Help me buy a new computer

chuck steak

It has been about 6 years or so since I last bought a new computer, and I haven't really kept up with what is good or coming up.

First of all, is there any reason to wait or is right now a good time to be buying a new PC?

Secondly, what parts should I be looking at?

Thirdly, if I go with XP will have to buy Vista in the near future? I have Vista on my laptop, and I don't really like it. I can put up with it though if it's likely to be needed any time soon. Also, I have XP from my old computer. If I stop using that computer can I use that disc/serial for my laptop or new PC?

brandotheninjamaster

Buying a computer ultimately is going to depend on your wants and needs. Is this going to be for gaming? video editing? Music Making? etc etc. Once you have that decided, you go from there reading user reviews and overall ratings. Then weigh the options/features of said hardware has and decide whats going to service you best.

noobert

Given i do this for a living, i guess i'm qualified to give advice here

Firstly, what do you want to use it for?
Next, how much do you want to spend?
Is this price including monitor, operating system etc?

If we recommend parts, do you feel comfortable building it yourself? or are you wanting to go with a prebuilt Dell/HP/ACER/etc?

chuck steak

Woops, can't believe I forgot to mention that it is going to be used for gaming. I can spend around $2000 Canadian, with monitor and OS, unless there is a very good reason to spend more. I don't want to build it myself.

Dhalphir

For that budget you could get a Core2Duo 2.13ghz, probably a Geforce 8800GTS and 2gb of DDR2667 RAM.

The other components are extraneous, those are the core of what you want. And if your budget doesn't quite stretch to an 8800GTS, you can do what I did, and settle for an 8600GT.

You'll be in the same situation as I was...a 6 year old computer replaced by a brand new one.
And trust me. It will BLOW your mind.

I used to have to cap Battlefield 1942 (yes, 1942) at 16 players, running on minimum settings to make the game playable. I even had to turn down the SOUND quality!

Now I can run it at max settings with 63 bots. I know thats not much stress on a new computer but it blew my mind.

And 70frames per second in Shattrath City FTW.

chuck steak

Any other advice? Is the price difference between the 8800 and 8600 worth it? Is SLI worth it? Are there any particular monitors that are great or does it not really matter which one I get?

Eat_Fire

Make sure you get Windows Vista, windows xp only supports 2gbs of ram total for actual performance (although technichally it supports 4gb and only sees 3gb). So for the next gen of games coming in 2008 you will need the ability to upgrade your machine without having to worry about the OS

Dhalphir

chuck steak wrote: »

Any other advice? Is the price difference between the 8800 and 8600 worth it? Is SLI worth it? Are there any particular monitors that are great or does it not really matter which one I get?

Get a 19" LCD monitor at the LEAST.

Not much point getting a sexy blazing fast computer if the monitor makes it look crap.

I used to think I could skimp on the monitor, but I went with my instinct and got a Samsung 19". SO glad I did.

And personally, I don't think the price difference between the 8600 and the 8800 is worth it. Your budget is a lot higher than mine...my budget was $1500 AUD, yours is $500 more, not even taking any currency differences into account, so you could quite easily get the computer I did but with an 8800.

That said, the 8600GT will run everything thats out at the moment, and it will run 99% of that stuff at maximum settings at any resolution you desire.

Raslin

Well, cyberpower pc won't ship to canada, but I figure you can find something similar from a pre-built site in canada.

CASE: Thermaltake Bach VX Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window
PSU: Thermaltake 700w Power Supply
CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
MOTHERBOARD : (Quad-Core FSB1333) Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD : NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
LCD Monitor: NONE
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Optical Drive: (Special Price) 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: 16X DVD ROM (BLACK COLOR)
SOUND : 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD

Also includes Vista home premium 32bit(You want it for DX10, and future proofing... won't hurt your performance that much). Doesn't include KB/M, speakers, or screen. I would suggest spending about $200-300 on a decent 22in 1680x1050 monitor. Saying it was $300, that would bring the price for this up to $1663 USD. Plenty of room there(you could either be happy and have extra money, or upgrade to the 640mb 8800, or splurge on a nice $24in screen instead, or... well, its a good (pre-built) build for your budget :P

imperial6

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8387

That's the Twice and Future Computer Thread.

