The best place to get a new PC is...

[Mtx]

Well?

I need 1gig DDR Ram

2 gig processor

That Canadian Videocard

and 30+ gig HD



I know building one is the cheapest way but I lack compitence and the ability to spell.

[MrVicchio]

I built mine on my own, and I am NOT a hardware guy. Its really actaully pretty easy, just take a day to learn about it. You will take a LOT of pride in your rig if you "do-it-yourself"

PS I got a GeForce4 Ti 4600, and they roxxors.

[powdahound]

It is VERY easy. I remember I was thinking about building but I put it off thinking I could never do it. After I bought my new comp I started learning about hardware and was VERY upset that I hadn't built instead. Saves SO much money, you ARE your own tech support, and it's FUN!!! We can help in the tech forum and #tech on irc too.

[Mtx]

I took a PC building class back in college but I was dealing with 486Dx2 and other ultra lame systems. If you guys can back me.. makes me want to build my own machine.

[Civilian]

My next PC will be one I build myself. However, this time, after much deliberation and comparing, I have decided to purchase an ABS X5(customized to my liking). This may be the last one I purchase for a while mainly because I plan on upgrading whenever it falls behind. You might want to check it out:

http://www.abspc.com/

I am slowly learning the basics of upgrading. Tomorrow I will install my first video card on my current system.

[Mtx]

That's easy. You just slap it into the slot and then tell your OS which drive to grab the driver info from.

Memory upgrades, card installations, CDRom/burner installations are all easy. I can't figureout how to slave one of my harddrives. I set the jumper correctly but I'm not sure how I should connect it to the motherboard. Do I use the same connection my other Harddrive is using or what?

[Unregistered]

Yep. There should even be a second connector on the ribbon cable for a second hard drive. If you hgave one set to slave, and the other to master just hook them bothin to the same cable and your good to go.

Here is the local shop i got mine from and am going to be getting my next one from: www.centralcomputers.com

[avail]

www.hypersonic-pc.com

Pretty good stuff.

[Airlift]

I got my parts from googlegear.com and I will use them again next time.

[Navaron]

Make sure you have the ribbon in right, maker sure the pins are set right, and make sure the bios boots right. thats it.

[Mtx]

Everything is connected correctly and the device manager says the device is working properly.

The computer didn't designate a Drive letter for the second HD though. So how do I access it?

[mistled]

Make sure your master drive's jumper is set to master and not single drive. Though if your OS detects both drives, I don't think that's the problem. How big is the second drive?? You haven't exceeded the limits of your operating system have you??

As far as buying a comp, I agree you should build it yourself. Since you know how to put in cards and things, just buy a barebones system (case, motherboard, cpu) and then add the rest yourself. That way you don't have to worry about installing the cpu. I personally always buy my motherboard and cpu together. In part to ensure compatibility and in part because I'm paranoid after finding out how easy it is to fry athlon cpu's by not aligning them just right. :O:

Check pricewatch.com before you buy anything. Sometimes they have some really good prices.

mistled

[Mtx]

Originally posted by {BOHICA}mistled
Make sure your master drive's jumper is set to master and not single drive. Though if your OS detects both drives, I don't think that's the problem. How big is the second drive?? You haven't exceeded the limits of your operating system have you??

barebones system (case, motherboard, cpu)

My master HD is set correctly and so is the Slave jumper. I just don't know how to access the drive. Is it supposed to pop an icon up for it or something? Device manager says everything is good. I know I haven't surpassed my capacity either.



*EDIT*

So which is the best kind of processor to get these days anyway?

[mistled]

I dont' know what your drive problem is. Do both drives come up when you are starting the computer??

Go into DOS and see if you can get to it there. At least that will tell you if it's a Windows thing or a hardware problem.


For gaming, Athlon XP cpu's are the best. Argue this one all people want, but in the most recent comparision I read, the Athlon XP 2800+ (2.26 GHz) beat out the Intel P4 3.06 GHz in 4 out of 6 benchmarks, even though it reads to be a much slower chip.

For other things though (multitasking in Office for example), the new P4 3.06 is best because it has hyperthreading, which allows the cpu to work on more than one command at a time. Unless the game is specificially writen for it though (I don't think any are since it's so new), it doesn't affect gaming any though.

Overall quality, I'd still go with the P4 3.06.... but since the Athlon is sooo much cheaper, I'd personally spend my money on an Athlon 2800+.

mistled

[Airlift]

It sounds to me like the drive problem is that the hard drive has not been partitioned. If it is a really big drive, you might need a specific piece of software from the manufacturer to get it recognized.