Learne Me
<div class="IPBDescription">please?</div> To be blunt: I use computers, i.e. Word and games. I know vaguely what’s inside the magic box that is my computer, but really I know nothing about what a good motherboard is, where to get them etc.
I’m looking for any info you guys can dish out about any good MBs, sound cards, anything, because I know very little. I’m looking to get myself a good PC, gameworth of all the new stuff coming out (HL2, Doom, Deus etc.), that’s not bs priced like Dell. I’m guessing around $1,700 limit (2000 tops), it’s just a matter of knowing what to spend it on. I live in Ottawa Canada so obviously not many can help me out on where to buy it from but are there any other sites sorta like dell where you go click click click buy? I’m not computer savy enough to put it together myself so I doubt I can just buy the parts and plop ‘em together.
I don’t want to waste money because I don’t have any to waste. Any help is appreciated. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I’m looking for any info you guys can dish out about any good MBs, sound cards, anything, because I know very little. I’m looking to get myself a good PC, gameworth of all the new stuff coming out (HL2, Doom, Deus etc.), that’s not bs priced like Dell. I’m guessing around $1,700 limit (2000 tops), it’s just a matter of knowing what to spend it on. I live in Ottawa Canada so obviously not many can help me out on where to buy it from but are there any other sites sorta like dell where you go click click click buy? I’m not computer savy enough to put it together myself so I doubt I can just buy the parts and plop ‘em together.
I don’t want to waste money because I don’t have any to waste. Any help is appreciated. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
I am going to have to disagree with you here Supra,
Staying away from Compaqs is a sure thing.
I used Dell computers to set up a small office network for Orinoco Iron. The work well if you plan ahead and know what sort of duty cycle they will be put through. I am using a semi-modded Dell right now. It is fast, efficient, and above all, quiet. Many home built PCs sound like Jet engines.
Building your own computer can be a challenge at first if you are unfamiliar with the workings of a computer. However it is a learning experience that should be tried someday.
My advice? Try to purchase as much of your equipment from a single vendor. While you may save $5 here and $10 there by purchasing from different companies remember that multiple companies = multiple S&H charges.
I suggest <a href='http://www.pricewatch.com' target='_blank'>PriceWatch</a> They are a good place to check out if you think you got a sweet deal. Check your prices there.
www.gamepc.com is ok. I ordered a few parts from them before. (fast service)
www.alienware.com High end equipment. High end prices.
Aside from not being able to access my BIOS.....my monitor crapping out once every week or so (hooray for surge bars and only having to flick a switch...A crappy motherboard.....about 1 GB of useless Compaq and GameChannel crap no one should ever touch....and a terribly made DVD-rom drive....
it works okay.
besides $550 for: (after rebates)
AMD Athalon 2400+ (2.0ghz...well 1997mhz)
256 MBs....of PC133 RAM...I forgot to mention that...didn't I...)
the 16x DVD-rom drive(or maybe it's 8x....I did see that I could change my DVD players region 4times though)
80GB Hard drive (...actually it's 74.5, with 6.23 partitioned to recovery....which waste 4 GBs of space...)
128 MB Radeon 9200 (which was probably half of the price)
Realtek AC97 integrated Audio
a pos Motherboard
That price includes monitor and speakers...
woot....Compaq... (next time I buy a computer, I'm getting rich first, so I can afford to spend $1700 on a computer). Try Alienware...they're expensive, but I hear they're good...might fit your budget.
If you do want to save a lot of cash, I could build the computer for you. Unfortunately, shipping costs to canada might be through the roof...
If you do want to save a lot of cash, I could build the computer for you. Unfortunately, shipping costs to canada might be through the roof... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
i'll pay to have you do it if you can do a good job, uranium.
i have job, now.. i'll have the money required in a few months. try not to die before then, so you can build my computer <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
If you do want to save a lot of cash, I could build the computer for you. Unfortunately, shipping costs to canada might be through the roof... <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
i'll pay to have you do it if you can do a good job, uranium.
i have job, now.. i'll have the money required in a few months. try not to die before then, so you can build my computer <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Another problem is that if something goes wrong (None of mine that I've built have yet <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->)... it's a long way to Canada... <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Anyway, PM me with how much you want to spend on the computer (I'll still want some $$$ for myself, naturally <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->), and generally what your'e looking for, I'll give you a price quote on it. Hell, I'll give you a 400 watt power supply for free (Cuz I have 2 in a box next to me, for some reason)
Check with him for the website.
Also, for 1700+....man your gonna get a niiceeee rig.
