I wanna buy a new k0mpud3r.

I'm thinking about getting a new k0mpud3r. The one that I have is really really old.

Well, right now I have:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.53 GHz
768 MB of RAM
110 GB Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500
DVDRW IDE1004
Lite On DVD Rom
Lite On LTR

Anyways, I got this PC for free from a friend of my fathers. After I buy my new PC, the one that I own currently will turn into a internet browsing computer. The one I buy will be primarily for gaming. They both will be in my room hooked up to the internet. I don't know whether I lag in games because of my computer, which I think is the case, or whether it's my internet connection or something else.

Here's the download speed - http://www.speedtest.net/result/300516892.png

I've been saving all summer for a new PC. I want to build my own PC, but I'm finding already built ones that I like for pretty cheap. I don't need a graphics card because my parents will buy me one. I'll just need a mobo that can support it.

Two pre built PC's have caught my eye.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd93700050005
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd93300050015

I don't know much about computers, honestly. I know I can build one though with my dad's helped so if that'd be cheaper I just might as well do that.

What i'm going to need out of a new PC.

4 GB RAM
Good CPU
Good PSU
Graphics card around $250
An LCD monitor. Hopefully 19 inch.
Keyboard and mouse. Cheapest as possible. I'm hoping to spend under 10 here. (If that's possible)
I don't think I need more than 500 GB. I still haven't used up all 110 GBs.
I'd prefer XP over Vista. That's what I don't like about the pre-builts.

links doesnt work for me m8

Agh, damn. I'll try to find them again.

Your internet connection will hold you back, but internet is easy to change your cpu is probably causing the majority of lag with that graphics card, source is very cpu heavy and anything around that speed is going to make things very choppy under a heavy firefight.

I also have a single core 3500+ and used to have an nvidia fx5200 paired with it, well now I got a new video card with 512mb vram and all that fancy, it did make it better but the cpu still holds it back a lot I can tell.

Here's the links.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 3700050005

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 3300050015

Someone on steam forums suggested this -

Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
P45 chipset motherboard
4GB DDR2800 (2x2gb) ram
Visiontek ATI HD4850/HD4870 512mb
Corsair TX650W (best value/money PSU)
Western Digital 640GB SATAII 16MB/32MB cache hard drive
any DVD+RW drive (SATA of course)
case of your choice, needs to me compatible with ATX

you dont want either of the ones that you posted links to. They will not hold you over and you can get much better deals if you wanna tackle building your own.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... 0&t=553826

Dont say I never took care of you. Keep an eye on the slickdeal's forum and you can have a cheap but power pc in no time.

What do you mean hold me over? I've been playing on low settings on everything for a long ass time and I don't care if I keep playing on low settings. I've never cared about graphics. I just don't want things to lag when I am in a firefight. I just want to make sure before I upgrade that my internet won't hold me back too too much.

Nothing wrong with that internet its faster than mine.


Do you really need?
A surge protector
Geek Squad® - 10' USB 2.0 A/B Cable
Canon - PIXMA All-In-One Photo Printer/ Copier/ Scanner
without those you would save probabyl $100 maybe.

BI if you want a smoother running game and the best FPS you can you CARE about graphics and graphics cards. Also the better your graphics set up is the better you can snipe people from long distance. You also want a fast processor. You are looking to improve your gaming with an improved machine.

emachines SUCK!

There is a reason the Dell is so cheap.
It has integrated Graphic = SUCKS for gaming
The processor is a 2.53 Dual core (not bad) but only has 3 mb cashe when most have 4 but that in itself may not be too bad.
If you could get the same machine with a 512 mb vid card it would be better and yes it would be a vast improvement over what you already have.

Good Luck with your search

Thanks paradox. My parents are going buy me a graphics card so I have like 700 to spend. Or, that's how much I hope to make. : )

700 is plenty for the box without graphics the system posted to you in steam forums is about right for now you could swap the CPU for a E8500 or Q9300

badinfluence wrote:What do you mean hold me over? I've been playing on low settings on everything for a long ass time and I don't care if I keep playing on low settings. I've never cared about graphics. I just don't want things to lag when I am in a firefight. I just want to make sure before I upgrade that my internet won't hold me back too too much.

