Computer Education????

F

falnovice

Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Messages
544
Hello everyone.

I hate to admit it but I am falling behind on the computer front. My PC is six years old and badly lagging. The obvious solution would be to move up to a newer unit, but I don't even seem to speak the language anymore!!
My current computer has 2.4Ghz Intel Four processor.....so I expected to see 4.0+ processors or something? They don't even seem to use this form of measurement anymore! What about video cards?

I hate to admit it, but even though I use computers every day I would not consider myself to be that "savvy" with them. I didn't grow up with them and clearly remember when they weren't a part of everyday life. (Yes there was a time when this was true kids!)

So there then.....
I am looking for a throughly modern computer. What do I look for? :confused:
I am not a big gamer.....but it sure would be nice to be ABLE to play a game if I wanted to....COD4 looked great but won't run on my system.

Anybody care to educate me?
 
In order to recommend a system, you need to list out all the programs you will be running at anyone time. Do you have high speed internet and a whole bunch of other questions. The one guy I know of on the forum that can analyze your needs will be phatch. I think that he will need more information to give you the best recomendation. Get ready, he will be here anytime.
James
 
Sounds like you might be better off just getting a Dell or Apple. With some inexpensive software a Mac can run windows programs. Either way they offer the new age components in various trim levels depending on budget and usage. You COULD make your own PC like I did 5-6 years ago which is the one I use now and needs an upgrade like yours. That though would require a bit of reading up and trips to computer forums. I like bit-tech.net even though it's a UK sight computers are computers over there too.
 
Just pick out a Processor you can afford, but make sure it has plenty of cache 1M per core or greater, of course you have to get a MOBO that will fit this chip. Then go for RAM, I would get as much as I could afford, either max out on DDR2 or get as much DDR3 as I could get, this will depend on the Motherboard you chose also (MOBO). And for a HD just get a couple of SATA drives and run them in raid 0, this will allow you to read and write faster to your drive, which allows your processor to run smother and faster.
After that just get a decent Video card, something with DX10 and as much on-board RAM as possable, DDR3 is better you dont need as much, ie: 512M of ddr3 is almost equil to 1G of ddr2 in speed capability. This will help in viewing videos on the net and in those games you were talking about.

you can probably build this one for around $600, and have a much better than average PC.
 
Just pick out a Processor you can afford, but make sure it has plenty of cache 1M per core or greater, of course you have to get a MOBO that will fit this chip.
Click to expand...

I understand that MOBO is motherboard....mainly because you clarified it later in the post. :D
Processors are no longer rated in Ghz?
I've heard of the Duo Core processor.
I am not familar with cache.....I see this is different than RAM.

I'm gonna have to Google myself some understanding. :D

Is the general concensus that I should have a computer built versus buying one outright?
I did look at some computers at Best Buy, and it appears to me that for the most part its alot of stuff I don't believe I want.
 
falnovice said:
I understand that MOBO is motherboard....mainly because you clarified it later in the post. :D
Processors are no longer rated in Ghz?
Click to expand...

Yes, they still are rated that way.

I am not familar with cache.....I see this is different than RAM.
Click to expand...

Cache is sort of like RAM that's built into the MOBO. Just like RAM, the more cache the better/faster the computer operates.

Is the general concensus that I should have a computer built versus buying one outright?
I did look at some computers at Best Buy, and it appears to me that for the most part its alot of stuff I don't believe I want.
Click to expand...

I've always built my computers and I end up with more computer for less money than if I walked into a store and bought one. If you're up to ordering online a lot of places sell "barebones" systems, they are package deals that usually include a case, power supply, MOBO, processor and sometimes other parts as well. You can pick one of those and then add your other choices to it. Tiger Direct is a good place to check those out.
 
Duo or dual core means that the processor acts like it is 2 processors but is actualy one chip. there is also a Tri core and a Quad Core.

Processors are still rated in Ghz(the speed at which the processor is suspected of working internaly) and in Watts(the amount of power the processor uses) and in FSB (front side bus) speed (the speed in which the processor communicates with the mother boards North Bridge chip or memory controling chip).

Cache is like onboard ram for the processor, It can store an amount of info within the chip its self. With more cache the processor doesnt have to read from physical memory or the Hard Drive as much.


Sorry for being so techinical.

Dang Blackhills you beat me to it.lol
 
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I like looking at the bare bones kits at CompUSA which is now a sister company of Tigerdirect. Their prices seem pretty fair and they have complete systems too of course. Looks like COD4 requires a Duo Core processor and minimum of 512MB RAM but 1GB RAM is recommended for the higher frame rates. The graphics card from what I've read should be 256MB or higher.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/
 
I build my own, too, and save on average $ 1500 or more on each one. The last one I built, when priced out similarly for a Dell, was almost $ 2000 cheaper, and I got to put the parts together that I wanted. Blackhills is spot on...when you build your own, you don't have all those junk programs pre-loaded. Buy an OS (something you don't get with a pre-manufactured), an office (still prefer 2003 to 2007), anti-virus (Kaspersky Internet Security on all my computers) and any supporting software your hardware requires (this should come with the hardware). Then go from there.

