New Computer for old man - Page 2

XanderF · 04-18-07, 10:58 AM

FWIW, if buying a whole computer from scratch it too daunting (of you just want a smaller case), you may want to consider Shuttle 'barebones' systems. They are so-called "XPCs", which are much smaller than regular PCs - toaster size, basically. That's always been a huge selling point for me, but I live in a rather tiny condo in the city.

Anyway, I'll vote for Newegg, too, great customer service (better than Best Buy by a long shot), and great prices. Ships FAST, too.

And they carry XPCs.

That will get you the case, cooling, power supply, and mobo. All you need is a CPU, ram, video card, and disk drives.

As to "buy ATI for HDR+AA"...first off, I'm an ATI guy. I like ATI cards. That said, the brand-spankin-new GeForce 8600GTS (released literally YESTERDAY) has better price-to-performance than ATI's offerings at the moment. And the 8-series GeForce cards can also do HDR+AA.

If I were building a system today (wish I was, but I'm not), it would like something like this:

$270 Shuttle SD32G2
$139 Intel Core 2 E4300
$154 2gb OCZ PC2 5400 ram
$200 eVGA GeForce 8600GTS
$75 Seagate Barracuda 250gb SATA hdd
$26 Silver CDRW/DVD drive
$90 Windows XP SP2 OEM (still too many problems with Vista for my taste)
----
$954

And that's everything - whole new system. EASY to assemble, and the Shuttle kit comes with a fold-out full color flyer with all the steps needed. Only caveat is that I can't speak to the color of the CD drive matching the case. Shuttle USED to make a silver CDRW/DVD driver that perfectly matched their cases colors, but...can't seem to find one, now.

fredbass · 04-18-07, 11:37 AM

Sounds like you may want to go the route of a new PC.

I ended up researching my various hardware options at places like Newegg while viewing their customer reviews and pricing. That gave me lots of ideas. Then I talked to someone at a local computer repair shop. After a few discussions and return trips to Newegg, I finally decided on what I wanted and had the local shop build me a custom computer.

So my advice... Whether you do it yourself or have someone do it for you, make it custom to your preference, and use a big case with plenty of room to breath and grow.

jerryt · 04-18-07, 03:37 PM

ZipZoomFly is also a good place to buy components, and free shipping to boot. I bought all my last build from there without any problems.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Home.jsp

Caltone · 04-18-07, 04:02 PM

NewEgg, ZipZoomFly, and MWave are all good resellers. As a starting point, I recommend taking a look here before you buy anything online:

http://resellerratings.com

I

CaptainHaplo · 04-18-07, 06:18 PM

Mate, I am running SH4 on a AMD 1800 (thats 1.5Ghz) and a ati 9800 Pro - and it runs fine. And I have less than a gig of memory! However, like you I will be upgrading soon. The question is - how much horsepower do you need?

For instance - my next rig is going to be a mid level machine - Intel dual core 2.13 running 2gigs of ram with a X1650 vid card. Dual HD's, a DL dvd burner, required floppy, motherboard, case, additional fans and power supply - everything I need to build the box. I already have a licensed copy of XP so I dont need another.
Cost of parts - all from Newegg - last I checked was 797 plus 36 for shipping and such. Its not a monster rig - but more than capable of running SH4 maxed out.

Dont spend $2k - if you dont want to do it yourself then get a local PC outfit to do it - or heck - I'll put the thing together for you if your willing to pay the shipping.

Going with an off the shelf product does have its advantages - its warrantied and you can take it to the store if it breaks - but if your going to go that route - I suggest Dell. They will send a tech to you if your system breaks under warranty. But if your going to drop that kind of cash into a system - either build your own screamer - or get it from a company that is going to provide uber-support - and dont allow them to put all the gunk on it - tell em you want it WITHOUT an OS instaled. Otherwise shelf companies add in all kinds of crud that sucks up performance.

Its a tough choice - you will get alot more bang for the buck if you do it yourself. Either way - enjoy!

Good Hunting!
Captain Haplo

NefariousKoel · 04-19-07, 12:41 AM

I, personally, can't recommend Dell too much.

I've been repairing PCs for years and their Hitachi hard drives crash or most often develop severe sector problems. They die regularly enough within a year or two, comparitively. Laptops and Desktops both.

Last week I had a customer with that exact problem. Dell told her that it was a software issue. After checking it out.. it was a faulty hard drive. I charged her a pretty moderate price for this info and after that, admittedly, they didn't give her any problems sending her a new hard drive. However, she had to pay yet more for me to clone her old hard drive to the new working one. They did not send a tech out to fix the issue. They just expected her to start fresh. She ended up spending about $145 getting it back to where it used to be. I won't mention how many tries it took me to clone the stinkin' thing without failure before I finally got it. She's lucky everything made it.. very close call.

Dude, don't buy a Dell.

THE_MASK · 04-19-07, 06:55 AM

A new case , motherboard , power , 2 gigs of 800mhz ram , 8800 series graphics card , and core 2 duo e6600 cpu should be about $1500 .

