New Computer

[whack_amol]

I plan on buying from ibuypower.com please tell me if anyone thinks this is wrong. They had better ratings on resellerratings than monarch and cyberpower, and alot of others.

Tell me if anything seems wrong, or a better part would do, i appreciate your consideration.

these are my specs, pardon the way it looks, but it would take a long time to fix up:

BOARD: ASUS A7V333 KT-333 CHIPSET W/ ATA-100/133, USB 2.0 AND 5.1 AUDIO (+ 35)

CABLE: ROUND CABLES FOR FLOPPY / HARD DISK / CD / DVD / CD-RW / DVD-RW DRIVES (+ 19)

CAS: [SILVER] CASE-A268, MID-TOWER + 320 WATT POWER

PIONEER DVD-RW + CD-RW DRIVE [1X / 2X DVD-R, 1X DVD-RW, 4X / 8X CD-R, 8X CD-RW] (+ 229)

CPU: [NEW !!!] AMD ATHLON XP 2200+ [1.80 GHZ QuantiSpeed] 266FSB SOCKET A CPU (+ 599)

FAN: CERTIFIED CPU FAN, HEATSINK & 2 EXTRA CASE FANS (+9)

VIDEO: NVIDIA GEFORCE-4 TITANIUM 4400 128MB DDR TV-OUT + DVI-OUT 4X AGP (+ 199)

FDD: [SILVER] MITSUMI 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE (+ 9)

HDD: MAXTOR 80 GB 7200 RPM ULTRA ATA-133 HARD DRIVE (+ 52)

KB: [SILVER] COMBO: VIEWSONIC WIRELESS KEYBOARD + WIRELESS MOUSE (+ 49)

MEMORY: DDR333 512 MB PC2700-266MHZ (+ 79)
MEMORY1: UPGRADE TO ==CORSAIR== EXTREME SPEED HIGH PERFORMANCE MEMORY WITH HEAT SPREADER (+ 39)

MODEM: PCI 56K V.90 FAX/MODEM W/VOICE

MONITOR: LCD: SCEPTRE 17-INCH TFT LCD MONITOR (+ 549)

NETWORK: INTEL XPRESS PRO 10/100 PCI NETWORK CARD (+ 35)

OS: [NEW] MS WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION (+ 89)

POWER: UPGRADE TO ENERMAX EG465P-VE 430 WATT POWER SUPPLY (+ 89)

SOFT3: NORTON 2002 ANTI-VIRUS (+ 15)
SOUND: 3D STEREO SOUND ON BOARD

SPEAKER: 120 WATTS PMPO STEREO SPEAKERS

USB: STANDARD 2X USB 2.0 + 2X USB 1.1 PORTS

[JungleMan]

Looks good...

Some changes...get the Creative Inspire 5.1s (or leave out the speakers altogether and order your own Logitech Z560s), and LCD monitors SUCK! Get a nice CRT, it is not only less money, but much better...

Get an add in sound card, preferably Audigy.

[markman]

he wants the LCD to conserve desk space.

[markman]

just curious amol, whats it come to with shipping?

and why did you decide against that ecost one i told you about?
and the best buy one?

[whack_amol]

Yes the lcd is to save space, the reason i went against thecost one is cause im not sure about the harddrive speed, the best buy one is all cool except the hard drive runs at 5400rpm

To upgrade the bestbuy one its like $100 for a hard drive, and $225 for a geforce4 4400 video card, and then $529 for an LCd
(according to newegg prices)

Thus making it about the same, so i might actually go with the bestbuy one, cause i am pretty happy with my current hp.

Also i checked the bestbuy pc's cooling, and it seems ok, come with two fans and a heatsink.

