what's the best ready-made PC I can get for $3250?

[johnsonsjohnson]

NT

 

[Jumpem]

Look around at AlienWare.com or GamePC.com.

 

[mztykal]

Gosh. Take the time and do it yourself or pay someone to make one for you.

 

[ChicagoMaroon]

yeah, with $3K you could build one heck of a system.

 

[johnsonsjohnson]

Unfortunately, I don't know crap about that kind of stuff...

 

[Muerto]

Well this is the best place to learn! Just tell us what you're looking for.

 

[jamison]

Alienware.com GamePC.com are way overpriced.

 

[pac1085]

They may be overpriced, but as far as I know, there the only companys that use true name-brand components in them...

ICSVortex

 

[johnsonsjohnson]

well here's one way you could help me. I am very seriously considering this system:
Xi MTower Athlon

Xi MTower Athlon $899.00
AMD Athlon (tm) 1.333GHz upg. 266MHz FSB T-Bird w/350W P.S. $299.00
768MB DDR PC2100 266MHz 3 pcs. Req. ALI or VIA 266 Cs. $581.00
nVidia GeForce II ULTRA 64MB DDR AGP-4 $381.00
19" Viewsonic PF790.25ag Perfect Flat 1600NI Mic. $327.00
75GB 7200RPM Ultra ATA100 <9ms $190.00
HD Ctrl. According To Motherboard and HD Type Selected $0.00
DVD 16x40x MPEG-2 HW CARD (2000&amp;NT) $181.00
CreativeLab Live XGAMER PCI 3DWave Table $90.00
Altec Lansing ACS45.2W Powercube w/ wood Subwoofer $72.00
56K V90HW 2976USR Modem int. w/Mic - New $81.00
Windows 98 Keyboard $0.00
Logitech 2+ Wheel Mouse w/Mouse pad $0.00
Windows 2000 Workstation PRO CD-ROM $126.00
Xi Mid Tower Tool-free - Blue $0.00
Standard Xi Warranty One Year on System, 3 Years Mfg. on Monitor $0.00
Sub-Total: $3,227.00

I'mm getting some ALi motherboard with it if I should decide to purchase it. Is this pretty much the best I could buy at this time (within reasonable price of course)?

 

[SammyBoy]

johnson johnson, definately do not buy the system you listed there.

look at this upgrade to 1.33ghz Tbird is 300 bucks when the CHIP ITSELF COSTS LESS THAN THAT.
wow

Listen, If you do not want to make it yourself pay someone here to do it for you, you will save probably close to a grand and get a better product.

Listen,
I am 15 years old, and a couple of months ago knew next to nothing about computers.

1-2 months ago i built a kickin Tbird system with almost no problems. You can do it if you want to do a little research.


ALSO, what motherboard did the computer specs you just posted have?

good luck

Sam

 

[johnsonsjohnson]

That's a good question. I have no idea. I am about to email them, I guess it must be ALi Magik, but like I said I know nothing of computer hardware.

I have a backup, which is a top of the line Micron for about 3100, but i don't like it as much because it only offers 512 megs. If this Xi doesn't work out I will probably get the Micron.

 

[Dewey]

You could go to Alienware, etc. like these suggestions and you can't go wrong, except paying too much. If you are considering a package deal, you should try Outside Loop. Call them and tell them your needs and price range and they can put a system together for you.

 

[mztykal]

Gosh I would build one for you to your exact specs if you were here. I've done about 20 complete systems here in Hawaii. All leave my house completely stable. If you want, I can build you one. Only problem is that you have to send the cash first. I can guarantee I won't rip you off. My rep online is worth more than a few dollars.

 

[johnsonsjohnson]

I believe you, but the other thing is that 1.I will have some problems and need tech support and 2.It has to last awhile because after this I will not get one for awhile.

Also I don't think my parents would be confident in sending 3000 bucks off to some guy in Hawaii, but thanks for the offer.

 

[mztykal]

Oh well. Too bad you live there. If you didn't and lived here. I would do on-site tech support 24/7. I do that here for all my customers.

