Maybe new computer time

[blind34_1]

Originally posted by pdiggitydogg
That explained a lot...thanks a lot guys!

I guess I'll start getting parts together now. If I come up with something else, I'll just post it here.

Yeah, once you have an idea of what you want to go with, post all the components. I like using newegg's wish list feature. You can put together a machine, it will tell you how much itll cost, and you can save your list and come back to it later.

Just to give you an idea of what a full machine would cost, heres what I am building for myself currently:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz LGA 775 - 179$
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo - 205$
Memory: Mushkin pc3200 (ddr400) 1gb kit - 175$
Video: XFX 6600 GT 128mb - 179$
Power Supply: Antec TRUE430 - 75$

just with those components we are up to a little over $800. but keep in mind I am going with Intel, which costs more, I went with a high dollar mainboard, which most people dont do, and I wanted a non-bundled powersupply (most cases come with a power supply-I don't trust them unless I'm buying an antec or enlight case)

I haven't included a hard drive, case, monitor, or any extras. Like I said, a hard drive can be had for cheap after rebates at circuit shitty or breast buy, but they won't be SATA (So make sure you have ATA support on your motherboard (most still offer one channel, which means you can run two ATA devices. Remember most optical drives are an ATA device, so that leaves room for one ATA hard drive.)

Case is a personal choice. You generally get what you pay for. House brand cases are fine, but I still like to go name brand. Antec makes some good quality and nice looking cases, for reasonable prices. Enlight makes some good solid cases, but look more plain than Antec. Lian Li is the super high end of the case spectrum. I dont even consider them because of the cost, but they are fantastic looking cases.

You may want to consider a case that has a removable motherboard tray, as this makes it easier to install the board, especially if you've never done this before. If you're not careful when installing the board, and you scrape the bottom of it on a drive bay or something, you may have just destroyed the board. A removable tray makes it TONS easier to install the board, with less risk of being fux0red.

And also, while AMD is the cpu maker of choice, and I haven't dealt with their latest products, I have had problems with them. In installing a new heat sink, I collapsed the core on a Thunderbird 1.1ghz. Poor AMD design coupled with my heavy-handedness cost me a processor. If you apply uneven pressure to the heatsink as you are latching it down, you can collapse the core on the processor, rendering it useless. All my friends run AMDs and have assembled their own machines, and have no problems. I just don't like suporting a company that makes a shoddy product. Intel actually protects the core, and it is very difficult to mess it up.

Also, intel is nice because it will throttle itself back if it gets too hot. AMDs will just burn themselves up, (this may have changed, i've heard of new motherboard hardware that will save your chip if this happens.)

So anyway, I'm not going to tell you which way to go, thats almost a matter of opinion. I would recommend you do some reading before hand. anandtech.com does great reviews, as well as sharkyextreme.com .