Advice on a good PC for around 1100 - 1400

L

lokodezine

New Member
Is it possible to get a Pretty darn good Desktop (not monitor needed) for around this price range. It will be used mainly for school work, entertainment (DVD's, music, burning, and a little game play), and a desiging web pages or graphic design (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks)

So I need a pretty good graphics card, good amount of ram and hardrive, and a pretty good processor right? What about sound card?

Any recommendations on what pcs to go with?
 
It seems like to me he wants a prebuild one. Ibuypower has great prices for good builds. I do say that you should build but if not thats there I would get mine. If you are building.....

AMD Athlon 64 3700-$323.00
BFG nForce 4 Ultra Socket 939-$108.50
G.SKILL 1GB duel 512mb ram-$102.25
Radeon X850XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-$389.00 :D
Western Digital Caviar 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache-$80.00
ASPIRE X-CRUISE with 420W Power Supply-$82.00 (Sexy little thing :P)
SAMSUNG IDE DVD Burner-$48.99
NEC 1.44MB Floppy Drive-$8.49

Total $1142.23 without shipping. I know its over what your planing on but thats one hell of a system about so if you can just shell out the money
 
I offered him the following for around $800.00, not including shipping. (Which would be like... around 75-100)

Computer Type Desktop
Brand MSI
Model MS-6702
Processor AMD Athlon64 3200+, 2.20 GHz
Motherboard MSI MS-6702 1.0
Video MSI RADEON 9550
Memory 1 GB RAM
Disk Drives C:\ NTFS 152617 MB

CD/DVD Drives COMBO COB-2K5216 (52X)

Operating System Windows XP 5.1.2600 SP2
w/ 17 inch LCD ACER monitor, 2 speakers w/ matching base cannon (black and red) PS2 Keyboard and mouse. I had the machine built for exactly what he plans on doing.
 
drunkbum222 said:
It seems like to me he wants a prebuild one. Ibuypower has great prices for good builds. I do say that you should build but if not thats there I would get mine. If you are building.....

AMD Athlon 64 3700-$323.00
BFG nForce 4 Ultra Socket 939-$108.50
G.SKILL 1GB duel 512mb ram-$102.25
Radeon X850XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-$389.00 :D
Western Digital Caviar 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache-$80.00
ASPIRE X-CRUISE with 420W Power Supply-$82.00 (Sexy little thing :P)
SAMSUNG IDE DVD Burner-$48.99
NEC 1.44MB Floppy Drive-$8.49

Total $1142.23 without shipping. I know its over what your planing on but thats one hell of a system about so if you can just shell out the money
Click to expand...

Wow I BUY POWER has nice prices. What would you recommend me going with... Like what graphics card and processor? That TV tuner looks interesting too, would that be a good idea to have?
 
Whats the difference between DDR/DDR2, DDR2, DDR- 400, and Req.DDR2 MainBoard

Also would onboard audio do?
 
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Yeah if your not going to do much gaming then its fine.

Sorry I just looked over your thing and if its mostly for working on it then AMD processing is not for you, but that will still get the job done you would just need to get an Intel.
 
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ok...
I talked to IBuypower associates and they said its best to go with an amd for viewing movies and to play games, but what about just day to day working on it using like word and listining to music and using photoshop and dreamweaver?

Also they said that its much better to go with DDR 400 or is it better to go with DDR or ddr2?

And graphics (this was tlaking about an amd processor) that the Nvidia GEforce - FX 5500 does nto come close to the 9600 xt??
 
so i need a pretty good graphics card, good amount of ram and hardrive, and a pretty good processor right? what about sound card?
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1. you'll be interested in a low-midrange videocard
2. for ram, 1gb should be sufficient. ram 101
3. provided you've got the 1gb of ram, this'll be where you'll want to concentrate. CPU 101

@cully230
i'll only point this out once ;) HTtp://www.computerforum.com/advertise.php?

whats the difference between DDR/DDR2, DDR2, DDR- 400, and req.DDR2 mainboard
Click to expand...
have a look at the RAM 101.

