Best way to upgrade system

[LeeC]

I know there are a lot of people here smarter than me. I want to get a better system, and I am wondering if there is a better way to go about it other than dell, or gateway. I have always had gateways and have been happy, but I see places like cpu solutions, and zipzoomfly, where you can get a pretty stout computer for less. So my question is should I stick with the gateway or dell? Do you guys have a better place to buy, or should I just get dirty, and make one myself with the best parts I can find. No, I do not have anything more than a working knowlede of computers, but what the heck. I do not have a fear of diving in, I just do not know how difficult it is, but am willing to try. I have posted this article in a couple of places to hopefully find answers soon. Thanks for your help

 

[DannyBoy]

Just looking at your post I would say get a dell.

Welcome to the forums.

Cheers LeeC :beer:

 

[UptheMiddle]

I would say build your own if you're not afraid of getting your hands "dirty"! Its an incredible learning experience.

I've built a few computers, and I'm still trying to educate myself on the great many details. In fact, it seems like these forums are a fantastic place to learn from as their are a bunch of intelligent people that post in here (I'm new to the forum scene and I hope to learn from these folks!).

 

[fredtam]

Build your own. Its very simple. With places like zipzoomfly and newegg you can do it pretty cheap. However if you really have no desire other than to just have a computer Dell is a great option. It is actually hard to build a low to midrange pc much cheaper than dell does. When you get into the higher end the situation reverses. If your looking low to midrange and don't want to overclock get a dell. I just ordered a Dell for my mother in law (read "I don't want to be tech support") with a 2.6c, a 9800pro,a 17"lcd, all in one printer and a 3.1MP camera for $1450 with a 10% off coupon I had for signing up for their email alerts.

 

[LeeC]

I would like to build top end system, but right now I am not sure if I should get the pieces to put together, or spend a little more and have someone else put them together. In todays environment I really would like to learn how, but with family, and all it is pretty hard to have alot of time to spare . I am pretty stubborn, and will probably get the pieces, and do it myself. I don't like having to rely on tech support. I get alot of info from here on what people use, and can figure out the pieces pretty easy. It is just getting them together. Thanks for the help.
Fredtam, I know it probably makes sense to go that way, and believe me I am still looking at it. It is hard to beat the big guys, but I know that if I build a top end system, I can save quite abit

 

[fredtam]

No doubt, on a top end system you will save a ton building it yourself. Its not hard and doesn't take very long to bring yourself up to speed. Less than a year ago I knew nothing on the hardware side of things. Now I feel confident working on most things (took about a month).

 

[justly]

LeeC, you might want to consider a simple upgrade. It is very possible that your current computer can do what you need at the speed you want just by adding more memory, a faster hard drive or a new video card.
With out knowing what is in your current system or what you think is lacking about it makes it hard (if not impossible) to get good advice or make an informed decision on what to buy. Right now the people reading this have no idea if you have a 1 year old system or a 5 year old system, in fact about the only thing we know is that you have a gateway so it is probably a Intel processor.

 

[ams30gts]

look around in the hot deals forums, and find deals on TOL stuff. you save a bundle in building it yourself. if you never done it before it might be quite a challenge. everyone needs to learn sometime though

 

[LeeC]

Justly,
I have abrother in law that is having a lot of trouble with his p4 1.4 from gateway, and we have spent so much time that we are decideing to get something else. He doesnot have the time to pull his computer down while we dink around, we upgraded his video, sound, and ram with no help. I am afraid it might be in his motherboard so I thought we would build one from scratch, with good components, and go from there. He does some gaming, and surfing and that is about it. If I build one though I want it to last awhile, hence top shelf good stuff only. All comments welcome..

 

[justly]

Your right, a 1.4 GHz P4 wouldn't be worth the effort.

The thing is you are giving very little information to go on, so right now the best way I can see to help you (short of writing a book) is to provide you with a link to get you started.

Monthly High-end Gaming System Buyer's Guide

 

[kenshorin]

I would say, before doing anything, get an old system and tear it apart.... maybe something someone in your family doesn't use anymore or whatever... and then put it back together. Find something no one uses anymore. Familiarize yourself with the components. RAM, HDs, mobos, vid cards, etc, all plug in basically the same way they always have, with maybe minute differences. If you can put the system back together after ripping it apart, and get it to run, you can build a new one no problem; you will find it much more rewarding and much less expensive.

This way, you can kinda have a dry run at computer building without any cost, then build the latest and greatest with cost when you have gained some comfort and understaning of this stuff.

 

[LeeC]

Alll good comments, and I might try to tear one apart as suggested. I figured up pieces, and this is what i have come up with so far.I think the ram is wrong, but other than that what do you think.

Corsair CMX512-3200C2 512MB DDR400 PC3200 XMS Memory w/Heat Spreader

SapphireTech Radeon 9600 AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & CRT Powered by ATI

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 478
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JD 120GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer and Serial ATA Signal Cable Bundle

Asus P4P800 Deluxe i865PE P4 800FSB Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail


Antec Performance II Series SX835II Workstation Case Retail

Plextor PX-116A 16X IDE DVD-ROM Drive
Liteon LDW-401S DVD+R/+RW Drive Retail

Sony FD MPF920Z161/131 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy Disk Drive (Beige)

 

[fredtam]

Better
Memory is right except you want 2X256 sticks to enable dual channell and may want to consider mushkin for better prformance or crucial on a budget. The
performance difference wouldn't be noticable.
Abit IS7 (better performance than p4p800deluxe and cheaper)
9600 pro 128 ( actually outperforms 256Mb model)
P4 2.6c or 2.8c
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JD (no need for bundle/ mobo comes with everything)

What is your budget?

