blike Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 My family is getting another computer...any recommendations? Anyone have a dell? My dad wants dell, but I think HP would be a better choice.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaKiri Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Make it yourself would be my suggestion, it's cheaper and faster. And easy. (I don't know about brands) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo_maya Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Hi, Don't know much about pcs and certainly not the least amount to give u guys any kind of suggestion, but would like to say that - whenever I hear someone's getting a new pc it almost feels like I am getting a new one. So just would like to wish u good luck........ What happened to ur old one ??????????? Neo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo_maya Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 neo_maya said in post #3 :Hi, Don't know much about pcs and certainly not the least amount to give u guys any kind of suggestion, but would like to say that - whenever I here someone's getting a new pc it almost feels like I am getting a new one. So just would like to wish u good luck........ What happened to ur old one ??????????? Neo Oops, sorry for posting same thing twice, just had to make some corrections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blike Posted October 5, 2003 Author Share Posted October 5, 2003 no prob. if you look at the top of your post where it says "Posted On: Today at "... click on Edit and you can change your post My old one still works, but my family needs two now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fafalone Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Definately custom build it. Go with a Thermaltake case, AMD XP cpu, at least 512mb ddr, an ati radeon with at least 128mb ddr, and at least a 60gb hd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aman Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Invest in a static guard wrist strap and attach the ground clip too for when yer putting the boards in. That way you can be sure that if it has glitches, it wasn't you. Just aman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaKiri Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 neo_maya said in post #3 :What happened to ur old one ??????????? lan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo_maya Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 MrL_JaKiri said in post #8 : lan Yeah that surely is a good option. But if u have a pc like mine which actually belonged to a cromagnon, then u would rather like to keep it in a show-case than lan it with the gorgeous one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marz Man Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Agree on build it yourself. HP's suck. Their PS's blow. Heard they have been shaping up though, they have good deals if its not required for maximum performance or upgradability. Cheap, and sometimese even free monitors. Havn't looked at other MFGR's. Maybe even the Mac G5 would be a choice... its rather amazing. Check it out if you can. Any MB should be an ASUS. I am now a lifetime follower of ASUS. Their MB's are packed w/ features. I think their focus is on intel more, since it is mass produced more than AMD but that could be slowly changing. And yes, thermaltake case would be a defenate. but god, the wires on their new damier line is crazy. Total of 5 fans on the case. Not counting any on the MB or PS. But it is defenately a good case. I have one and love it. Rather loud though. Find deals on ram, CD-RW DVD -/+ R/RW's, ram, gfx cards. Can really cut down on building costs with rebates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I dont know anyone who actually has a pre-built computer at all! everyone i know builds their own. I agree with all of fafs specs, but depends if ya have a budget or not. ABIT Ic7g mother board would be good.......real good i want one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marz Man Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 heh, in my house... we have 4 pre built. Compaq(my old one) HP(mom's) IBM PS/1(First PC, 25mghz:-\) and a Gateway we got from an uncle that died. Mine is pre built, but not from a major MFGR, got it from PCUSA.com. The IC7-G MB looks ok. My ASUS P4S800D-E Delux has the same basic stuff. But lots of features. It can talk, it has just about any connection you can have FS, BP, PS... whatever. Its there. Only thing, its not made for the Thermatake Intruder connection, that was kind of a downer, but can live without. Has a SiS655 TX chipset which actually runs hotter than my P4 chip at all times. Normally, no activity SiS is at about 100F, P4 arround 85F. I log on to vzones, graphical world. SiS goes up to about 107F, P4 is arround 92F. So its working harder than my P4, guess it could of been a better chipset but it still gets the job done. Looked for reports on chipsets, but found next to nothing. The i875 and SiS655 were both rated at the top of their class, but not much more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 The AMD's run the hottest i find, my XP220+ Athlon is cooking and i only got it up to 2800. Needs some serious cooling........must get a volcano heatsink and fan.... Blike do ya have a budget cause i seen some awesome monitors if ya dont Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 If you were going to be building your own PC now (which I might be again