ATTN: Computer people

[Savstyle 10+ year member]

Well as far as building I think if I can't handle it, either my mother (comp tech.), or one of my co-workers would be able to help. It's just that I really don't have any free time...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

it would be worth it to save that much money tho. espically since u got fam that tell you what to buy.waiting sucks i know but it will be worth it in the long run man

 

[Hundreth 10+ year member]

Like I said, I think the best idea for you is a good barebone with quality components. The rest of the components literally just plug in. It would probably take you less than an hour to put the whole thing together if the motherboard/processor part was already taken care of for you.

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Like I said, I think the best idea for you is a good barebone with quality components. The rest of the components literally just plug in. It would probably take you less than an hour to put the whole thing together if the motherboard/processor part was already taken care of for you.

Right now I'm on tigerdirect building one of the build to order barebone kits....

 

[Savstyle 10+ year member]

Like I said, I think the best idea for you is a good barebone with quality components. The rest of the components literally just plug in. It would probably take you less than an hour to put the whole thing together if the motherboard/processor part was already taken care of for you.

really? its that quick? i didnt knwo this, how hard is it to put the processor on the mother board?dont mean to thread jack

 

[Hundreth 10+ year member]

Right now I'm on tigerdirect building one of the build to order barebone kits....

Cool, let us know what you find before you order.

After that Moe can just pick out some nice gear for you. Since you aren't a hardcore gamer or anything, decent stuff should be quite cheap.

 

[Hundreth 10+ year member]

really? its that quick? i didnt knwo this, how hard is it to put the processor on the mother board?dont mean to thread jack

Putting the processor isn't really hard at all these days... but it makes things simpler compatability wise and could save a lot of time. Like he won't have to deal with thermal paste and all these other little things that could go wrong lol.

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

http://www.dealcatcher.com ... hold out for a "deal" on a Dell in the level you want/need. You'll get a hell of a lot of bang for the buck if you watch that pup... particularly when new deals break out on Tuesdays, some times. I've built literally hundreds of systems, and it's tough to get quality component-built setups to meet high-spec' for near a grand, even for just the box (no monitor). Dell has the "in" on the parts manufacturers. The cool thing about picking your parts is that you get exactly what you want, and often come out with a higher-performance machine (that costs more).

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Cool, let us know what you find before you order.
After that Moe can just pick out some nice gear for you. Since you aren't a hardcore gamer or anything, decent stuff should be quite cheap.

I just built one with an Athlon 64 3200+ processor, 1GB DDR400 PC3200 Memory, Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Drive 120GB, 16x dual layer DVD burner, cdrw/dvd combo drive,ATI X300SE 128MB Video Card w/TV-Out PCI Express.

Worked out to about $800ish. Question though...when I build it, I have the option of either having 512 mb ddr for $10 extra, or 1gb (512x2) for $110, or, 256 ddr for free. Wouldn;t I save if I bought either 2 sticks of 512 or 1 of 1 gb and installed it myself?

 

[Hundreth 10+ year member]

I just built one with an Athlon 64 3200+ processor, 1GB DDR400 PC3200 Memory, Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Drive 120GB, 16x dual layer DVD burner, cdrw/dvd combo drive,ATI X300SE 128MB Video Card w/TV-Out PCI Express.
Worked out to about $800ish. Question though...when I build it, I have the option of either having 512 mb ddr for $10 extra, or 1gb (512x2) for $110, or, 256 ddr for free. Wouldn;t I save if I bought either 2 sticks of 512 or 1 of 1 gb and installed it myself?

That seems like a pretty good deal and much more powerful than the Sony already. Going that route would save you the trouble of putting the PC together, but its not that hard to begin with. See what Moe recommends from newegg first, then compare it to what you have... and see which sounds more reasonable to you.

As far as the whole ram thing goes, its important to have two sticks of the same exact kind of ram for speed purposes... so i wouldn't mix and match for the extra 512 (The single 1gb stick is ok though). I definately recommend getting all the parts besides the basics seperately though, 110$ for some generic 512 ram is a bit expensive.