I talked to IBuypower associates and they said its best to go with an amd for viewing movies and to play games, but what about just day to day working on it using like word and listining to music and using photoshop and dreamweaver?
Click to expand...
Sounds like you're not doing very hardcore anything really so it doesnt matter which way you go whether it be AMD or Intel

Also they said that its much better to go with DDR 400 or is it better to go with DDR or ddr2?
Click to expand...
Well DDR2 is an Intel-only thing right now (and probably for the foreseeable future) ... you will most likely be better off with DDR memory

And graphics (this was tlaking about an amd processor) that the Nvidia GEforce - FX 5500 does nto come close to the 9600 xt??
Click to expand...
1. The 5500 does not come anywhere close to the 9600XT.
2. The 5500 is, for all intentions, an overclocked 5200 (but the price difference usually doesnt match the performance jump)
3. You'll probably be best off with a 5200 class card (for PCIE systems, X300SE is probably your card) ... if that's not enough gaming oomph then the 9600Pro (AGP) or 6600 (PCIE) will probably suit you
 
Or should I get a laptop since I am a college student, but I really do more work on my home pc and enjoy working on a home pc more... AH THE choosing
 
Hows this look?
Case ( Raidmax Samurai-908 Gaming Case w/420W Power Supply Blue )
Meter Display ( CoolerMaster Musketeer-2 System Dynamics Detector Blue )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 6-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Beige )
Case Lighting ( Neon Light Blue )
Power Supply ( Standard Case Power Supply )
Processor ( AMD® Athlon-64 3000+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )
Free Software/Game ( Free Half Life 2 Download Coupon Free Half Life 2 download coupon with purchase of AMD-64 based systems )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Foxconn 755A01-6EKRS SIS-755 Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, IEEE-1394, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard )
Operation System ( None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only )
Memory ( 1024 MB Dual Channel [512MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( Nvidia GeForce 6600 256MB w/DVI + TV Out 8x AGP Video )
Hard Drive ( [Special !!!] 160 GB HARD DRIVES [S-ATA] Western Digital 160 GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Hard Drive )
IEEE-1394 Fire Wire Card ( None )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
Raid Controller ( None )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
MP3 Player ( None )
Raid Configuration ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM Drive Blue )
TV Tuner ( [USB 2.0] Kworld Xpert TV-PVR TV-Tuner w/Remote )
Video Camera ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( Pioneer DVR-109 Dual Format/Double Layer 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Blue )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit 7.1 )
Power Protection ( None )
Headset ( None )
Speaker System ( 600W PMPO 3 PCS Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Fax Modem ( None )
Printer ( None )
Printer Cable ( None )
Network Card ( 10/100 Network Onboard )
Floppy Drive ( Mitsumi 1.44 MB Internal Floppy Drive Blue )
Zip Drive ( None )
Monitor ( LCD Monitor Sceptre 15" TFT LCD Monitor [Silver/Black 2-Tone] )
Keyboard ( Combo: Multi-Media/Internet Keyboard + Optical Internet Mouse Blue )
Mouse ( None )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard Warranty + 2-Year i-Care Deluxe On-site Service + 24/7 Phone Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush, Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )


Or should I get a different Motherboard, up the proccessor, and what about the grafix card and audio?
 