Also, nvidia is just about to release the new 8800GT, which should outperform the GTS for less money...so if you can wait even 2 weeks for this card, it should be worth it.

Edit: I would disagree with another poster about the 8600gt. While he is correct in saying it will run all current games quite nicely, for someone who upgrades only once every 4-6 years you should really consider getting a card that will run upcoming titles nicely as well. That means wanting a card that is powerful enough for newer dx10 games, and that means I wouldn't recommend anything less than a 640mb GTS. However, my above advice stands...if you can wait a couple weeks, the 8800gt should be the best cost/performance card that will also keep you happy for the next 4 years.

edit again: Though check some reviews before you buy, I'm 99% confident the leaked benchmarks for that card are accurate but you never know

tectonic

These guys are suggesting PARTS, not pre-built computers, because it's far smarter to build something yourself. It's REALLY easy if you do all the research and make sure everything's compatible. A little stressful but a lot of fun. It's way cheaper, completely customizable.

Really all it is is like screwing a plate into a wall, then inserting a bunch of nintendo cartridges, then playing with legos that happen to have cords attached to them. Everything has instructions, there's faqs everywhere. It's major easy. Vista installs itself, practically.

As far as SLI/Crossfire ... I've heard good things though don't have any experience myself. I built a brand new computer for $700 minus OS with the intent of going crossfire eventually. If you DO want to dual-card, go Crossfire. It came out after SLI, and has more options than SLI - specifically Super AA, which is dual-video card perfected.

Here's what you need if you're going to build but if youre not, keep this info in mind when you go to Toshiba or Alien Ware or Dell or whatever:

OS - get vista, you get DX10 and more ram, better networking and SP1 will be out before you know it.

Processor - dual core is fine for now. AMD performs just as well as Intel but costs less. I suggest a windsor

Custom cooling - if you're squeamish about building your own comp i dont think you're going to overclock so a copper butterfly or something doesnt seem necessary for you - you can always change your mind later though.

Video - The fat cards worry me. I've read a lot of reviews of them getting WAY too hot, which suggests a short lifespan, and when they cost $400+ I'm left feeling skeptical at best. I'd do 2 ATI's crossfired before I got a $500 8800gtx. It would cost a lil over $300 to get 2x 256mb 2600xt's

Motherboard - ASUS, baby. Don't settle for anything else. Great bios, very stable. Make sure it's got HT and pref 1000mhz Front Side Bus (processor speed of your mobo, essentially)

HD - 7200rpm SATA, western digital is a good brand but no reason to be particular. Raptors aren't worth the money. Yes, they spin faster. No, that doesn't mean you'll notice a performance increase.

Memory - If you're rich enough for DDR3 do it. If not, scrutinize the CAS Latency (that's how many cycles it takes for your mem to look up information). Try for 3, don't go over 4. CAS latency is more important than speed in my opinion. Yes DDR2 800 can ACQUIRE info faster, but once it has it if it's got a CAS latency of 5, it rummages through it slowly, and most mems build like that are terrible about 'taking out the trash' as the saying goes.

Case - get somethin you'll enjoy looking at - and max out case fans. It'll cost you like 10 bucks and it protects your investment.

Power - 550v, find something cheap and SLI ready just in case. There's a Xion out there that's like $30 which is great.

DVD - they cost like $30, get something that can DVD write just in case. I'd get an LG or a Samsung. DONT get a Sony. They haven't been able to build a proper cd/dvd reader since they started the company.

sec471

chuck steak wrote: »

It has been about 6 years or so since I last bought a new computer, and I haven't really kept up with what is good or coming up.

First of all, is there any reason to wait or is right now a good time to be buying a new PC?

I think it's time to get one, Sony/HP/ACER/etc, whatever. I don't like Dell.
Recently I just got my sony VAIO VGC-LS31N Notebook online, I think it's great for me to some surfing/email/game/etc.
There are many good options online, and they are always cheaper, I usually go to amazon, ebay, newegg, dealstudio, you can try this one
http://www.dealstudio.com/viewsavings.php?deals_group_id=21

brandotheninjamaster

also http://geeks.com/ has a really good deal on stuff as well