All I am saying is that the machines you posted will not be able to hold you over within a year. Meaning, they are overpriced and not something any gamer would really want. They are not built for updating either. With a little effort, you could get a very good machine, within your price range, that would make the 2 you posted look silly. You should look for highend parts that are very upgradable and on sale.

Well, you've seen my computer. I'm not worried about a computer holding me back because you've seen my machine. I've been behind top of the line for a long ass time. I wanna make this computer work for around 5 years. Of course, by the 5th year, it'd probably be where I'm at right now which is completely fine.

The problem with this is

Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
P45 chipset motherboard
4GB DDR2800 (2x2gb) ram
Visiontek ATI HD4850/HD4870 512mb
Corsair TX650W (best value/money PSU)
Western Digital 640GB SATAII 16MB/32MB cache hard drive
any DVD+RW drive (SATA of course)
case of your choice, needs to me compatible with ATX

I still need a monitor and I still don't know how much all of this is going to cost.

Yo punk, could you comment on this issue?

Sup sup. I'm back.

I have 715 dollars. Can someone build me a computer on newegg? Just remember, I need windows XP and a monitor.

the important part

motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3
cpu: INTEL Core2 Quad Q9300
ram: GEIL Black Dragon 4096Mb DDR2 800Mhz KIT (if you dont want to oc your computer, you can buy geil value rams instead)
videocard: radeon hd4850
psu: corsair vx450 (no need for bigger unless you want sli / crossfire)
monitor: SAMSUNG T220

im sure you can find these on newegg.

How many watts is that PSU?

And another question. What does the MS mean on the monitors? Some have 5ms, others have 8ms.

MS is milliseconds, its a response time i believe, and the vx450 is 450 watts which is fine for the system he posted, but its not much more to go with a 550 watt from crosair either.

theres no need for a 550w psu. if you like big numbers in your signature, go for it tho

badinfluence wrote:How many watts is that PSU?

And another question. What does the MS mean on the monitors? Some have 5ms, others have 8ms.

response time, basically how fast the pixels can change from one colour to another, the lower the better.

Alright, gimme a couple more minutes and I'll post what I have.

I can't figure out how to post my wishlist.

?

Den no k0mpud3r for joo!

Fuck it. I'll just type it.

Biostar TForce Motherboard---------------------------------------------------------$89.99
Hitachi Deskstar 7200 RPM SATA 320 GB Hard drive-----------------------------------$59.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Processor-----------------------------------------$179.99
Tricod 8068 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply-----------$39.99
Corsair 4GB DDR2 Memory----------------------$87.00 with 20 dollar mail in rebate--- $67.00
Hanns-G Black 19" 5ms LCD Monitor------------------------------------------------$159.99
Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2b for system builders----------------------------$84.99

What do you guys think of the e-GeForce 8500 GT?

I wouldnt even consider anything less than a 8800 gt,prices are about 120.00 right now.

If your going to build a system for 700.00 thats probably about what you could get, if it were me I would save just a few more dollars and hold out another month or more to try to get a better motherboard, and power supply. Generally the ones that come in cases are pretty cheap and can be had for 10.00 if bought separately. Cheap power supplies can cause crashing and other issues so I budget at least 40-50 for one that is decent in the 450-550 watt range. The ram should be fine, the processor is fine, the HDD is fine, the OS is fine, as far as a monitor goes, you didnt say if it was wide screen, I would get a WS for sure, an I have seen 19" WS with 2 ms response times for the same price you posted so find a better one there.

wow this is kinda worse than what i recommended. no good, no good!

The cheapest 2ms widescreen i've found was 189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... 06%3A21391

Is it worth it to spend 5 more dollars for vista? I was told that XP only supports 3gb of ram.

Find another motherboard. Try an MSI. Biostar is not known for quality.

For a gaming system, get XP.

