Lookin' at a New Computer...

[PureEvil]

Mmmkay, I think it's about time to get a new computer, and I've been looking at some stuff, finding this one that seems to be a pretty good deal.

What do y'all figure?

Price: $1 572.90 (Canadian) $996.90 (U.S)


PENTIUM® 4 PGA478 2.0AGHZ PROCESSOR
ASUS P4B-533 S478 MOTHERBOARD
EIDE ATA100 CONTROLLER
HEAT SINK & FAN
ENHANCED 2S/1P W/ ONBOARD AUDIO
SEAGATE 60GB 7200RPM HD OEM
256MB PC2100 DDR MEMORY
ATI 4X AGP RADEON 7000 W/ 64MB MEMORY W/TV OUT(OEM)
1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE
ASUS 52X IDE CD-ROM
LABTEC LCS-1050 SPIN 50 COMPUTER SPEAKER
NEC ACCUSYNC AS75 17" MONITOR
MS-OEM PS/2 MOUSE WHEEL& PAD
LOGITECH DELUXE PS/2 KEYBOARD RETAIL
MICROSOFT® WIN HOME XP OEM
AOPEN HX45 ATX MID-TOWER
McAfee- OEM VIRUSSCAN VER 6.0 OEM
300W POWER SUPPLY

[GameMaster]

For $1000 American bucks, you could an get eMac instead :D

I have no knowledge of PCs, wait for Cyrax's reply or stdPikachu's.

[Blade Runner]

I'd get a faster cpu. And is a 300w psu enough for you? Are you building this yourself or is this already made?

[PureEvil]

Already made.

I have no idea if 300W is enough (Or how it affects anything else, for that matter...)

[Cyrax9]

Well, for the price (In US Dollars at least) this would-be POS for anything higher, is actually a pretty good system, (except for the fact that it's runnig Windows XP, a minor TECH-Nicality), CD-ROM is good, but I'd see what DVD-ROM goes for if you watch movies on the PC, the only thing TV-Out is really good ofor (it's a nice extra though), the 300-Watt power supply may be a problem eventually (I'm using 300 Watts now, and it's just fine), because newer systems are runnign 450 and 500W Power Supplys, that seems to be the only "cheap" thing on this system in terms of quality for its price. Also UPgrade to MacCafe VirusSacn 7.0 ASAP, and take 6.0 off, I'm using 6.0 now ad it's fine, but 7.0 will be supportted alot more in the future, and it just came out last month, so 6.0 will probably be phased-out soon, other than that, for a PC that only costs $1000 this is great, although I'd have gone with the eMac that GameMaster mentioned, unless you plan on doing accountant work, or are only using this for games (in which case you're in pretty abd shape), an eMac would be a beter choice, but if you're a Die-hard windows nut, this is a steal, take it and be happy, just remember, you ca alweays upgrade in a month or so to something better.

[sdtPikachu]

If you can, PLEASE upgrade to at least XP Pro, or even better Windows 2000.

If the machine is sold to you with a 300W PSU, then it'll do for the time being. Things to note are that comps don't tend to run much stuff which uses lots of power - apart from the CPU, what really sucks power are really powerful graphics cards and lots of 7200 rpm IDE HDD's (or even a coupla SCSI). I use an Antec TruPower 480W PSU since the less drain I put on it, the cooler and moe reliably it runs. And cos the TruPower series are such kickass PSU's, I could run a Ti4600, 6 15k SCSI HDD's and dual processors offof it, and it wouldn't feel a jot. If anyone else out there is planning on buying a PSU, I can heartily recommend an Antec TruPower (esp the TrueBlue, which is what I have :D). I previously ran a 1 GHz P3, two 7200 rpm HDD's, two CD-ROMs and a truckload of fans and case lights off a 250W PSU, and never ran into any problems.
One thng you should all note: very very few PSU's can actually run at their rated wattage (hence why I went for the TruPower, which can).

Your stock CPU cooler will be sh1te, and your CPU will run at 55 degrees idling. Buy and fit a better one.

[PureEvil]

Originally posted by sdtPikachu
If you can, PLEASE upgrade to at least XP Pro, or even better Windows 2000.

Any specific reason?

[sdtPikachu]

'Cos XP is sh1te...?

Not only does it have a fugly interface, it also runs dog slow even on good hardware, and it's persistent mollycodling is perhaps the most irritating thing since that fscking paperclip.

We just got an XP box in at work, and after a week of using it myself and the entire staff agreed it shuld be reformatted for Win2k, which in our experience is also far more stable than XP home at least.

