Suggestions about new comp (3 Viewers)

[anti]

Ahh okay, I've heard of no complaints from my friends, but thanks for the headsup.

I think RAM is something you may keep between computers, so it's worth getting something which you know will last. Same with hard drives (why pay less and risk it failing).

 

[Casmira]

Why dont you get a S939? they have an emulating 32bit on the CPU and even that kills all current P4's out

 

[MedNez]

Post courtesy of Winston_

Sustainability is a critical factor in system considerations. It's all relative to what you exactly want and will be using it for, we have gamers, we have Media freaks (the home entertainment type people), and we have a less tech savvy individuals who just want it for individual use.

This is in response to the first pages configuration list:

Lets take it from an 'almost' accurate sustainable approach.

Thinking in terms of future software demands, the hype with 64 Bit going mainstream, have you considered going for a 64 Bit based processor?

Motherboards, there's so many, depending on the socket type 64 Bit CPU you get.

RAM Sounds decent enough, and just about up to par for all categories of computing use.

Harddrive - It's not only the piece of item that stores your data in contributes alot to the overrall performance too, in some cases. Is it a SATA Hard Drive?

Monitor: Good enough, if you're a gamer, you go for a LCD monitor with a response time of < 16ms.

Make sure you don't get a dodgy case, you might cut yourself or others when they install components in the future. Plus a big case is healthy for airflow.

Video Card: One again depending on your needs, the cards sufficient for now.

DVD: I've had personally bad experiences with Sony, but recently i got a new Sony DVD Dual layer, it's meeting it's standards, however i heard the NEC ones are decent.

Sound Card: Back to the whole user needs, if you're a entertainment freak, otherwise, good enough.

Speakers: Intended to get this one, it cost about $ 40 more, (believe me, every dollar counts when it comes to a new system), get the x-530 Logitech ones, still 5.1 speakers, but $ 99, excellent buy. the 640s are an old range i believe.

Keyboard: Up to you

Now, some people might have said: get a PC compliant for Longhorn, this is all relative to what's your general upgrade cycles, 6 mths? 12 mths? etc... Being a Longhorn enthusiasts, and actually knowing the real side of Longhorn as opposed to some people in this thread. If you took some of the changes i mentioned, the system will be pretty safe for Longhorn. Let me give you a little jist about it, There's about 4 Core pillars in Longhorn, 1 Pillar, won't be in it in the final, due to some reasons, which i can't be fucked, explaining about, two pillars, will be back-ported to Windows XP and 2003, now i hope you understand these two pillars aren't visible in the OS, it's a programming side of thing for developers to leverage these two pillars. It doesn't render XP and 2003, ad being Longhorn. From the looks of things, many of todays recent systems, can support Longhorn without much issues, don't listen to people when they say Longhorn needs 2gb of RAM, because these are idiots who know nothing, XP needed more RAM because the user-interface was bitmap rendered through Visual Styles, Longhorn uses Vector to render their UI, it's different. The two main issues that still wouldn't be definite will be, whether or not a 32 bit version will be available (i'm sure it is), but that's why going 64 bit will be a little safer, and also graphics card, the demand will change as time goes on, but yeah.

In response to one of the posters, addymac? i think, yes there are boards supporting AMD 64 with PCIe, i just got one, running on socket 939, the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce 4 Motherboard.

Anyways, happy computer buying !

</Winston_>

 

[velox]

yeah they nec 3500 dvd burner is good, but the pioneer is (i think) cheaper, and probably the better one to go for.

Btw: where is Winstons these days?

 

[Lainee]

You would have to buy the office suite. You could get an educational version though - maybe preinstalled if you bought a custom machine and got a store to set it up.

One of my friends says she could get a pirated version for me, so I don't have the added expense... She gurantees me that it'll work perfectly fine but... is that a good idea? It'll save me a couple of hundred, I'm guessing.

A Sony case will be expensive? (I can't see Sony having cheap anythings) If you're feeling adventurous get your own case (anything from $50-$200+) and then get him to install everything in it. Having an ugly case sucks It's also a good idea to remind him that if your case is black, you want BLACK EVERYTHING. That is, black CD/DVD-RW, black 3.5" drive (if you have one), black keyboard/mouse, black monitor. Nothing uglier than a beige drive in a black case

Hmm, I saw the BenQ monitor somewhere before and it was silver. I suppose black everything else would still match?

XP home is fine if you're just going to be using it for general purposes. If you have a wireless network make sure you get SP2 (you can download it but it might be nice to get someone else to do all those updates for you) as well.

I'll be getting a laptop soon as well, so I'm thinking wireless network. What exactly is SP2? Oh and if I'm networking, what things should I get for added security?

Why dont you get a S939? they have an emulating 32bit on the CPU and even that kills all current P4's out

Can you explain what this is?

Thinking in terms of future software demands, the hype with 64 Bit going mainstream, have you considered going for a 64 Bit based processor?

Harddrive - It's not only the piece of item that stores your data in contributes alot to the overrall performance too, in some cases. Is it a SATA Hard Drive?

