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DooMBoy

New Computer: Suggestions

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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?

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Buy:

P4 Northwood 2.533
Radeon 9700 Pro
512 mb RD PC 1066 RAM
Terratec or Hercules soundcard

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 ;) )

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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.

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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 ;)

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DooMBoy said:

Any suggestions?


Yes. Give it to me.

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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.

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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

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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

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Alientank, would you please stop posting your setup in every thread you reply to? Thanks.

By the way, where do you play hockey?

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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.

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