Computer system recommendations

[damunzy]

Thread purpose:
Come in a recommend a system to people. Determine what type of person it will go for (SOHO, Bleeding Edge gamer, Money bags Gamer, Lean Gamer, Server, etc.) and post what equipment they should get. It is also good to tell what the cost of the system would be, by part, that way they can subsititute parts and easily know what the cost difference will be. Read my next post for an example.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Wrong forum.... This is Site Feedback.

 

[damunzy]

fart, how did that happen
Even spammy mods can make mistakes.
and my reply message got erased! Argh! Been working on that forever. (forever = 28 minutes)

TF, please move this to Computer Talk, thanks!

edit: I know what happened. When TF changed the name of the forum it move the location of the forum in my User CP. It used to be under the Site Feedback forum but is now above it. I click on the lowest Link in my CP and didn't even check to make sure it was the correct forum. :shame:

 

[damunzy]

New System without Monitor
Lean Gaming Machine
System Cost: $517.00
Shipping Cost: $50.91
Total: $567.91

System Equipment

Cost  Item Number      Item
$039  N82E16811127002  Case - EVERCASE E4252WEF5, Intel P4 / AMD, 10-Bay, 300W 
----  ---------------  Power Supply - Comes with Case
$054  N82E16813135102  Motherboard - ECS K7S5A SiS® 735 SOCKET A MOTHERBOARD - RETAIL
$059  N82E16819104155  AMD Duron 1.2 GHZ Socket A PGA Processor 
----  ---------------  Processor Fan - Comes with processor
$001  N82E16835998001  Processor Paste - High Performance Silicone Compound, CPU Thermal Paste. 
$080  N82E16820150501  RAM - Buffalo Technology DDR DIMM 256MB PC2100 - OEM  
                             (2 Sticks $40 each, total 512MB)
$065  N82E16814145015  Video Card - Chaintech Geforce 4 MX420 Video card with TV OUT Retail
$032  N82E16829102147  Sound Card - CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER LIVE! 5.1 - OEM
$073  N82E16822140118  Harddisk Drive - WD 40GB HDD 7200RPM MODEL # WD400BB CAVIAR OEM, DRIVE ONLY
$004  N82E16812104111  EIDE Cables - 36 Inch. IDE ATA-33 Flat Cable ($2 each, 2 cables total)
$034  N82E16827120200  CD/DVD-ROM - ARTEC DVDROM 16X IDE DHI-G40 Retail
$049  N82E16827182001  CD-RW - Optorite CDRW Recorder, 32x12x40 Model CW3201 Retail 
$008  N82E16821103109  Floppy Drive - SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE - OEM
$006  N82E16812881019  Floppy Cable - ROUND, 18 inch, FLOPPY CABLE, 2-head, booted COPPER COLOR 
----  ---------------  LAN Card - Comes integrated with motherboard
$007  N82E16823119103  Keyboard - KBTEK 104 Keys Windows 95/98/me/2000/xp PS2 Keyboard
$006  N82E16826129003  Mouse - Designer Scroll Optical Mouse Model H3003 Retail

Extras:

Cost  Item Number      Item
$090  N82E16837102008  Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition - OEM Full Version
$120  N82E16824154002  HANSOL 720E 17 INCH MONITOR - RETAIL

System Cost with OS (no monitor)and shipping: $659.12 (includes $52.12 shipping)
System Cost with monitor (no OS)and shipping: $708.51 (includes $71.51 shipping)
System Cost with OS and monitor and Shipping: $799.72 (includes $72.12 shipping)

Disclaimer:
All prices are from NewEgg.com.
Shipping prices are from California to Pennsylvania so should be the same or cheaper for most people in the US.
Unfortunately NewEgg.com does not ship to Canada or overseas except to APO/FPOs.
NewEgg.com does ship to HI, AK, and PR.
I would suggest www.TCWO.com for those not living in the US as they do ship overseas.
I make no money from these companies in any way.
I provide this information for your benefit and with out warranty. Good shopping!

 

[damunzy]

Thunderfall...please move me!!!! I belong in Computer Talk. PaleHorse76 deleted the other thread since it was a darn duplicate!

