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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Looking for a computer...
- Thread starter Triton
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Point44 said:
Just for some perspective, I refuse to buy a Dell product because the company is virulently anti-gun. You may not care about guns and gun rights, however.
I wouldn't buy a Dell for the quality of machine they give you for the money they charge. Generally speaking, from the standpoint of a guy working int IT anyway, the machines are not very good for most home users. My opinion is really that for the average user the best bet is to have something custom made for your needs from stock parts. This way if you ever want to upgrade it is easy, and cheaper than with propritary companies. Also you will get just what you need, and not all of the other bells, whistles, and other junk that you have no need for.
Those prebuilt computers are great for business though. I work with them everyday, and am currently on a project to deploy something like 2,500 or so new machines over a few months. I couldn't imagaine having to do this sort of project with each PC being even slightly different, it would just be to hard. Also it makes having a replacement very easy as every PC in the business is more or less identical. Also keep in mind that for business uses a machine that won't play any games is just fine, all that is needed is network connectivity and ability to run required applications. Not much of a challenge for any modernPC really. For a home user though I see huge amounts of money wasted on a computer that is either bottom of the line, and not workable even for the most basic things, or is capable but over priced.
Decide on what your needs will be. Think long and hard about what you will want to do on the PC, and make a list. Then start looking into what components will be best for you. I recently built myself a new PC for about $1,000 and it is way better than anything I could have gotten from any box maker for double that. Making sure that everything will work together isn't that big a deal. As mentioned the biggest problem area will be the motherboard, processor and RAM. There is really no room for error there, they will either work together or not. If you like I would be happy to help you to come up with a parts list for a new system based on what you needs are. If you are able to install RAM, and PCI cards you should be fine putting together a whole system.
Those prebuilt computers are great for business though. I work with them everyday, and am currently on a project to deploy something like 2,500 or so new machines over a few months. I couldn't imagaine having to do this sort of project with each PC being even slightly different, it would just be to hard. Also it makes having a replacement very easy as every PC in the business is more or less identical. Also keep in mind that for business uses a machine that won't play any games is just fine, all that is needed is network connectivity and ability to run required applications. Not much of a challenge for any modernPC really. For a home user though I see huge amounts of money wasted on a computer that is either bottom of the line, and not workable even for the most basic things, or is capable but over priced.
Decide on what your needs will be. Think long and hard about what you will want to do on the PC, and make a list. Then start looking into what components will be best for you. I recently built myself a new PC for about $1,000 and it is way better than anything I could have gotten from any box maker for double that. Making sure that everything will work together isn't that big a deal. As mentioned the biggest problem area will be the motherboard, processor and RAM. There is really no room for error there, they will either work together or not. If you like I would be happy to help you to come up with a parts list for a new system based on what you needs are. If you are able to install RAM, and PCI cards you should be fine putting together a whole system.
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I agree with Eric. Proprietary makers like Dell tread a fine line between cheaply made, affordability and maximum profit. You will often non-standard cases to accommodate cheap custom spec boards.
All my computers from a Pentium 100, thru P11s, P111s and my current P4 have been custom built by a one man business. Compatibilty of components can be a problem, but let your builder work around that. As a 'for instance', he built a computer with a chaintech motherboard and I asked for a particular video card. It was causing strange errors on booting. When he enquired with his supplier, they said 'yes, that card is a problem with that Chaintech board'! We changed the video card for a higher spec and it was fine.
If I can give one main bit of advice, buy the best quality motherboard you can afford. The motherboard is the heart of the system and the component that links all the rest together. Supermicro USA or Asus are good. You will normally find that high-end processors are very expensive, but if you drop down on a processor speed to a sensible price on a good motherboard, you can upgrade the processor at a later date. If your processor is 3.02 ghz or above in Intel, then it will support 'Hyperthreading', basically you have two processors in one chip, one assisting the other. Your case and Power Supply Unit should last a few upgrades. Serial-ATA hard drives are best for speed, and couple that with lots of RAM (512Mb or 1Gb) and a high-end video card with lots of memory (128mb or 256mb) and the computer will fly.
