thinkin' about buying a new comp.

[m3th0d]

i'm thinkin' about gettin' a DELL..................... most ppl i talk to say DELL computers are really good.

i've never bought a brand name computer before, i've always had my friend custom-build my comps... so i don't know what to buy. all i know is that hewlett packard's are ****.

anyone have any suggestions?

oh and btw is there a place where i can get good barebone systems?

 

[IceBlu]

STAY AWAY FROM DELL -

Reason - The Motherboard and Powersupplies are specially made for DELL and if u want to upgrade, u have to buy them direcctly from DELL which is almost 3 times the price of regular motherboards and PSUs.

Why do u wanna get a branded machine ?

buy a barebone from www.newegg.com and add the other components by yourself. Its cheaper and better that way.

Or if your friend can help you again, get all the stuff needed from newegg and let him assemble them.

if u need help with a good configuration, i can help u out. If u need help, tell me how much you are willing to spend and i'll give u a suitable config.

 

[m3th0d]

Originally posted by IceBlu
Reason - The Motherboard and Powersupplies are specially made for DELL and if u want to upgrade, u have to buy them direcctly from DELL which is almost 3 times the price of regular motherboards and PSUs.

now that's just shady.. looks like gettin' a DELL is outta the question then.

hmm......... maybe i should just upgrade my current comp? what would u recommend? right now i have a:

AMD Athlon 1600+
30GB HD
256MB
GeForce2 GTS
Toshiba DVD drive
a brand new mad dog burner...........

the problem i have with my comp right now is that my motherboard is pretty old and it's hard to find ram that's compatible and i don't even know if my board can handle a radeon 9600 pro that i was gonna buy just a few days ago. AND the biggest pain - i'm running on WINDOWS ME! my system crashes and lags @ random times and it pisses me off!

now if i buy a totally new comp then my current comp will have no use.. so that'd be a shame. so maybe upgrading is a better solution? what do u think ice?

 

[IceBlu]

you could do the following -

get rid of your current Motherboard, processor, Ram and Grafix card.

You can keep the rest. (heh although theres not too much left)


anyway, u could get the following -


abit IC7 Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=abit,ic7


Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz (800FS with HT Technology is good.. but if u can't afford it, u can get the 2.8C

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=19-116-161&DEPA=1


Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro (i guess u know where to get em)


PC3200 512 MB DDR ( Corsair, Geil ,Kingston etc... any good brand) ... u can even get more RAM if u want obviously.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=20-144-305&DEPA=1




u can keep use the DVD drive an the burner u currently have.

also, how powerful is your Powersupply ? if its less than 300 watts, then its probably wise to invest in a new one - Antec, Sparkle, Enermax, Zalman are all good brands. You can get a good 400-450 watt PSU for around 60$ or so.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=antec,430



so for around 600$ u can get a great system


hope that helps

 

[m3th0d]

Originally posted by IceBlu
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro (i guess u know where to get em)

i was gonna buy the one u showed me last time from newegg.com but then BB had this special where if u buy a radeon 9600 SE u get a free copy of HL2, and ATI made some packaging mistakes and put a buncha PRO's in SE boxes and so there was a big mix-up and i was thinkin' about gettin' one.

but ANYWAY, man 600 bucks! woo lordy, that's a lotta money. so far i have $350.......... maybe i should just buy that stuff one @ a time. also, i know Carlos about installing things so um.... i'm really afraid i'm gonna screw something up. is it hard to install a motherboard etc.?

and what about my OS.. how much would windows XP cost........ ma bad for all the questions.

*EDIT* one more thing... how do i find out the wattage of my power supply?