And although I'm an intel fanboy sinceyouwere cosidering a 2.8c you may want to consider an Athlon 64 which isn't too much more expensive and will outperform the 2.8 by a good margin.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: LeeC
Alll good comments, and I might try to tear one apart as suggested. I figured up pieces, and this is what i have come up with so far.I think the ram is wrong, but other than that what do you think.

Corsair CMX512-3200C2 512MB DDR400 PC3200 XMS Memory w/Heat Spreader

SapphireTech Radeon 9600 AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & CRT Powered by ATI

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 478
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JD 120GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer and Serial ATA Signal Cable Bundle

Asus P4P800 Deluxe i865PE P4 800FSB Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail


Antec Performance II Series SX835II Workstation Case Retail

Plextor PX-116A 16X IDE DVD-ROM Drive
Liteon LDW-401S DVD+R/+RW Drive Retail

Sony FD MPF920Z161/131 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy Disk Drive (Beige)

For virtually the same money, you can get an Athlon 3000+ system, same memory and other components, just swap the motherboard and CPU. It will run circles about the 2.8. And don't take my word for it, just check the benchmarks.

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Good choices! The only thing I would change is get 2 256MB sticks instead of 1 512MB stick. With P4 systems, you can run dual channel memory by having 2 of the same sticks. I have Kingston HyperX PC3200 (2 sticks of 512MB) and it is great! I also have the same motherboard as you chose, and it is awesome! For the CPU, I have a 2.6C instead of the 2.8C, because I couldn't justify spending the extra $40 on 200MHz more(it might be cheaper now though, I paid $176 for the 2.6C and it was $215 for the 2.8). The other thing I would change is the hard drive. SATA (serial ATA) doesn't give much (if any) performance increase over regular PATA IDE drives. It isn't worth the extra money at all. Look around local stores (such as CompUSA, best buy, circuit city, officemax, etc) to see if you can buy the drive there. Most places sell the 120GB WD's for like $80 after rebate! Other than that, everything looks good!

-Josh

 

[fredtam]

$15 is well worth the smaller cable. and the ability to run raid 0 off the ICH5r if you pick up another drive..

 

[LeeC]

I traded out the ram for Corsair TWINX512-3200LL 512MB DDR400 XMS3200 Ultra Low Latency Dual-Channel Memory w/Heat Spreader . I also priced an amd system like this. It is about 200.00 cheaper. Thanks for the quick replies



Sony DDU1621/DDU1612/DDU1611 16X IDE DVD w/PowerDVD 4.0 Software (Beige) 650.00

Western Digital Caviar WD1200BB 120GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive

Kingston KVR333X64C25/512 512MB DDR333 PC2700 Memory Retail

Sony FD MPF920Z161/131 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy Disk Drive (Beige)

Antec Solution Series SLK1600 Mini Tower Case Retail 1

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.08GHz 333FSB Processor Retail

SapphireTech Radeon 9600 AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & CRT Powered by ATI

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe nForce2 Ultra 400 Athlon(XP)/Duron SktA DDR ATX Motherbaord w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, Serial ATA Retail



I also printed out a system with the amd64 about the same price as the 2.8 intel 970.00

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor

Antec Solution Series SLK1600 Mini Tower Case Retail

Sony DDU1621/DDU1612/DDU1611 16X IDE DVD w/PowerDVD 4.0 Software (Beige)

Liteon LDW-411S DVD Dual Rewriter Retail

Sony FD MPF920Z161/131 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy Disk Drive (Beige)

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JD 120GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer and Serial ATA Signal Cable Bundle

Crucial Technology CT6464Z40B 512MB DDR400 PC3200 Memory

Asus K8V Deluxe Via K8T800 Athlon 64 Skt754 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, Dual SATA RAID Retail

SapphireTech Radeon 9600 AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & CRT Powered by ATI

 

[PizzaDude]

Build your own. SUCH a better way to go. It's fun, and WAY easier than you think!

 

[justly]

I would have to agree with this.

Originally posted by: fredtam
Better
Memory is right except you want 2X256 sticks to enable dual channell and may want to consider mushkin for better prformance or crucial on a budget. The
performance difference wouldn't be noticable.
Abit IS7 (better performance than p4p800deluxe and cheaper)
9600 pro 128 ( actually outperforms 256Mb model)
P4 2.6c or 2.8c
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JD (no need for bundle/ mobo comes with everything)

What is your budget?

And although I'm an intel fanboy sinceyouwere cosidering a 2.8c you may want to consider an Athlon 64 which isn't too much more expensive and will outperform the 2.8 by a good margin.

BTW I wish all fanboys (be it Intel or AMD) where this open minded.

With your concerns about longevity I would say stay with either the P4 or the Athlon 64, the Athlon XP will be the quickest to show its age.

 

[mrgoblin]

Get it with the kit, make it look like it got frog eyes, then blow the brains out cuz u know the ladies love when their hair goes crazy. THen put it on dubs. All the ladies love DUBS. Get the dual ones that spin when u stop. Id also put some fendi on the dash so it look real fly.

Or just get a dell
:beer:

 

[Blain]

Check out ABS PCs. They have reasonable prices and a fantastic Reseller Rating.

 

[CJP]

One thing that I do before building a new computer is go to the company website of the motherboard I'm thinking of buying (like Asus) and download the moterboard's manual. Then I just breeze through it reading how to install the cpu and memory etc. Helped alot with my last system anyway.