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

That seems like a pretty good deal and much more powerful than the Sony already. Going that route would save you the trouble of putting the PC together, but its not that hard to begin with. See what Moe recommends from newegg first, then compare it to what you have... and see which sounds more reasonable to you.
As far as the whole ram thing goes, its important to have two sticks of the same exact kind of ram for speed purposes... so i wouldn't mix and match for the extra 512. I definately recommend getting all the parts besides the basics seperately though, 110$ for some generic 512 ram is a bit expensive.

Oh, I know about the RAM. I was looking, they had 1 gb kingston for $125, didn't seem like a bad deal.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Sony doesn't manufacture anything on/in that computer except the case-badge and decal. Maybe a CD-Rom.

 

[ruckus]

You could build something comparable for a good deal less. Its not a bad computer, but its not going to offer you any real gaming performance or anything. For $1200 you could spend it on much better hardware that would completely blow that sony out of the water.

true, however it is comparable to prices of other companies for the same machine and sony isnt a "bad" brand like hp or compaq is. So you can build one yourself but you wont find a comparable one for less from a solid company.

 

[ruckus]

Right now I'm on tigerdirect building one of the build to order barebone kits....

DO NOT BUY FROM TIGERDIRECT

I use to work for them they sell b stock merchandise. I use to get a return attempts on 3 of every 5 barebones or computer systems I sold cause they had defective parts, and I say return attempts because it is almost impossible to get a money back return they make you warranty it and spend yur own cash to ship it.

use newegg.com

 

[Moe Lester 10+ year member]

case: $50

PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103512

Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130491

RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227031

Proc http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103533

Video http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814127176

HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065

Dual Layer DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

That all comes out to around $900, then youve got $300 for a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers.

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Building your own, with hand-picked, quality parts, is really the coolest way to go, but it can turn out to also be the most expensive. Plus, you'd have to keep track of the invoices, dealers, and warranties for every individual part. Unless you're really into it, this may not be the best way to go.

I do computers for a living (10+ years now), and as my main hobby. Over a decade ago I started in computers as an avid hobbyist/enthusiast, then student, then professional techie, then team leader, now IT Department Manager for 7 years. I currently have 4 hand-built PC's (at home) plus 4 laptops and a Dell PC for my wife. 2 are over-clocked, SCSI RAID0 hot-rods, 1 has dual processors, terabyte RAID5 array, and 3 operating systems. At work, I directly support ~50 high-end corporate servers and 300+ desktops and laptops, many of which I built 100% from purpose-driven hand-picked parts. Indirectly, I support an additional 150 high-end corporate servers and another 700 desktops and laptops, of all makes and models. If anyone else here has experience and credentials like that, you may want to strongly consider their thoughts.

Believe me, I've been through this many, many times for friends, family, and coworkers. I've done the research and backed it with experience, as to provide the best quality recommendation to someone asking me. Obviously, you did not ask me and it's important to remain cool to your online friends, so take my recommendation as you wish.

Dell's don't **** any more than HP/Compaq, Sony, Gateway, or other popular mass-manufactured system. They're all basically assembled of the same or similar parts, in almost exactly the same way. Better PC's will come from the likes of Alienware (although they, too, now have "budget" models), Voodoo, Falcon Northwest, etc. Worse will come from some like Acer.

The benefits to going with a mass-manufactured system include lower overall price, one-stop support and warranty, and you don't have to know anything about putting a PC together correctly.

If you do go that route, you may want to be sure the case has full-sized expansion bays and an AGP or PCI-ex slot for video card upgrade. Almost all do, but the ultra-compact models aren't upgrade-friendly. It doesn't really matter if you go AMD or Intel (as long as it's not Celeron). They're both excellent processors. Generally Intel will run a little cooler requiring quieter cooling, but that's not always the case. Make sure you get an absolute minimum of 512 MB RAM (the more, the better). Any other fluff is completely up to you, but having a fast hard drive may be important. Oh, and don't get XP Home Edition if you plan to do anything networking. It sucks bad. XP Pro is the only way to go (unless you go Linux).

General reliability is important, but customer support is more important. Here are the latest charts from Consumer Reports. (I don't trust Zdnet and Cnet publications for completely accurate ratings -- too commercial)

overall reliability

computer tech support

ratings of sample machines in similar performance class

So, if you truly want the most bang for your buck, you would seriously be hard-pressed to beat the Dell's, especially the crazy deals that pop up every couple weeks on the Dell deals, which http://www.DealCatcher.com watches for closely.