in a few weeks because my server died), then I'd recommend going for the Athlon64 processor, because it kicks some serious ass. Only thing is, I don't know whether Windows supports it or not - doesn't really matter for me, I run linux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Yea, windows 2k3 server is supposed to, plus if/when longhorn comes out, taht will. I agree the 64 bit AMD is the best out, and thats not just my opnion, its proven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Intel's 64 bit processors really do suck atm. I could be very wrong (and possibly am), but IBM's PowerPC64 is apparently very fast (the one they've been using in the G5's), but I haven't got any comparisons, so I don't really know which is faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marz Man Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 dave, http://www.macintouch.com/g5bench.html. Has a few benchmark tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossoi Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 If you are going to go for a branded PC I would only consider Dell (I have a lot of experience with their computers, which I've found to be pretty good unlike thier hard-sell tactics when you call them) the rest just aren't up to much at all. Personally I would build my own as this will give you a lot more freedom and work out cheaper in the end. As long as you stick with quality components there isn't really much of a difference other than preference so I'm not going to tell you why you must have X motherboard instead of Y but here are my recommendations: 64 bit AMD probably isn't worth it at the moment. There's very little software that can make full use of the architecture at the moment and there is a big premium on the cost as they are so new. It's worth researching motherboards and RAM as they are critical to the speed, performance and longevity of your system. If you're going to spend more on anything do it here. Get a decent case and power supply. My favourite cases are Lian Li. All aluminium and great to work in. I would go for a minimum 400W PSU - especially as more and more cases are being loaded with fans. SATA hard drives are pretty sweet. CD/DVD etc. bleh - I hardly ever use them so I just put any old junk in there! Seperate CD ROM and RW drives will be better if you want to copy media. Umm - that's about it. Don't get too involved in the arguments over exactly the best hardware - it all kinda boils down to how much you pay and what you want to do with it. And finally... If you aren't in any major rush then it might be an idea to wait for the release of the BTX form factor MB's, predicted 2nd quarter of this year, as they are set to be the next 'big thing'. It's even possible that after their release the cost of ATX systems will go down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 Get a decent case and power supply. My favourite cases are Lian Li. All aluminium and great to work in. I would go for a minimum 400W PSU - especially as more and more cases are being loaded with fans. To be fair, fans don't consume a hell of a lot of power. These are my machine specs (or at least the major ones): Asus P4P800 Motherboard (which I'd recommend, it's an excellent mobo) P4 3.00GHz (800MHz fsb model) 512Mb PC3200 RAM (go for the dual channel stuff, it's a lot faster) 120GB SATA drive (which I use for doze) 80GB ATA drive (which I use for linux) Radeon 9800 Pro (which I use for some kickass graphics ) It's all in a very nice chieftec case with 4 silent case fans (2 intake, 2 exhaust), all running on a good quality (and that's important) 340W PSU that came with the case. All runs fine, no stability issues, and the CPU is at a more-or-less constant 25 degrees celcius, apart from when it gets really processor intensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 I would say that unless you're in a desperate hurry, wait a couple of months for the new AMD's and see how they go. They look set to be pretty damn fast, but as mossoi pointed out, they're quite pricey atm. Of course, using linux, the fact that I use a distribution in which I compile everything means I have the ability to tune compiler flags, so I can get some pretty good performance out of one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggles Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Alienware has some really cool machines. But I guess it's just the eye candy that's impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fafalone Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 More than eye candy... Alienware not only looks the coolest, but are far ahead of the mainstream companies as far as performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marz Man Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Alienware is cool, yes. But if I had the money I'd probably get the 'Super computer' from http://www.go-l.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eL1t3j Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Hmm alienware is way over priced for what it is.. build it your self its a dam site cheaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atinymonkey Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 But they have pictures of aliens on them, that's worth adding the extra $1000. PC Gamer built a 64 bit AMD athon with top of the range spec's (1 gig ram etc), minus monitor, for just over £1500. Alienware will sell you the same spec for only £2,722.48. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now