I mentioned in another thread that I have a really old, crappy confuter at home with a 1gig hard drive, a 64meg processor, etc, etc. and I’ve sort of been shamed into thinking about replacing it.
I have NO idea what sorts of things to look for.
What’s a normal hard drive size, for instance? 40 gig? 100? What about processor speed? 300? 400? 1000? I have no sniff.
I don’t need really fabulous gaming capabilities, 'cus I play Age of Empires II, and SimCity 3000, and neither of those are real memory hogs. (Will they even run on new systems?)
I guess it would be nice to be able to store some MP3’s on the hard drive - I can’t do that on my current one, because it’s full. I tried emptying it a bit, and wound up deleting my e-mail and cd player so that’s probably not a great option.
For processor speeds, you’re going to be looking at anywhere from 2 GHz to 3.5 GHz depending on price and AMD vs. Intel. Hard drive sizes, well, the cost per GB will be higher on the smaller drives, so something from 100 GB to 200 GB is normal. You’d be looking for perhaps 512 MB or maybe 1 GB of RAM, DVD burner, and preferably a video card that has 128 to 256 MB of memory on it. Dolby 5.1 and 7.1 are both typically available with onboard sound today. Floppy drives are an optional component these days, so if you order a pre-built and you want one, either have a geeky friend install one (cheap) or get one put in by the maker (expensive).
Most of your pre-builts now come with flat panels. Typical 17 inch flat panel comes with the same viewable area as a 19 inch CRT (the old type of monitor) and is a nice big display. Some of them come default with a 15 inch flat panel, and the 17 inch is an upgrade.
Any computer now is going to be leaps and bounds beyond what you’re currently using. Computers having the above specs run between about $500 and $1000, so definitely feel free to shop around. I don’t know what your price range is, so it’s hard to get really specific.
I have a friend that I’m hoping I’ll be able to coerce into building it for me - apparently he does that sort of thing for fun and I’d rather not look like a total moron when I’m talking to him, 'cus ya know, he’s hot. ahem.
I had no idea that things had changed that much. In my old job I had to order confuter type stuff, but now I do basically all administration so I’m WAAAAY out of the loop.
Thanks.
Now - isn’t having a floppy drive a good, normal thing to have? My work computer has one - are they now considered obsolete? (work computer is about 2 years old).
Pretty much obsolete. Everybody with newer computers is using USB flash drives. Smaller, more reliable, and can hold hundreds of times more data, for about the same price as a floppy drive.
True, but every once in a while you may find you need one. A floppy drive will run you about $7 these days and it takes about thirty seconds to install, so it’s worth it, IMHO.
Here is a start for a moderate but strong, good value system.
1 gigabyte of RAM. That should be enough for now. More tends to be overkill for most people.
200 GB hard drive (any of the three major brands). They are at a good price point and 200 times bigger than you have now! Slightly smaller is probably OK too.
An Athlon 64 motherboard and CPU. They have top-notch performance and they are usually cheaper than Intel. Speed isn’t super important. Tell your friend to find the current price sweat-spot. Don’t cheap out on the motherboard of all things! That is a quick way to get a screwy system prone to failure.
Video Card - that depends on what you want to do with the computer. If you want cutting edge games get a good one $250+. Otherwise just get a last generation card for $100 or so.
Mouse - optical is the only way to go these days.
Keyboard - I really like my fancy Microsoft keyboard.
DVD Writer - many brands to choose from. They read and write CD’s as well.
Your motherboard will probably have sound on it. If it doesn’t you may need a sound card for $50 or so.
If you are interested in him the best thing you can do is to be interested, and involved in putting your computer together. Us computer geek guys like a woman alot more if they are willing to “get dirty”, and learn it instead of just telling us how smart we are while we do them a favor. Also if he does build it for you don’t go to him every time it breaks so he can fix it. Try to fix it yourself, ask him for advice on what you can do to fix it. That goes back to the "more interested in woman that is willing to “get dirty” thing. He will then see you as a geek girl that might just be fun to talk too. However if you just want to check out his cute ass while he puts the computer together be careful of what you “drop” for him to pickup. Case fans and cables are OK. Processors, hard drives, etc are not. Of course these are my opinions and YMMV.
