Seeking opinions of current parts.
CPU
Motherboard
Hard Drive (SATA)
DVD (SATA)
Monitor
A friend ask me to build him a new system. (no problem)
Windows 7 ? clean install...
If you've built a system in the last year or two or had one built for you I would appreciate your comments.
Just the above parts are what I'm interested in. Been awhile since I built mine :-\
My work for him is free -- start to finish.
This is the wrong group, I'm sure-- but the last 3 I put together were 'bare bones' from either Newegg or geeks.com.
The last one was from geeks.com a few months ago-- A *de*branded HP- slimline tower- dual core E6700 processor 3.2GHz, 2GB ram, 750GB HDD, DVD burner- wireless keyboard & mouse- $200.
It would have been a real breeze if I'd known that hardware could be OS dependent. I spent a couple days trying to figure out why it wouldn't work before I emailed geeks and asked for help. They sent me to the HP page with the driver set-- which was only available for Windows 7 -- So I bought a copy of windows 7, retired my XP CD- and I've got a pretty nice machine for $300-- and a Windows 7 CD for the next box.
[I think my last monitor came from Walmart or Staples]Jim
For years I've bought nothing but Asus motherboards, AMD CPUs and Seagate hard drives (except that I bought Hitachi drives for notebooks)
-- almost all my dead drives are Western Digital. Most recently I've been buying G.Skill RAM but previously bought mostly Kingston. The DVD drives I've bought recently have been whatever was on sale at the time.
My most recent purchases have been from NewEgg.com, but TigerDirect.com has occasionally had better prices.
Perce
Hi, I usually buy barebone kit from eBay and add thing as I need. I always had good luck with ASUS, or Gigabyte mobo, HDD, the bigger cache the better. And good video card is very important.
Usage (and budget) will dictate the best choices. For instance, do you need hard drive capacity or graphics performance. Personally, I'd get an SSD drive rather than a hard drive--but that is because I place a premium on performance over capacity. I think the Dell medium end monitors are a good value (on sale for $239 recently from $300, I think). Let me know if you are interested and I'll look up the model.
tomshardware.com has LOTS of information on components.
Good luck!
When you can buy a whole system for $400, and given the problems that can arise, the idea of building a system for someone else out of parts doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. Also factor in that the $400 system comes with a legal version of Windows 7, a warranty and someone to go to for support. You can also typically get MSFT office for another $100,
3 years of antivirus for $40, etc.Just saying, sounds like aggravation and a good way to ruin a friendship.
It might be less frustrating to start with a bare-bones system or a used one, then upgrade.
I saw some desktop Dells that came back off lease to a school district:
The above were discovered at Directron in Houston.
Right. Unless you have "special needs" like gaming, fooling around with the hardware, etc, the cost curve went against building you own at least 10 years ago. I still do it, because I'm particular about that, and game and tinker. It's not cheap, because you pay retail for components. High end parts cost. Going with used eBay parts can make it work, but that has its own traps. You have to know the real values. Then, as you say, you'll be obligated to support it. Reminds me of what somebody on a another newsgroup years ago. Paraphrasing: "Why would somebody spend years writing a novel when you can pick one up at a bookstore for a few bucks."
Oren wrote in news:kh2408drodq2ioric67lsmssf22702lcls@
4ax.com:
You probably bought a boxed unit from a chain store.
Get one of those independent hole-in-the-wall places to build one for you. That way you get total control over hardware choice, partitioning, and software installs. Plus the builder then takes care of the burn-in and the warranty, and he'll be up on all the new hardware in a way you and I are not. Tiger Direct will also build-to-order, and they're probably better than the hole-in-the-wall places on account of their sales volume.
I gave up rolling my own years ago. It just wasn't worth it any more.
I've not built my own, but we have a guy we use for our computers for work and he has built mine for a number of years now. Yes, the big difference is all the crap that comes with the typical store bought system. Only thing worse is the Gook Squad that fine tunes them to the point they hardly run at all.
I replied earlier that you hadn't specified any system goals or a budget.
One of the best arguments made against you doing this is that you become the "fix it" man when ANYTHING goes wrong and, as you must surely know, something surely will, and then you will likely be sorry.
Build for yourself, maybe. For someone else, forgetaboutit! : )
I think you would be being a good friend if you located a system to consider.
Good luck! Bill
The main advantage of buying a name brand PC is you can usually get a driver disk that has drivers that will work together. Otherwise you are on a scavenger hunt looking for all the drivers you need and about half the time there will be one that won't play nice with another one. I am always one generation off he bleeding edge and I buy off lease commercial machines pretty cheap.
I always load them from a formatted disk.
Tell him to buy himself a laptop At the prices of laptops today, the savings for a desktop are not worth the effort. Plus the laptop provides a built-in backup power supply, aka battery.
Not to mention that for $400, you can get a decent laptop with a built-in emergency power supply.
Laptops have a place, but for home use, I still prefer a big honkin' desktop with a 21 inch or larger monitor, keyboard that can be moved around, etc.
When I want portability, my netbook has traveled to much of the US and Europe with me. Or it can sit on my belly when in front of the TV.
My old new thing was to buy an OEM package, wipe the HDD and install an OEM version of Windows. Even with the extra $100 I feel I'm ahead, short and long term. If I should decide I want a load of useless crap on my machines I can always find it all over the 'net.
My newer thing is to buy an extra HDD and install the OEM Windows on that, -----
- gpsman
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz, 95 watt. I chose this because most bang for the buck for my purposes; X3 rather than X4 because of much lower power draw & heat.
ASRock AOD790GX, 140w OK, AM3 OK - $124.99. Chosen because compatible with CPU, decent price. No other reason, has been fine.
Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s, OEM - $69.99, 5 year warranty. Fast, good cache, fast data transfer, great warranty (paid with MC to double it). Comes in bigger capacity too, didn't need more. Specs are even better now, eg 6.0 Gb/s.BURN LG|GH22NS30 22X SATA - OEM $24.99. No particular reason for getting an LG but it has been fine, very happy with it. Price was certainly right :)
If a component needs software it comes with what you need.
Lots of luck. Thus far, you have a lot of basically useless comments and opinions, very little of what you asked for.
I usually buy from Dell (4 new units, bought and sold many used ones). If you get a cheap Dell and it doesn't come with an OS disc for reinstall..= .you can ask them for one (in the US).
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