BleepingComputer.com: Which Computer?

My Dell computer is about 6 years old, and am thinking about replacing it. I can't complain about Dell, at least not about my computer - but there others out there offering good/better deals, like E-Machines. I need some opinions about a home PC, just the computer/tower - one made with quality parts which can be readily found if needed; lots of USB ports, couple at front as well sound jacks. Any one care to help this Oldfella? Thanks.

Pete (The Oldfella)

You should build you own. All you need is a + head screw driver. Take your time and buy the parts as you reseach them, and decide which componants you want. Ask the members here about what parts preform best.
It's just a thought.

Good luck and Merry Christmas.


Edit: Boy did I have boo boos...

This post has been edited by acklan: 18 December 2005 - 02:00 AM

I second that idea. If you decide to and need any help just ask in the hardware forum.

if you don't want to build your own computer i would suggest Dell because they have the best computer customer service and have very good computers. They also have pretty good prices. if you want to get a dell i have some Dell coupons that might help you (PM me if you would like some).

This post has been edited by frankie12: 18 December 2005 - 03:36 PM

I agree, building your own (or even buying all the parts custom and have a computer place build it for you) is the best way to have a clean computer. I had a computer built for me that I picked out all the parts for, and I love it more than the dell we have.

However, dells are good PC's. So I guess it comes down to what you want based on needs/wants.

I also agree with building. I built mine see below, for just over $2000. I don't know your budget. But either building or buying, you'll need to know what you want fom it. games - business - photo - movies- music etc..
Like the other guys said post again. With a little more info of what you want to do ,I'd suggest. Then the forum can give more specific responses.

Merry Christmas

I told you .
A whole bunch of egar, good hearted people with great ideas. This can be a whole lot of fun. The only thing, sorting out the good, better and best.
Tell us what you need it for?

Yea, that would be a great place to start.

Personally, I spent a little over $2000 for a custom gaming rig and so far, I'm not complaining.

Man are you people rich?!! lol
2000.00 for a pc? I spent about 600 for these specs on mine:
AMD 3200 64bit 2000fsb Socket 939
512mb ddr 400mhz pc3200 ram
128mb ATI 9200SE video card
Free 21in CRT monitor
Cdrw Drive
160gb Maxtor Diamondmax HD
MSI ??Pro motherboard

Aero cool case with a clear side panel 100mm front blue and red led fan plus a 80mm blue fan on the side. Also have a 400watt power supply.

I recently added a MYhd 120 card. I can watch High Definition tv on my pc now. Pause,rewind and fastford live tv.

Not trying to make fun of yall for spending 2000 on a pc just couldnt believe people can afford that much for one.

This post has been edited by cowsgonemadd3: 18 December 2005 - 09:45 PM

I feel like a street person of computers..

Celeron 1.4ghz P-III
768mb PC-100
64mb nVidia PCI
XP Pro
less $100

I do min gaming. $9.99 rack at Walmart. Doom(original), SWAT3..

Case - Cooler Master WaveMaster Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Case - Compaq Branded (LOL I must say)
CPU - Athlon 4000+
MOBO- MSI K8N Neo4 (or something like that)
GPU - Started with a MSI x300, but later replaced it with a MSI NX7800 gt.
RAM- 2 x Supertalent 1 gig sticks (pc3200)
PSU- Enermax 470 watt
19" KDS flat screen CRT (Cause an 8ms LCD is too slow for my eyes, which wasted like 60 bucks to send it back after neweggin' it.)
HD- 200 gig
two DVD optical drives, one being a burner.

I think that might be it exept for some little things and speakers. Hopefully, for christmas, I'll recieve (hopefully) a 7.1 speaker system or more likely 5.1's cause I'm dying here playing BF2, Rome: Total War, and Half Life 2 with 8 year old 2.1 speakers (which still rock after 8 years lol)

I'm definatly not rich, and I kind of put myself in 'debt'. I piled money in the bank for quite a while but ended up taking more out than I put in to get this computer and a small portion was supposed to come from me selling my BFG 6800 gt in our older dell but I really couldn't find anybody that I knew who wanted it and we don't have a paypal account for ebay so its probably way too late to get a semi decent price for selling it.
*edit* and I still haven't gotten any rebates back on the monitor and 7800gt so I think those somehow were screwed up or something, so I basacially lost about $130. grr....


