need advice re: building a new computer

[thirty-two]

Hey guys,

In January, my computer went kaput. I thought it was something that could be fixed, but it might be better to just move on. I've decided I would like to build another computer (my dad built the last one - lasted a long time).

My questions are as follows: Do you have any recommendations on a certain motherboard , RAM or chip or what not?[/B] I've saved up some cash and am willing to spend, but obviously would like the best bang for my buck. I am googling this, but since I have very limited internet time, I'm going to try here first.

Here are the things I plan on re-using: Monitor, computer box if I can (apparently it has to match the motherboard... mine is ATX?), hard drives (will be getting a new one and will use my old one as a secondary), power supply, dvd burner and that's all that I can think of right now.

The things I like doing on a computer are mainly: watching movies (netflix), hulu, downloading stuff, streaming video, browsing the internet, burning dvd's and i-tunes. I am a multi-tasker and like to browse the internet while burning a dvd while listening to itunes while writin on word, etc. I never play video games on my computer. But I do watch DVD's from time to time.

So, if anyone could provide their input on what's the latest technology to get or what not, I would GREATLY appreciate it. As I mentioned before, my internet time is limited so I may not respond to this thread for a bit. But please, if you have any info on good processors to get or whatnot, I would LOVE to hear it.

Thanks,
Kate

 

[jw7]

Hey 32,

There are a ton of really smart computer people on here so you should be in good shape.

My computer went kaput last October. I went notebook instead of a new desktop. The performance advantage of desktops vs. notebooks is becoming so negligible, so why not have something that does not take up so much space and you can bring with you if you travel? And heck, wireless is showing up everywhere. I can get on the internet when I take my car into the shop or travel out of town and have to stay at hotels. You can throw it in a backpack and take it wherever.

I got a sony VAIO for like $850 at Fry's. At the time I also bought an external flat screen monitor for about $250 and I ended up returning it because the VAIO display just kicked it's ass and was not needed.

Get a wireless mouse and keyboard and you can't tell the difference from a desktop.

Oh and ditch your old hard drive (after saving the stuff you want) and get USB flash drives. Those are so cheap.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

JW7 does make a good point about notebooks. They do have some drawbacks (usually won't last as long or have the same kind of performance for the money as a desktop), but the portability is handy. If you're set on a desktop though, here are a couple suggestions.

For a processor, go with at least an Intel Core 2 Duo (the E7400 is nice). Or, I'd recommend a Core 2 Quad like this Q8400 here. The Intel Core i7's are the new kids on the block but I'd consider them overkill for what you say you want. Here is a good quality motherboard that will work with either processor I listed.

As for memory, go crazy with it. Its such a cheap and important upgrade, especially since you say you're big on multitasking. 4GB of a good quality memory (the motherboard I listed uses 667MHz or 800MHz DDR2 memory) can be had for well under $50 now. Hard drives are another item that's really become an affordable area to stock up on. I'm partial to Seagate brand drives for their reliability but others might have other suggestions. Around $50 buys a 500GB drive, 1TB sized drives are also available for a little bit more. No need to go too advanced with a video card since you aren't playing games, something like this would work well with streaming video and such.

You're right about the computer case having to match the physical form of the motherboard. Good news is that ATX is the most common, so many motherboards (including the one I recommended) would work. I know that you were hoping to re-use the power supply but that might not work. The new processors/motherboards/etc. might overwhelm your power supply depending on its age. A 400W power supply is probably the minimum needed for the average new PC, and I'd recommend at least 500W. Something like this is what I would look for.

Lastly, no matter if you go with a notebook or desktop, do yourself a big favor and get a new surge protector. $30 for a modern Belkin surge protector with protected/fault lights is such a worth while insurance policy for a brand new computer. Can't stress that one enough.

If anything didn't make sense please let me know, I tend to get starry eyed when thinking about new PCs. Hope this helps.

 

[Sandan]

Been building them for years, the first place I start is here.

They have good starting points and means you get compatible components

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/04/ars-technica-system-guide-april-2009-edition.ars

note: There are three pages for various performance levels. I usually start with their Hot Rod and then adjust to my needs

 

[Sandan]

Not sure I agree that laptop performance is equivalent to desktops ?

Also desktops can be incrementally upgraded if you build them yourself

 

[Sandan]

Found out today not all 1tb hdds are born equal.

Hitachi came out with the first ones and they are really slow. More platters lower density than say Seagate

 

[SirStefan32]

Also, do yourself a favor and get a dual monitor setup. You'll wonder how you were ever able to survive on one monitor.

 

[jw7]

Not sure I agree that laptop performance is equivalent to desktops ?

Also desktops can be incrementally upgraded if you build them yourself

You are right on both counts.

My point is, for 95% of the folks out there that are just using their PC's for internet, MS Office, email, movies and music, laptop performance is more than acceptable these days. Plus you get the convenience of having it portable and connecting to wireless at other places.

Just my preference - I don't play Halo or anything or try to map the human genome so it is more than fine for me.

