[Help!] Buying a new Desktop

[drothgery]

You are correct, but keep in mind that the 600 series procs have only been officially released within the last week. Availability, price & chipset maturity are all going to be questions at least for a little while.

Dell's selling 6xx-based boxes now (their high-end Dimension 8400 line and their 'Extreme Gaming' XPS Gen 4 line only offer P4 6xx and P4EE CPUs now), and NewEgg is selling them at roughly Intel's list price; it's safe to say that there aren't any availability issues with the 6xx series P4s at this time. And the 925X (and almost all 6xx systems will be using the 925X, at least until Intel launches the 955X and NVidia gets the Intel version of nForce 4 out the door) is a fairly mature chipset at this point; it's nearly a year old.

 

[John Crichton]

What ever you get AVOID AT ALL COSTS systems with video cards built into the motherboard.

I have built my own machine before and I used to sell computers. This is one thing I do know. I'd never buy a machine with integrated sound or video.

And I know how fast the tech moves these days. I usually get a new computer (even if my machine is running fine) every 3-4 years. But thanks for the other things you mentioned. I didn't know anything about 64bit tech.

 

[John Crichton]

You are correct, but keep in mind that the 600 series procs have only been officially released within the last week. Availability, price & chipset maturity are all going to be questions at least for a little while.

Ah! Good to know. I'm certainly going to wait, then. Gateway has a model that uses that chipset and has gotten a few good reviews as well. Given this info I'm definately going to wait now to get a new desktop. I'll just use my 3 month old laptop for a couple months until these new Intel chips drop in price. It'll also given me time to save up a little more moolah so I can get more RAM and a faster processor.

I listed pricewatch because they do have prices for complete systems as well

I always forget that. Doh!

From a quality standpoint I am a big fan of Falcon Northwest. They have been in the custom PC game the longest and it does show. While they might not be quite as wild as the Voodoos, Falcon Northwest goes to great length to part match & test their machines, their attention to detail is unmatched.

Voodoo and Alienware are certain no slouches either of course, Falcon Northwest is just my personal favorite.

I've never heard of them before but they do look very reputable. Thanks for the advice. Looks like I have some more research to do!

 

[John Crichton]

Dell's selling 6xx-based boxes now (their high-end Dimension 8400 line and their 'Extreme Gaming' XPS Gen 4 line only offer P4 6xx and P4EE CPUs now), and NewEgg is selling them at roughly Intel's list price; it's safe to say that there aren't any availability issues with the 6xx series P4s at this time. And the 925X (and almost all 6xx systems will be using the 925X, at least until Intel launches the 955X and NVidia gets the Intel version of nForce 4 out the door) is a fairly mature chipset at this point; it's nearly a year old.

I love NewEgg. I buy lots of my smaller tech items from them. Them and ZipZoomFly. Things like MP3 players, DVD burners and such.

While we're on the top of other tech items - any monitor advice? I'm probably gonna get widescreen eventually when the prices drop a bit more. Anyone using one right now?

 

[Rackhir]

While we're on the top of other tech items - any monitor advice? I'm probably gonna get widescreen eventually when the prices drop a bit more. Anyone using one right now?

Current LCD displays can have trouble keeping up with fast action in first person shooters, if you are really cranking the frame rate. They just can't refresh fast enough and you can get some ghosting or after images. So CRTs are still tops if you want the absolute max performance and 21" color monitors are dirt cheap these days IF you have the room and space for them.

Also there is some overlap between LCD monitors and TVs which is something you might want to consider. Some of the monitors have tv tuners and most LCD tvs have DVI imputs, though I'm not certain of the compatability between the dvi output from video cards and the inputs on the TVs.

Finally the LCD displays have a "native" resolution, ie. the physical resolution of the pixels in the screens. If you run it at a higher or lower resolution it has to be scaled which doesn't always look the best. This can be a problem in particular for the really high res LCDs where you don't necessarily want to be using it at it's native resolution, because it makes things too small.

Other than that. Go with what you like.

 

[der_kluge]

Never heard that about putting a HDD in the freezer. My last hard drive crashed on me, and I had to get a new one. I might have to try that just to see if it will work.

I got my last computer here:
http://www.cyberpowerinc.com

They have some really groovy machines, with a wide range of prices, and seem to be very competitive. Also, there's something about a computer with a neon-lit case that's just really cool.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

IME despite the low prices, Dell computers are also surprisingly good machines. Most of the problems I've seen with them have been as a result of user error/choice rather than hardware/driver type issues. Though they have gone to a case design that makes replacing CD/DVD drives difficult until you learn the trick.

Or the shipper jostling the package too much. I had a friend who bought a Dell. He got it, set it up and went to surf the 'net. Nada. After a hassle with tech support, he found out that it was the modem card had jostled loose out of the motherboard slot. All he had to do was resecure it and he was ready to go.... and this from a guy who WORKS tech support!!

A funny tech support thing was at work (I work fast food) and the manager, not too bright an individual, shut off the breakers for the outside lights at closing time and, unbeknownst to her at the time, shut off one of the breakers for the comp. She went to the office and the comp didn't work. After calling tech support and hassling with them over "check the cables" and "check the apc supply" and various other things (I won't go into the fact that they had WAY TOO DAMN MUCH STUFF PLUGGED INTO A POWER STRIP BAR!!). I went, on a whim, to the breaker box, looked and flipped the breaker. The computer started up with a nice little ::hum::..... I wish I coulda charged for that "service"......

 

[Agamon]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check 'em out.

BTW - the link is http://www.voodoopc.com/

The voodoo.com link is fun, tho.

Hehe, sorry, I'm Canadian and use the www.voodoo.ca address. I thought the American was just .com.

 

[John Crichton]

Hehe, sorry, I'm Canadian and use the www.voodoo.ca address. I thought the American was just .com.

I forgive you.

Those machines are sweet. Cost a ton but the parts are quality. I'm going to start saving up. This laptop is new enough for it to last a while as my desktop. I just have to buy a USB hub so I can plug more than my mouse/keyboard into it...

 

[Grazzt]

Never heard that about putting a HDD in the freezer. My last hard drive crashed on me, and I had to get a new one. I might have to try that just to see if it will work.

That works sometimes. So does this: If you have an identical HDD (or say the company advance RMA's you a replacement drive) you can switch the circuit boards on the bottom of the drives and possibly boot into the older drive. Works about 50% of the time (so long as its not a major hardware problem with the platters or read/write head/arm, etc.) If it works, cool. If it doesnt, switch the circuit boards back and install new drive.

Something else that works sometimes. Tapping the drive on the top whilst its attempting to boot. Also holding the drive in your hand whilst its hooked up and attempting to boot, if you give it a quick turn/jerk/twist clockwise, Ive seen that work a few times.