*edit2* also love seeing the GPU temperature being at like 41 degrees C idle as comapred to the 6800 gt in the dell being at 60 degrees C idle (70 when playing games..)

*edit3* 200 posts!

This post has been edited by Wizdabest: 18 December 2005 - 10:19 PM

I would recomend building a comptuer too. I built mine too. I spent about 1600-1800 on my gaming computer.

My computer includes:

Here is what I got from NewEgg.com (quoted from the e-mail they sent me)

SPKS DCT 5.1 OG610 - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$217.98)
VGA PWRCLR X800XL 256M R43C-TVD3D - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$650.00)
PSU OCZ|OCZ52012U 520W RT - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$230.00)
CPU AMD 64 |3700+ ATHLON 64 939P RT - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$676.00)
DDRAM 2x512MB PC-3200 GE1GB3200BDC - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$164.86)
FD 1.44MB|MITSUMI FA404A/404M% - OEM (Qty=2,Price=$39.98)
HD 250GB|WD 7200RPM WD2500JD 8MB% - OEM (Qty=2,Price=$248.00)
DVD+/-RW 16x|NEC ND-3520A BK W/O SW - OEM (Qty=2,Price=$98.00)
SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 VLE|CRTVE RT - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$119.98)
CPU THERMPASTE|ARCTIC SILVER5 3.5G% - OEM (Qty=1,Price=$7.99)
CASE THERMALTAKE|VA3000BWA RT - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$199.98)
MNTR SMSNG|17"LCD 12ms 710N-2-Black - Retail (Qty=2,Price=$491.98)

Subtotal: $3,144.75
TAX: $0.00 ( )
Shipping and Handling Charge**: $92.43
Total: $3,237.18

--------------------

And here is what I got from TigerDirect

DFI LP UT NF4 Ultra-D nVidia Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID (D452-2030) Quanity: 2 Price: $139.99 Extended Price: $279.98

Total for all Items: $279.98
Shipping & Handling: $15.60
Sales Tax: $0.00 (Gotta love our governmnet )
Order Total: $295.58
--------------------

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3100 W/ MX1000 Laser Mouse (quantity 2)
Price : $157.98

Total Shipping + Handling : $35.79
Grand Total Charged : $351.75 (This is in Canadian money, so after doing the exchange rates it comes out as: $279.499 USD )

--------------------

So after getting out the calculator and using some math you get:

279.499
295.58
+3,237.18
3812.259

Now remember that big red number is the price for building 2 computers with the exact same components.

This post has been edited by yano: 18 December 2005 - 10:24 PM

*edit* nevermind. didn't see the ending. Duh on my part.
I was like why is everything in two's if you mentioned one computer at the begining of the post. lol.

This post has been edited by Wizdabest: 18 December 2005 - 10:27 PM

As you see oldfella there are a lot of options that require some more info. Just to clear up my own post. I probably have more than you need. And getting only what you need should reduce cost. I have a few doubles hard drive and CD/DVD. Perhaps you don't need an LCD monitor or a sound card with 7.1 surround + speakers. Graphics cards go from $40 to 500. I built for what I needed and it works great. I run 2 businesses and trade stock/commodities off one hard drive. They each have there requirements to run well.
I'll run several trading screens live at once. Hence a good vid card and lots of Ram and the P4. I also have over 12 Gig of music on it and make a lot of CD's. The other drive is for my boy and he games and does school work and has a bit of music he swaps his ipod to.
Any way I recommend to buy the best technology you can afford now. As you will enjoy it and won't neeed to upgrade soon. Post your needs and you'll get recommendations.

par rumpa pum pum

LOL I got a 2.1 system for my laptop after having a 2.1 for my old pc. They work great for music cds as we never had a dvd player on the old pc. It also works well for dvds but 5.1 sounds so much better. A 5.1 channel sound system and a dvdrw with lightscribe is on my list of things to get for my desktop so I can watch dvds in 5.1 channel audio and HDTV on the pc in 5.1!!


YANO!! What a nice pc. Why did you build 2 like each other? For a LAN type thing for games?

That means 1906+ dollars for each pc. Im not sure how much my pc would have costed if I would have not went and bought the parts on ebay. I only bought like 1 part at tigerdirect and that was my ram. I couldnt figure out the stupid refund thing and ended up paying 60 bucks for a 512mb stick! 30 bucks more than I wanted.