Check into the Intel Core 2 Quad at 179.99. It says OEM, which means you'll need a HSF.
Don't think it comes with a cooler.

dont buy msi motherboards.

yeah bio star and msi would not be on my list of possibilites, I would look for gigabyte, asus, intel, boards with a q6600

Thanks guys.

Also, not much use for a quad core as far as gaming goes, as most games wont even use 2 cores, and iirc none use 4. A faster dual core would give better performance and less heat / power consumption at similar or lower cost.

I recommend asus motherboards...people who have gotten doa boards say the customer support is shite, but ive never had to deal with them.

here's what you need to know. your motherboard is everything, everything. DO NOT chince on the mobo. the cpu your talking about is not going to be worth shit if you buy a shitty mobo. buy either an ASUS or nForce. the 750i nForce is nice, the p5n-d or p5n-e are nice from ASUS. they are all about $160, you need to spend that tho. you want something with sli incase you want dual(or more) GPU's in the future. also, you DO need a high power PSU, if your running quad core cpu that alone is going to take up a lot of power, never mind alll the power new gpu's take up. for RAM, i HIGHLY recomend CRUCIAL. it's the best RAM you can buy, life time warentee. dont spend all your money on 4 gigs of crap ram, spend it on 2 gigs of quality ram. windows 32 xp can't utilize 4 gigs of ram anyway, wont even reconize it.(native anyway). other than that, make sure you get a case that is WAY bigger then what you need. 2 reasons 1) airflow 2) room to build later. for a gpu, i always went with ATI but their marketing has fallen short, meaning a lot of games are being built for nVidea, which is why you see their ads at the beginning. nVidea throws big gaming comps money and their driver specs, in turn the gaming companies write their games to run better with nVidea. i have two similar gpu's one is from ati and the other from nVidea. UT3 crashes every 5 mins on the ATI card, works fine with the nVdiea. now, if this is your first build, hit me up on steam, ill help you out, i've built prolly 10 + machines. its also important to make sure everything in your machine is running at the same bus speeds. a lot of ppl make that mistake. good luck man

Double post.

Thanks chemical. This was my first machine and I've gotten a lot of advice from you guys. You'll probably call me stupid, but I needed a budget machine. This is what I finally came up with. I'll probably add more stuff later (Better psu), but this is what I started off with.


Link Depot 4Pack 80mm Case Fan-----------------------------------------------------$3.99
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB-----------------------------------------------------$159.99
Evercool 95mm Ever Lubricate CPU Cooler---------------------------------------------$7.99
Bytecc 42-1 USB Card Reader--------------------------------------------------------$9.99
Intel BOXDGG31PR LGA 775 Motherboard---------------------------------------------$64.99
Hitachi Deskstar 7200 RPM SATA 320 GB Hard drive-----------------------------------$59.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Processor-----------------------------------------$179.99
Tricod 8068 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply-----------$39.99
Corsair 4GB DDR2 Memory----------------------$87.00 with 20 dollar mail in rebate--- $67.00
Hanns-G Black 19" 5ms LCD Monitor------------------------------------------------$159.99
Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2b for system builders----------------------------$84.99

Why the 8800gts? 4850 stomps it and cost about the same after mail in rebate.

Edge wrote:Why the 8800gts? 4850 stomps it and cost about the same after mail in rebate.

I think anyone that has had any experience with ATI cards and Nvidia cards would tell you that the driver support for ATI is no where near what Nvidia has, the ATI cards in general run hotter and louder, and many games simply do not perform well with the ATI cards. Sure ATI has a new product and it can perform well in a few benchmarks, but only time will tell if they have overcome the other problems they are known to have. Over the years I have had way to many ATI cards die on me to consider buying one again.

The latest news from ATI is that they have ramped up there driver support, to include Linux.
They have said they are guilty of neglecting driver support and game development and have made changes.

We need competition. I have always thought ATI had a better look and the new GPUs look very powerful.
Folks should consider ATI.

(i was very happy w/my X800xl, disappointed with dual 7950's, and love my GTS. I will now go back to ATI and crossfire for Intel chipset, since Nvidia and Intel are a no go).

