In another computer recommendation thread, soneone suggested eBay as a source for a custom system. It was by the guy who’s selling this system.
I’d also be upgrading the memory to 1Gb, bumping the video card to the 5600, and going with XP Pro. I would be adding my current 120Gb HD as a secondary drive.
Ultimately, I would be using the computer to do video capture and editing (I’d have to get a separate video capture system) and burning DVDs from that video (I already have a Sony multi-format burner).
I’m primarily a Machead and no computer expert (but I do drool over them—Mac and PC alike), but I also think this isn’t the best deal.
The auction comes with XP Home and you want XP Pro. You’re paying for Home with this auction. That seems like a waste. You probably could sell the CD to someone, but since it’s undoubtedly OEM, getting it to install on someone else’s computer will require breaking the EULA. Dicey.
I just think that you’d be better off paying for a computer with the OS that you really want and not getting this “extra” copy of XP.
I’m not knowledgable enough about the hardware to really know if the rest of the system is a good deal, but my one experience buying a new PC off of eBay wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great. I got a super-cheap system (which I have since had upgraded), and one of the front USB ports didn’t work. (I paid to have it added.) I didn’t want to return the system just so they could fix that, so I ate the cost of putting that port in. Irritating.
I think it might be better to get something local. Of course, you probably could fix something small like a busted USB port, but if something really awful went wrong with the PC, returning it or getting a refund will probably be a bitch if you buy from someone that is not local.
RAID for video editing? Are you thinking RAID 0 for the faster access time, or RAID 1 to protect his data? I would think that a single serial ATA hard drive would be fast enough for most applications.
I prefer ATI cards to Nvidia, as ATI cards are fully DirectX compliant where Nvidia have to use a bastardized instruction set to match ATI’s raw speed.
XP Pro? Any reason? Unless you want the domain access or NTFS permissions than I think that XP Home should do it for you.
Finally, you may want to think about the new 64 bit Athlon chips that are coming out. The 64 bit XP edition is in beta testing, and should be out this year.
From what I’ve heard, you might as well get Pro, but now I can’t find the article explaining why.
I am equally tempted to build my own system, but I certainly can’t offer myself a warranty if something goes wrong! The last computer I built was a generic 386 machine about 13 years ago! It still works, BTW.
There are really no good independant computer shops in town that I could go to. I’ve been out of the loop as far as computer stuff goes. I’ve been to the Tom’s Hardware site, but there’s just too much info to sift through in order to come up with a list of components.
Does anybody know of a site that would have this info?
I don’t think I’d be getting an extra copy of the OS. If I upgrade, the seller will include a copy of XP Pro instead of XP Home. Whether or not it comes installed, I don’t know, but I would think so. This would allow you to fire up the system when you take it out of the box.
I’ve checked the prices of the individual components and find that the price of this system is not far off. From what I’ve read, the Radeon cards are better, but I’ve read the reviews at Tom’s Hardware and, unless you’re into serious gaming, there’s not any significant difference. As previously mentioned, getting warranty service could be a bitch, but buying the components and having one of them breakdown would be an even bigger bitch because you’d have to take the component out and send it back to the manufacturer.
The seller has pretty good feedback. The few negatives appear to be from people who did not allow the seller to make things right before they left negative feedback.
Just for the heck of it, I checked out what’s available from the major manufacturers (HP, Compaq, Sony, etc) and their prices are ridiculously high.
If you go with AMD you will save a pretty fair amount of money. You can buy barebone sytems that have the major components installed and tested and then the PCI/AGP cards are pretty easy to install. A motherboard that supports the 64bit AMD’s would be a nice way to go and then upgrade when the prices fall on the chips. Everything I read says that ATI is better for video and they make and All In Wonder card that may work for your needs. XP Home would be fine for but 2000 Pro is a pretty nice OS too. XP Home can be bought for 90.00 full version and the Pro will cost 145.00. Academic versions are even less if you qualify. Check the barebone systems at MultiWave, they are a fine vendor.
That case is fugly, the video is old and tired, the included software is terribly outdated. (Acrobat 4.05? Current version is 6.something, and Media Player is a rev behind as well.)
You’ll do better elsewhere. Right now, Dell’s got a free shipping deal and some other freebies such as a free second bay DVD burner, (both ending today). Also, Dell’s warranty service is probably better than “Zuke” Not that I’m a huge Dell fan, but looks like I’m no Zuke fan, either.
Keep an eye on the Anadtech Hot Deals forum. Every so often, some pretty amazing deals pop up. A recent one was for a 3.0 GHz system with all the goodies and a 17" LCD for under $900 from Dell.