buying a pc
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- ********
I'm a mac man. I want to buy a basic PC tower. I have about £500 to spend... what can people recommend?
- ********0
dude. by a dell
- ********0
buy :)
- ********0
Why Dell?
Aren't IBM/HP better supported?
- shutdown0
You can build your own pc online tailored to your requirments
- sparker0
your best bet for price and performance is just to build a custom system.
i built a top of the line amd system for under 400 for a friend last month. including 128 ati 9200 graphic card and two harddrives.
stock systems are bad.
- radiculture0
I'm putting together a new system soon too. Definitely go custom. Cheaper and better hardware. I'm going a little over the top so i ordered the Radeon 9800 Pro straight from ATI.
But for the rest of the hardware i'm probably going to use the "custom combo creator" at http://www.motherboards.com
it helps you choose your processor, board, memory, etc. so they are all compatible.
- ********0
Hmm. This is getting confusing.
I've no idea of the technical bits... all i know is I want a built in CD-RW, at least 256mb RAM, P4 2.6 and a 40-80GB HD.
- sparker0
why a pentium? amd are better chips and cheaper.
- ********0
What's an amd?
- sparker0
AMD Processors. Cheaper than pentiums and a little better chip quality.
75% of the boxes I build are AMD boxes. I hate Intell chip sets and Pentium processors.
- ********0
Cool.
At first I thought it was a typo...
*smirk*
- nu0
Well how much do you have to spend, USD.
You might want to check online computer shops for prices. Also look into Shuttle computers. They sell small form factor cases and motherboards all in one.
Just add your cd drive and ram and processor, and HD. Install is really pretty simple and If you get confused I can help you.
I just built a really nice system for my sister for xmas and it was only 400 USD.
LINKS:
- vwsung18t0
get a pentium4 2.4c and abit ic7 mobo and overclock it to 3 ghz. some people watercool their cpu's and has gotten 4ghz with the 2.4ghz pentium4. People in the CPU/Overclocking forum at www.anandtech.com have been very helpful for building my system, but like all forums, search and read some articles about overclocking the 2.4c chip before asking anything.
- nu0
If your new to building a PC I wouldn't really suggest over clocking. Its a complicated thing if you want to do it right.
- sparker0
not too mention, a) it's not needed for everyday use and b) you can burn out processors (whether they're cooled properly or not) easily when doing it.
even as big as geek i am, i think overclocking is stupid and a waste of time.
:)
- vwsung18t0
i wouldn't suggest it if it was last year. motherboard companies have made it so easy to overclock. the only thing i had to do was change a couple of settings in BIOS and i was done, i'm also running the stock heatsink and i have not had it overheat or have any programs crash,
some motherboards come with software where you can overclock while in windows.
the only thing you would have to look out for the the type of ram to get. just get the highest speed ram allowed by the motherboard from a good company.
- nu0
Whoa! Overclocking is not stupid and a waste of time. Infact it teaches you a lot about your computer and helps you to trouble shoot problems.
Although it does put stress on your hardware it can give you more bang for your buck. If you have money and know that you could possibly break your hardware then its ok.
- ********0
You're all Geeks. lol
So... I can't really build cos I dont know enough, and I want support... and I want to be able to return it if it gets fucked. It seems simpler to buy an IBM NetVista or something...
- vwsung18t0
moth, just read a couple of threads at anandtech and see if overclocking is something you can handle, with around $900, you can build a 3ghz system with all components and have lots of money left for stuff like gold chains, if you're into that
- joyride0
yeah, overclocking is not stupid. It teaches you to fix things you broke. I often put salsa and other random objects in my engine oil, then try to figure out what went wrong. I mean, if they didn't want you to put random stuff in your motor why would they give you access to it.
=)