And don't even think of getting me started in the whole product registration bollocks. XP is the forerunner to Palladium, and it's there to get you all used to running your computer how MS says you should run it, rather than how you want to run it.

Win2k will be the last Windoze I ever buy, and with any luck I'll never have to use anything other than that either.

[Null]

actually win XP runs faster then any other windows OS. Manages mem better, a lot less errors. no blue screens.

not saying its the best OS. cuz obviously it isnt. But its better then any other windows.

The interface is the same interface as every other windows. (yes thats right. learn to push a drop down menu and select classic windows look)

[sdtPikachu]

Null, FYI I already have. But XP still has loads of GUI crap that I hate. Even on "classic" it still runs dog slow. It's to do with XP being a hastily thrown together UI combined with stupid "we want to know where you live" licensing and idioitic security.

And despite my best efforts at tweakery, I still can't get XP with a longer uptime than 2 weeks. Win2k I can get to last for a month without a reboot.

Sorry, but IMO Win2k is the best OS ever to come out of Redmond. If they manage to make one better I shall take off my hat.

Until then, 2k all the way.

Or do I mean Linux? 4 months uptime for a desktop OS, 9 months uptime for the server (unless you count our webserver, which has been up for over a year). Read it and weep.

[Cyrax9]

Linux wins the OS war hands down for the reason that it includes the words "FREE OS" in the Package and means it, as for the best Windows OS, get off your @$$, boot-up that P2 and rediscover Win98, if you want to play games, learn what Windoze 98 had to offer before Bill Blowhard Gates put out M$ Windoze ME, WinBlows 2000 (which freezes every 15 minutes ater being Idle requiring the "The Finger Salute" to start up again, my dad uses it at work and hates it, he wants Windoze 95 back) and Winno-no's XP Pro and Home Editions, the simple fact that I need to "Activate my product should be outlawed, and WinXP is a POS. If you are a True Gamer, or PC Enthuiseist, go find a copy of Windoze 98SE on sale for about $84.00 US Dollars (Since Microshaft wants to pedal WinXP to produce the Palladium, pray that thing never gets off the groud floor of M$ Development), reformat your HDD, install Win98 and Office 2000, then write Bill gates a Nasty Letter telling him how much XP Sux and 98 rulez, then pop in a copy of "Sid Meier's Civilization II" or "Civ III", heck even "Civ I", enjoy the good ol' days, boot up a dos prompt, play with QBasic for a few hours and learn waht you've lost with Windblown XP.

Product Activation should be ilegal, it's probably about as "Secure" as giving your Credit Card Number to a theif, isn't Registering your Software enough? You've already got My Name, Home Address, Telephone #, Fax #, CD-Key, City, State, and Country, and my Age, what the fsck more do you want, my godd@mned Social Security Number!?!

Product Activation isn't just a pain, it's downright aweful and should be outlawed, as far as the Palladium Goes, if PC Sales Contine to fall and Manufactuer's have to drop their prices as much as they expect, from around $3000.00 to $1500.00, that stupid fsk-ugly chip can rust in "Mr. $5.00 Hair-Cut's" Basement along wth his once-great Monopoly, and his replicas of old Metal Daggers, one for each company he "Kills", let's put an end ot Microshaft toda, buy Mac's/Build *nix Machines, or use our "Old" Non-OEM Copies of Windows that came beforee XP, as far as I'm concerned anything labled "XP" that comes from M$'s @$$ is not a good product, If I ahd known about OpenOffice a year ago I'd have never bough Office XP, and I've learned from that experiance, Bill agtes needs a hole in his walet where his greenbacks used to be and I say someboyd shoud give itto him, plenty of N00bs are building PC's, so why not all start build our own "Custom" Comps? I'd like to Elimigate a few of the Gateway's and Dells rthat Build Crap-quality PC's and whenyou think about it, Buildiong a PC, in a way, is like Buying a house, if you buy the wrong house, you have to live wih it for aquite a few years, if you buy thewrong PC, you're stuck witha POS for awhile as well, PC's are coming down in price, parts & whole systems, so there's no excuse not to build one ratehr than buy ther lateste Dell, Gateway, or HP. Choose parts that fit your budget and have fun, if the Paladium comes out, we'll be storing OUR data on M$'s SERVERS, and it will no longer be OUR DATA< if you do not WANT to own YOUR SOFWTARE, please send all your money to M$ HQ so they can further their efforts to steal your Software.