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Old 2004-08-15, 14:47   Link #1
Grona
Big Damit!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: PEI, Canada
Age: 41
Buying a new Computer, suggestions?

Well I am about to get a new system again but I am really looking for advice

I'm not rich and am going to be going with an 64bit AMD based system most likely, but I only wana spend about 2000 Canadian. Also I don't wana be upgrading very soon again so most likely I'll be getting a ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro so I'll own games like quake 3. When it comes to sound, I have a 5.1 set up through an phlips acoustic edge, I want to be able to use my speakers again with my new set up so I don't know if getting integrated audio in the mother board. The only other thing I would really like is one chip of 1Gigs of DDR ram, not sure of the speed because of the cost thing. When it comes to looks, that just jacks the price up so cheap cheap cheap on the case

Any suggestions?

Last edited by Grona; 2004-08-15 at 15:18.
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:02   Link #2
Shadowlord
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada eh?
Age: 37
unless you steal a computer, there is no possible way to get a 64bit comp for $200, the ram alone would be that.
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:08   Link #3
_Sin_
Member of the Year 2004!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: "And if thou doest not well, _Sin_ lieth at the door."- Genesis 4:7
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowlord
unless you steal a computer, there is no possible way to get a 64bit comp for $200, the ram alone would be that.
What's wrong with stealing?

Seriously, can someone tell me the conversion rates of $ Canadian: Euro and/or C$:US$?
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:12   Link #4
Shadowlord
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada eh?
Age: 37
1 Canadian dollar = .6176 Euro (roughly 62 cents, or whatever european cents r)
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:14   Link #5
Kurz
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Age: 36
Omg..... A good computer with the specs you are saying will cost at least 2,000+ dollars.

Lol i hope you made a mistake with the 200

Last edited by Kurz; 2004-09-18 at 15:30.
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:17   Link #6
_Sin_
Member of the Year 2004!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: "And if thou doest not well, _Sin_ lieth at the door."- Genesis 4:7
Age: 39
Ok, thanks.

Grona, if you'd take a look at the prices here, you'll see that the cheapest A64 costs about 145€ (hey, at least it's boxed )
which is about 235 Canadian. Maybe you meant 2000 Canadian?

EDIT: The link does not work if I hotlink, so you'll have to take my word for it. But if you want to see it badly, go here and look in "Prozessoren"-->"AMD Socket 754"
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:19   Link #7
Grona
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: PEI, Canada
Age: 41
Quote:
Originally Posted by _Sin_
Ok, thanks.

Grona, if you'd take a look at the prices here, you'll see that the cheapest A64 costs about 145€ (hey, at least it's boxed )
which is about 235 Canadian. Maybe you meant 2000 Canadian?

*cough* 2000 is the right price



lol
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:21   Link #8
Ending
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Join Date: May 2004
Post Let's see...

a) Look what you can recycle from your old computer. Mainly:
-- HDD
-- Sound-card (Even though I recommend upgrading to Audigy to support EAX 4.0)
-- RAM (If it is DDR)
-- DVD-drive (If you cannot afford a new DL burner)
-- Monitor (Again, consider upgrading to modern, flat TFT-screens)
-- Case

b) For a gaming rig you will need quite a lot, but if you want to save money, always check for that "price-hop" -a line between the cheap- and luxus-models. I presume you want to save money, thus:
-- nForce motherboard with integrated sound- and graphics-card. RAID, USB2.0, FireWire, and BlueTooth could be a nice bonus, so check for those. ~200€
-- 512 MB DDR RAM, that is about 60€
-- AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Boxed, that is ~360€, and a happy medium.

c) Thus, the minimum computer upgrade you could have would be:
-- 3,5 GHz processor (Does the job for the next 6 years)
-- Integrated sound or your old sound-card (Does the job)
-- Integrated GeForce 4 MX (Crap, but good enough for Quake 3)
-- 512 MB RAM (Enough for the next 3 years)
-- Old case (Standard stuff)
-- Old Monitor
-- Old HDD

TOTAL: 620€ at the barest minimum. That is the cheapest update you can get, but updating it with a brand new ATI/nVIDIA AGP card, Audigy 2, and TFT screen it will rise to (450+200+550=1200) about 1820€, leaving a bit for gimmicks like new mouse, keyboard, HDD, and/or a nifty case.
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:26   Link #9
Shadowlord
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada eh?
Age: 37
I dont wanna sound like an ass, but this person lives in Canada, perhaps it would be helpful to post in Can $?

Grona, check out this website, its where I get my stuff.

http://www.ncix.com/

its defaulted to the canadian website, since its a can company. Those are not bad prices, try building from there, they also have a pc builder there so you can customize and see the final results and price.
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:43   Link #10
Sakaki
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Intel Pentium 4 Processor 550 (3.4GHz) w/HT Technology and 1MB cache
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Desktop Solution

128MB PCI Express x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X800 SE
Intel Pro 1000 Integrated PCI NIC Card
48x CD-RW and 16X dual layer DVD+RW
Cyberlink Software Decoding for DVD Drives
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 THX Certified Sound card with DVD Audio
5650 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers System with Subwoofer

I just bought this system (finaly retiring a 7 year old Win98 computer), I didn't get the firewire adapter, but then I started to wonder if I should have. Well I can always add one later.

This one cost me about $2300 US. And I have another 250 gig drive previously purchased that I am going to install.