04-18-07, 10:58 AM	#16
XanderF Samurai Navy Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 554 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	FWIW, if buying a whole computer from scratch it too daunting (of you just want a smaller case), you may want to consider Shuttle 'barebones' systems. They are so-called "XPCs", which are much smaller than regular PCs - toaster size, basically. That's always been a huge selling point for me, but I live in a rather tiny condo in the city. Anyway, I'll vote for Newegg, too, great customer service (better than Best Buy by a long shot), and great prices. Ships FAST, too. And they carry XPCs. That will get you the case, cooling, power supply, and mobo. All you need is a CPU, ram, video card, and disk drives. As to "buy ATI for HDR+AA"...first off, I'm an ATI guy. I like ATI cards. That said, the brand-spankin-new GeForce 8600GTS (released literally YESTERDAY) has better price-to-performance than ATI's offerings at the moment. And the 8-series GeForce cards can also do HDR+AA. If I were building a system today (wish I was, but I'm not), it would like something like this: $270 Shuttle SD32G2 $139 Intel Core 2 E4300 $154 2gb OCZ PC2 5400 ram $200 eVGA GeForce 8600GTS $75 Seagate Barracuda 250gb SATA hdd $26 Silver CDRW/DVD drive $90 Windows XP SP2 OEM (still too many problems with Vista for my taste) ---- $954 And that's everything - whole new system. EASY to assemble, and the Shuttle kit comes with a fold-out full color flyer with all the steps needed. Only caveat is that I can't speak to the color of the CD drive matching the case. Shuttle USED to make a silver CDRW/DVD driver that perfectly matched their cases colors, but...can't seem to find one, now. __________________

04-18-07, 11:37 AM	#17
fredbass Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New Port Richey, Fl, USA Posts: 1,066 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Sounds like you may want to go the route of a new PC. I ended up researching my various hardware options at places like Newegg while viewing their customer reviews and pricing. That gave me lots of ideas. Then I talked to someone at a local computer repair shop. After a few discussions and return trips to Newegg, I finally decided on what I wanted and had the local shop build me a custom computer. So my advice... Whether you do it yourself or have someone do it for you, make it custom to your preference, and use a big case with plenty of room to breath and grow. __________________

04-18-07, 03:37 PM	#18
jerryt Loader Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Queen Creek, AZ. USA Posts: 88 Downloads: 23 Uploads: 0	ZipZoomFly is also a good place to buy components, and free shipping to boot. I bought all my last build from there without any problems. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Home.jsp __________________ JerryT

04-19-07, 12:41 AM	#21
NefariousKoel Ace of the Deep Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: No-good Missouri scum Posts: 1,223 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	I, personally, can't recommend Dell too much. I've been repairing PCs for years and their Hitachi hard drives crash or most often develop severe sector problems. They die regularly enough within a year or two, comparitively. Laptops and Desktops both. Last week I had a customer with that exact problem. Dell told her that it was a software issue. After checking it out.. it was a faulty hard drive. I charged her a pretty moderate price for this info and after that, admittedly, they didn't give her any problems sending her a new hard drive. However, she had to pay yet more for me to clone her old hard drive to the new working one. They did not send a tech out to fix the issue. They just expected her to start fresh. She ended up spending about $145 getting it back to where it used to be. I won't mention how many tries it took me to clone the stinkin' thing without failure before I finally got it. She's lucky everything made it.. very close call. Dude, don't buy a Dell. __________________ "When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Yahoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different." - Jack Handey

04-18-07, 04:02 PM	#19
Caltone Watch Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 19 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	NewEgg, ZipZoomFly, and MWave are all good resellers. As a starting point, I recommend taking a look here before you buy anything online: http://resellerratings.com I

04-18-07, 06:18 PM	#20
CaptainHaplo Silent Hunter Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,404 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 0	Mate, I am running SH4 on a AMD 1800 (thats 1.5Ghz) and a ati 9800 Pro - and it runs fine. And I have less than a gig of memory! However, like you I will be upgrading soon. The question is - how much horsepower do you need? For instance - my next rig is going to be a mid level machine - Intel dual core 2.13 running 2gigs of ram with a X1650 vid card. Dual HD's, a DL dvd burner, required floppy, motherboard, case, additional fans and power supply - everything I need to build the box. I already have a licensed copy of XP so I dont need another. Cost of parts - all from Newegg - last I checked was 797 plus 36 for shipping and such. Its not a monster rig - but more than capable of running SH4 maxed out. Dont spend $2k - if you dont want to do it yourself then get a local PC outfit to do it - or heck - I'll put the thing together for you if your willing to pay the shipping. Going with an off the shelf product does have its advantages - its warrantied and you can take it to the store if it breaks - but if your going to go that route - I suggest Dell. They will send a tech to you if your system breaks under warranty. But if your going to drop that kind of cash into a system - either build your own screamer - or get it from a company that is going to provide uber-support - and dont allow them to put all the gunk on it - tell em you want it WITHOUT an OS instaled. Otherwise shelf companies add in all kinds of crud that sucks up performance. Its a tough choice - you will get alot more bang for the buck if you do it yourself. Either way - enjoy! Good Hunting! Captain Haplo

04-19-07, 06:55 AM	#22
THE_MASK Ace of the deep . Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 9,226 Downloads: 901 Uploads: 73	A new case , motherboard , power , 2 gigs of 800mhz ram , 8800 series graphics card , and core 2 duo e6600 cpu should be about $1500 .