New computer- Build or buy?

[intotherain]

If you're not into gaming or anything I don't see the point in building your own computer. Unless it's a top of the line machine you'll end up spending more money than if you bought a pre built one.

let's go through the things you need

Windows
Graphics card
Power supply
DVD rom
CD rom
Motherboard
Case
RAM
Harddrive
Floppy disk drive
Soundcard (depending on what motherboard you get)
processor
Monitor
Lotsa software


can't think of anything else but you'll probably end up needing some extra molex connectors, 22 to 24 pin converters, and a few other things.

[JC Viper]

If your not playing games or doing video editing then I think your PC should still be good. The thing is that you probably have a lot of junk files clogging the system or some spyware slowing things down.

Try CCleaner and maybe TuneXP (if you're running Windows) to clean out old registry files that may be causing problems. Then run a spyware app to clean out any spyware.

A 1.7Ghz should be enough for general tasks. And all you would have to buy is a new video card and maybe some more RAM and a new monitor if you'd like.

[scan]

If your not playing games or doing video editing then I think your PC should still be good. The thing is that you probably have a lot of junk files clogging the system or some spyware slowing things down.

Try CCleaner and maybe TuneXP (if you're running Windows) to clean out old registry files that may be causing problems. Then run a spyware app to clean out any spyware.

A 1.7Ghz should be enough for general tasks. And all you would have to buy is a new video card and maybe some more RAM and a new monitor if you'd like.

It's funny, but I thought this too. In reality, any except the most current video games would run on a system like the 1.7Ghz system. And if your not playing games it would even be overkill. I just did a refresh about 6 months ago of my system. I backed everything up (with an image program), re-installed the OS fresh, and used the same image program to move things I needed back, like current mail, documents, and re-installed any programs that I'm still using. My three year old machine ran like new. In your case a new video card and some memory might be enough. Well under $200 even if you bought some image software.

[roscowgo]

Build it yourself. you can take 2-3 steps back from the bleeding edge tech and have a lovely stable machine that is plenty (even exceedingly) fast for another few years.

It's finding the middle ground between New components that are expensive because they're new, and old stuff thats expensive because no one makes or uses it anymore.

Toms hardware has a link to building a 800$ gaming rig. Few of my friends just recently built themselves new computers. Around 1300$ each. They're very good gaming machines, and in a micro atx form factor, so that they can be strapped to the back of their motorcycles. What can I say? we're nerd bikers.

a few tips for you

1. don't skimp on RAM. do the background research on what works best/fastest/stable etc, then buy plenty. I'd say at least 2 gigs these days. at the very minimum.
2. Hard drives. I like a 3 hard drive setup. 1 smaller very fast drive for my OS/swap 2, one medium/large fast for application installations. 3 big honkin
bosshoss drive for storage. Whatever you go with, this can be your bottleneck.though they have done tests with magnetic media, and found a limit of around a terabyte of throughput, nothing you get hard drive wise, will in any way shape form or in the next 10 years approach that limit. Again research.
3. Read the product reviews. Nerdland will often times take one gadjet, marginally overclock/farkle it up, and charge out the butt for it. A new nvidia 8800 series video card for 900$ with built in water cooling.
4. Case and formfactor, There are lots and lots of options here. Big arsed server box if you don't plan to be moving your computer around. Little micro atx aluminum cases with built in carbon fiber handles and a 7.5 inch slot for a pop out monitor. Personally i have a Lian Li pc65.
5. motherboards/power. There are lots of perfectly good motherboards that don't get bought....because they don't have the shiny stuff. Consequently, they don't cost nearly as much as the other guys. You probably won't need a board with 4 built in gigabit ethernet ports. Power supplies are the same way. I tend to overbuy on my power supplies, just because I need a buttload of molex connectors, and i like power supplies with big fans that move Lots of air.

There are equipment reviews all over the net, as well as step by step stuff. Tomshardware again comes to mind.
And I do most of my shopping at newegg.com though pricewatch.com also has good deals.

What these other guys are saying sounds right to me though. If you aren't doing the gaming thing, it may be more cost effective to just do some upgrades, instead of a complete rebuild. But thats no fun Good luck.


*edit* Oh yeah, on the off chance that you're decided to go to linuxville, you might wanna take a look at what a humongous pain in the "O Ring" ATI cards can be with linux boxes. Just sayin.

[JC Viper]

Here's a nice web store that is really great with shipping time and low prices: www.newegg.com

[JC Viper]

Get a new iMac with an aluminum body! They are quite nice in person but I like to game on my PCs.

[intotherain]

JC what are your computer specs?

Mine:
e6600 OCed to 3.4 GHz with ultra 120 heatsink
8800gts 320 MB

and.. that's all that is important. you?

[intotherain]

Look at this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 3577735222

It's a Piece of poo computer for 1500!

Basically someone could build that computer for under $1,000.

It has some useless expensive crap like the "lightscribe" technology... who cares???

I mean.. come on..
8600 GT like 200?
E6600 is around 180 now
the case I could find for 50
Mobo for 80ish
RAM for 120
Harddrive for 100
DVD rom and CD rom 50
PSU for 50
Windows: downloaded off bittorent

So thats about $900 total. that computer is a total waste of money!!

[JC Viper]

My specs are:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 OC'd to 2.4GHz
Gigabyte DS3
2GB Kingston HyperX
nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty

I should've waited for Core 2 Quad to come down since I keep hearing many new games will finally be multithreaded such as Unreal 3, Crysis and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare but I wonder if Alan Wake will be a good game.