Need help, computer geeks!

[kwong2001]

Well I need a new computer. The one i've got is real crappy, only 500mhz and about 20gb of memory that is almost completely full. Damn Kazaa!

Anyhow, i'm a poor college student with little to no money. I would like to build my own computer. Since I build r/c's, lol, a PC should be no problem.

My question, what sites can I go on to find good prices on a pc? Can I build a laptop? Where do I go to learn about what is needed and how to match things so nothing blows up?

I've got about $300-400 to spend, how good of a pc could I get, I already of a monitor, mouse, and keyboard that will make do for now.

 

[nitromaniac]

$300 to $400 wont even buy you a decent motherboard, you will need about $800 to $1000 to build a better computer than the one you have now! First of all , get rid of all the Kazza files you dont want and save everything you can to a disk(cd), then find the reformat disc that came with your computer and reformat your computer, theres really nothing wrong with the one yu have, it just needs some major disc space cleaning! and unless you own microsoft, you can't build a laptop!In case your wondering, I built my last three computers, none of them for under $1000, refomating your pc will bring it back to its original out of the box condition(brand new), so you will have to reload everything, this is easy but takes time! My advice ,, Kazza is bullshit! nothing but a memory eater! only downlaod things you really want , either save them to disc, then delete them from your drive so that your machine will run faster and cleaner, I use a utility software called BCWIPE, you can download it for free and use it forever,what it does is when you delete a file, it wipes your drive about 8 times and gives you back the memory the file used originally! you can do a search for it at www.download.com
If you dont have a cd burner, get one, you can save tons of stuff directly to it and never use your hard drive space for storage
Good luck!

 

[kwong2001]

I was curious as to whether I could make a decent laptop computer. Sounds like I probably can't, so what kind of computer can I make for $300-400?

And don't say I won't make a better computer than the one I got cuz I know a place that makes them and I could get 3 times a better computer for $300.

 

[nitromaniac]

Then go there and get it!

 

[kwong2001]

congratulations, you're officially FIRED!!!

don't ever post on this thread again

 

[nitromaniac]

congratulations!! your an idiot!

 

[SkyMaxx]

:idea:

How about this suggestion? If you can get someone to build a machine that is three or four times better than the one you have...AND...they can do it for the pricetag you desire....have them do it.

Just a thought.

=devil

 

[nitromaniac]

Originally posted by kwong2001
I've got about $300-400 to spend, how good of a pc could I get, I already of a monitor, mouse, and keyboard that will make do for now.

great point Sky! Thanks, but it looks like kwong had his answer b4 he even posted, so why did he post at all!!

qoute #2
And don't say I won't make a better computer than the one I got cuz I know a place that makes them and I could get 3 times a better computer for $300.

 

[kwong2001]

Reason why i've posted is cuz everyone says they can build a better pc, than the prebuilt ones for around the same price as the prebuilt ones.

It doesn't help to just say reformat my computer blah blah blah. Cuz i've reformatted it about 10 times already. As a matter of fact, I reformatted it about a month ago.

My 17gb hd (has about 1gb memory left) that's full isn't the main hd. The main hd is a 8 gb hd that's about half full. To be honest, my computer is completely outdated. I've got practically one of the first burners.

I'd like to be able to go to the local software store, and buy a game without questioning whether my system can handle it or not. I can only buy the 2 year old $10 games. Since that's about all it can handle.

Oh yeah, and when you say, backup all your downloaded stuff. That's kinda hard when my computer will freeze before the burner gets done burning.

Basically my computer is a POS.

I'm not looking to get the absolute latest and greatest hardware, I just want the best in my pricerange.

 

[nitromaniac]

OK,, You never mentioned that you reformated b4,yes, I know, your pc is POS,, A friend of mine recently went to best buy and looked at all the scratch and dents and found a pretty decent tower for $450, yeah, it wasn't pretty and a zillion people touched it when it was on display, but they reformat b4 they put them on this shelf, now, If you are totally sure you want to build your own you can go to cwi.com and look there for all the hardware you need.there is always ebay too! lots of peole get pissed off with there pc and sell em dirt cheap cuz they can't figure them out!
Now, you asked!, I hope I helped! but since I have been fired, I am through posting in this thread! good luck!

 

[wdavidhicks]

Kwong!!

Infotech!! The best place in Western Washington and you live right next door to them.

Take your pc down there. You might get away with only having to buy a motherboard, processor, processor fan and memory. Another hard drive'll be a few more dollars.

I don't know where you're shopping, nitromaniac, but a good motherboard is nowhere near that cost. For $400.00 you can get a decent setup with all the pieces I listed above. (Decent = AMD xp2000+ or better, Asus MB, 256mb ddr ram, 80gb hdd.)