Thanks.

 

[Thunderfall]

$39 for the case? That's too cheap. The Cooler Master case I have costs like $275 (it's all aluminum). I consider it a good investment.

 

[damunzy]

I personally have a 50 dollar case. Works perfectly. I can't see ever spending that much for a case unless I just have money to burn.

 

[BlueMonday]

I went down to my local computer store here in SLC (TAC) to find the ultimate PC the have up for sale. They call it the Ridiculously Insane Intel Model:

Casedge Mid-tower case / 300 watt ATX power supply
ASUS P4T-E Motherboard AGP 4x / 400 MHz bus
2.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 CPU
512 MB RDRAM (PC 800)
Dual 40 Gigabyte IBM 7200 RPM Ultra ATA/100 with Promise Fastrack 100 RAID controller card
Toshiba 16x/40x CD/DVD ROM
Plextor 40x12x40 CD-RW
128 MB DDR SDRAM GeForce 4 Ti 4600
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum sound card
U.S. Robotics 56K v.90 modem
18" NEC LCD 1850E TFT monitor
Klipsch Promedia 5.1 channel home theatre sound system
Logitech Internet Keyboard / Logitech Optical mouse
Windows XP
And since it's an actual company, three years parts and hardware warranty with lifetime free service and support.

Simply an unbelievable system, one that will blast through any program you run. If you have $3300 to spend, settle for nothing less.

 

[damunzy]

The thing is Blue that a person could put that together themself and get it for half the price. No free tech support? That is what this forum is for!!! No warranty? Most of the parts, even OEM, come with a little bit of a warranty and most parts do not go bad. The only product I had a problem with in the last 2+ years has been a hard drive. I called up Maxtor and got another. Didn't cost me a thing.....not even a phone call (800 number) or shipping (prepaid to send it back by Maxtor). So I would have pocketed over $1600 versus that company's price. I figure it is worth it for people to build there own. Hell, I am sure they have a friend that would love to help them make it and would probably do all the work because us computer geeks just love to build new systems.

Custom all the way!!!!

 

[ArmOrAttAk]

Hey, I recommend pricewatch.com for computer parts. I compared a few prices to that newegg.com and they are generally cheaper. That video card was a few bucks more but hard drive, and cpu cheaper.
I also recommend EBay, just check the sellers feedback.

 

[BlueMonday]

All right, PH. I was just trying to list out the supreme system of the hour from my most trusted source for Personal Computers, but since you want me to give a custom built price here goes. All prices taken from http://www.pricewatch.com (when a pricewatch price is unavailable):


Casedge Mid Tower case with 300 watt power supply: $40
ASUS P4T-E motherboard / 400 MHz bus: $60
2.2 GHz Intel Pentium IV CPU: $234
512 MB RDRAM (PC 800): $202
Dual 40 GIG 7200 RPM IBM hard drives: $160 ($80 each)
Fastrack Promise RAID controller: $245
CD/DVD ROM 16x40x: $35
40x12x40: $105 (with Nero Burning ROM )
128 MB DDR SDRAM GeForce 4 ti 4600: $290
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum: $170
56K v.90 modem: $12
18" LCD TFT Monitor: $650 (holy s***, that's expensive even at the extremely discounted pricewatch price)
Klipsch Promedia 5.1 channel home theatre system: $360
Logitech Intenet Keyboard: $20
Logitech Optical Mouse: $70 for the wireless
Windows XP: $100

Total system price: $2753 (plus whatever shipping costs you incur)

And that's with most of the prices being the very discounted pricewatch prices, typical retail prices would add a lot more money. I'd say that $3300 from a manufacturer for this system professionally built would not be a bad price at all.

 

[IceBlaZe]

pricewatch.com gives unreliable shops.
It's not good to buy the cheapest, the best is to buy at the local store with the seller you know and familiar with, and trust.

Could cost extra bucks, but could save hell lot of headaches and wasted money.

 

[IceBlaZe]

And by doing that you also incourage the local economy.

