about TV in/out, and I don't want to spend much over $200 unless I have a VERY good reason to. I remember hearing something about the top of the line GeForce 3 being faster than the bottom of the line GeForce 4. And I can't for the life of me remember what the "Ti" adds.

Dell has some pretty good deals on P4 ~1.4 GHz systems, for around $1,000. (800 MHz motherboards, wow!) Since their website lets you put together your own configuration, I have a pretty good idea I will be able to swap out CPU's, etc. later without too much trouble.

If anybody has bought a new computer recently, I would be interested in hearing opinions.

I've always built my own PC's from the floor up - shopping around for bargain basement prices, but not skimping on quality. If you realy want to know what's 'under the hood' - it's the only way to go.

Don't look at Dell to start - they are a good company for businesses but not if you want a decent & reasonably priced computer.

Personally I'd wait six months before buying a new one then go for one of the nForce 2 based motherboards. They'll have support for the GeForce4 graphics card, and the mHz to make use of the newer DDR Ram (PC2700 minimum - none of the PC2100 crap). And since Intel just announced the 2.8 ghz chip I doubt looking at an over priced 1.4ghz is a good idea. I prefer AMD myself but either company is good. #1 thing to look for though is the hard drive - do your research on it and make sure you get a quality one - that's the life or death of any machine in my opinion. If possible go IBM Deskstar if not Western Digital - they seem to be the only companies that come close to the claims of ATA100/133 or above.

Hope this helps

JMJimmy

ABS Computers has top'o'the line computers for around 1200 - 1500

"Personally I'd wait six months before buying a new one then go for one of the nForce 2 based motherboards"

But in six months time there?ll be something else that's even better just around the corner. When you get to that six-month mark are you going to wait for that too?

A common debate in the PC-Building community -- to wait or to buy now. If you wait for the next best thing you'll be waiting forever. There's always new and better stuff just around the corner. It's the nature of the game.

Personally, I think waiting for X new tech to come out is silly. When the new tech does come out it's always overpriced. Your better of getting the tech that came out six months prior to now. It's still good, it's still fast and it'll cost you a 1/3 as much.

Hell, your going to need to replace it 2 years from now anyways and sitting six months behind is till more than fast enough for anything. I've been sitting on a 1ghz processor and a geforce 2 card for close on a year and a half now. Everything still runs great and I doubt I'll need to upgrade until doom 3 hits the shelves.

Remember, what your about to buy will eventually be old and crappy. So pay as little as possible for the best performance possible.

Big bunch of rambling ahead

That being said I'll point you to a few of those "Bang for you buck" items.

Processor: AMD XP's or the new Celerons in your on a tight budget (Highly overclockabul). A slightly older P4 might do the trick as well. But in the price - Performance game the AMD XP's and the new Celerons are the ones to research a little.

Video Card: You'll want at least a DX 8 card. A low end Geforce 4 (Ti4200 or Ti4400), Radeon 9000's are a good price performers too, or the SiS Xabre if your on a really tight budget. The current king is the DX 9 spec Radeon 9700 but it's rather pricey. Personally I'd stay away from the DX 9 cards from now (Including the NV20 out later this year or early next year). There isn't a single app build to use DX 9 nor is DX 9 even finished yet so it seems rather silly to pay the big bucks for one of these at this point in time. Hell, it's still hard to fins apps that'll use the full feature set of DX 8 let alone require a DX 8 card to run it. Although, stay away from the Geforce 4 MX cards. They?re nothing more than souped up Geforce 2 cards, hence lack any DX 8 features.

RAM: DDR PC2100 is good. And depending on the mainboard you get anything faster won't really be used to it's full potential. Still, the Ram speed above PC2100 makes little difference in most areas. The amount of RAM is also highly questionable depending on what your doing with your PC. You can always pick up more at a later date anyways. 512 MB would be a good Starting point unless you do a lot of Print Graphics work, then I'd start with at least 1Gb.

Mainboard: This is always a hard choice. There's just so many and it's hard to dodge the slightly more unstable ones as every company turns out one or two slightly less stable model every now and then. That being said, Asus and Abit have a good rap. Epox, MSI and Soltek are also well know as good price performers but some people have trouble with them from time to time.

HDD: You'll want to look for 3 things here. Size, Speed and Warranty. The size is up to you and the thickness of your wallet. The speed will depend on the type of applications you run. If you'll be running apps that'll thrash your Hard drive with swap files a lot (Like PhotoShop) then the faster the better. I'd say 7200RPM min. You might also want to look into possible RAID options, again depends on your wallet and choice of mainboard. Warranty is just as important. Hard drives are like fruit. Sometimes you just get a rotten one that'll only last you a year and a half. Look for at least a 2 year Warranty, more if possible.

Sound Card: More of a personal choice really. Soundblaster are quite popular however you should also check out their competition, Hercules and Phillips make good sound cards too. If your doing professional sound editing or composition then you're better off talking to people in your trade. There?s an oodles of equipment for that as most of the mainstream sound cards are targeted towards the gaming community.

The rest is icing on the cake and once again, depends on the size of your wallet. Get the biggest screen, the biggest HDD(s) , and the most amount of ram you can afford. Although if your an avid gamer you might want to hold of on a couple of items and pick up a nice racing weel or spunky joystick instead. Alternatively, if your a designer then maybe a Wacom tablet would be a nice addition.

Anyways, I hope it helps.

Edit: Oops! Forgot to close a bold tag...



[This message has been edited by Dracusis (edited 09-10-2002).]

It doesn't sound like you really need anything *too* top of the line. A simple prebuilt computer from any of the popular manufacturers will probably be more then enough power for you.

I would suggest a refurbished Dell if your looking to save money and get a good system. Just about everyone you talk to will have a different opinion on which system is 'the best'. At least with the Dell's you can control whats put into it a bit better. A refurb is generally a computer someone ordered then changed their mind. So, it's not like your getting a second hand computer

I would suggest getting a 2.2Ghz system with at least 512MBs of Ram and at least a Geforce 2/3 if your looking to be playing games. Theres really no need to go for the Geforce 4 or any of that other junk. Pick an adequate size HD and other options as you feel you need. For gaming, look for a good size monior. Theres nothing worse then playing CS on a screen smaller then GameBoy.

Edit: Just read Drac's post. It's pretty funny the array of answers you get when you ask someone a question like 'which computer'.
-Jestah
Cell 277

[This message has been edited by Jestah (edited 09-10-2002).]

All good advice above!
I'd like to add something, get two separate harddisks.
Not for the space, but for backups or smart storage of your data.

How many times have you seen a thread "HELP, my hd crashed and I've lost XX years work..."?
I've got CD/RW and a two computer-network but backup tasks always seem to be "tomorrow". That was until I plugged in another HD in my main comp, now I've got all proggies and OS on one disk, all data/work on another disk.
Sure it will still be a lot of work to reinstall if I need to wipe the main hd, but I don't have to worry as much about all the normal files.

I'm not current on prices other than locally in sweden, but here you can get a 40 Gb 7200 disk for appr $120 -> $160, to me that's a cheap investment that pays off well.
/Dan

{cell 260}
-{ a vibration is a movement that doesn't know which way to go }-

When money is the bottom line...just build it yourself. Get yourself a nice tower (pretty cheap these days...), a nice power supply (also pretty cheap), and just fill it up...as the money allows.

As always, the monitor and the HD are mainly the most expensive parts...here, one shouldn't skimp on dough.

I put my computer together for $300 dollars...here a piece, there a piece...always keeping an eye open for a great deal...upgrading when it's cheap...

At the moment - I have 256 M ram (cost - $30). 30 Gig HD (cost - $40). 17" monitor (cost - $100). GeForce 2 (cost - $20). Mainboard w/A socket and celeron 600Mhz (cost - $40). Big tower with a gigantic power supply (cost - $45). Various other 'parts' (cost - $50). Total - $325.

Oh yeah...welcome to the Asylum ksemsch...enjoy your stay...don't give your pills to wakky...



[This message has been edited by WebShaman (edited 09-10-2002).]

quote:

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But in six months time there?ll be something else that's even better just around the corner. When you get to that six-month mark are you going to wait for that too?

A common debate in the PC-Building community -- to wait or to buy now. If you wait for the next best thing you'll be waiting forever. There's always new and better stuff just around the corner. It's the nature of the game.

---

Most of the time I would agree with this statement because you're right - you'll always be waiting for the next best thing - however this seems to be the culmination of the current level of technology - the PC2700 DDR Ram is finally being supported at the same time as a good graphics card (GeForce 4) and there is a chipset specifically designed to work with that graphics card at those mHz. If you were to go with current nForce technology and PC2100 DDR Ram you're looking at several bottlenecks and features that aren't being taken advantage of.

quote:

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Personally, I think waiting for X new tech to come out is silly. When the new tech does come out it's always overpriced. Your better of getting the tech that came out six months prior to now. It's still good, it's still fast and it'll cost you a 1/3 as much.

---

The tech is coming out within the next month I believe (if it's not already out) - that's why I say wait six months


Video Card: If you're not going with nForce 2 based motherboard a high end GeForce 3 will serve you just as well and cost a hell of a lot less.

RAM: DDR 2100 is crap - it was good a year ago but now that the higher mHz motherboards are available you don't want a slower mHz set of RAM slowing you down.

Mainboard: I'd avoid MSI - they refuse to own up to any mistakes they make (like my last motherboard which - like many others lasted less than 10 months before completely collapsing) MSI said "too bad it's your problem". I personally like Asus... though I've never tried Abit.

HDD: Barring RAID options 7200rpm is the way to go however when putting 7200rpm ATA100/133 through their paces MOST don't even make 30 let alone 100/133. It's highly dependant on the specific model - however IBM and Western Digital are consistantly higher accross the board. Some WD's I've been looking at top out around 75-80 - IBMs (which I can't find a source for - ugh!) topped out somewhere past the testing ability of the benchmarks.

Speakers: Total personal prefrence but if you want great bang for your buck Cambridge Soundworks has great quality for really quite little. I believe the same guy who designs them for that company also does BOSE

Anywhoo - I agree with a lot that was said, disagree with some, but in the end it comes down to your pocketbook

JMJimmy