Buying a PC - Please advise...

Planning on buying a new PC just for SL in the range of $1,200. What will prove the most reliable and stable? What would you build? Who would you buy from?

Any advice is much appreciated!!!

well.. personaly i would build it myself.

but if you cant, i would sugest just getting an off the shelf, somthing with an atlest 2 gig processer, 512 mb ram (a gig would be better though), and i would sugest atleast a 256 mb video card.

all that shouldnt cost you too much more then $500 to make on your own.

I'll post a amd suggestion someone else can do Intel
: p dont use them anymore.

Motherboard;
Am2 , simply cause ram is utter cheap on them,
and easy upgraded to dualcore.

Sli ? , meh pay twice the amount for 2 vid cards to get 30-50% fps increase in games not worth it, SL wont do squat with it anyway.

Cpu;
Any dualcore,or the cheaper Amd athlon 64 3200+ this one is really cheap on am2 motherboeards, fx is fast but expensive and not worth it.
avoid Sempron cpu's, weak.

Ram
min 1024 ram, pref 2048, look at ddr2 ram prices they are low.
ddr2 pc5300

Vidcard;
For SL ?, nvidia6800/7600/7800/7900 -256mb ram pref.
Ati ?, dont ask me.

Psu;
definatly min 550watt, this one can vary alot tho, never buy one thats 400watt, if you plan on updating one day -.-

A bit of advice,if you can do this......Buy parts from the same seller. In the long run you get better server and some after server due to the fact you bought part from that place. Too many time if parts to work well your out of luck when you buy from many place. But narrowing down the number of places you buy from helps you get after care you need. The internet is a good place to get info, but do your own footwork and take time building. Too many time people buy and parts to work togther corrent. Do your home work take your time and you have a well built and designed system.

and you save on shipping too

ie

buy a video card.. from one place and ram from another ... adds 4-5 bucks each part vs getting it all in one box

If you're going to buy off the shelf --

Avoid Dell

Try IBM or HP

If you're a student, if you work for any sort of educational institution, or if anyone in your household is a student (even K-12) -- you could be entitled to an educational discount. If you're shopping online, look for a link to an "education store" or "student/faculty discount" area. It's not quite as easy if you go to a store -- they may not honor the manufacturer's education pricing.

IBM well if you really need to do that. But they are not even close to what they use to be.


HP its at your own risk.

agreed about HP

i recently priced out a system for a buddy, came out to 1200 bucks @ about half the power and features of one @ 1200$ on ibuypower

if your gonna spend that kind of money wouldnt you rather have a pimp rig that will play anything you throw at it for quite a while over last years bargian tech?

Oooh, computer building thread.

I'm currently saving up for a new computer that, were I to buy all the parts to build it today, would cost me under $900. (I've tried before to make my newegg wishlist public for easy linking but it doesn't like me.) The main parts are:

- CPU: AMD64 X2 4200+. Dual core, 64-bit, clocks at 2.2 ghz, costs about $200. There are faster AMD chips but the cost of that extra speed starts to go up sharply after the 4200.
- RAM: Lots. Well, ok, 2GB. And I still wish it were more. Very important for Photoshop and multitasking.
- Graphics card: NVidea GForce 7600GS. It's a step up from the one I currently have (the 5700LE) but still under the $150 mark.
- A Zalman heatsink for the CPU. I figure if I'm spending more than $100 on the processor, I want to spend extra to keep it safe and cool without sounding like a leaf blower or spending several hundred dollars on a liquid cooled system. If you're building or having someone custom-build a computer for you, I recomend getting one of these.
- A beefy power supply. At least 500 watts and pay attention to the amps it lists for the 3volt, 5 volt and 12 volt lines. The more amps on the 12 volt line, the better. Beyond that, I lack expertise on the subject, but look for reputable brands and expect a good one to run between $50 and $100.
-Lots of other parts, but the ones I've listed are the ones that will make the most difference in how your system runs and knowing nitpicky details like motherboard chipsets or hard drive brands (beyond more gigabytes=better) won't be very usefull if you're buying a computer off the shelf.

Where you might want to differ from my list:
CPU: The Intel Core2 Duo chips are hot right now. They're kicking AMD's butt in every test and the price is on par with comparable AMD chips. They also don't require you to buy the 64-bit edition of Windows XP to take full advantage of them, although they do have 64-bit support.
Graphics: While I don't advocate buying $500 graphics cards, you can probably afford one better than the one I have listed, in the $200 or $300 range. ATI or nVidia? Used to be that SL had constant problems on ATI cards but I haven't heard of that being such an issue in a while so it may come down to personal preference. Also, there is a large mass of uncertianty surounding video cards, Windows Vista and DirectX 10 support - the story I heard is that Microsoft and the video card manufacturers disagree on how it should be done and neither ATI or nVidea have announced DirectX 10 hardware for that reason. If you have the liberty of waiting a month or two, it may save you from spending $200+ on a card that's truly obsolete in four months. By the time I have enough money to build this thing, my video card choice will probably have changed to reflect this (Having skipped WinXP for the most part, I anticipate the strong possability that I will end up running Windows Vista on the new machine.)

no cpu require a 64bit windows -.o and no diffrence using one either.

cpu chart, Chart
Intel core duo
e6400 compares to a x2-4200 in price 'ish
e6600 <-> x2-4600 (x2 cheaper tho)
x6800 (core2-extreme is way costly)

I bet this
http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?p=2400829
and
http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43899

Enjoy and learn what and how specs are read...............


Usagi