 

[BlueMonday]

Originally posted by IceBlaZe
pricewatch.com gives unreliable shops.
It's not good to buy the cheapest, the best is to buy at the local store with the seller you know and familiar with, and trust.

Could cost extra bucks, but could save hell lot of headaches and wasted money.

I very much agree. I would rather get all my junk from my boys down the street at TAC or LsMicro than fork over 2700 dollars via the internet to some po-dunk dealer I've never heard of then wait two months for the thing to get shipped. If I get cheated, I get pretty screwed, but with my local boys if they try to cheat me (which they never have and never will) my ass is down there straightaway.

 

[ArmOrAttAk]

Yes, you're right but I wasn't saying to wire your money to any schmuck on the internet who says he has a great deal. I've bought lots of computer parts over the internet. You just need to be careful. Just because the boys live down the street doesn't mean they're not po-dunks whatever that means heh. Ideally you look for a company there that's close to you. All of my parts arrived within 3 days, so I don't know where you get 2 months... Finally when you pay with a credit card you are protected as far as I know. Never had a problem where I needed to use that feature.

 

[IceBlaZe]

I would rather support the local shop in the city, that is owned by the seller i know, and their computer techinician is the husband of my dad's assitant and all, rather than pay for an unknown internet shop to save a few dollars or more.

 

[damunzy]

To each their own IceBlaze and try to edit your post instead of adding that one line post underneath.

I will agree that pricewatch.com can bring up some unrelyable shops but that is why you go by word of mouth and do research on the shops you are buying from.

@ArmOrAttAk:
I have heard of people having to wait an obscene amount of time to get their parts from some online dealers. Buyer beware and do your reasearch! I haven't had a horrible experience yet, but I don't use some vendors b/c of lousy customer service. NewEgg.com seems pretty good though: Great prices and they receive great ratings.

 

[chiefpaco]

I'm in the market for a new PC. My folks live in a small town where the prices are ridiculous. They don't want any hassles, so they are buying my computer and then I can buy one from the stores in my (bigger) city. Unfortunately, this limits me to a budget (cause they actually want to save money), but at least I can make some gains.

My system now:
1GHz Athlon, ASUS A7V133 MB, 256 MB SRAM, 40GB HD, Leadtek GForce2MX 400, SBLive Value, etc...

New system I am considering from a local shop (sticking to about a $1000 budget):

AMD Duron 1300 MHz Processor
AMD Authorized Heatsink/Fan
ECS K7S5A DDR SocketA Mainboard
256 MB PC2100 DDR Memory
40.5 GB 7200RPM ATA133 Hard Disk Drive
LG 52x CDROM
Panasonic 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
MSI GF2 MX400 64MB AGP Video Card
10/100 Network Interface Card
Conexant 56K v.90 Modem
AC97 PCI Sound
140 Watt Amplified Speakers
Aopen PS2 Scroll Mouse
Aopen PS2 Win98 Keyboard
ATX Mid Tower Case
Antec SMART 300 Watt Power Supply
17" Samsung 753DF Monitor

Cost: $924 Cdn + Tax (about $600 USD)

I'd drop the Modem cause I only need a cable modem connection.

A few questions:
How would this system compare to my 1GHz Athlon? Would the Duron 1300 + DDR memory serve me as well? Should I seek an Athlon XP chip instead? How do I know if I can just substitute the Duron for the Athlon XP?

Any complaints with these parts? How is the ECS SIS chipset with AMD? How are the MSI video cards? I am thinking about going for a MX 440... but there are always upgrades I want...

I use tomshardware site and sharkyextreme for help in system and parts recommendations. Anyone else have more good sites?

Thanks,
cp

 

[Lostman]

Originally posted by BlueMonday
[B
Fastrack Promise RAID controller: $245
[/B]

With only 2 hard drives why would you want to set to RAID? And let's say you really had to do it (totally not needed for gaming), get a board with it built in. Soyo has some great boards with onboard RAID.

Just a thought. Save you some cash (if you where actually building this)

 

[Perfection]

X-TREME GAMING Computer

1-Apple 2 from garage sale 20$
1-Disk drive for apple 2 from garage sale 5$

Total cost 25$