Also I am thinking of getting a DVI cable and hooking it up to my 34" HD televison and useing that for a monitor.
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Old 2004-08-15, 15:50   Link #11
Grona
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: PEI, Canada
Age: 41
Heh, thanks Shadow I know of those guys, also the people over at redflagdeals and Tigerdirect. I have alot of options, I know where I can get the stuff, just not what to get ^_^'

And I cant recycle any of my old computer, its going to my dad since he's kicking it a fair bit of cash for this. (Its a shame, I payed 4k for my system when I bought it, it has 2200 althalonXP chip in it for gods sakes)

But I do like intergration if its not craptastic tech. If I could get a kick ass graphics card and sound card in my motherboard when I get it, it would be super.


And on the subject of cases, does anyone have any info on their experences with Acrylic cases? You know, those nice clear ones where you can see everything inside. I mean, are they heavy and easy to scratch up and end up looking shitty? Or are the light and strong
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Old 2004-08-15, 16:05   Link #12
Shadowlord
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada eh?
Age: 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grona
And on the subject of cases, does anyone have any info on their experences with Acrylic cases? You know, those nice clear ones where you can see everything inside. I mean, are they heavy and easy to scratch up and end up looking shitty? Or are the light and strong
well, I have an acrylic case (cant quite remember what acryllic means, but it has the glossy car paint finish
)

it also has a clear plastic side view window, which, if you open alot will get scratched up. Buts, the plastic isnt then hard to replace.

I REALLY like my case, and it was the best $120 I have ever spent. Although the PSU isnt soo great.

this is my case

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=Raidmax

click on customer photos for better pics.
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Old 2004-08-15, 16:09   Link #13
Grona
Big Damit!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: PEI, Canada
Age: 41
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowlord
well, I have an acrylic case (cant quite remember what acryllic means, but it has the glossy car paint finish
)

it also has a clear plastic side view window, which, if you open alot will get scratched up. Buts, the plastic isnt then hard to replace.

I REALLY like my case, and it was the best $120 I have ever spent. Although the PSU isnt soo great.

this is my case

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=Raidmax

click on customer photos for better pics.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...asp?CatId=1522

Those are the ones I'm talking about, they are completely see through
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Old 2004-08-15, 16:35   Link #14
_Sin_
Member of the Year 2004!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: "And if thou doest not well, _Sin_ lieth at the door."- Genesis 4:7
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowlord
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=Raidmax

click on customer photos for better pics.
OMG, this so looks like my MS-Tech LC-401! But it costs only 45€
Spoiler for Tower in blue:


As for the Plexiglas tower, I find they look quite ugly if you see them in Real Life (not that they look better on pictures ). I'd say go for a tower like mine or Shadowlord's, just make sure you buy a PSU with about 550W for further upgrades (buy one with a 120mm fan, because they are silent).
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Old 2004-08-15, 16:40   Link #15
Shadowlord
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada eh?
Age: 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by _Sin_
OMG, this so looks like my MS-Tech LC-401! But it costs only 45€
Spoiler for Tower in blue:


As for the Plexiglas tower, I find they look quite ugly if you see them in Real Life (not that they look better on pictures ). I'd say go for a tower like mine or Shadowlord's, just make sure you buy a PSU with about 550W for further upgrades (buy one with a 120mm fan, because they are silent).

LOL, they are the exact same, but it appears that we have different brands. Maybe got from same manufacture plant? anyway, 60 euro would be about what I payed, after the $30 shipping (LMAO, I live 1 hour from their warehouse, I should have just picked it up myself) and the 14.5% gst+pst in taxes here in B.C.
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Old 2004-08-15, 16:54   Link #16
Grona
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: PEI, Canada
Age: 41
Man, power supplies must be cheap. Look at this case combo.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...5&Sku=K13-4104
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Old 2004-08-15, 17:13   Link #17
KeinikuSuki
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Join Date: May 2004
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grona
Man, power supplies must be cheap.
I'm sure the one they put in there is cheap. And cheap in the case of a power supply is BAD. If you spend extra money on one thing in your computer, make it your power supply. It's perhaps the single most important componant.
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Old 2004-08-15, 17:17   Link #18
Ending
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Join Date: May 2004
There are no "less important" components -otherwise they wouldn't be there at all.
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Old 2004-08-15, 17:31   Link #19
_Sin_
Member of the Year 2004!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: "And if thou doest not well, _Sin_ lieth at the door."- Genesis 4:7
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by KeinikuSuki
I'm sure the one they put in there is cheap. And cheap in the case of a power supply is BAD. If you spend extra money on one thing in your computer, make it your power supply. It's perhaps the single most important componant.
Cheap does not necessary equal BAD. I got a LC-Power with 550W for 30€ which is cheap. Nonetheless it's pretty good and silent. I understand your concern, however, since a PSU can nuke your mainboard, CPU etc if it does not shut down when it needs to, i.e. short circuit (if that's even the word I'm looking for =/ )
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Old 2004-08-15, 17:35   Link #20
Shadowlord
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada eh?
Age: 37
if you go for a case that comes with a power supply, chances are, unless you pay $150 and up for a case, the power supply is crap. I know you already said you are on a tight budget, but a good PSU is a MUST. If you have to, just buy it seperately, a good Antec or Enermax will set you back about $120-$220 Canadian. Also, you don't have to have a powerplant like 550 Watts unless you are considering Extreme modification, such as water cooling and the absolute best Video card, Ram, etc. A 400 Watt PSU should be good enought to run standard parts. You could go for a 350 Watt PSU also, but that is really pushing it, depending on your hardware. I would stick with a minimum 400 WATT though.
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