I'm not sure what you mean by the processor... and how do I know if it is a SATA hard drive?

And... what is Longhorn?


Thanks for all the suggestions guys, but I need alot of explaining to go with it, or I won't get what you're talking about!

 

[anti]

Hmm, I saw the BenQ monitor somewhere before and it was silver. I suppose black everything else would still match?

That's up to you now isn't it Nothing about a computer has to be aesthetically pleasing to anybody other than you..

I'll be getting a laptop soon as well, so I'm thinking wireless network. What exactly is SP2? Oh and if I'm networking, what things should I get for added security?

SP2 is service pack 2, which is an update for Windows XP. It improves wireless network compatibility among other things.

Security-wise, make sure your wireless network supports WEP (a protocol for encrypting all wireless traffic) and use a 64 or 128bit key (probably not worth going into detail here). For normal networking, make sure you have a firewall (zonealarm for example) which prevents rubbish coming into your system, and a good antivirus scanner (like norton, mcafee, etc) - don't forget to update it regularly.

Also - a SATA hard drive is a particular type of hard drive which is easier to install and runs slightly faster than other drives.. just ask the guy you're buying from whether it's SATA or not. To enable a SATA drive your motherboard needs to be relatively recent but if you're buying new it should be fine.

And Longhorn is the up-and-coming version of Windows which won't be out for some time. Making sure your computer will support Longhorn is just a matter of making sure your equipment is up to date. It's not really worth investing a lot of money into supporting Longhorn at the moment since it will cost less in the future anyway.

 

[MedNez]

One of my friends says she could get a pirated version for me, so I don't have the added expense... She gurantees me that it'll work perfectly fine but... is that a good idea? It'll save me a couple of hundred, I'm guessing.

Not a good idea at all, piracy is illegal, and morally wrong *slight tapping of the nose*.

Can you explain what this is?

Don't worry about the S939. That's a little beyond the scope of what we're dealing with and looking into.

I'm not sure what you mean by the processor...

That post was from Winston_, not myself, but the general idea was whether you were trying to "future proof" the computer or not, but again, I think the 64-bit processors are a little over the scope what we're deciding on.

 

[Casmira]

S939 is a series of Athlons that have 939 pins on their cpu, they perform the best (so far anyway), don't generate much heat, perform on 64bit based functions as well as 32bit

edit:
get a bigger hdd, a good 200gb will suit you well, SATA isnt really worth imo, if your hdd dies and you try too recover data youll need another comp with SATA unless your using a converter

-1gb is essential amount of ram, XP loves it
-you dont _need_ a decent video card, unless youre a gamer but if you aren't then its a good idea not to get into it if youre in year 12 now, and if you already are then stick with a half decent card, opening your computer up too more game only prooves to take up time, if you dont have HSC for awhile or done it, then get a better card such as 6800 Vanilla

-lcd monitors have dropped in price alot, get one

 

[MedNez]

*gripping chair just that little bit harder*

Please read the thread carefully before you reply 4 pages later with lots of big changes, casmira. Lainee as she has pointed out, is not an expert at computers, and justification of your hardware choices would greatly assist the decisions she has to make.

get a bigger hdd, a good 200gb will suit you well, SATA isnt really worth imo, if your hdd dies and you try too recover data youll need another comp with SATA unless your using a converter

A 200gb will suit her well? The original hard drive was 80gb, and that was seen as sufficient by a friend who quoted her for the specs. 200gb is a little overkill, for what it's going to be used for. SATA works with her hardware, and if for some reason it dies, which is fairly unlikely, mind you, it becomes the computer store's problem to retrieve the data, and I'm sure they know very well that they need to stock IDE and SATA complient motherboards to plug hard drives into.

1gb is essential amount of ram, XP loves it

Eh? 1gb is essential? If it's essential, why does almost every single computer shipped as an out-of-the-box setup come with 256 or 512mb ? If it was essential, all computers would ship with 1gb. It is by far essential. 512mb is fine for what she will be using the computer for.

you dont _need_ a decent video card, unless youre a gamer but if you aren't then its a good idea not to get into it if youre in year 12 now, and if you already are then stick with a half decent card, opening your computer up too more game only prooves to take up time, if you dont have HSC for awhile or done it, then get a better card such as 6800 Vanilla

... I'm not sure if that was even worth saying? "Don't get a good video card because you may be tempted to run out and buy games for it". I don't like having to be blunt, but that's outright stupid. That's close enough to me saying, "I have a draw full of steak knives in my kitchen, therefore I might be tempted to go and murder people".

lcd monitors have dropped in price alot, get one

...

Because something drops in price, doesn't mean you should run out and buy it. Lots of expensive things drop in price, that doesn't mean you run out and get one straight away just because it's lower in price. Do you have anything else to justify why she should get an LCD ? Or was it a baseless fact that didn't need to further complicate the post?

PLEASE justify why you want to change all these components when we've finally started to narrow down the choices. Don't reinflate the balloon once we've started to let the air out without providing at least a reason why you should buy something, other than it has dropped in price. It works better for everyone that way.

