DooMBoy Posted January 19, 2003 My older bro has started saving up money for a new compy, and he wanted me to ask you d00ds about what sort of computer he should get. So, what kind of computer should my brother buy, once he gets the $$$? Any suggestions? 0 Share this post Link to post
fodders Posted January 19, 2003 As you specified no limit to the money, a Kray Supercomputer 0 Share this post Link to post
AndrewB Posted January 19, 2003 Since you mentioned no cash limit, tell him to get one of those Kray thingies. 0 Share this post Link to post
DooMBoy Posted January 19, 2003 Alright you smartarsed computer geeks, let's say the price range is around $700 to $1500. Oh yeah, AndrewB, stop stealing Fod's replies :P 0 Share this post Link to post
Sephiroth Posted January 19, 2003 build your own, nothing more, nothing less 0 Share this post Link to post
IMJack Posted January 19, 2003 Take about a grand to Fry's and buy parts to build your own. If you've got an old machine, cannibalize as much as you can from it, including the monitor and other peripherals. 0 Share this post Link to post
Opulent Posted January 19, 2003 In today's market, there is little to be gained by building your own, unless you know a second-hand distributor or something. I'd like to see someone build my box for marketedly less than I paid for it. There are unseen challenges when you build your own machine. chipset incompatibilities, jumper settings, etc... You could set your clock cycle or CPU bus rate incorrectly -- still be getting a good speed out of it, but never know you aren't getting everything you could out of your hardware. If you have no experience putting external peices on your MoBo, I'd say pass on it until you know more. You don't want to wind up spending more to build your own box than it would've taken Dell to do it. If you like the challenge (which could be extremely easy and save you a few hundred dollars) or are not building the ultimate machine, then go for it. 0 Share this post Link to post
Arioch Posted January 19, 2003 Opulent said:In today's market, there is little to be gained by building your own, unless you know a second-hand distributor or something. I'd like to see someone build my box for marketedly less than I paid for it.If you like the challenge (which could be extremely easy and save you a few hundred dollars) or are not building the ultimate machine, then go for it. So a few hundred dollars isn't "marketedly" less? Personally, there is now no way I would ever buy a complete desktop box. Buying brand-name boxes just ensures that somebody somewhere has cut some corner somehow and that you've overpaid for at least 2 or 3 pieces of substandard equipment in your machine that you'd rather not have. 0 Share this post Link to post
Szymanski Posted January 19, 2003 There's a distinct lack of requirements so: nforce2 mobo, nice and fast with integrated dolby 5.1. Buy the version with integrated video if GF2 level performance is acceptable (and upgrade later). Look on the hardware sites for reviews, the specs vary alot between manufacturer (onboard LAN etc). Athlon 2400+ dirt cheap or 2700+ if you've got the cash Radeon 9500pro fast and cheap (and overclockable) Radeon 9700pro, very fast but costly 500Mb+ pc2700 if you're using a XP/2k, 256 if you're using win98/ME DO NOT SAVE MONEY ON THE MONITOR! 0 Share this post Link to post
Shaviro Posted January 19, 2003 Buy: P4 Northwood 2.533 Radeon 9700 Pro 512 mb RD PC 1066 RAM Terratec or Hercules soundcard 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted January 19, 2003 Shaviro said:Buy: P4 Northwood 2.533 Radeon 9700 Pro 512 mb RD PC 1066 RAM Terratec or Hercules soundcard $700 to $1500 - not a chance. 0 Share this post Link to post
Shaviro Posted January 19, 2003 Fredrik said:$700 to $1500 - not a chance. Ah. I didn't read his second post. 0 Share this post Link to post
NiGHTMARE Posted January 19, 2003 Shaviro said:Terratec or Hercules soundcard The Audigy 1 + 2 are the best soundcards if all you want them for are games, and they're pretty good for musicians too (especially if you get the external version, the Extigy). Plus they're both dirt cheap. 0 Share this post Link to post
Shaviro Posted January 19, 2003 NiGHTMARE said:The Audigy 1 + 2 are the best soundcards if all you want them for are games, and they're pretty good for musicians too (especially if you get the external version, the Extigy). Plus they're both dirt cheap. They are 'Creative' soundcards which means they will break after a short while. 0 Share this post Link to post
