COMPUTERS ARE STRANGE

[RanchMan]

Mike -

I hear what you're saying, and depending on where you get stuff, it is pretty easy to spend more than some of the package deals set up by the mfgs. Sale items are the real way to build a cheap but decent system (saw 256Mb of PC133 RAM on sale the other day for $15 {rebate} and a CD-RW drive for $29 - yea, I know, the RAM it isn't DDR, and the drive is a generic one, but hey, what the heck? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif)

Here's a <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.pricewatch.com/>link</A> that may help when picking components, although I've found stuff cheaper (That Sunday paper or your own searches on the Web may turn up that "golden deal.") For some, the few bucks they may save by building their own isn't worth their time to do all the searching, lack of a call center to handle questions, etc. That's cool - I can appreciate that. Just like anything else in life there are tradeoffs in this area too.

 

[Bird]

Mike, I've got a nephew whose job is keeping all the computers running for a county government, and naturally, over the years he's built several PCs for himself and my brother, but the last time my brother wanted a new one, the boy told him the same thing you just said. He said to just go buy a new Dell and it would cheaper than building one.

 

[DocHeb]

You might even look at the refurbished Dells or HPQs. They are often returned because the user didn't know how to work them, usually carry the same warranty, and are often far enough back from the cutting edge that there is a significant price difference and your wallet isn't cut as deeply.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/default.htm>Dell Refurbished Systems</A>

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/home/store_access.jsp?template_type=storefronts&category=refurbished>Hewlett Packard Compaq Refurbished Systems</A>

 

[jwstewar]

That is exactly what hyper-threading means. I think you are on the right track. I'm actually in this process right now. Starting to gather some of the parts & pieces as we speak. I'm building a machine w/ basically the same specs you are. Good luck, you should have a he!!uva machine there when you are done.

 

[cwave]

Here's my latest addition to my stable of Refurbished Dells

Dell 8250
3.06 Ghz - 512 Memory (2 Rimm)
80 Gig Hard Drive
4 Usb (2 front) - 1 Firewire
128 MB Radeon ATI 9700 TX - TV out
XP Professional
MS Office XP Small Business

No Monitor

$1987 Delivered including Tax and Delivery

New Dell 8250 system cost with no monitor $2600.

Ordered Monday will be delivered by Thursday
Never Never buy New again/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[frank_f15]

i am supposed to call him tomorrow(guess today now wed.) to go see him and finalize the specks and give a deposit. will depend on the weather and how his little boy made out with his surgery tues. not to soon either this thing went nutso again to day, seems like ribbon cables or something started to melt and ozzed some stuff on the video card, just moved it enogh to get it off the card, cables are so old and set i did not want to move them more. think i will also make sure the new unit uses the round cables instead of the ribbon cables.

 

[cpicton1]

Frank,

Are you sure that all of your cooling fans are running? Shouldn't be anything getting hot enough to melt cables. The round cables will add some cost and are better looking if someone wants to look inside your box. They are designed to help with cooling but not really necessary. It's going to be your computer for several years so design it the way you want it. Tell your man to get on it or it might be awhile before we here from you again if things go up in smoke. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Ideas?

Yes, make sure you get XP Pro, not XP Home.

I am not a fan of Windows anything, but I bought a refurbed notebook from HP, so I ended up with XP. Unfortunately, it's the Home Edition which lacks several features of the Pro (read full) edition.

Especially problematic is the leaving out of the Recovery Console--a means to recover a trashed operating system without a complete reinstall.

Like my HP, many of the "big name" brands have preloaded operating systems, and do not come with a full stand alone operating system CD. Instead, you get a "recovery" CD, or worse, a recovery partition--with no CD at all!!!

These "recovery" partitions and CDs do a "clean" install and return the machine to the original state it was in when you bought it, complete with all the extra junk (AOL, MSN installers, etc) that they lard the machine up with in the first place. They make it all but impossible to recover any of your own data.

I can't emphasize this strongly enough. Make sure you get a complete, authentic Micro$oft XP Pro CD (not a recovery CD)with your system. The easiest way to do this is to buy from a reputable local PC builder.

Good luck.

SnowRidge

 

[frank_f15]

yep all fans are working, and there is plenty of room aroung the puter, can't really see where the problem arose and i did not want to disturb the cables more that i had to. will check it out AFTER THE NEW ONE IS UP AND RUNNIGN. ORDERED IT THIS MORNING!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif should have it in 5 to 7 days. for anybody that has been following this thread , i went with the better machine.

 

[frank_f15]

revining an old thread for anyone interested; NEW COMPUTER WIL BE DELIVERED TOMORROW. rough idea of the specs follows.
asus motherboard, ddr atx w/6channel audio, usb 2.0 and 2 firewire, 2 usb on back 2 on front
cpu - intel p4 2.53 ghz 533fsb

hard drive -- western digital special edition(3 year warrenty) 80 gig /w/8mb buffer

video card- nivida g force 4 mxx440-8agp with 128 mb ddr , tv out, dual monitor, video in

RAM-- 512 MB DDR333 PC2700 MEMORY

1.44 FLOPPY

56X CD ROM

CD BURNER-48X24X48 W/ AHEAD NEARO SOFTWARE

MODEM V92

SOUND CARD-- creative labs soundblaster live digital 5.1

power supply 400watts

micosoft keyboard and mouse

WIN XP , MS OFFICE, SMALL BUSINEES EDITION

3 YEAR WARRENTY, PARTS AND LABOR

TELEPHONE SUPPORT AND FREE DEL. AND SET UP