 

[+Po1ntDeXt3r+]

nah 1gb is better..
its cos lik companies lik HP and compaq are cheap.. to keep over heads low.. and most 'average' consumers dun require comps for vid editing but the extra ram helps with load up and extra programs..

so if u can get 1gb its about extra $100 for 512 mb .. thats pretti good

 

[jm1234567890]

1gig is essensial if you can afford it

 

[...]

its not about value for money
its more about how it will be used

surely 1gb of ram is better than 512mb of ram

but i don't see why she needs 1gb, when 512mb is more than sufficient

 

[ogmzergrush]

Because something drops in price, doesn't mean you should run out and buy it. Lots of expensive things drop in price, that doesn't mean you run out and get one straight away just because it's lower in price.

I was thinking the same thing. On that note Casmira, I hear sex changes are getting cheaper these days.

and in response to +Po1ntDeXt3r+, yes, the price difference may be negligible (In your eyes), but that doesn't change the fact that 1gb is a waste if the person using the system will never use it, or if the benefits will be insignificant. By the same logic, most the components listed have alternatives which are more expensive but offer better performance. Why not suggest excessive spending on everything? Wait, maybe dual processors are a good idea, and processors are relatively cheap these days too. gg.

As you noted, the average user isn't likely to need it, and if you'd read the rest of the thread, you perhaps would have noticed that the person enquiring about the system doesn't seem to be interested in video editing or other such RAM intensive tasks.

It's all fine and dandy to be able to recommend quality hardware in response to queries such as this, but one thing that people seem to need to remember to take into account is matching the designed system to the user's requirements.

 

[Wraith]

nah 1gb is better..
its cos lik companies lik HP and compaq are cheap.. to keep over heads low.. and most 'average' consumers dun require comps for vid editing but the extra ram helps with load up and extra programs..

so if u can get 1gb its about extra $100 for 512 mb .. thats pretti good

You know, it'd look a lot more respectable response if you had just used english instead of fuckwit.

As for RAM, you don't NEED 1GB. It's nice to HAVE 1GB, but it's not essential.
XP runs fine under 128MB if you can be bothered figuring out how to set it up properly.

Besides, load up is usually a bottleneck for HD's, not RAM.

 

[jm1234567890]

no it is essensial in that if you have such a fast CPU you will prolly have multiple applications open and 1gig is needed to keep everything running smoothlly.

 

[jm1234567890]

Ahh okay, I've heard of no complaints from my friends, but thanks for the headsup.

I think RAM is something you may keep between computers, so it's worth getting something which you know will last. Same with hard drives (why pay less and risk it failing).

lolz keep ram between computers....

i have never keep ram between computers

EDO -> PC100 -> PC133 -> DDR ..... DDR2?

it just keeps changing

 

[ogmzergrush]

no it is essensial in that if you have such a fast CPU you will prolly have multiple applications open and 1gig is needed to keep everything running smoothlly.

I think the problem here is that there seems to be a misunderstanding as to the meaning of 'essential'. The system will run the tasks typically carried out by an average user with less than 1gb of ram, which would indicate that it is in fact NOT essential. If this amount of RAM was ESSENTIAL, then these tasks would not be able to be carried out without it. This is clearly not the case, and I think, is the source of the problem here.

 

[jm1234567890]

I think the problem here is that there seems to be a misunderstanding as to the meaning of 'essential'. The system will run the tasks typically carried out by an average user with less than 1gb of ram, which would indicate that it is in fact NOT essential. If this amount of RAM was ESSENTIAL, then these tasks would not be able to be carried out without it. This is clearly not the case, and I think, is the source of the problem here.

then you might as well spend less on CPU

 

[anti]

Not forward-compatible, jm.. backwards.

I have three boxes sitting in my room at the moment, and my sister has a computer upstairs. Given that I'd only upgrade one of those computers at a time, it makes sense that I'd want to take the RAM I have at the moment and put it in one of my other computers.

 

[poloktim]

I think you should just buy a cheap second hand computer and intstall Linux on it. These people are pulling you either way.

"OMG YOU MUST HAVE 1GB OF RAM OR ELSE WINDOWS WILL COME TUMBLING DOWN! IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO ME YOU WILL BE SORRYRYRYRYRYRY!!!!!!1111ONEONEONE"

The fact is, Windows does require some power, but not as much as people are saying here. Windows runs smoothly on my AMD K6-2 533 mhz computer, I can use office 2000, mIRC, and have a development environment open for programming all at once with little lag.

Linux on the other hand, is very kind. I think if we're arguing about how an operating system can't handle resources, then we might as well introduce an operating system that can. Linux. It's a time-sharing environment (unlike Windows) so it a little more free to multi-task. But since you're not very computer literate, as you've stated. I'll give an idea that lots of people will hate as equally as they do when it comes to Linux:

Get an Apple computer. They're time-sharing, being based on a BSD, and you can do your uni work on them. Also, if you find you need Windows, Virtual PC is possible. It allows you to use windows on your mac (as a mac application).

Hope this helps.