 

[Sandan]

Ok then yes that most defiantly true.

Only worth building if you have identified needs. Trying to buy those more custom systems is extremely expensive and they usually screw you over some where. They also make them harder to upgrade with little tricks like very short cables or custom cases /motherboards

I don't play high end 3d games so I'm good at 80% of the max but still need good 3d. Heck even the monitor I'm eying for jan needs a stronger video, dreams of 24" or more

One place you can save a ton of cash is switch to Openoffice. Its free and frankly is better than the new office [IMO new office has too many options, can't find what I want]

 

[Mathew81]

One place you can save a ton of cash is switch to Openoffice. Its free and frankly is better than the new office [IMO new office has too many options, can't find what I want]

OpenOffice is awesome. It has all the programs that Office does (except for an email client) and is compatible with all the file types from Office. For email I just use Mozilla Thunderbird, which is also free.

There are a lot of free programs that replace popular but expensive ones. In many instances they are even better than the commercial products and they are usually pretty easy to find.

 

[Covert Rain]

Did someone answer your question about Motherboards? I am partial to Gigabyte myself. I have built several Pc's using Gigabyte mobos with no issues. However, I have had some very bad experiences with Mobos from ASUS. Asus mobos are hit and miss as far as I am concerned from a stability perspective.

It's hard to answer some of your questions though without knowing what your going to do the most on it.

 

[thirty-two]

Thanks everyone for your input. And coyote, THANK YOU for the specific recommendations. I'm gathering some ideas and once I figure out what I want to get, I will post it here and you guys can critique away!

 

[Sandan]

All my email comes in through gmail now

 

[thirty-two]

Okay, I am going with the following:

motherboard: Intel DP35DPM
processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400
Video Card: GeForce 9500 GT
Power supply: Ultra LSP650

Basically I went with everyone thing CHF recommended

I am looking at a samsung hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822152173
and they are saying not to have this drive or really big drives as your main drive. Why is that? I have a smaller HD on my old comp - should I use that as the main drive and just use this one as a storage one?


Oh and Jw7, someday I will get a laptop - but for some reason I prefer having a desktop (at least for right now).

edit: i think i might go with this hard drive - i honestly dont need 1t of space. 640gig is more than fine http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

 

[Covert Rain]

Okay, I am going with the following:

motherboard: Intel DP35DPM
processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400
Video Card: GeForce 9500 GT
Power supply: Ultra LSP650

Basically I went with everyone thing CHF recommended

I am looking at a samsung hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822152173
and they are saying not to have this drive or really big drives as your main drive. Why is that? I have a smaller HD on my old comp - should I use that as the main drive and just use this one as a storage one?


Oh and Jw7, someday I will get a laptop - but for some reason I prefer having a desktop (at least for right now).

edit: i think i might go with this hard drive - i honestly dont need 1t of space. 640gig is more than fine http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

The reason being is that usually the bigger hard drives tend to be slower then the smaller ones. In addition, as your drive becomes filled with data, it's a larger area to "seek" and it will take longer to access data.

I personally prefer setting up the OS on a dedicated lightning quick hard drive and buy a second larger hard drive for music, photos etc.... For instance on one of my PC's, I store my OS & Games on a WD Raptor drive and have a 500 Gig drive that has everything else. I have a RAID setup on another one of my PC's (but that is more complicated).

I am in the process of building a new one myself and I am going to take the same approach. I am probably going to buy a really fast drive as my primary and buy a 1 terabyte drive for everything else. Actually this one will actually have an additional 1 terabyte drive just for my video because I am going to do some video editing with it.

So, I will have 1 drive dedicated to OS, Games. 1 Terabyte for general storage and 1 terabyte dedicated for video/movies.

 

[conraddobler]

Absolutely go with a fast and smaller sized hard drive that has your operating system on it and like SD said, get a monster for storage of files like photos.

Intel MB I like, well I like pretty much all of it but your initial choice of HD.

I have a self build I love myself and at work I have a cheap Dell because there I run office and all the computers have to have it and you can't beat Dell on price for the works.

That one freezes and crashes all the time, never sleeps right, mouse won't work after it comes back to life etc.

My home built one rocks, love it.

 

[thirty-two]

thanks steeldog.

what size HD should i be looking for? how do i know if the HD is fast? i will be running XP.

 

[HeavyB3]

With all that power you should play wow

 

[Covert Rain]

thanks steeldog.

what size HD should i be looking for? how do i know if the HD is fast? i will be running XP.

If your talking just running the OS on the hard drive, probably a 40 GIG or around their should do the trick. If you play lots of games you might want to go slightly bigger then that (50 to 75 gigs). In terms of how fast they are, you need to do your homework a bit and look at Hard drive reviews. I usually look at all the hard drives that I am interested in and look up each (you can google the model # + "review") and look at how it compares.

Typically, if your talking about speed, I am partial to the Western Digital HD in terms of speed/value. The Raptor drives I love but they are tad on the expensive side. However, performance wise they are great IMO. However, there are some good alternatives out there.