My Next Computer. What do you think?

[Strygun]

Well, It's about time for me to get a new computer, so I went to www.ibuypower.com (nice site, good idea about customizing the comp completely) and started designing. Here's what I came up with, please make suggestions or reassure me:

***EDIT**** See other post below, I have updated the specs of the comp I want...

Here goes..

MSI DDR400 Mobo w/ onboard lan & 8X AGP
420W power supply
AMD Athlon 2600 (might jump to 2700)
512MB PC3200 RAM
60GB ATA-100 7200RPM HD
Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
40x12x48 CDRW
Soundblaster Live! 5.1 (with 2 speakers and a subwoofer, I already own the speakers and sound card, I will put it in later, box comes with mobo onboard sound)

(Case has a window with neon light, case color is silver)

Whatcha think?

[Bighoss]

I have a 2.0 gig intel processor
768 Ram
Ti 4200 Geforce 4 graphics card
40 gb hard drive (to anyone who says thats small I still am only using 24% of that so no need for more)

I wish I could afford a new graphics card. Maybe I'll buy save up for it with my summer job and buy a ti 4600 128 mb Geforce 4 cuz it should be cheaper by then

[Civilian]

Damn nice PC! I really like iBUYPOWER, you can't do any better than them for a prebuilt system.(I dunno if I can build a system for as cheap as they offer them)


Did you get the Raidcom or i-TEC case?

[Bighoss]

I wish I had known about alienware or Ibuypower at the time. My parents gave me my computer as a middle school graduation present and I guess they didn't know that there were better computers than dell.

But its still a nice computer and it never lets me down... well maybe thats because I do a virus check, defrag, spyware locator every week.

[Bighoss]

THAT WAS MY 150 post ! VETERAN

[Civilian]

I wish I had known about alienware or Ibuypower at the time. My parents gave me my computer as a middle school graduation present and I guess they didn't know that there were better computers than dell.

But its still a nice computer and it never lets me down... well maybe thats because I do a virus check, defrag, spyware locator every week.

I thought about Alienware before I decided to build my own, but they are way to overpriced. I may be one of the few, but I have absolutely no problem with Dell or Gateway. I have owned 2 Gateway PCs (including my current PC) and though it isn't what I would consider a "gaming machine" I have had ZERO problems with it, and it performs pretty well in Wolf and CS(maybe that's just because it's the best I've ever had though).

I will be keeping my Gateway hooked up even after I finish my new PC. It has been very durable, despite my negligence.

[mistled]

Alienware is so expensive because they use all retail parts instead of OEM like other people. They also tweak the system, which almost no one else does.

[Navaron]

Stryker, look at the nForce 2 boards. They are a lot better than that one, and have a really great 6.1 integrated sound. You'll save money in the long run too.

[Strygun]

OK I did a bit more talking with friends and a bit more of money saving...here's what I came up with:

MSI board w/ onboard LAN, 8X AGP
Silver A268 case w/ 350W power supply
AMD Athlon 2600+ (still might go to 2700)
[DDR333] 512MB PC2700 RAM (upgraded with CorsairDDR333 w/ Heatspreader)
40GB HD
Radeon 9700 Pro
40x12x48 CDRW
19inch Monitor
WinXP Home Edition

Whatcha think of that one? All of that will run me $1364 (rounded to the nearest dollar)

The soundcard will be a SBLive! 5.1 (already have it, along with 2 speakers and a subwoofer)

I'm thinking of maybe a different color, I kinda like the yellow and green:

[Bighoss]

still really good. A big hard drive isn't important unless you don't maintain your computer. I have a 40 gb hard drive and only use 21%. Keep it lean and be sure to delete all cookies and spyware from the internet. Try to limit the amount of games u have to like 2-3 I have 3 at the moment.

You have a dream comp every week u should defrag, virus scan, check for spyware and delete old programs I can't stress that enough its the reason so many computers go to hell and are called pieces of Sh!t even though there still great !

[Yuyi]

I have a Ti4200 too Hope i can still play PS in high res in 800x600

[Bighoss]

yah I got one of them too thats why I'm looking into the Ti 4600

[Gortha]

@Yuyi & Bighoss:

I own a MSI GF 4 4200 128 MB myself.... and the speed-difference between a 4200 and a 4600 ist only 15 to 20 % so the price/efficiency difference is too great between an 4200 and an 4600.

My advice is to tweak your GF4 4200 to the max whats possible...
then u have only 5 to 10 % speed difference to a gf 4 4600.
(But be carefull, try to cool)

When the Radeon 9500(u can make an 9700 of it) or 9700 Pro is cheap enough or the cheapest version of the GF FX is affordable buy one of them.

Greetz
Gortha

[powdahound]

Originally posted by Bighoss
still really good. A big hard drive isn't important unless you don't maintain your computer.

It's not all about maintaining it... If you're trying to store a lot of big files and have a lot of stuff installed you'll want a lot more than 40gigs. I have an 80gig and probably have about 25gb free... I lose a lot due to partitioning though (dual bool winxp/linux).

[BLuE_ZeRO]

Yeah it's amazing how fast 40 gigs is used up. I ordered a 100 gig HD and that seemed to do the trick but when I returned my PC (due to some performance problems) the company let me upgrade at a discounted price so I got a 120 gig hd and some other things as well.