All my computers from a Pentium 100, thru P11s, P111s and my current P4 have been custom built by a one man business. Compatibilty of components can be a problem, but let your builder work around that. As a 'for instance', he built a computer with a chaintech motherboard and I asked for a particular video card. It was causing strange errors on booting. When he enquired with his supplier, they said 'yes, that card is a problem with that Chaintech board'! We changed the video card for a higher spec and it was fine.
If I can give one main bit of advice, buy the best quality motherboard you can afford. The motherboard is the heart of the system and the component that links all the rest together. Supermicro USA or Asus are good. You will normally find that high-end processors are very expensive, but if you drop down on a processor speed to a sensible price on a good motherboard, you can upgrade the processor at a later date. If your processor is 3.02 ghz or above in Intel, then it will support 'Hyperthreading', basically you have two processors in one chip, one assisting the other. Your case and Power Supply Unit should last a few upgrades. Serial-ATA hard drives are best for speed, and couple that with lots of RAM (512Mb or 1Gb) and a high-end video card with lots of memory (128mb or 256mb) and the computer will fly.
I would definatly agree with building the machine yourself, I build ~2-3 machines a week o navg right now probably, mainly custom servers, and a few workstations. Everything from $300 cheap system for a friends to $5k corporate servers.
as suggested newegg is the place to shop for the best prices. If you want I can spec something out for you, if you give me some preferences. assembling the systems really is pretty simple, I don't think you'd have much trouble with it. you can build a pretty nice system with your budget, are you planning on picking up amonitor and peripherals as well for that price or just a new box?
as suggested newegg is the place to shop for the best prices. If you want I can spec something out for you, if you give me some preferences. assembling the systems really is pretty simple, I don't think you'd have much trouble with it. you can build a pretty nice system with your budget, are you planning on picking up amonitor and peripherals as well for that price or just a new box?
Triton
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ZJChaser said:
I'm really overwhelmed by all the generous offers from you guys in helping me spec this thing out. Thanks! I've got a few buddies here in town that do that sort of thing so I think I'll hit them up to give me a hand. Thankyou for the input as well, I really hadn't given that sort of thing much thought, but now I am! I'll let you all know how it turns out.
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Knife Outlet said:
I don't really care actually. As long as they provide what i want.
HOWEVER, in Malaysia (where i am now), Dell doesn't have their higher end XPS machines. So i am actually going to have one custom built. I'm starting a wedding photography business and am converting to fully digital so i need to update my computer and dell doesn't really have the ideal spec for me.
What i am going to get is:
3Ghz dual core intel
2gb-3gb RAM
Nvidia 6600gt video card
2 x 250gb hard disk
I haven't finalised it but it all depends on what is left over from my lens and camera budget. I think with this spec i can do almost anything.
I've ordered a couple computers from these folks: CyberPower
They have excellent customer service and offer pre-built "custom" machines with some pretty swank case designs.
Since I ordered from them last, they have also started offering laptops (if that interests you).
Overall, I think they are a good place to deal with. They occasionally offer online deals such as Free Shipping, % Off, Free Software, Free Hardware, etc. I'll warn you, though. You need to figure out what you want and set a limit on how much you want to spend because you could easily spend more money there than you'd like. Just take a look around their website and you'll see for yourself. :thumbup:
They have excellent customer service and offer pre-built "custom" machines with some pretty swank case designs.
Since I ordered from them last, they have also started offering laptops (if that interests you).Overall, I think they are a good place to deal with. They occasionally offer online deals such as Free Shipping, % Off, Free Software, Free Hardware, etc. I'll warn you, though. You need to figure out what you want and set a limit on how much you want to spend because you could easily spend more money there than you'd like. Just take a look around their website and you'll see for yourself. :thumbup: