Building a computer

Not sure where yer info on Maxtor HD's comes from, but I have a 80 gig Maxtor that is 5 years old now. My first Maxtor I had for 6 years.

 

In general, Seagate or Western Digital are better choices. My Maxtor drive went out after a year or so, but any Seagate or WD drives I've ever had are like the Energizer Bunny.

 

The Seagate 5 year warranty is nice, as is the XFX "double lifetime" warranty for their video cards!

 

My preference is to buy the max motherboard I can and one that will allow a lot of upgradability and then get a savings with a more bargain CPU chip. I'll also max out the RAM and then save on the video card. I don't use FDD but if combined with a multimed reader I won't take issue with it. Definitely need a DVD writer...we sent Christmas DVD's of our pcitures from all of our adventures from the year it wsa easy to do and very cool!! Plus the backup features are nice. I have never had any real issue wth Western Digital but have had issue with both Seagate and Maxtor. 80 GB may seem big but 120+ GB is more cost effective. Monitor is dependent on your desktop space. CRT's for me have noten an issue and II save money by buying a CRT. Most motherboards these days seem to come with built-in sound, lan, modem and other features so don't forget to see if your MB comes with them, duh?! Power Supply...the more the better don't be cheap and go for the 250W...get the 400+ watt and keep it for many years. Ok enough from me...I got more spiritual things to talk about...where's the NFL thread!!

 

Looks like I'm about to be in the same boat you are, Bill. We signed the papers on our mortgagae this weekend, and I get my money for a computer out of it... in a week or so.

I'm looking at a computer for sale by someone on the forum I help on. It's not exactly what I want, but it will only cost half what I have, so I can upgade it and sell the parts I don't want.

Keep us posted!

In Christ,
Trotter

PS- Incase you want to see how the process works (putting the parts together), here's a link to a thread in the computer forum I help with. PZEROFGH (the thread starter's screen name) is only 18 (17 when he put this together, I think), but he did a pretty good job of assembling a visual tutorial. Some of the pictures are blurry, but they still show what they need to. Lots of pics, so slow on dial-up...

http://tech-forums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82566

 

I would go with aluminum. Copper gets hotter than aluminum.

 

Copper cools better than aluminum because it channels the heat better, hence it gets hotter.

Since you're going to be using your comp for pedestrian stuff, I doubt you'll be overclocking it. So, the stock heatsink/fan would do you good.

If you want to go with an aftermarket HS/F, the ZALMAN CNPS7000B-ALCU is on sale right now at NewEgg.com for $29.99. It's a bit oversized, but it works like a charm.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118112

In Christ,
Trotter

 

At least there's one thing I can put my two cents in on, I say go with the WD also. My puter IS ancient..with two small WD's in it...8Gb & 4Gb...both mfgd in 97. I was on their web site & the life expectancy was 5 yrs from that date. Both are still going strong!!
You guys are making me want to dive in, but I relly do enjoy keeping this old thing plunking along.But now that I know ya can use a computer as a DVR....HONEY!!! We need to talk!!

 

I have built my own computer for the last few years. You won't save any or much money the first time but later when you want to upgrade again you will. The biggest advantage is that when you build your own you don't have to worry about proprietary motherboards.

 

Sounds like a winner, Bill.

If you buy a wireless router, you can do either/both. I bought a Linksys WRT54G wireless router when I bought my daughter's laptop. She is able to use the wireless in her room, and I ran a Cat5 a few feet around a doorway to my new computer (room next to the old computer). Plus, most routers have a built-in hardware firewall. My router does.

19" LCD? Welcome to the club. There's no turning back.

I just got a new computer myself. Bought it off of a college student who needed the money. I got a NEC 19" LCD, and the computer consists of a CoolerMaster WaveMaster case, DI LanParty SLI-D mobo, AMD 3200+ CPU, Vantec Stealth 520W PSU, 2gig of G.Skill RAM, 80gig Seagate SATA hard drive, BenQ DVD burner, Creative Audigy sound card (but I'm using cheap speakers), MSI Geforce 7800GTX graphics card. It has Windows XP Home, and a boatload of high-dollar games (I have only played two so far). This was the condition I gave my wife about a loan we got... we could get it, but I was getting a computer.

I know you'll be as happy as I am as soon as you get your rig together.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

I used to build my own PCs and built some for work as well.

Now I just buy Apple. They are so much better and they are rather inexpensive now compared with typical PCs. AND you can now run windows on them!

My opinions are this:
Home built system: fun and flexible, as reliable as your knowledge and the quality of parts you choose. I built a P4 system a few years back that is still going well for co-worker of mine. It is now a triple monitor system!


Dell, HP etc. I do NOT like Dell, they have gone downhill a lot lately. HP does seem to be pretty decent though. The one HP I use now I have really liked and it is really small but not very expandable.


Apple, I love Macs and have so few problems with them. They now use the Intel Core Duo proccessors so they are able to run Windows XP as well. Apple has supplied all of the drivers for the graphics, sound etc.
My main system now is a Mac Mini and I use a TV tuner with it.
The only thing to watch out for on the Mac mini is the graphics, it isn't bad, but it is integrated with no option to upgrade. That said, it aint your grand fathers integrated graphics. With the dual core bench marks show that it is still a decent gamer, although not great for the latest very high intensive games.

The iMac is a great gaming machine but it cost $1300 but then it comes with a widescreen flatpanel too.

apple.com/macmini
apple.com/imac


Anyway, I liked building a PC, but when I actually wanted to get things done, I prefered just to buy a Mac.

 

Older macs are dirt cheap on ebay. Picked up a laptop 1400cs for .98 Have a restore disk on its way. I've wanted to mess with a mac for years. One son is a maccey and have always wondered what the draw is Soon to see if there is anything to it.

What is the program that you can run windows programs with on the mac? This one uses os8.

 

My wife works for Dell, and I know that we both stay away from Dell systems. We have many friends and family who've bought their systems, especially those advertized on TV, and they've had trouble, not only with the systems, but with the customer service when something goes wrong. My wife has a Compaq, and I have an HP. We have also used E-Machines. They were pre-built systems, but they were good. If you look around and really shop for a deal, you can usually get the unit for about the same price you would if you'd built it. You can even go to some websites that offer refurbs and get some really powerful computers at pretty discounted prices.

 

pricewatch.com offers some great prices on parts and peripherals. many times below the local retail store.