L2k wrote:

Edge wrote:Why the 8800gts? 4850 stomps it and cost about the same after mail in rebate.

I think anyone that has had any experience with ATI cards and Nvidia cards would tell you that the driver support for ATI is no where near what Nvidia has, the ATI cards in general run hotter and louder, and many games simply do not perform well with the ATI cards. Sure ATI has a new product and it can perform well in a few benchmarks, but only time will tell if they have overcome the other problems they are known to have. Over the years I have had way to many ATI cards die on me to consider buying one again.

I'm running vista and haven't had issues with drivers, now thats a miricale for one.

The heat and sound issues are true, heat can be dealt with by making the fan run at a manual percentage such as 60 percent in game, it is loud, but when playing a game like hl2dm you have headphones canceling out outside sound, and when your not in game you can change the fan speed down.


http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art ... RodXNpYXN0

Also reviews of the 4850 on tomshardware and a lot of other review sites.

badinfluence wrote:Thanks chemical. This was my first machine and I've gotten a lot of advice from you guys. You'll probably call me stupid, but I needed a budget machine. This is what I finally came up with. I'll probably add more stuff later (Better psu), but this is what I started off with.


Link Depot 4Pack 80mm Case Fan-----------------------------------------------------$3.99
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB-----------------------------------------------------$159.99
Evercool 95mm Ever Lubricate CPU Cooler---------------------------------------------$7.99
Bytecc 42-1 USB Card Reader--------------------------------------------------------$9.99
Intel BOXDGG31PR LGA 775 Motherboard---------------------------------------------$64.99
Hitachi Deskstar 7200 RPM SATA 320 GB Hard drive-----------------------------------$59.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Processor-----------------------------------------$179.99
Tricod 8068 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply-----------$39.99
Corsair 4GB DDR2 Memory----------------------$87.00 with 20 dollar mail in rebate--- $67.00
Hanns-G Black 19" 5ms LCD Monitor------------------------------------------------$159.99
Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2b for system builders----------------------------$84.99

ugh,
dude,
nvm, i gave you my advise,

{EE}chEmicalBurn wrote:Big Block of Text.

Yes, I know you gave me advice. I am not worried about SLI because I don't plan to buy another video card. About the airflow, I'll have around 6 fans I believe(?) so I'm not too worried. I don't think I'll be building much later as I won't have a job again until next summer. Now, I did do some of my research. Windows XP can use all four gigs of RAM. You just have to change some things. I read this directly from the windows site. I'm getting a pay check sometime next week so I will have money for another PSU.

Edge - I bought the card that I did because someone said I should buy a 512 MB card. I thought 512 < 640 so I said I'll go with that one. Lol that was pretty much what I based my decision off of. Plus, i didn't have enough for a 9 series. My parents said the limit was 160. D;

Overall, this was a new experience for me. I've never done something like this and I'm looking forward to doing it again sometime in the future. Unfortunately, my other computers graphics card went out. I'm looking to buy a 7 series. I want lowest of the line just because that's how my old one was. The old computer that i've had will be used for friend's that come over that want to play and internet surfing.

This is your first build? Enjoy it. I learned alot when I built my computer and I had alot of fun (and some frustration lol) planning it out and getting it to work. Installing win Xp can be a bit of a pain sometimes but I think with your build it will be fine. Enjoy and Good Luck!

Yeah, that's why I have absolutely no clue. ; P

dude, i can't stress this enough, you are putting a monster VC, a monster CPU, and 4 gigs of ram onto a mobo not made for gaming. you're going to fry that thing so fast. im telling you, do some chores, or rake leaves, what ever you need to raise another $100. with those components you need a really good mobo. you will be sorry in the end, cause you're going to fry that board and then have to buy a new one and/or do an RMA which is a huge pain in the ass. trust me, i know money is tight, but it will be worth it. i get all my parts from tigerdirect.com or newegg.com. they have good deals there, you should check it out.

So, I put my computer together. My father thinks that my video card was dropped during shipping. It had a big dent in the box, but we opened it up thinking that it'd be alright. It wasn't. It kept screaming. (Making a high pitched noise) so we are going to send it back and ask for another.