Check with him for the website.
Also, for 1700+....man your gonna get a niiceeee rig. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
THat's for sure... roughly $600-ish and I got my mid-line system now... (I actually managed to find Audigy 2's <b>on sale</b>. I thought it was a sign of the apocalypse)
I had an old PC with most of the important bits taken out (graphics+sound card, HD) so it was basically a motherboard with a processor and a disk drive. In the end I didn't use any of the original parts since the power supply and disk drive were both borked.
And Alton PCs only charged me £10 plus the cost of the parts (the ones I didn't provide that is). Of course they would have made a little profit on the parts but come on, that's pretty good!
Aside from not being able to access my BIOS.....my monitor crapping out once every week or so (hooray for surge bars and only having to flick a switch...A crappy motherboard.....about 1 GB of useless Compaq and GameChannel crap no one should ever touch....and a terribly made DVD-rom drive....
it works okay.
besides $550 for: (after rebates)
AMD Athalon 2400+ (2.0ghz...well 1997mhz)
256 MBs....of PC133 RAM...I forgot to mention that...didn't I...)
the 16x DVD-rom drive(or maybe it's 8x....I did see that I could change my DVD players region 4times though)
80GB Hard drive (...actually it's 74.5, with 6.23 partitioned to recovery....which waste 4 GBs of space...)
128 MB Radeon 9200 (which was probably half of the price)
Realtek AC97 integrated Audio
a pos Motherboard
That price includes monitor and speakers...
woot....Compaq... (next time I buy a computer, I'm getting rich first, so I can afford to spend $1700 on a computer). Try Alienware...they're expensive, but I hear they're good...might fit your budget. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Heh, I've had TWO Compaq's and they've both sucked horribly. One of them even has decent specs (1.8 proc, 512 ddr, 9700 pro) and it still chugs along in Half-life. not to mention you can't fdisk and re-install windows, you have to use the system restore disk wich pre-loads all that crap. Compaq sucks. Althoug they were just bought buy HP a couple months ago, but I really doubt that helped.
And the warrenty and customer assistance, both of which are unrivalled and excellent.
I would kill for one of their Aurora machines, but i will end up building my own.
As for mobos, i would recommend wholeheartedly the nForce 2 motherboard, it is high quality and an excellent all-round board with good onboard features. The price is a little higher, but i feel worth it.
Otherwise, in my machine i've been using Asus boards for years now, never had a problem and they're performed great. Not too bad a price either.
Once I get money I might be interested in building...Just concerned (took me a minute to spell that, woot staying up 36 hours) about breaking stuff I buy....I think motherboard/processors can come pre-assembled, but I still don't know how to attach components together (ie, MB to CDRom Drive or power supplies or anything...In fact, this computer doesn't let me access its BIOS...so I can't fiddle with my master/slaves or start up options or anything (which is probably good, because I have no idea what a master or a slave is (in a computer sense).
Hooray for computer ineptitude.
Once I get money I might be interested in building...Just concerned (took me a minute to spell that, woot staying up 36 hours) about breaking stuff I buy....I think motherboard/processors can come pre-assembled, but I still don't know how to attach components together (ie, MB to CDRom Drive or power supplies or anything...In fact, this computer doesn't let me access its BIOS...so I can't fiddle with my master/slaves or start up options or anything (which is probably good, because I have no idea what a master or a slave is (in a computer sense).
Hooray for computer ineptitude. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
This isn't a golden rule or anything, and i wouldn't say hold me to this, but generally with computer parts, everything just goes where it fits.
IDE cables can't be put in wrong these days, neither with power cables, PCI can only fit in PCI, each type of RAM will only fit in the slot it fits in, the CPU will only fit one way, it's all pretty easy. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Check with him for the website.
Also, for 1700+....man your gonna get a niiceeee rig. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
o yeah, it's me :> Thansal referred me to <a href='http://www.mwave.com' target='_blank'>mwave.com</a>, and the computer I designed and they built is due here any day now:
<img src='http://cimic.rutgers.edu/~pexter/system.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
I expect to be quite happy with it. choosing a SLIGHTLY worse processor would drop the price a couple hundred bux too. I may return the video card (if they allow it) and buy a better one (with free HL2) locally... also, I'm gonna buy my monitor locally, since it would have cost an extra $40 or something for them to ship one from California, which seemed stupid.
but yeah, before I started <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=10&t=49802&hl=' target='_blank'>this thread</a>, I was gonna buy a puter from Dell or Alienware, so all you lovely NS people saved me like $1500 =P
r0x0r.