NiGHTMARE Posted January 19, 2003 We had an SB2 for something like 6 years and it was fine. My parents had an SB16 for a couple of years and that was fine. I got a Live! shortly after it first came out (four years ago AFAIR) and now my parents use it, and that's fine. I've had an Audigy 1 for almost a year and that's fine too. The only reason we've ever changed soundcards is because we wanted a better one. In fact, I bet if we looked through the Attic for the SB2, and put it in one of our computers, it'd still work. I don't know where you got the idea that Creative cards are known to break. The only thing generally thought to be wrong with Creative products is their cost, but even that isn't a problem with the Audigy's. (On a related note, apparently the Adlib card we got with our first ever PC, around 14/15 years ago, and sold a few years later is still working (yes, the guy is a really, really, REALLY huge cheapskate ;) ) 0 Share this post Link to post
zark Posted January 19, 2003 I've never had a problem with any of my Creative cards. I've had this Live! for maybe 5 years or something now, it hasn't broken or anything. 0 Share this post Link to post
NiGHTMARE Posted January 19, 2003 Yes, I think it's simply a case of big company prejudice :) BTW, if the Hercules soundcards are anything like their old 2D graphics cards used to be, it's those that'll break all the time ;) 0 Share this post Link to post
Shaviro Posted January 19, 2003 I've had 3 broken Creative Soundcards and two broken Creative GPU's. 0 Share this post Link to post
Arioch Posted January 19, 2003 Creative cards and drivers are some of the shittiest on the planet. 0 Share this post Link to post
Spike Posted January 19, 2003 DooMBoy said:Any suggestions? Yes. Give it to me. 0 Share this post Link to post
AndrewB Posted January 19, 2003 Creative cards have unbelievably bad driver support, and they succeed mostly due to customer ignorance as to how lacking they are in vital features and proper structure. It think it says something when pretty much every established musician and recording studio opt to use sound modules costing thousands of dollars, rather than commercial soundfonts costing a comparable amount. Creative cards have fatal and unworkaroundable flaws related to gaming, and especially, music-creating. 0 Share this post Link to post
Alientank Posted January 19, 2003 Never had a problem with my creative Live! card. Here's the system I'm building. This is in Canadian dollars. COOLERMASTER Aluminum Case $150 Antec 400W power supply $154 Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard $225 AMD XP 2800+ CPU $600 1 gig PC-2700 DDR333mhz RAM $360 Sound Blaster 2 Audigy 6.1 Sound card $186 Klipsch PROMEDIA 5.1 500W Surround Sound system $600 Nvidia NV30 Video card, or next ATI card if available $550 80 gig Western Digital Hard drive $159 Toshiba 16X DVD drive $62 LG 52x24x52 CD-R/RW $90 Sony Flat 19 inch CRT Trinitron CPD-G420S $638 0 Share this post Link to post
Fletcher` Posted January 19, 2003 You know what's sad? I'm still using my PAS16 from 5 years ago. :\ 0 Share this post Link to post
Alientank Posted January 20, 2003 AndrewB said:Wow, nerd alert. Yea, playing hockey for your college, football in highschool and slamming 2 cheerleaders makes me a HUGE nerd! :p Maybe your just jealous cause you can't afford something like this :p I upgraded my list a bit COOLER MASTER Model# ATC-201B-SX2 (SILVER) ALL ALUMINUM MID-TOWER CASE 4 TLF-R82 fans Antec 400W power supply P4G8X DELUXE Motherboard Intel 3.06 W/ HT CPU 1 gig PC-2100 DDR266mhz RAM Sound Blaster 2 Audigy 6.1 Sound card Klipsch PROMEDIA 5.1 500W Surround Sound system Nvidia NV30 Video card, or next ATI card if available 80 gig Western Digital Hard drive Toshiba 16X DVD drive LG 52x24x52 CD-R/RW Sony Flat 19 inch CRT Trinitron CPD-G420S 0 Share this post Link to post
gatewatcher Posted January 20, 2003 Alientank, would you please stop posting your setup in every thread you reply to? Thanks. By the way, where do you play hockey? 0 Share this post Link to post
Alientank Posted January 20, 2003 gatewatcher said:Alientank, would you please stop posting your setup in every thread you reply to? Thanks. By the way, where do you play hockey? Ah damn it fine. I play for my college in Ontario Canada. 0 Share this post Link to post