Where did you buy your current PC from? Need advice...

[PhillipB]

After my 5th Dell blew up at home, it's time to go elsewhere. Looking for an online shop to customize a killer PC.

Also, your thoughts on:

1) Too early for Vista? I'm thinking "yes." I'm looking for total driver/application support and reliability.

2) Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad? or AMD?

3) SATA-II or SAS? Brand preference? WD?

4) Motherboard preference?

5) Cooling preference? I need quiet.

Thanks.

[MikeVega]

I'll be watching this thread .. I need a really good PC for the house. I've been working on a 12.5 Sony laptop at the house for the last year ..lol the office is hooked up but at home I'm hurting

[Phoenix]

buy from the chinese guy down the road man

you only need a 700 dollar machine unless you are doing video rendering

[fris]

i am buying a pc through dell, good price, comes with 22" probably in the next week or so

[TurboAngel]

Mine is a piece of shit but TF had his friend build his for him, the guy is really good at that kind of thing. It cost him 1500 but it's got all the "best" thing's. (that's what I'm told anyway)

[TexasDreams]

Tiger Direct always has something for sale. They carry the components for build it yourself computers, and the carry name brand systems as well. The system I'm using at home is a Gateway I got from there as a factory refurb, it's been great for over a year and was stupid cheap.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

[Klen]

I bought my computer at master racunala.I pay for it 1500$ and it is very fast.It's work on 3.08 GHZ intel dual core.

[kristin]

www.pcclub.com

[fris]

Originally Posted by TexasDreams

Tiger Direct always has something for sale. They carry the components for build it yourself computers, and the carry name brand systems as well. The system I'm using at home is a Gateway I got from there as a factory refurb, it's been great for over a year and was stupid cheap.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

http://www.tigerdirectsucks.org

[Sosa]

i just build everything myself. haven't kept up with the new stuff in the past year though

[TexasDreams]

Originally Posted by Fris

http://www.tigerdirectsucks.org

I've ordered quite a bit from them over the years, and I've never had a single problem.

[BT]

dell my friend

[kristin]

Originally Posted by BT

dell my friend

His FIFTH Dell blew up ...

www.pcclub.com : )

[4Man]

I have the shity computer

[I am chauncy]

These guys are great and I know that they will ship anywhere in the us

http://www.cbwstores.com/

[sandman!]

Originally Posted by TexasDreams

I've ordered quite a bit from them over the years, and I've never had a single problem.

Have fun with thier rebates they fucked me on a few will never buy fromt hem again.

[PhillipB]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I haven't kept up much either...it's amazing how much things change in a year. I mean Intel comes out with a new chip architecture every 2 weeks. Woodcrest, Conroe, Mereom...what they do, name them after members of Fat Albert's gang?!?

[Spunky]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

buy from the chinese guy down the road man

you only need a 700 dollar machine unless you are doing video rendering

Lol..that's what I did exactly..gave me a sweet sertup for under a k

[AaronM]

Originally Posted by APN Philip

After my 5th Dell blew up at home, it's time to go elsewhere. Looking for an online shop to customize a killer PC.

Also, your thoughts on:

1) Too early for Vista? I'm thinking "yes." I'm looking for total driver/application support and reliability.

2) Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad? or AMD?

3) SATA-II or SAS? Brand preference? WD?

4) Motherboard preference?

5) Cooling preference? I need quiet.

Thanks.

I'd suggest you find a reputable local computer shop and have them build it with components that you hand pick. I built a bad ass machine back around May. Intel Dual Core Pentium D, Asus motherboard....and so on. Fully loaded the box. I always go with WD SE drives.

I also went with an upgraded Antec power supply and a bad ass Asus CPU cooler. Not sure why the image is broken here but you can read about it if you like. http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l...&modelmen u=1

[MBS Auto]

direct from HP!

[BlackCrayon]

what do you guys think about acer brand computers?"

