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need expert advice on buying a new destop.
should i get all the parts myself and build my own? or go for branded computers like DELL? or even unbranded computers?
what would be a better built? in term of money and quality?
should i go for the branded or non-branded or built my own ( i cant build my own but a friend is willing to help me out )
Advice. Thanks
If you've got parts, upgrade. It's much cheaper. If you're going to buy a complete system, buy a pre-build one. It's just about as cheap as if you build a complete system from parts.
Gateway or Dell would both be good options. They have some pretty good refurb deals too (if you don't need the latest greatest thing).
the compute ri am using is built by me. the other computer in the house was apain cause it got al this **** pre-installed. I would recomend either a) be cool and build your own if you feel good aout messing wiht the boards inside a computer. or b) by a premade but reofrmat the hardrive. a lot of times ocmputers come wiht pre-installe d**** that waste space even after unisalation, but if you buy a built one and reofrmat the hardrive, thatm means you need to isntall windows thru dos so you will need to know how to do that. if you do this that also means buying windows or linux or wutever you will use seperatly.
if you plan on buying a mac and not a pc then you better find someone else
Klinner.. please cut down the sig. I don't mind itf it's like 10 lines of standard height text, but when it takes up 3/4 of a 1280x1024 monitor, it's just too big.
On a somewhat related note, I have the last 3 or so PCs my family has used, so I am pretty partial to building them yourself, that said, if you don't have the time to learn to build them, and have the money to afford to not have to, buying them from someone reputable like Dell won't leave you disappointed.
I was about to post about the sig, too. It takes up the complete screen on my 124x768 res screen
and it's also "under major construction" I see :)Quote:
Originally posted by face_master
I was about to post about the sig, too. It takes up the complete screen on my 124x768 res screen
lol im laughing my ass off, u all must be blind cmon 174 v 5** it is pretty big but not thta much room for m anyways, i got like 1700 sumthing x 700 sumthing. i MIGHT make it smaller.
>> 124x768 res screen
lol 124... heh... oh...
my screen res is 1280 x 1024 anything else is too big :(
so what is it? built my own ?
can dell be upgraded? do i have to buy dell parts?
eg hard-disk, 3dfx . . etc etc
and why cant i get any non-branded computers ? is it bad?
Hmm... I think i'll just add to the confusion here.
My opinion, don't buy branded computers. It's hard for a pre-built computers to answer all your demands. But above all, you'll have complete control on what you want to do with it, how you want to upgrade and with what. Most branded computers impose warranty void situations if you just happen to open your case to include a say cool new CDR drive you just bought.
With computer you built, warranties are the responsability of the parts manufacturers. So if your HD ceased to work, it doesn't matter if you opened the case before or not. Your HD will be within its warranty TOS.
As for parts, I would advice ASUS boards with Intel chipsets and PIII or above processors. Quantum hard drives, Kingston memory and ASUS video card... your milleage may vary. But check out for the best possible case. What you want is some case that doesn't impose on your upgrades. Like the power supply box becoming on top of the processor or the memories (the case I have on my gamming computer sucks. I have to remove the power supply if I want to add memories)...
Just go for the best and expect 3 to 4 months untill you finally have your system completely built. Unless you already have the dough to make your local parts supplier a happy man :)
Mario : thanks for that valuable piece of information. that is what i just needed!
it is better off to built your own computers? how do you config everything properly?and how do you find the compatible parts?
how stable will the computer be or will it hang all the time? i have a friend with a self-built computer, it always crashes! that is the only thing i am worry about . .
if so, what kinda of sites available online to the config?
Try www.cyberpowerpc.com
You can custom build your computer there. They have pull-down menus with various parts so you don't have to worry about compatibility issues.
They currently have an AMD Father's Day special. You can configure a system with:
AMD XP 1800
ASUS MB
512 MB Memory
60GB HD
16x DVD
Geforce 2-MX Video
Creative Labs SB Live Value
350 Watt Mid-Tower Case
etc...
for under $600 w/o monitor
Dunno if you can beat that price for the performance you get.
oh well . . ive got to get a part-time again. ugh ugh
if you are capable of building your own, under no circumstances shoudl you buy a pre-built piece of crap.
Personally I say buy a dell. It's getting to the point now where you can get a computer new from a company cough cough dell cough cough for the same price you can build your own. On top of that you get at least halfway decent tech support and a warranty.
Personally I prefer to build mine but I guess in the end it all comes down to money and personal preference.
oh and i forgot, if you have the money, the alien ware machines are damn good too.
Personally, I have built my first computer like 10 years back. It is now pathetic with like 66mhz, maybe 16mb ram, and like 200 MB of hard drive space. Building it myself took way to long for my liking, I don't like to work hard for a long time.
Right now you can go to most websites like dell.com or gateway.com and "customize" your computer. Where you choose what you want to upgrade from the minimum package. This doesn't take nearly as long and that is how I got my other 3 computers. It's better then pre-built because you have some say in what you want. After all, only you know if you need as little as 128 mbs of ram, want the 256 for improbed everything or if you are doing stuff that needs something like 512. I think that at the current time the most feasable thing to do is to "customize" the computer on one of those sites and have them ship it to you.
if you're asking the question, buy pre-built.
yeah.. if you don't know what you are doing, your better off just buying a decently configured Alienware Hivemind (what i'm likely to get in the future). You're better off spending $2000 on a working computer than spending $1500 to build one, then messing something up and that price going to $2000+