My computer's been 'put down.' Time to Upgrade.

T

ThePacster

New Member
First I'd just like to say, Hi everybody *waves* :). I'm the new guy on the block so please be gentle.

The computer had a good run, at least five years if I'm not mistaken. I've done a fair bit of replacing parts along the way with what little money I had, but just a few days ago I took the computer to the shop, and discovered the motherboard and processor both finally gave out so I'm left with two options:

a.) Pay to simply replace the motherboard and processor.

b.) Suck it up and finally get a new computer.

Personally, I'd like to go with Plan B. While the computer has been good to me, it feels a bit subpar as advancements in hardware and computers continue to press on, and in anticipation of purchasing a new computer I did a little snooping and came across what at first glance appears to be a keeper. Here's a generic overview, or all that they would show on the label that I remember.

Processor: 3.2 GHz Pentium 4
Ram: 1 GB DDR (pretty sure its DDR)
Hard Drive: 250 GB (72000 RPM?)
CD Drive: Capable of DVD/CD burning

And the price? $999. Looks like a nice buy, but I'm sure there are other specs that are worth investigating such as PCI/AGP slots, is the graphics card integrated, etc. I'm 19 and a bit of a computer newb, but I'm college going into the field, so I had better get acquainted with it now. So, if anyone can give me a few things to look for in terms of specs I'd greatly appreciate it.

Aside from this, I might consider custom building one myself if this one doesn't turn out to be what it seems, although I'm sure it will take will take much more work. I'll be sure to keep tabs as things progress, and thank you to anyone who replies~
 
ThePacster said:
First I'd just like to say, Hi everybody *waves* :). I'm the new guy on the block so please be gentle.

The computer had a good run, at least five years if I'm not mistaken. I've done a fair bit of replacing parts along the way with what little money I had, but just a few days ago I took the computer to the shop, and discovered the motherboard and processor both finally gave out so I'm left with two options:

a.) Pay to simply replace the motherboard and processor.

b.) Suck it up and finally get a new computer.

Personally, I'd like to go with Plan B. While the computer has been good to me, it feels a bit subpar as advancements in hardware and computers continue to press on, and in anticipation of purchasing a new computer I did a little snooping and came across what at first glance appears to be a keeper. Here's a generic overview, or all that they would show on the label that I remember.

Processor: 3.2 GHz Pentium 4
Ram: 1 GB DDR (pretty sure its DDR)
Hard Drive: 250 GB (72000 RPM?)
CD Drive: Capable of DVD/CD burning

And the price? $999. Looks like a nice buy, but I'm sure there are other specs that are worth investigating such as PCI/AGP slots, is the graphics card integrated, etc. I'm 19 and a bit of a computer newb, but I'm college going into the field, so I had better get acquainted with it now. So, if anyone can give me a few things to look for in terms of specs I'd greatly appreciate it.

Aside from this, I might consider custom building one myself if this one doesn't turn out to be what it seems, although I'm sure it will take will take much more work. I'll be sure to keep tabs as things progress, and thank you to anyone who replies~
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Welcome, first wat will you be using you computer for?
 
Thanks for the welcome :). Gaming is my #1 Priority. I wouldn't say I'm hardcore, but I'm looking for system that can dazzle me a little. The computer I had could barely scrounge up the strength to run at 10-15 frames per second so anything would be an improvement.
 
ThePacster said:
Thanks for the welcome :). Gaming is my #1 Priority. I wouldn't say I'm hardcore, but I'm looking for system that can dazzle me a little. The computer I had could barely scrounge up the strength to run at 10-15 frames per second so anything would be an improvement.
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$1000 seems way overpriced for that.

And since your a gamer, i would highly recommend an AMD. And im assuming you dont want to spend a ton of money, so here are some quick ideas:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB PC3200 Dual Channel
200GB SATA II
nVidia 6800GT

For that stuff and a few other things, it should cost you under $900.
 
geoff5093 said:
$1000 seems way overpriced for that.

And since your a gamer, i would highly recommend an AMD. And im assuming you dont want to spend a ton of money, so here are some quick ideas:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB PC3200 Dual Channel
200GB SATA II
nVidia 6800GT

For that stuff and a few other things, it should cost you under $900.
Click to expand...

or you could get a dual core AMD....
 
Jet said:
or you could get a dual core AMD....
Click to expand...

yea that might tighten the budget and cause for either less ram, a smaller hd, or a cheaper gpu. i think the setup that geoff gave was perfect but he might be able to push it up to a 7800gt.
 
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If i were to purchase a new cpu right now, there is no way i would settle for anything less than a dual core cpu.
 
Wow, lots of nice stuff in here. And in regards to the budget, I guess it is a factor, but again it kinda isn't. I'm college at the moment, but I have a scholarship that fully covers my tuition, so my wallet isn't as pressured. Although there are things I need to take care of, I wouldn't mind saving money up over a period if it means I'll have an excellent computer when it's all said and done. Anywho, I read through the 101 guides on Computer parts and building, and was putting something together myself. It's not finished, but what do you all think so far?

AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 3800 $294
Gigabyte K8U-939 Socket 939 ATX Motherboard $57 or GIGABYTE GA-K8N51GMF-9 Socket939 Motherboard $77
Achieve AX500N 500W Power Supply $28

Probably not the best picks, but I'm hoping I did good for my first time. I'm on the fence between the two motherboards because I'm still trying to understand the difference between PCI and AGP slots and their regards to graphics cards. I hear people say AGP is better than PCI and vice versa. If I could figure that out, finding a card would probably be ok. Well, back to search for RAM~
 
It's always better to buy from one single place on the net than get different part from different places, this saves you shipping cost and also some money posssibly in the parts. Newegg.com is pretty much the forum favorite for computer parts, the prices are great and no other site, that I've seen, has a bigger selection of parts.
 
And the price? $999. Looks like a nice buy, but I'm sure there are other specs that are worth investigating such as PCI/AGP slots, is the graphics card integrated, etc. I'm 19 and a bit of a computer newb, but I'm college going into the field, so I had better get acquainted with it now. So, if anyone can give me a few things to look for in terms of specs I'd greatly appreciate it.
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What do you plan on doing with the box?

Aside from this, I might consider custom building one myself if this one doesn't turn out to be what it seems
Click to expand...
I would too especially since you have experience tinkering with the parts a bit. Once i figure out what your requirements are i might better be able to give suggestions on parts etc

Gaming is my #1 Priority
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- AMD Athlon64 X2 3800 [S939, Manchester, ADA3800DAA5BV] ($301.00)
- eVGA 7800GT 256MB + SLI Mobo ($329.00 after $20.00 MIR)
- Maxtor DiamondMax10 250GB 16MB SATA ($103.00)
- OCz Value Series 2x512MB CL2.5 ($69.99 after $10.00 MIR)
- NEC 3550A DVDRW ($37.99)
- Antec Sonata II +450W [12V@32A] ($99.99)
Subtotal: $940.97
There's a start

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB PC3200 Dual Channel
200GB SATA II
nVidia 6800GT
For that stuff and a few other things, it should cost you under $900.
Click to expand...

it better cost less than $900
 
gamerman4 said:
It's always better to buy from one single place on the net than get different part from different places, this saves you shipping cost and also some money posssibly in the parts. Newegg.com is pretty much the forum favorite for computer parts, the prices are great and no other site, that I've seen, has a bigger selection of parts.
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I've always heard good things from Pricewatch.com, so that's where I went search for parts. All the prices of listed included shipping, so they didn't seem so bad.

Edit: Also, any chance someone would be willing to chat one on one with me about parts? If so please PM me :)
 
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Also, any chance someone would be willing to chat one on one with me about parts? If so please PM me
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Id argue it's better to post it here so that everyone can give feedback (and hopefully provide reasons for decisions etc)
 
Ok, well before I really settle down and get to finding parts for computer I have two questions for you guys.

First, is a concern about the motherboard. I found two seemingly nice motherboards that are compatible with the CPU I've decided on, however there is one key difference between the two. One of the motherbards appears to have 1 AGP 8x slot and 5 PCI slots, while the other has 1 PCI-Express x16, 1 PCI x1, and 2 PCI(PCI 2.3 compliant) slots. I'm still learning as I go along, and under the assumption that these are the slots used for a graphics card I'm not sure which would be the better choice, unless you all could refer me to a better card. Before actually getting into learning of the components of a computer and how to build one, I would sometimes hear people say PCI or PCI-E is better than AGP or vice versa. These slots would also determine what video cards I can and can't use correct? Anywho, I'll include links to the two boards so you all can have a look.

Motherboard #1

Motherboard #2

Settling between which motherboard to use would probably let all the other parts I'm looking for fall into place, or at least I'd hope so. :)

And for my second question, although fairly trivial is would it really matter where I use pricewatch.com or newegg.com? I only ask since using pricewatch my parts will be coming from various companies while newegg would have them all coming from the same place.

I know I'm a total newb, so thanks for putting up with me. :P
 
get your parts from newegg.com or zipzoomfly.com always. they are reliable and won't let you down. go with PCI express X16. it's a must--everything is transfering to it. any questions?
 
Well I guess that settles that for the motherboard, but any particular reason why no pricewatch? :P I've always heard it's good for cheap parts, and that's where I found my motherboard, but I'll look on newegg and see if they have it too~

Anywho, I'll post back later when I've found all I need for the computer. If anyone else has comments on the PCI x16 motherboard, feel free to drop in.
 
I'm certainly open to suggestions for a motherboard. If it helps at all, I don't intend to overclock anything, so I'm just looking for a nice and reliably stable motherboard to match the processor.
 
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