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What are some cool little upgrades that I could get with $200-$300

M

mitchafi

Golden Member
Well believe it or not my birthday is coming up and fortunately (though hard to believe I suppose) my parents still give me more than a nice little card. I just built this rig so I don't need any major component upgrades but I was just looking for small little things to add such as round IDE cables which I am definitely going to get. Anything that would make my rig cooler/quieter/faster...you know. I was thinking about a VGA silencer but I don't know much about them. Are they difficult to install for a beginner? I was also thinking about possibly the NEC 2500A but I'm still in that "wait for dual-layer debate." Doesn't even really have to be for my computer, just any cool gadgets that a typical computer geek would like 🙂. Gotta tell 'em what to get me before they run off and come back with something crazy!
 
My vote goes to this stuff, unless you've got a digicam already:
  • Canon A60 or A70 digital camera
  • a set of 4 NiMH AA rechargeables & charger
  • a 128MB CompactFlash card
  • ...and a memory-card reader unit, either internal or external.
And if you can swing it, a tripod opens up all sorts of no-flash, long-exposure possibilities. You can get a little desktop-sized one for about $10 or a big one for about $40.
 
I just googled a myHD card. Is it pretty much just a tv card with better quality or what? That is what I am getting from google. Sounds decent if so, but I do have a tv right next to my computer so unless it has some nice benefits over a standard television I don't know if it would be worth it. As far as digital cameras, I'm not much into photography but my dad has a crappy 2 megapixel digicam that came with his dell laptop. It pretty much suits my needs on the rare occasions I use it.

Edit: BTW MechBgon...I referenced your guide quite a few times when building my PC. It was helpful for a novice like me. Yours and Tom's Hardware guide pretty much got me through it except for the thermal paste part and attaching the heatsink. Had me nervous as hell so I had one of my dad's computer-savvy friends help.
 
get this keyboard mouse combo

logitech


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To streamline your desktop, a single external device performs two critical functions: wireless hub for all your Bluetooth devices and fast power charger for the mouse. Communicate instantly using your Bluetooth headset, or easily exchange data between your PC and your Bluetooth PDA, cell phone, and printer. Thanks to the power of Bluetooth, you can do it all without wires. Learn more about all the things you can do with Bluetooth and Logitech.

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well the keyboard mouse combo seemed pretty cool but I'm really not a mouse/keyboard fanatic. I'm still using my quietkey keyboard from my first dell I got probably in 1999 If I remember correctly. And the mouse is junk but I may just buy an MX700 or whatever those things are called. And a question for you general, does the VGA silencer actually help?
 
Another raptor, or a cooling upgrade 🙂

Or in a few weeks you could get a geforce 6800 or Radeon X800SE for $300ish
 
Originally posted by: mitchafi
well the keyboard mouse combo seemed pretty cool but I'm really not a mouse/keyboard fanatic. I'm still using my quietkey keyboard from my first dell I got probably in 1999 If I remember correctly. And the mouse is junk but I may just buy an MX700 or whatever those things are called. And a question for you general, does the VGA silencer actually help?
Click to expand...

From what I hear, the VGA Silencer cools very well at low noise levels. I'd google some reviews, if you haven't already.

As for some other stuff, you could get one of those illuminated keyboards. I know you said you're not a keyboard fanatic, but hey, you might like it. 🙂 You could also buy a TV Tuner and record some of your favorite TV shows. Hauppauge makes good ones. A DVD burner would be nice as well, but if you can wait for summer, they'll drop in price when the dual-layer burners hit the market. Or you could pay like $200 for a dual layer butner and $3 per disc. 😛
 
I have the best suggestion for you.... ready?

Buy a backup plan..... In other words - buy a external drive, DVD burner, or something to back up your valueable data.

You'll thank me later.
 
One cool little device I've been messing around with is the Belkin Nostromo N52 Gamepad. Kind of a keyboard replacement for games on the PC. They're pretty cheap and can do alot with the software that configures it. Only bad thing about it is the keys are a bit sticky but still way more pro's than cons.
 
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