damaged people dot com

At the risk of sounding like a noob, I'm looking to upgrade the beaten down machine I have.

Its an OLD dell system, 1.3ghz processor, 384mb of ram, etc. Pieces have been dying for a while now.

I'm just not sure what route to take to get a machine that will last me for a while. I've been out of the computer building business for quite some time. The Matrox G400 was *the* video card to have the last time I studied the computer hardware with any real in depth interest.

So, what do you suggest? Do I just go the dell route and get something from them? Or do I build my own machine? I am not at all concerned that I can get the pieces together, OS installed and a functional system from a stack of parts...I just don't know what parts are even "good".

All my old resources are gone now...I don't even know where to start to look...

[edit]

I guess it would be good to say what I use my machine for...
Email (duh)
Internet pron
some graphic design; rockets, ACAD, Electronics design programs
Some programming (Labview)
Some Video editing
Some Photo editing (but I suck at it)
Converting and Burning D/L's from teh interweb (DVD's)

Gaming = no.

integrated sound is OK, integrated video with no option of upgrade is not OK.

[/edit]

There are a few questions I need answered before I can give advice.

• How big is your budget?
• Do you want tech support for the machine?
• What OS do you want to run?

You can usually build one for less than you can buy one for... usually. For a low end system, it's sometimes best to get a Dell.

Once I have your budget, I can quickly piece together a list of items to build one with and can contrast/compare that against a similar production box from Dell or someone else.

Budget = <$600
OS = XP
No tech support...I've served as my own tech support for YEARS.

Well... I could suggest the PC I just finished purchasing, but it cost a little more than $600

• ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe/HDMI AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
• AMD Phenom 9950 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor
• (2 of these) OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (8GB total Ram)
• (3 of these) XFX PVT98WYDFH GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (yes... I ordered 3 of them... my motherboard supports it!)
• CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W Power Supply
• (3 of these) Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (2.25TB total)
• LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Once I get rid of my raging hard on, I'll spec a box for you

Ok.... the pup tent in my pants has faded.... for the moment.

How about this:

• BIOSTAR TForce TF720 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 720a ATX AMD Motherboard
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor
• Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
• LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-08
• Broadway Com Corp P4-OKIA600-BLACK 600W ATX Power Supply
• RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WU Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2C 64-bit for System Builders

It can be yours for $469.92 plus shipping from newegg.com (of course, you'll have to put it together). The price may change as things go on sale and off sale a lot.

There is no floppy drive on that list, but you can add one cheap enough if you think you need it. Also, it has integrated video (Nvidia 8 series) and sound, but you can add a video and/or sound card later if you want.

Also... that copy of XP is only good for that machine (which is why it's only $99). You cant use it on any other. On the flip side... it's 64bit, so it will utilize your CPU.

If that sounds good, I can email the list so you can buy it.

Triple post for the win!!

I forgot... do you need a monitor? If so.... this one is pretty good (I purchased them for my in-laws):

Hanns·G JW-197DPB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor

How about a keyboard and mouse?

There are a ton of them here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=

Oh... and by the way, the case I picked comes in several different colors:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ado&Page=1

Hope this solves all your computer shopping needs

That stuff looks pretty good...Thanks.

No need for the Vista install...I have XP for it already...

Flashy case.

No need to send the list either, I can just use the links to order.

Excellent!

Glad I could help

On a side note, newegg sent me my tracking number today. I'll have all my parts on friday, so I can spend the weekend building a tiny God.

Looking to unload any of your ungodly castoffs again?

While I do have a box that this purchase is replacing, I'm not sure if I am going to get rid of it or not.

If I do though, I'll let you know first

Cool. I bought Bioshock from Steam for $5 last week and once it was downloaded and installed, it looked at my 1.6 Ghz single core and laughed out loud. Which I thought was just cruel....

Bioshock is fun... sadly, my machine barely plays it as well (I had to turn crap way down and be very patient waiting for textures to load).

I can, however, spec a box for you that would play it if you'd like

So as I get ready to buy all the stuff above, I've decided to change a few things...

I can get XP 64 for free (from the pig, if you know what I mean), so that frees up some dollars for a better processor and Mobo...and possibly ram.

I'm struggling with what to go with. I'd like to go with a Quad core AMD...This one seems pretty good, although for a couple more dollars, I can get the 9850.

And I'd also like to get a different Mobo, I've always had very good luck with ASUS in the past. Although the Biostar you suggested seems like a good Mobo. Biostar has always been good stuff, is that still true?

I'm at a loss trying to find 4 GByte of ram at 1066 Mhz. When I check the "approved" ram list of the mother boards, I find that they only recommend 2x1Gbyte chips. Since AMD only supports one channel at 1066Mhz, how do I get to 4 gig?

Sorry for the noob questions, I just haven't done this for so long, the learning curve is pretty steep.

Rocketdork wrote:...I've always had very good luck with ASUS in the past. Although the Biostar you suggested seems like a good Mobo. Biostar has always been good stuff, is that still true?

I've built 2 systems with that motherboard and have had no issues.

But if you want an Asus board, may I suggest this one: the Asus M3N72-D

Rocketdork wrote:I'm at a loss trying to find 4 GByte of ram at 1066 Mhz

Again, no problem

This is what I put in my sons PC (it has the Biostar board), but you'd have to buy 2 sets: Kingston 2GB (2x 1GB)

The Asus board can take 2 2GB sticks (at least they're on the supported memory list).

G.Skill 4GB (2x 2GB)

Of course, with that said, I put 2 sets of OCZ Reaper (2x 2GB) in my box.

So I finally pulled the trigger and purchase the following;

AMD Phenom II X4 940 3.0GHz Black Edition Quad-core - Retail
ASUS M3A78-T AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX8500AD2K2/4G - Retail
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-08 - Retail
COOLMAX V-600 600W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WU Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I figured I could "get by" with only a 500 gigHDD (considering I only have 40 gig now) and went pretty much "balls out" on the processor.

Hopefully I'll be happy with this setup for a while!