[DateDoc]

last one was bought from the apple store and the one before that www.sony.com

[ronbotx]

If you want a custom, hand assembled PC with quality components, a beefy power supply, and nice metal cases with great cooling go here:
Velocity Micro

Oh AND outstanding tech support in the USA(not India)!!!!

[Ycaza]

Originally Posted by APN Philip

After my 5th Dell blew up at home, it's time to go elsewhere. Looking for an online shop to customize a killer PC.

Also, your thoughts on:

1) Too early for Vista? I'm thinking "yes." I'm looking for total driver/application support and reliability.

2) Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad? or AMD?

3) SATA-II or SAS? Brand preference? WD?

4) Motherboard preference?

5) Cooling preference? I need quiet.

Thanks.

Hey brother, I build all my own, and used to for many others, alas no longer, If you can, build it yourself. in the OC you can just go to pc club (pcclub.com i think). for brand name go nowhere other than alienware.
i answered your questions below. keep this in mind i have hand built more than 500 machines. be wary of the one off stories. all hardware fails. in one machine I built I got 7 bad motherboards. at pc club you can return it locally. a big plus.

1) Too early for Vista? I'm thinking "yes." I'm looking for total driver/application support and reliability. yes too early but if you get it goin now you are the early expert, best plan is get vista ready hardware but use xp pro for now.

2) Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad? or AMD? If you are price conscious go AMD, but the dual core is the faster chp right now. either way, get as much chip/s as you can afford, if you can afford a dual processor (quad) machine, get it. amd makes a nice dual dual core.

3) SATA-II or SAS? Brand preference? WD? both are good, I like WD but hitachi is good and so are many others, shit even maxtor has cleaned up its act.

4) Motherboard preference? this varies from year to year and you will hear it all, but if am buying for myself I use Asus. Intel can be good if a little pricey, sometimes supermicro rocks, shit, I have like a few abit boards. there are some hardware forums where you can get good reviews on the latest and greatest. pick up a pc mag off the rack, where the cover says something like, THE BIGGEST BADDEST PC EVER!!!!!!!!!!.

5) Cooling preference? I need quiet. ultimately the best cooling is watercooled, but you can get quiet fans. the better the machine (read faster) the more heat it makes in the end. don't skimp here.

[Himuro]

directpc.com its the best.

[PhillipB]

Originally Posted by Ycaza

Hey brother, I build all my own, and used to for many others, alas no longer, If you can, build it yourself. in the OC you can just go to pc club (pcclub.com i think). for brand name go nowhere other than alienware.
i answered your questions below. keep this in mind i have hand built more than 500 machines. be wary of the one off stories. all hardware fails. in one machine I built I got 7 bad motherboards. at pc club you can return it locally. a big plus.

1) Too early for Vista? I'm thinking "yes." I'm looking for total driver/application support and reliability. yes too early but if you get it goin now you are the early expert, best plan is get vista ready hardware but use xp pro for now.

2) Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad? or AMD? If you are price conscious go AMD, but the dual core is the faster chp right now. either way, get as much chip/s as you can afford, if you can afford a dual processor (quad) machine, get it. amd makes a nice dual dual core.

3) SATA-II or SAS? Brand preference? WD? both are good, I like WD but hitachi is good and so are many others, shit even maxtor has cleaned up its act.

4) Motherboard preference? this varies from year to year and you will hear it all, but if am buying for myself I use Asus. Intel can be good if a little pricey, sometimes supermicro rocks, shit, I have like a few abit boards. there are some hardware forums where you can get good reviews on the latest and greatest. pick up a pc mag off the rack, where the cover says something like, THE BIGGEST BADDEST PC EVER!!!!!!!!!!.

5) Cooling preference? I need quiet. ultimately the best cooling is watercooled, but you can get quiet fans. the better the machine (read faster) the more heat it makes in the end. don't skimp here.

Cool, thanks Caz!

