Buying a new computer!

By Panarchy
in Hardware Hangout

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Experienced

Panarchy

Posted
Posted

Hello!

I want to buy a new computer, because the one I have now is 6 years old.

Any ideas?

I want a really good computer, one that will last a long time... and in case you were wondering, I don't know what my budget is at the moment.

I am thinking of buying alienware... if that's still good.

Any other suggestions will be helpful!

Thanks in advance,

Panarchy

PS: I will be using this computer for programming (Visual Studio 2005 Professional), games, vista, and the whole office suite. So I want one that can run windows, not some dodgy mac that can run windows... :lol:

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Grand Master

RAID 0

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Posted

Not really. Last longer as in, what.. exactly? When you build your own, you can upgrade more easily (since you know what parts you started with) and have a faster system. Normally, OEMs like Dell and HP use "cheap" parts to keep the cost down. When you build your own, you get to custom tailor the system to EXACTLY what you need.

Have you ever built a PC before?

Experienced

Panarchy

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  • Author
Posted

Nope, but thanks to your (and other people on other forums) opinion, I think I will build my own.

I think I have a book around here somewhere on how to build my own...

Can you please tell me all the parts I will need to build my own...

And then you can you please tell me what the top of the range (make sure they can work with eachother) ones are.

Thanks in advance,

Panarchy

PS: By top of the range, I also want kept into account that it is going to be in my room, so I don't want one that will be super loud. My six year one is pretty loud...

Grand Master

RAID 0

Posted
Posted

Well, you're gonna need this stuff:

1. Case

2. Motherboard

3. Video card

4. Memory

5. CPU

6. Optical Drives

7. Hard Drives

before I recommend ANYTHING... what are you going to use this computer for? Games? Internet and Email? Photoshop? Video editing? Answering this for me would make it MUCH easier to tell you what I think you should get. Also, what OS are you planing to use?

Grand Master

Prince Charming

Posted
Posted

RAID 0; in the original post; "I will be using this computer for programming (Visual Studio 2005 Professional), games, vista, and the whole office suite. So I want one that can run windows, not some dodgy mac that can run windows... :lol:"

And yeah, +1 for building yourself.

Grand Master

RAID 0

Posted
Posted

Sorry, it's a bit late where I am. Well to answer what I think you should get...

1. Case- what ever one you like. This is personal preference.

2. Motherboard- I love MSI. ASUS is also a great manufacturer.

3. Video card- I'd go with the 8800 GT (if you can find one)

4. Memory- OCZ makes great RAM. I'd go with 4 gigs.

5. CPU- Intel Core 2 Q6600; quad core. It overclocks well, and has four cores.

6. Optical Drives- I like anything BUT SONY. I've had two Sony DVD drives fail in less than 2 years.

7. Hard Drives- Western Digital

What is your budget like? Do you also need a new monitor?

This will help narrow things down.

Experienced

Panarchy

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Sorry, it's a bit late where I am. Well to answer what I think you should get...

1. Case- what ever one you like. This is personal preference.

2. Motherboard- I love MSI. ASUS is also a great manufacturer.

3. Video card- I'd go with the 8800 GT (if you can find one)

4. Memory- OCZ makes great RAM. I'd go with 4 gigs.

5. CPU- Intel Core 2 Q6600; quad core. It overclocks well, and has four cores.

6. Optical Drives- I like anything BUT SONY. I've had two Sony DVD drives fail in less than 2 years.

7. Hard Drives- Western Digital

What is your budget like? Do you also need a new monitor?

This will help narrow things down.

Oooh... pretty! :wub:

Nice list, exactly what I wanted! By (3) When you said 8800GT, are you talking about nvidia? And what about 9 series... I'm pretty sure I saw that at a computer shop...

But for the rest of the info... looks great :p

As my primary harddrive, is it okay if it is a 400GB one?

Thanks in advance,

Panarchy

PS: Western Digital 400GB harddrive only costs $128 in a shop in the city... :D

Grand Master

RAID 0

Posted
Posted

Yes, the nvidia 8800 GT. The 9xxx series are not out yet, they should be out the first few months of next year.

About the hard drives... what I* would do, is buy TWO 250 gig drives. Set them up in a RAID 0. What this will do, is allow your OS and programs to load faster than with one drive. Real life performance is about 30% faster with a RAID 0.. adding 30% with each drive you add. The downsides are more heat, double risk of failure (since you have two drives, not just one), and higher power demands. The plus side is loading times are cut back. This makes it great in game play when you're loading a new map, and you're the first one back in the server. :D

Do you need help picking out exact parts?

Veteran

APH-Alex

Posted
Posted

Case: Whatever you want really, I seem to be liking the Antec Nine Hundred atm

Motherboard: Asus P5K-Deluxe

RAM: I would say OCZ, but I'm not sure about four gigs.. I mean, it might work if you get 2x2GB and use only two slots, but AFAIK it's better to get just 2x1GB sticks. The OCZ Reapers 8500 are good.

CPU: Like mentioned, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

Optical Drives: Anything really

Harddrives: Western Digital are good, 500GB for $100 at NCIX Canada.

Power Supply: Seasonic M12

Graphics Card: nVidea 8800GT

Uhm, and also, a nice cooler is either the Scythe Ninja or the Scythe Infinity.

Mentor

demorgoron

Posted
Posted

My 2 cents:

Case:anything from Lian-Li.All Aluminum cases with very high quality manufacturing.The PC-7 has a great price at $~80. If you still got extra money get some Scythe fans and you got a kick ass case. Antec,Gigabye,Coolermaster and many others have great options.

Power Supply:some great manufacturers are Corsair,Etasis,PC Power and Cooling,Silverstone,Seasonic,some Antec's. I would buy a Etasis 750w or a 850w,great price and its one of the best power supplies out there and they are SLI approved by NVIDIA for 2x 8800 GTX

Motherboard: EVGA T1(Nvidia 680i are made by other companies too,the EVGA just has some great price) if you want to run two video cards or a Asus,Abit,MSI or Gigabyte for single video card(Intel P35 Northbridge or something like that).

Memory: 4 GB DDR2 800,or 2 GB with higher speeds. fyi 64 bit OS required to run the 4 GB

CPU: Intel Quad Core Q6600.Aftermarket heatsink/fan or watercooling if you plan on overclocking. Or some other dual core from Intel.

ODD: Any brand is fair game here,just get one dvd recorder 20x with a SATA interface

Hard Drive: pretty much personal preference. SATA 3.0 GB/s and 7200 RPM. Go RAID if you want,and if you want a bit more performance get some WD Raptors that run at 10,000 RPM.

Video Card: single EVGA 8800 GT or 2x EVGA 8800 GT on SLI. OR wait for the new Nvidia 88000 GTS that will be even better than the GT.Forget about ATI,they will never keep up.

May be confusing :laugh:

Mentor

HyBry

Posted
Posted

8800GT seems to best out there at the moment if you can find one, but 3870 should be cheaper, a good overclocker and oc'd not to far in performance from 8800GT I think... give it a week (until 38xx comes out) and then decide

and I said before and has been stated many times in forums you will need quality PSU.. add that to your list...

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