So if anyone can find a place where i can find a hard drive and video card for cheaper than newegg, please inform me

Shipping is $ 99 from ibuypower, the good thing about it is iknow everything inside the pc, the bad is their warranty isnt all that good, and i read some complaints on reseller ratings

[markman]

look in this weekend's best buy (came wiuht your paper)

they have some computer that lets you upgrade to what you want (minus an lcd and good graphics card) for a better price than you have there (i think)
and you can avoid shipping
(downside=rebates)

[whack_amol]

Actually i went by circuit city today and they have a similar pc, but with a 7200rpm hard drive so i will be getting a pc for a lot cheaper.

But the guy there told me i shouldnt go buy geforce4 ti4400, he said i should buy 512MB more ram and designate any amount of that to the integrated geforce 2, which can accept up to 512 ram

So what would be better?

[Sastraxi]

Take the GeForce4. That idea sounds very shifty indeed.

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by whack_amol
Actually i went by circuit city today and they have a similar pc, but with a 7200rpm hard drive so i will be getting a pc for a lot cheaper.

But the guy there told me i shouldnt go buy geforce4 ti4400, he said i should buy 512MB more ram and designate any amount of that to the integrated geforce 2, which can accept up to 512 ram

So what would be better?

My mother knows more than people at that place...

Get the GF4 Instead and DO NOT buy at Best Buy/Circuit City, etc, they are crap makers all of them and you will regret it later.

Why not get the iBuyPower thing? BTW...Monarch is an excellent store, I know the guy who runs the place and he knows what he is talking about 100%. I won a prize from them and they shipped it to me overnight...

[Dennis Wrenn]

I bought most of my stuff from Monarch and it all works great, and it arrived 3 days earlier than I was expecting it.

[markman]

Originally posted by Jungle-Man


My mother knows more than people at that place...

Get the GF4 Instead and DO NOT buy at Best Buy/Circuit City, etc, they are crap makers all of them and you will regret it later.

Why not get the iBuyPower thing? BTW...Monarch is an excellent store, I know the guy who runs the place and he knows what he is talking about 100%. I won a prize from them and they shipped it to me overnight...

whyat prize?
And whens the site back up?

[whack_amol]

Okay, ill get the geforce 4, but i already inspected the pc (the guy let me open up the case) , and it seemed like everthing was fine. It had everything i need and the parts were good. The only main difference was instead of pc 2700 ddr ram its pc 2100 ddr ram

The guys at my local circuit city are actually very knowledgeable, while the ones at my best buy are a bit dim.

the reason this seems like a good deal is cause it has everything i was going to put in my comp, but cheaper cause of rebates, and no shipping costs to worry about

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by whack_amol
Okay, ill get the geforce 4, but i already inspected the pc (the guy let me open up the case) , and it seemed like everthing was fine. It had everything i need and the parts were good. The only main difference was instead of pc 2700 ddr ram its pc 2100 ddr ram

The guys at my local circuit city are actually very knowledgeable, while the ones at my best buy are a bit dim.

the reason this seems like a good deal is cause it has everything i was going to put in my comp, but cheaper cause of rebates, and no shipping costs to worry about

What brand is it.

I hate prebuilt stuff. It is usually made crappy

If the Circuit City guy told you that bologna about the video card then how can he be knowledgeable

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by markman

whyat prize?
And whens the site back up?

What do you mean when's it back up, it's up now...

It was a Zalman Flower Cooler, works well. All copper.

[whack_amol]

It was a compaq, i know compaqs werent that good before, but they have gotten better since their merger. This wasn't built crappy, sometimes they are built crappy but this one was organized and the parts seemed fine, its open architechture for convenient future upgrades.

Oh i checked about the videocard thing im im pretty sure its true, cause i have a computer upgrading book that talks about adding and designating ram for video cards

[Sastraxi]

Leave out XP Home, and put in Pro (ok...) or 2000 Pro (best!) instead, if you have the money. You won't regret it.

[Pc_Madness]

Since your posting in a Programming Site, go with XP Pro... or 2000 Pro.


Why is Win 2000 so good?? I've never used it, but everyone speaks of it as if it were god.

