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Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - Hardware / Software - I have $900 to build a computer... New poll | |
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Sinfjotle
Lordly? No, not quite.








Since: 11-17-05
From: Kansas

Last post: 6329 days
Last view: 6327 days
Posted on 02-10-06 02:16 PM Link | Quote
...and I know absolutely nothing about hardware.

I've looked at some sites, but they just confused me, and Grey's lack of ability to say "Ok, we're done with this, now we're going to go on to this!" isn't making it easier.

My father suggested I get a laptop, but I doubt I'll be able to get a good one with less than $1,000. I'm looking mainly to build a gaming computer/laptop, but I don't know what to look for.

Give me some basics please .
FreeDOS +

Giant Red Koopa
Legion: freedos = fritos








Since: 11-17-05
From: Seattle

Last post: 6327 days
Last view: 6327 days
Posted on 02-10-06 02:26 PM Link | Quote
Start thinking this way: What do you have now that you can recycle for a new computer? Mainly hard disks, CD/DVD drives, RAM, monitor, video cards, sound cards. Adding them together can save you tons of money.
Sinfjotle
Lordly? No, not quite.








Since: 11-17-05
From: Kansas

Last post: 6329 days
Last view: 6327 days
Posted on 02-10-06 02:31 PM Link | Quote
Hard drive needs wiped, have a sound card/speakers/mouse/keyboard/monitor. It has a crappy motherboard, no video card, doesn't have RAM worth the space it takes.

Its a crap computer really.

(edited by Dracoon on 02-10-06 02:50 PM)
HyperHacker

Star Mario
Finally being paid to code in VB! If only I still enjoyed that. <_<
Wii #7182 6487 4198 1828


 





Since: 11-18-05
From: Canada, w00t!
My computer's specs, if anyone gives a damn.
STOP TRUNCATING THIS >8^(

Last post: 6328 days
Last view: 6328 days
Posted on 02-10-06 05:05 PM Link | Quote
Like I said in another thread, the one in my profile cost $400 Canadian (plus hard drive and OS which I already had) and serves my fairly demanding needs quite well. Shop around and build it yourself, it's SO much cheaper and you know what kind of quality to expect.

As far as minimum specs go, it really depends what you do.
  • CPU: 1.5ghz and up should be fine for most things. Avoid Celerons; if possible, avoid Intel entirely. Having 2 CPUs will really help multitasking, but motherboards that support it aren't cheap.
  • RAM: 128MB should be a bare minumum. 256 if you use your computer often, 512 if you do a lot of multitasking. 1GB and up is only really necessary if you play high-end games or do a lot of video editing. Once you hit 512, adding more won't improve performance nearly as much as it would if you had less. Speed is critical - it's one of the main factors in the speed of the system itself, but an incompatible speed will cause major stability problems.
  • Hard drive: 40-60GB or so should be plenty for most people, but if you like to rip movies to your HD, you'll want at least 160. Movies take up a lot of space. Get the fastest drive you can afford (AFAIK 7200RPM is the fastest available for a reasonable price right now). The speed of your hard drive is one of the most significant performance factors. When I upgraded from a ~5000RPM drive to a 7200RPM, with the same CPU, RAM etc, everything ran at least twice as fast.
    Also note that the arrangement of IDE drives affects performance. Each drive connected to one cable will run the speed of the slowest drive on the cable. CD/DVD drives are especially slow. Putting your CD/DVD drives on one cable and hard drives on another is highly recommended. If you have two HDs, one faster than the other, you may want to consider connecting the slow one in line with the CD/DVD so that the faster one has the line to itself.
  • Optical drive: A good quality CD writer + DVD reader won't cost much; one that writes DVDs will be a bit more. Get one that supports + and - if possible. Dual-layer DVDs, HD-DVD and Blu-ray are all still quite expensive.
  • Video: It's important to note that the video card is essentially a mini-computer itself, with a processor, memory and BIOS/firmware all its own. People will try to convince you that Card A is better than Card B simply because Card A has twice as much RAM, but processor speed is also critical. If you don't play games (save for pre-N64 emulation), all you really need is a decent card with ~32-64MB. As far as types of cards go: PCI express > AGP > PCI > Onboard.
  • Wifi: If you don't need it, don't buy it, simple as that. Note that many ISPs offer wireless routers with certain plans. Using a router gives you less control, but your computer won't have to be on 24/7 and won't get bogged down handling the traffic.
  • Power supply: Go for at least 400 watts. If the components aren't getting enough power, it won't matter how much you spent on them.


(edited by Hyper LOL - + on 02-10-06 04:08 PM)
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