Check this out, Kwong.

http://www.infotechnow.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=1056

The barebones systems don't have an operating system included. If your existing pc was a retail version your recovery disk has the operating system included. These recovery disks suck because you can't install just the os. It puts your pc back to factory new condition but with all the stupid apps and background processes filling up the system tray and hogging resources. Nobody needs those.

Infotech will make you a deal on a system that includes the OS. And you'll get a genuine Microsoft OS disk.

Don't build a laptop. If you want one you can buy one but equivalent specs in a tower will be significantly cheaper.

And Kazaa sucks, but not because you can fill your hard drive but because it runs spyware in the background. I hear Kazaa Lite is a little less intrusive. A computer runs slow because of excessive background processes.

If you have a good gig of free hard drive space and a good-sized swap file (managed by Windows or manually set by you), pc performance won't be hindered by a hard drive with gigs of mp3's unless the drive is extremely fragmented.

Fry's Electronics is brand new here in Renton. They might be able to compete with Infotech.

 

[mcvickj]

You can easily build a great system for under $1000. If you are buying a motherboard for $300 you should be beat. I am guessing that nitromanic is an Intel only guy. AMD is the way to go. Here is something close to what I am running now.

Asus A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard - $125
AMD XP 2500+ (1.87) Retail - $90
Corsair 512 Mb PC3200 DDR Ram - $87
Western Digital 120 GB HD - $93

Right here could be the heart of a new system for under $400 bucks. You wouldn't need to buy a sound card or NIC because the motherboard has both onboard. Now you just need to pick a video card, CD-RW drive or DVD drive and a floppy. Oh you will need to pick up a PSU. Figure $60 on the high side for one of those. You will also need a case. Now depending on your old systm you could reuse some or all of the compoents I just mentioned above. If you want to go with a high end video card get an ATI 9800 Pro. It will set you back about $350 claims but well worth it if you are a hard core gamer. I have the 9700 Pro and it is a very sweet card.

 

[kwong2001]

Well i'm gonna go check out that infotech place. I mapquested it, and it looks like it's about a 5 miles from my house.

I thought about what can be salvaged from my old pc.

17gb hd, 3.5" floppy, monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, and the network card....think that's all that I really wanna keep...with all that, I think it'll keep the price down and still have a decent PC

I do wanna definitely build the computer myself....good learning experience

 

[wdavidhicks]

What were you using to do your restores? Win98 or ME on a retailer's recovery CD? Or a no-nonsense Microsoft OS CD?

We've purchased a couple machines from Infotech for our company. Since we have an enterprise software agreement with Microsoft we didn't need the OS with the workstation packages we bought.

Infotech would give us $10.00 off per system without the OS. Our thought was: "Hmmm... Licensed copies of Windows XP home edition for $10.00 each... Sold."

These OS's must be sold with a pc. It seems like retailers have a bit of flexibility as to what constitutes a pc. I seem to remember them telling me once that a motherboard, processor and ram was good enough.

Infotech has all the stuff mcvickj listed. (The ram may not be Corsair). Ask them to sell you an OS with it and see what they say. Don't get 98 or ME.

 

[kwong2001]

Originally posted by wdavidhicks
What were you using to do your restores? Win98 or ME on a retailer's recovery CD? Or a no-nonsense Microsoft OS CD?

Say what? Are you asking how I installed my O.S. when I reformatted?

Anyhow, I gotta see how much I can spare from my savings for the computer.

Like I said I'm definitely gonna build the computer instead of have it made. I'll be probably running XP home edition.

 

[bmoc2008]

www.newegg.com is a good place i jsut purchased most of my parts for my computer there.

 

[HumboldtBlazer]

Dude get a Dell.

 

[bmoc2008]

a dell would be a good solution

 

[dcracer]

Originally posted by kwong2001
everyone says they can build a better pc, than the prebuilt ones for around the same price as the prebuilt ones.[/QUOTE


This is true and newegg.com is a great plase to get all the stuff you'll need .:thumbup:

 

[slothy]

Originally posted by nitromaniac
$300 to $400 wont even buy you a decent motherboard

dewd wtf u smoking !!!

the nforce2 boards are less then 180 bucks (amd XP)(thats sound/geforce 4mx built in/firewire/usb2 - asus a7n8x) , and prob about 220 for a INTEL p4 board (asus p4p deluxe)

Originally posted by wdavidhicks
These OS's must be sold with a pc. It seems like retailers have a bit of flexibility as to what constitutes a pc. I seem to remember them telling me once that a motherboard, processor and ram was good enough.

ya around here oem versions of xp home can be bought for around 100 bucks, all that is required to meet oem requirments is to buy something related to a pc, so we just buy a ide cable or a cdrom audio cable making it qualify for a oem version (no pretty box and about 1/3 the cost), but id love to get my hands on some 10 dolla copies

Don't get 98 or ME.

YA ill 2nd that get XP !!!

Originally posted by humboldtblazer
Dude get a Dell.

ILL 2ND THAT if your gonna for the "store" bought ones instead of doing it yourself