As to the computer itself. Hard drives for midrange systems seem to be 160 - 180 GB with some larger and smaller. 512 - 1GB RAM is normal, and I would go for 1GB as it isn’t that much more expensive, and will help alot in the long run. I am an AMD guy so I know there line better than Intel. The AMD 3000+ seems to be the minimum used, with the 3800+ being the high end of midrange. I got an X2, and for most people the extra cost isn’t worth it. Video card you should be looking at a PCIx card. 128 or 256MB. I am a NVIDIA guy so again I know there stuff better than ATI. A 6600 or a 6800 would be a your best bet for a good card that isn’t too expensive. As Shangnasty said get a good motherboard. I used to just buy the cheapo 60 - 70 dollar boards, and had constant failures. When I started spending a little more on em 100 - 150 I had no problems. Sound will be on board with just about any motherboard. If putting it togehter yourself don’t forget all the other small stuff that people forget about when doing their first system build. Power supply, get a 450 or better. That way you will have power if you decided to add drives, or better video cards etc later. Case, and fans. Get one you can live with, but make sure there is room for cooling. The smaller the case the more fans you will need to move heat, and the louder it will be. Keyboard, speakers, and mouse you can use from your old computer. Same with the monitor if you are happy with it. Otherwise get a keyboard, mouse that you like. Comfort is the most important part of that. If getting a new monitor LCDs are very nice, and the price has come way down in the last few years.
Forgetting about my greased up tits for a moment, I’m hoping that I can use my current case - when I bought it one of the “features” was that it was big and fat and had a good cooling system. Obviously, I’ll let Mr. SmartyPants decide, but can you think of a reason why reusing the case is a bad idea?
If your current case is AT, you’ll have to get a new case.
You should only put ATX power supplies and motherboards into ATX cases. The connectors on the front of the case are designed for the ATX boards, and the ones in an AT case won’t work right and could end up damaging your board.
Either make sure the case comes with a good power supply, or get yourself one. A 450 Watt supply should meet your needs just fine.
If you or your friend buys an OEM processor as opposed to a retail processor and it doesn’t come with the heatsink and fan combo, you’ll need to buy a heatsink and fan combo. You will also need thermal compound for any OEM processor. Spring for the Arctic Silver, and use it according to the directions. No thermal compound = very short lifespan for processor. Very short = few seconds.
[Forget mode on]
Depends on the case. As catsix said you will need to make sure it is an ATX case. A ATX motherboard can be made to fit in a AT case, but it isn’t recomended. Also looking at the other stats of your system I am going to guess that your power supply is probably too small. You will need to get a new power supply. Clean it out first of course. Make sure the fans function corectly also.
[Forget mode off]
This option involves no grease,honey, or tits. It also results in a used computer for a heck of a price. The City sells it’s old stuff and some of it pretty decent. You can check out the link here.
The only problem is the limited hours you can go look at and pick up the toys. Your hot friend might even enjoy taking a look and throwing in some extra memory or another hard drive.
Sweat spots and greased tits? This is either a very strange thread about building a computer, or just a normal SDMB post.
If you just want to go buy a pre-made PC with a warranty, you can get a perfectly respectable PC with a 17" LCD monitor for under $600 at the likes of Dell or the various office supply shops. If you can buy it today or tomorrow, Office Depot has a PC for $350 after rebate that will blow the doors of you current PC. You don’t get a monitor or 1 GB of RAM at this price, but, you do get a 2.2GHz processor, 160 GB drive, CD/DVD burner, plus built-in ethernet, memory card reader, speakers, keyboard and mouse.
While you’re adjusting to the shock, the 512 MB of RAM will do just fine for you. Add a 17" LCD monitor for about $250, or a 15" for $210 after rebate, and off you go.
(Will they even run on new systems?)