Owned

limit of a 160 on a video card you said? You can get a 9 series on sale for that price. I did like a month or so ago, the BFG 9600gt oc 512mb version, uh, plus tax though.

Yea best to send it back and get it replaced, but btw windows xp non 64 bit edition can't access all 4 gigs of ram, nor can any operating system that isn't 64 bit, it has to deal with the hardware limitations not the software. The software only matters because you need an os that can use x64 bit architecture.

So since some people thought case psu's were crap. I've looked up these three.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817101034

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817339022

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817339009

Watcha think?

I have never heard of any of those brand of PSUs. Some of them dont have power cords with them, which you are going to need. 550 or so watt seems kind of low these days for the typical gaming rig. You dont want to go cheap here either, because if the PSU does not deliver the right about of power on the rails, it could effect performance or at worst fry something. As Chemical recommended, do some chores for people for money to get a few more bucks and buy a better PSU and a better motherboard.

I agree you need a better PSU then those three, try to find a brand like Ultra, Thermaltake, or Corsair.

OCZ is also very good and dependable.

Make sure you get one that will have enough wattage for whatever you are going to run, plus some. You dont want to work the PSU to its limit, it will shorten the life of it.

Paradox wrote:Make sure you get one that will have enough wattage for whatever you are going to run, plus some. You dont want to work the PSU to its limit, it will shorten the life of it.

This.

badinf, if you must go with a cheap PSU, consider getting one rated at twice what you intend on using. Cheap PSUs can start flaking out around 75 to 80% of their rated wattage, and when it happens, they're particularly sinister to diagnose because it often looks like a problem from some other component in your system.

I've used Enermax and Antec. From experience, Antec honored their 3-year warranty on a 2.75-year old PSU that gradually faded on me.

The Resident wrote:

Paradox wrote:Make sure you get one that will have enough wattage for whatever you are going to run, plus some. You dont want to work the PSU to its limit, it will shorten the life of it.

This.

Cheap PSUs can start flaking out around 75 to 80% of their rated wattage, and when it happens, they're particularly sinister to diagnose because it often looks like a problem from some other component in your system.

VERY TRUE, great point

Ok. So here's my old computer.

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee33 ... 143a-1.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee33 ... 2143-1.jpg

I'm looking to just upgrade the video card.

Here's two that I've found.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131070
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131097

All I want the old computer for is running hl2dm on LOW settings. Nothing else and nothing more.


SPECS:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.53 GHz
768 MB of RAM
110 GB Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500
DVDRW IDE1004
Lite On DVD Rom
Lite On LTR

badinfluence wrote:Ok. So here's my old computer.

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee33 ... 143a-1.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee33 ... 2143-1.jpg

I'm looking to just upgrade the video card.

Here's two that I've found.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131070
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131097

All I want the old computer for is running hl2dm on LOW settings. Nothing else and nothing more.


SPECS:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.53 GHz
768 MB of RAM
110 GB Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500
DVDRW IDE1004
Lite On DVD Rom
Lite On LTR

i have the 1650 pro, used it in an older machine. I liked it, i think you would be happy with that card. IMO well worth $50

i would also take that usb hub out of there, that mobo looks like it prolly has 2 or 3 slots available on board. i doubt you are using more than that.

move that sound card(im guessing thats what's in the PCI slot) down to the last slot and invest in a $10 exaust fan, seat it under the video card. it will suck the heat from the video card fan and blow it out of the case.

it looks like you have 2 cd/dvd rom drives in there....why? unless you are doing a lot of dvd/cd copying not sure why you would have 2. even then im not sure why you have 2. you're just drawing unneed power from your PSU. take one out. and put the HD and the dvd drive on the same IDE(master and slave them) not only will this help with power usage but will help with airflow as well.

i see 3 sticks of RAM, they must be 1/4 gig each. you might wanna think about replacing 2 of the 256's with 2 512's. under a gig of RAM with XP is rough.

I bought the 1650. I'm crossing my fingers to get it by Friday. : D