Need advice on computer for school

C

CartmanDP1

New Member
I am going to be enrolling in NJIT next year for electrical engineering, and there is a computer requirement as follows:
• Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz processor or greater (desktop) w/ hyper-threading (dual core preferred)
• Pentium M, 2.0 GHz or greater (notebook) w/ 802.11g wireless connectivity
• 512 MB RAM with slots to expand (533Mhz or faster RAM) (desktop)
• 1 GB RAM with slots to expand (533Mhz or faster RAM) (notebook)
• 128 MB video graphics card (non-shared RAM)
• 80 GB Hard drive (SATA preferred)
• DVD -/+ RW drive (data backup and transfer)
• 19” color monitor - Desktop / 14" display for notebooks
• Keyboard and mouse
• 10/100 network card (3Com or Intel recommended)
• Windows XP Professional capable

So I figured I'd build the thing myself and go beyond whats required and I wanted to go about $1200, and I figured I might as well make it look cool too. So this is my newegg list, no one has commented there, so I thought someone could help me here. https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=1977736 I dont know if everything is compatable or if there is a better value for the money. thanks a lot.
 
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Looks good, you just need to check that the socket number is the same for the mainboard and processor, that the mainboard takes ddr-2, the video card interface and mainboard, the power supply connector 20 pins or 24...etc

one suggestion, dump the dvd burner you have selected. Get what I got, if you actually want to burn DVDs and especially DL dvds

this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136063
or this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

since they are combo drives , might as well get 2 dvd burners instead of a dvd burner and seperate cd burner, it is like $10 more..

other good dvd burner brands :: pioneer , lacie, plextor, nec , benq ( except for the dq60, rebranded teac) , lg.
 
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Looks like you'll have a pretty sweet set up, but if you want really good graphics, I'd get a mobo that has AGP, and get an AGP GPU with 512mb memory....but if it doesn't really matter to you, your setup is fine. Although, with your WIFI card, 10/100/1000 ethernet card, and your graphics card, you won't have any more PCI slots left.

And depending on your needs, AMD might be a consideration. It's considerably faster than Intel CPU's, and most of them (well, at least what I've looked at..the Athlon 64's) run pretty stable, and the stock heat sink and fan work fabulously. But then again, you may just want to stick with Intel.
 
What type of pragrams are you going to be running? CAD? That looks like a decent start, but I would get daul core instead of HT. Also, do you want a laptop or desktop, sorry the list is kind of confusing.
 
34erd said:
What type of pragrams are you going to be running? CAD? That looks like a decent start, but I would get daul core instead of HT. Also, do you want a laptop or desktop, sorry the list is kind of confusing.
Click to expand...

He's getting a desktop.
 
I also have an AA in electrical engineering you will really enjoy it. I guess now adays it is mostly digital. When I was taking that it was about 70% analog and 30% digital. You may still get some analog for the therory. Like when you do transistor modeling and do matrices. Anyway it is really cool. If you ever need more study time for a midterm, go in and kick out the plug on your professors pc while he is creating the exam, hopefully he had not stored any of the exam like ours had not. :eek:
 
Thanks for the responses, much appreciated. I have changed my DVD burner thanks a lot Viking, I’m not sure about doing 2 DVD burners, the price difference was the reason I went with a CD burner instead of just a CD-ROM, but seeing as there really isn’t much price difference between CD burners and DVD ill probably go with another DVD burner. Yeah and I'm really looking forward to studying EE. To computermaineack, an Intel Pentium 4 is required, not much choice there. But I'll definitely consider changing to a mobo w/ AGP, I've never really looked into this kind of stuff, but it's something I should research. And to 34erd, I'm pretty sure I'll be running CAD, so I'll look into duel core. Wow, still have a lot to rethink, thanks again.
 
computermaineack said:
Looks like you'll have a pretty sweet set up, but if you want really good graphics, I'd get a mobo that has AGP, and get an AGP GPU with 512mb memory....but if it doesn't really matter to you, your setup is fine.
Click to expand...

I cannot believe someone just said that:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

FIRST off...
PCI express is the newest technology for video cards. So, get PCI expressx16 unless you want to buy old technology for your new computer. I'd go with a graphics card that is just a tad better. The Golden Rule for Video Cards: Memory is not everything For that matter, nothing is everything. Just like you got a $$$ motherboard with $$$ RAM, and your processor was a cheapy thing, your computer wouldn't be good. Ask for help, there are plenty of opinions. Buy a:
6600GT<X800GTO<6800GS<7600GT

This:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102691
is the best deal you could get for a low end card. Look at Computer Specs 101, Prator uses it for a LOT of budget pcs.

About the processor: You NEED Dual core. Period.
So: Your choices...(All Pentium D. The requirements allow them)
820 (I know it is 2.8GHz, so your coming in under the radar. My experience= WAY to hot)
920 (slightly more expensive, same 2.8GHz deal. Cooler temperatures, more cache.)
830 (Your best bet. 3.0GHz speed, though hotter than the 820)
930 (more expensive, 3.0GHz, cooler)

So.....Get ANYTHING except the single core intel. Though they aren't bad, they aren't nearly as good as a dual core. Not that you couldn't do this with a single core proc, I have Mozilla Firefox, Creative Mediasource, and Pinnacle Studio 9 up, and I'm putting video footage on my hard drive, while at 5.9% load. Anywhoo, have fun at your class!

It's a crying shame they don't allow AMDs....:confused: :confused: :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
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Jet said:
I cannot believe someone just said that:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

FIRST off...
PCI express is the newest technology for video cards. So, get PCI expressx16 unless you want to buy old technology for your new computer. I'd go with a graphics card that is just a tad better. The Golden Rule for Video Cards: Memory is not everything For that matter, nothing is everything. Just like you got a $$$ motherboard with $$$ RAM, and your processor was a cheapy thing, your computer wouldn't be good. Ask for help, there are plenty of opinions. Buy a:
6600GT<X800GTO<6800GS<7600GT

This:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102691
is the best deal you could get for a low end card. Look at Computer Specs 101, Prator uses it for a LOT of budget pcs.

About the processor: You NEED Dual core. Period.
So: Your choices...(All Pentium D. The requirements allow them)
820 (I know it is 2.8GHz, so your coming in under the radar. My experience= WAY to hot)
920 (slightly more expensive, same 2.8GHz deal. Cooler temperatures, more cache.)
830 (Your best bet. 3.0GHz speed, though hotter than the 820)
930 (more expensive, 3.0GHz, cooler)

So.....Get ANYTHING except the single core intel. Though they aren't bad, they aren't nearly as good as a dual core. Not that you couldn't do this with a single core proc, I have Mozilla Firefox, Creative Mediasource, and Pinnacle Studio 9 up, and I'm putting video footage on my hard drive, while at 5.9% load. Anywhoo, have fun at your class!

It's a crying shame they don't allow AMDs....:confused: :confused: :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
just bout to say that and he said the pentium 4 was required
 
Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz processor or greater (desktop) w/ hyper-threading (dual core preferred)
Click to expand...
it says dual core prefered
Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz processor or greater
Click to expand...
and it says it can go higher than a P4
Oh and The Best Of Luck To You On Your Studies!!!
 
If you will be living on campus AND you are connecting to their network, make sure you have a good firewall and anti virus + trojan remover. I do not know how NJIT is, I see a lot of notebooks and PC's that come back from college, infected from campus networks.
 
iggy101 said:
it says dual core prefered
and it says it can go higher than a P4
Oh and The Best Of Luck To You On Your Studies!!!
Click to expand...

The thing is that there are NO dual core Pentium 4's, so they obviosly mean Pentium D
 
Thanks again for all the suggestions, I have changed to a Pentim D 830 thanks to jet, and have changed to a different mobo. As iggy and jet said they must allow a pentium d if duel core is recommended,, thanks to iggy for the good luck wishes. And to viking I'll be sure to keep my firewall and antivirus up, NJIT even includes McAfee in their software bundle and has strong security, really lookin forward to that super fast connection, I think it's T3. Thanks again to everyone, this is really one of the friendliest and helpful boards I have ever visited.
 
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