 

[ChicagoMaroon]

jj, don't be intimidated by building your own system. it really is exceedingly easy. there must be a zillion guides around the net to help ya out.

 

[SammyBoy]

hey where do you live.


ALSO:

#1, 768mb of DDR ram is kinda overkill right now,

let me tell you my 256mb of pc147 is more than enough.


LET SOMEONE ELSE BUILD THIS COMPUTER FOR YOU!

where do you live.

I bet you could find someone near you who would agree to do the tech support and warantee for you.

DO NOT GIVE UR PARENTS HARD EARNED MONEY TO whatever place u posted those specs from.

i am 15 like I said and built my system entirely out of my pocket and I dont have a job right now.

you could build a computer for 1 thousand that would be totally acceptable, there is no need to go nuts

can u please enable ur Private messages in your profile so I can chat with you?

thanks
Sam

 

[mztykal]

Oh well. I guess trusting a 19-year old with 3000 dollars is kinda taxing. But if you don't want someone to build it for you, build it yourself. You can't screw up that much the first time. The first time I did a ATX board when they just came out, I screwed up. But I'm perfect now, or almost perfect, so just do it yourself. You have nothing to worry about.

 

[johnsonsjohnson]

Overkill right now is the point. It won't be in not too long. This isn't all my parents money, i am paying 1/3-2/3 of it. This computer I think should be upgradable to Palomino and comes with plenty of RAM so it should be pretty long lasting, as PCs go.

 

[mztykal]

Why don't you just go with 1 gig of PC133 instead of DDR. The differences between DDR and SDRAM aren't that big in everyday applications...

 

[Muerto]

What SammyBoy said. You could get that same system for a lot less if you built it yourself or paid someone here to do it for you.

When I got my first computer I barely knew anything either. But after about six months of reading articles and surfing these forums I probably increased my knowledge 100x, and if you need tech support than this is the place. Any problem that you have could probably be solved here.

 

[cavingjan]

My suggestion: only use $2000 for the computer and put the rest in the bank for an upgrade next year or a little later. Top of the line system should really only cost you about $2000.

Edit: forgot to answer the question. I'm kinda partial to local mom and pop shops but if you must go true retail, consider ABS.

 

[SammyBoy]

no, overkill now isnt always gonna be mainstream in the future.

DDR may be the future, or it may not.

the performance increase is only marginal right now.

until pc3200 ddr ram and such comes out it will have only a slight advantage over regular sdram.


Listen, if you are thinking for the future you have to realize that sooner or later EVERY COMPUTER WILL BE OBSOLETE.

I spent 700 bucks on my last computer. (keep in mind my mobo/ram were the newest technology, not necessarily the 900mhz cpu)

When you think about it, I could build a new 700 dollar computer FOUR times, once a year say, in the same cost of your machine.

I can tell you my last system will be a lot nicer than your Tbird 1.33, and since Im selling every year my components will have more resale value.

you should think about this


-Sam

 

[murdock2525]

If you are that intimidated by building it go to the &quot;off topic&quot; forum and say Hey ! anyone live in ????? USA ? See whose living near you ? Some gamer guy with no money in his pocket and a ton of knowledge in his head would be glad to pick up a couple hundred bucks for spending 1/2 a day gluing you a machine together.As good ...probably better and a hell of allot cheaper.
If you save 700-$1000 who cares about warranties. All the parts are warrantied. If it costs a few bucks to change out a part who cares...
By the time something does go bad you'll know how to fix it anyway.

Just a thought.

 

[Muerto]

What do you want to use this computer for? From the specs it sounds like this is going to be a high end workstation for 3D CAD or animation. If you just want to use it for games I'd get &quot;only&quot; 256MD of RAM. If you want it to last then DDR RAM is probably the right choice but you probably don't need 768MB. And you can get a 1.33GHz TiBird by itlself for as low as $220! That alone would reduce the price you quoted a fair bit.



EDIT: What SammyBoy is correct. He's got a nice system and for only $700 it's a good deal.