[MidgetsBro]

Windows 2000 Professional is the best, and I use the term loosely, operating system Microsoft has ever written. I feel that it is the most stable thing they have made, including XP. In the recent experiences with people having me upgrade their computers to XP, I have had problems with the software on about 75% of them. I've had problems with it on slow computers running like 500mhz and I have had the same, or similar problems running on 1.8GHz P4s. It just crashes for no reason, and it takes me back to the days of Windows 98 First Edition... except the interface looks twice as bad. The first thing I do when I install XP on anyone's computer is to change it to the classic style and get rid of all that **** that makes the operating system look like a 4 year old drew it with crayons. OK I will shut up now, but like you said, people say that Windows 2000 is God, and to me, it's as close as you can get with a Microsoft product... besides... everyone knows god doesn't exist anymore. He moved out last weekend.

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by whack_amol
It was a compaq, i know compaqs werent that good before, but they have gotten better since their merger. This wasn't built crappy, sometimes they are built crappy but this one was organized and the parts seemed fine, its open architechture for convenient future upgrades.

Neither Compaq or HP have ever made a 100% open architecture machine. HP is probably even worse than Compaq. And it is very hard to tell how a machine is built by looking at it, especially a prebuilt.

Originally posted by whack_amol
Oh i checked about the videocard thing im im pretty sure its true, cause i have a computer upgrading book that talks about adding and designating ram for video cards

Fine, buy a GeForce2 and get whooped in 3DMark, OK? I've had it trying to give you advice.

Your computer book is talking about allocating memory to onboard video-- more RAM usually means more memory for the video card, however it can't allocate 512MB, 256MB, or even 128MB to the onboard GeForce2. Even if it could, it wouldn't make it any faster than a GF4 because the "card" is GPU limited. The GeForce2 is not a full DirectX 8 architecture and lacks support for pixel and vertex shading.

Do what you want, I can't be bothered. I hope you enjoy your 3dMark score of about 3000.

[markman]

he can always buy one later and keep the ram

he seems to have an infinite supply of money form his parents.....




lucky

[Sastraxi]

Madness, why did you simply repeat what I said in my post? I wonder.

[whack_amol]

I am going to buy a geforce 4, i was just saying there was truth in what the dude was saying, and no i dont have an endless supply of money. I have up to $ 2000 give or take a hundred, but the cheaper the cost the better

The pc was open architecture, i checked. Yes i know old hp's and compaq's didnt have it though.

Oh And i appreciate your advice justin, you've helped me out the most probably

[MidgetsBro]

Originally posted by Jungle-Man
Do what you want, I can't be bothered. I hope you enjoy your 3dMark score of about 3000.

Who gives a flying **** about 3dMark scores? It's just like saying mine is bigger than yours... it has no meaning. If your games look good, the who gives a **** if you have a low score or a high score? I'm not saying that the GeForce4 isn't better than the 2, because it is. I would get the GeForce4 too, but not for the ****ing 3dMark scores. I have seen the GeForce4 in action, and I'd have to say that it's worth the money.

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by MidgetsBro
I have seen the GeForce4 in action, and I'd have to say that it's worth the money.

Yep, that pretty much sums up what you just flamed me about.

3DMark scores are an indication of real life game performance. Not a 100% accurate representation, but pretty close.

And a GeForce2 + 512MB of RAM is going to be far far less game performance than a GeForce4 + 256MB RAM.

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by whack_amol
I am going to buy a geforce 4, i was just saying there was truth in what the dude was saying, and no i dont have an endless supply of money. I have up to $ 2000 give or take a hundred, but the cheaper the cost the better

The pc was open architecture, i checked. Yes i know old hp's and compaq's didnt have it though.

Oh And i appreciate your advice justin, you've helped me out the most probably

Hey, your budget is a lot better than mine will ever be

For $2000, Monarch or iBuyPower or even ABSPC can probably get you something better than what you can get in Best Buy or CompUSA. What drives you to the big name stores rather than to online? You get a lot for your money online, and without the non-standard architectures and crap you get from Compaq or HP or whoever.