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Thread: Time for a new computer, again

  1. #1
    Website Developer
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    Time for a new computer, again

    My computer has been doing some wierd stuff, and I think my motherboard is dieing on me. I'm going to order some parts on Newegg tommorow. This will be 4th computer and the first I've put together myself.

    My first computer that was "mine" I got in 1995, 100mhz 16mb RAM 1GB HD. I remember setting it up like yesterday, and smelling that great new computer smell (which I now learn are really dangerous chemicals.) Before that I used my dad's original IBM PC with DOS 1.0. Finally, in 1999 I got a 500mhz, 128mb RAM, 20GB HD -- and I finally graduated from Win 3.1 to Win98. This machine I got in 2003, and I barely even remember what its technical specifications are, except that its got a GB of RAM.

    Sadly, it looks like I'll be butchering this thing to make my new machine.
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  2. #2
    4x4
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    www.hardforum.com

    Check it out

  3. #3
    Web Monkey MarkB's Avatar
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    I built my own PC (for the first time) this year, and it's a beauty. And considering what I put into it, it's so much cheaper than what I would've paid retail (obviously).
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  4. #4
    Working. Masetek's Avatar
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    I used to work as a computer technician...I love building computers, playing round with hardware and overclocking stuff. You can get a much better deal if you can build yourself. I got my comp for just over $1k AUD...

    300gig hdd
    19in lcd
    3.8gig athlon and board
    256mb video
    dvd burner
    adsl 2 modem
    case
    ..and accessories

    If you run into any trouble getting it goin PM me

  5. #5
    Senior Member AndyH's Avatar
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    I'm going to get a new one when I get my house. This one is pretty much 2 years old so it is about time.

    Really want to see the pricing on the new Dell 30" LCD soon to be released. Want to pick one of them up. Dual-core AMD, 2GB RAM. Should keep it atleast decent for a year or two.
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  6. #6
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
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    After being tired of dealing with shoddy parts from cheap dealers on pricewatch I just buy dells and pay the extra $20 for them to build it for me and warranty it.

    My most recent is an XPS with the USB/headphone etc jacks in front, which is nice. Doing something unstandard like that with a self bought is going to be hard since you'll need specialty parts.

    The ability to use old parts and get a fancy case is, in my opinion, the only benefit of building your own. If you're getting all new parts I don't see a major price savings.
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  7. #7
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
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    just fo fun I just priced out a new dell.

    p4 3.2 w/ ht
    xp media edition (another savings.. dell gets windows licenses cheap, you pay retail)
    256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory
    1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
    160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
    16x dvd burner
    19 inch flat panel monitor included
    Sound Blaster® Audigy®2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, and IEEE 1394

    $1179

    - 10% coupon

    $1063

    newegg:
    processor: $217
    mb: $132
    memory: ~$60 (my how cheap it is now)
    graphics card: $179
    harddrive: $87.50
    dvdburner: $40 (these are cheap now too)
    soundcard: $90

    $805. And you still need a case, a window's license, and a 19 inch LCD monitor to compare with the dell.
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  8. #8
    Registered Member moonshield's Avatar
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    Yep, buying Dell almost makes too much sense. From the budget end of the spectrum to the higher end, it's a great deal.

  9. #9
    Web Monkey MarkB's Avatar
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    My home built machine has USB and headphone jacks in the front. Just depends on the case and m'board you buy, innit?
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  10. #10
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
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    I think it depends on whether you enjoy fiddling with computers, whether self-build or pre-made is the best choice. If you enjoy mucking with computers, you will always want to build it yourself; if you just want a computer so you can use it, premade is probably the best for you.

    Personally I too enjoy building computers and overclocking etc so I always build mine myself. I prefer being able to choose every item. Also I like to make mine very quiet, so self build is the best way for me.

  11. #11
    Senior Member thebillionaire's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris
    just fo fun I just priced out a new dell.

    p4 3.2 w/ ht
    xp media edition (another savings.. dell gets windows licenses cheap, you pay retail)
    256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory
    1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
    160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
    16x dvd burner
    19 inch flat panel monitor included
    Sound Blaster® Audigy®2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, and IEEE 1394

    $1179

    - 10% coupon

    $1063

    newegg:
    processor: $217
    mb: $132
    memory: ~$60 (my how cheap it is now)
    graphics card: $179
    harddrive: $87.50
    dvdburner: $40 (these are cheap now too)
    soundcard: $90

    $805. And you still need a case, a window's license, and a 19 inch LCD monitor to compare with the dell.

    What are you talking about? thats very cheap dell offers specs like that at $1800

  12. #12
    Chronic Entrepreneur
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    I'm with Chris on the Dell option. I've built many PC's from parts over the years and I enjoy it. I used to work for a local computer shop when I was in college and I probably planned, ordered parts, assembled and tested hundereds of PCs while I was there.

    In my experience, if you go with the defaults that Dell offers you'll save money over building the same system yourself. On top of the money savings, you're covered by warranty, you know all of the hardware will be compatible, and you can go to the Dell website to easily find and download all of the latest drivers for your system at any time.

    Where Dell becomes less competitive is if you want a configuration that differs from their standard offerings. For instance, to add 1 GB of RAM to that P4 3.2 system they want an extra $120. You can get it elsewhere for $60. The same applies to adding larger hard drives, better video cards, etc.

    Myself, I always order my new PCs from Dell now, but sometimes order a more bare-bones system and then order extra RAM, hard drives, etc from other places for a better price.

  13. #13
    4x4
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    For friends and family they get a dell for me I don't like sub-par hard drives, and the cheapest motherboards around even though they have a warranty.

    My expierence shows dells last 3 years at best then fans, hard drives, and other parts start to fail. While I only use MY desktop for 2 years at best I can then resell it and get almost 50% of what I have in it for another system, or use it as my secondary (which is what I normaly do). I`ve sold a couple of my systems to friends and they last another 2-3 years before parts start to fail.

    I can tell the difference between a Dell and a Homebuilt of identical specifications. The homebuilt has lower latency ram, faster seek time hardrive etc. (Some may think those specs aren't the same, and on a technical level they aren't but on HD Size and ram amount they are.)

    So it really depends how much money you want to spend, and if you want to make your own system to be "top notch". I use hardforum.com to find deals from 2-3 reputable places but normaly I`ll spend $5-10$ more per-part to get it form newegg bcause their return policy is great, and their warranty is good. (I`ve only had to warranty 3 parts and they were all ram in the 12+ years i`ve been building computers.)

    If you check hardforum and are patient you can find free dvd burners, free($20) hard drives, on sale motherboards, highly reduced Dell LCDs (whihc are very nice I must add) as well as sound cards etc. They are mostly name brand too, Western Digital, Plextor, etc.

    I built 3.0ghz amd w/1gb ram for under $1,000 this summer for my girlfrind it has 200gb hd space and I forget what video card but its pci-express too.

    I haven't checked the intel vs amd recently so I can't sugges tone over the other but my AMD system(desktop is nice). I have a 3.4ghz p4 laptop I got a YEAR ago and it seems slower (probably due to hd speed). You can't go wrong wtih either really... look dual core probably now.

    And my $80 case has 2 usb, 2 firewire and sound jacks in front too.

    -Todd

  14. #14
    up until recently, dell refused to sell AMD products, so i refused to buy another dell computer. now they sell amd, but it's limited in selection. over the summer i built a new computer, reusing some old parts, and spent $400

  15. #15
    Chronic Entrepreneur
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToddW
    My expierence shows dells last 3 years at best then fans, hard drives, and other parts start to fail.
    I have worked in the IT departments of many universities over the years (and still do.) The majority of these institutions were standardized on Dell hardware, with thousands of workstations in use at any given time. Older PC's are usually kept in use for a very long time and handed down to student workers or staff members who don't need fast hardware.

    I haven't noticed a failure rate for Dells that is any greater than the failure rate for other brands, or for "frankenstein" PC's.

    In fact, the vast majority of the Dell PC's we're using are still working fine with no hardware failures after 3+ years.

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