If you're not up to the task, find a local computer shop and go talk to them. Tell them what you want to do with the computer. One they build will be less expensive than a Dell etc, you will have local support if you screw something up (ever talk to "Bob" in Pakistan?), and they can better fit the machine to your needs. These shop made computers usually carry a better warranty, service wise, than the pre-manufactured ones.

Remember, computer salesmen are like used car salesmen (no offense meant to any used car salesmen out there!). Running most common programs, you will never notice the difference between a processor running 2.0 gHz and 2.4 gHz. But doesn't 2.4 sound better than 2.0? Where you will see a difference is in the amount of RAM (go 2 GB minimum) and its speed, the L2 cache and the cache on your hard drive. And if you think 500GB will do, get at least 750. Size matters here. Get a good graphics card. If you're going to use it in a home entertainment system, or for a lot of music, get a separate audio card.

Prices are relatively cheap these days, and stick with brand name parts (Intel, AMD, Azus, Seagate, Western Digital, Kingston, etc).
 
SPXTrader said:
I build my own, too, and save on average $ 1500 or more on each one. The last one I built, when priced out similarly for a Dell, was almost $ 2000 cheaper
Click to expand...
I gotta know what you're building, because you can put together a really good system from Dell for $1,500-$2,000.
 
Jennifer_B said:
I gotta know what you're building, because you can put together a really good system from Dell for $1,500-$2,000.
Click to expand...

I didn't even finish pricing a Dell computer similar to mine and I'm at $2000 already. I paid just under 1000 to build mine myself.

Intel X3350 Quad@3.6GHZ
Abit IP35 Pro
4096MB of Gskill
320GB+500GB SATA
nVidia 8800GTS 512MB OC

Dell, as most other brands, is a ripoff.
 
A $ 2000 Dell will cost about $ 1000 including a hard copy of XP. I recently built one for a friend and the parts cost was around $ 1600, and the closest I found pre-manufactured was a HP Blackbird, around $ 2700 on-line. But I built his with a terabyte of storage (2X eSATA RAID) instead of 500GB, 32 L2 cache instead of 16, AMD processor and Asus Crosshair motherboard instead of Intel, 4 gig Kingston ram at 1600, Creative X-Fi sound, a HIS/ATI Radeon card, extra fans, card reader, etc... and none of the pre-loaded crap...

But to be honest, I already had the keyboard and monitor, and I have a few cases and power supplies lying around.

It takes a full day to put it together physically, and another 2 days to load all the software and updates. I take my time and don't screw it up, as it's very easy to do when setting the BIOS and loading the OS.


AND he won't have to deal with "Steve" in Pakistan if something goes wrong!
 
A full day to put together? Are you one of those neat freaks with the cables?

;)

I always say I'm going to tidy up the cables, but when I have all the components there I just can't resist throwing it together in 30 minutes and booting up.
 
SPXTrader said:
AND he won't have to deal with "Steve" in Pakistan if something goes wrong!
Click to expand...
No, he comes to pester you!

I've always been kinda skeptical about saving huge amounts of money over Dell. It looks like it's easier to do now than in the past. Of course, starting with $500 of parts does help a little... Overclocking cheaper parts does, too.

Neat freak with cables is good. Finding out the hard way you have one jamming your CPU fan isn't fun.
 
i like buying Dell and adding RAM and a video card elsewhere

i never call support though, and i like having one place to go for drivers for the motherboard, network, etc...

not to mention not having to worry about bending pins, or whatever putting it together.

i hate dealing with my friends' computers that some other friend built and now doesn't work for some reason. then you get to deal with trying to get parts replaced and you have like 3 vendors all saying it's someone else's component that's broken.

if you catch the right deal, you can get some good stuff from the Dell Small Business site. unless you want some special high end motherboard a low-end Dell will generally do all you need to do. just make sure there is a PCI-e slot for video card upgrades. that's the biggest limiting factor i generally run into in cheap computers, next would be RAM slots

generally i like to get the slowest processor in the new line that uses the fastest type RAM out

of course the last computer i bought was a refurbed HP dual-core AMD with a dual-layer DVD burner and 320GB SATA drive ($299 from compgeeks.com) that i loaded with 4GB of RAM and a 512MB video card for like $450 total
 
Jennifer_B said:
No, he comes to pester you!

I've always been kinda skeptical about saving huge amounts of money over Dell. It looks like it's easier to do now than in the past. Of course, starting with $500 of parts does help a little... Overclocking cheaper parts does, too.

Neat freak with cables is good. Finding out the hard way you have one jamming your CPU fan isn't fun.
Click to expand...

Why are you skeptical?

And overclocking didn't save me any money over the Dell computer I priced, though it did save me from spending a useless amount on something I could achieve for $300 instead of $1000on my own. I shudder to think how much a processor at my speed would cost through a brand name company.

Not to mention I didn't even see an option for 4GB of RAM using 2 sticks on Dell, to get 4GB you have to fill all four RAM slots up which is less than optimal.

Learning how to do this stuff on my own has saved me so much money I lost track. Not only in the actual building process but also in tech support since I can fix my own stuff.

Bending pins is seriously not an issue (I never came close my first time, the CPU is the easiest part to install) and diagnosing problems isn't that bad either, not with the abundant forums out there and the knowledge and experience you yourself get.
 
not everyone wants to be that into it...

so then they call me when crap goes wrong :(

believe me, i wish everyone had the ability to build/fix their own stuff :D
 
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