so why not the 9600 xt?
thats not better than x300se?
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well you said you were only interested in a bit of gameplay... and the 9600xt is the best midrange graphics card of it's class... sure you wont be dissapointed but at the same time you may not utilize the card to it's maximum potential (from a value perspective). the x300se is a piece of crap when it comes to games and i reccomended those two sets (x300se/6200 and 6600) if you want a bit more oomph (it kinda depends on what you define as "a bit of gameplay")

or should i get a laptop since i am a college student, but i really do more work on my home pc and enjoy working on a home pc more... ah the choosing
Click to expand...
it depends on how much you need mobility... ive found it to be a useful thing to have... but not critical by any means and if i had to choose between my laptop and desktop.. i'd take the desktop

case ( raidmax samurai-908 gaming case w/420w power supply blue )
Click to expand...
please do consider a different PSU... see PSU 101 for some suggestions (as well as why this is a bad PSU)
so why not the 9600 xt?
thats not better than x300se?
Click to expand...
well you said you were only interested in a bit of gameplay... and the 9600xt is the best midrange graphics card of it's class... sure you wont be dissapointed but at the same time you may not utilize the card to it's maximum potential (from a value perspective). the x300se is a piece of crap when it comes to games and i reccomended those two sets (x300se/6200 and 6600) if you want a bit more oomph (it kinda depends on what you define as "a bit of gameplay")

or should i get a laptop since i am a college student, but i really do more work on my home pc and enjoy working on a home pc more... ah the choosing
Click to expand...
it depends on how much you need mobility... ive found it to be a useful thing to have... but not critical by any means and if i had to choose between my laptop and desktop.. i'd take the desktop

case ( raidmax samurai-908 gaming case w/420w power supply blue )
Click to expand...
1015.jpg


processor ( AMD® Athlon-64 3000+ CPU w/ hyper transport technology )
Click to expand...
if you have the option to choose, choose the "Venice" model

motherboard ( Foxconn 755a01-6ekrs sis-755 chipset w/5.1 sound, lan, ieee-1394, usb 2.0 8x AGP motherboard )
memory ( 1024 mb dual channel [512mb x2] DDR-400 pc3200 memory module corsair-value or major brand )
Click to expand...
1. while there's nothing wrong with the mobo per se, you can get better
2. since thats a socket754 system.. you wont be able to use dual channel so dont get fooled by the "dual channel" marketing label

you may want to have a look at CPU 101 and RAM 101.
 
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thanks I will look into all this that you pointed out... so I should not get a psu that comes standard with cases?

Heres all the MOBO choices:
Abit KV8 Pro Via-K8T800 Pro Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard [+ $6]
[NEW !!!] eVGA 115-K8-NF31-AX nForce-3 250GB Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard [- $14]
Foxconn 755A01-6EKRS SIS-755 Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, IEEE-1394, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard
GigaByte K8NS nForce-3 250 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, LAN, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard [- $14]
GigaByte K8NS-Pro nForce-3 250 Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, IEEE-1394, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard [+ $19]
MSI K8T Neo-FSR Via-K8T800 Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard [+ $20]

The 6200 is more expensive than the 9600XT... so confused on that?

Also I have the choice of AMd Athlons, AMD X2, AMD FX, and AMD Semprons or would the intels be better?

Also as far as graphics card usage... I want a good graphics card (I guess better thaneaverage) so I can play games and get nice quality picture for dvds etc because I want this to be a tv as well.
 
DDR and DDR 2 are the two main diff types of ram (excluding ecc). DDR has 184 pins, low latency (lower the better), and low clock speed (higher better). DDR 2 has 284 pins and is considered the "newer type of ram." however it has High latency and high speeds which means (unless you go into rediculously high priced DDR2 Ram with low latency's) that both are about the same in general (specifics differ by product). DDR-400 is the speed of the ram. DDR - Dodge | DDR2 - Chevy | DDR-400 = 40mph. Req ddr2 mainboard,im guessing, means that the motherboard only accepts ddr2 ram. BTW the 2 types are not interchangable. You cant have 1 ddr stick and 1 ddr2

On board audio means that there is an audio chip built into the motherboard but these are usually of lesser quality then audio cards.
 
Thanks alot... Im going to read all these tutorials tommorow, gotta get some sleep now. If you would mind just clearing this up...

So is DDR-400 a form of DDR or is it different? and is it better than regualr DDR? and less better than DDR2?
 
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