[PhillipB]

Originally Posted by AaronM

I'd suggest you find a reputable local computer shop and have them build it with components that you hand pick. I built a bad ass machine back around May. Intel Dual Core Pentium D, Asus motherboard....and so on. Fully loaded the box. I always go with WD SE drives.

I also went with an upgraded Antec power supply and a bad ass Asus CPU cooler. Not sure why the image is broken here but you can read about it if you like. http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l...&modelmen u=1

Thanks Aaron

[germ]

1) Too early for Vista? I'm thinking "yes." I'm looking for total driver/application support and reliability.

personally, Im giving it a few months/until the first service pack

2) Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad? or AMD?

I just recently bought an Intel Core 2 Duo and it kicks ass. My friend got the equivalent AMD and I can't really notice much of a difference. I can vouch for the core 2 duo though.

3) SATA-II or SAS? Brand preference? WD?

SATA II is the shit. Brand preference on hard drives is like asking a redneck if he prefers Ford or Chevy trucks. you'll get 1000 different responses and reasons for both. Go with what youve used in the past, unless they gave you problems.

4) Motherboard preference?

Ive always had great luck with MSI brand motherboards.

5) Cooling preference? I need quiet.

If you NEED it to be silent, go with water cooled. If not, just get some fans that are specifically advertised as quiet.



All that being said, I recommend customizing a systemax from Tigerdirect.com. Thats what I did last time instead of building my own, and so far I love it. No complaints at all.

[E.Kant]

got one from ASUS recently .. pretty happy with that one

[EscortBiz]

my advice is go to a local pc shop have em build it to your spec, you will appreciate you did this when ur computer needs repair or u have probs

[PhillipB]

Originally Posted by germ

personally, Im giving it a few months/until the first service pack



I just recently bought an Intel Core 2 Duo and it kicks ass. My friend got the equivalent AMD and I can't really notice much of a difference. I can vouch for the core 2 duo though.



SATA II is the shit. Brand preference on hard drives is like asking a redneck if he prefers Ford or Chevy trucks. you'll get 1000 different responses and reasons for both. Go with what youve used in the past, unless they gave you problems.



Ive always had great luck with MSI brand motherboards.



If you NEED it to be silent, go with water cooled. If not, just get some fans that are specifically advertised as quiet.



All that being said, I recommend customizing a systemax from Tigerdirect.com. Thats what I did last time instead of building my own, and so far I love it. No complaints at all.

Thanks...I am actually leaning towards the Systemax. They have all the latest goodies, seem reasonably priced, and are one of the few places whose cases don't look like something out of Alien vs. Predator. I think some people feel that a fast LOOKING computer actually makes it faster! And forget the fact I have to open the front every time I want to load a CD...

[Cory W]

[HomerSimpson]

1) I think that it's still to early for Vista, so stay with XP for some time until the Vista survives "first wave" of hackers
2) If you are going to play alot take AMD, if you are going to work a lot - take Intel, also Intel's are heating a bit more so you'll need better (noisier) cooling.
3) Sata 2 is fine, cheap, and doing well, take Seagate, and put a fan to blow in every hard drive. If you can buy the Chieftec hightower case
4) Not an expert here, but I have Asus Premium and it works more than well.
5) Cooling preference? I need quiet. - CoolerMaster Hyper6+ put it in bios to optimal. It's a cooling monster!!!

If you want I can take the pictures of most of that stuff that I have in my computer (Chieftec case, 3x300GB Sata2, Hyper6+.....)

[Dagwolf]

Tigerdirect.com has some great deals.

[OG LennyT]

I built from parts Fry's Electronics

[Jace]

I always build my own, i never trust anyone else with that responsibility, I am WAY too picky

the one I have now was built over a year ago and it won't be ready to be replaced for at least another year, it is is a monster

[notabook]

1. Definitely too early for Vista. Most early adopters of any new OS or new hardware get fucked... wait until the first service pack at minimum.

2. Intel Core 2 Duo. The Intel Quads are not true Quads, and price-to-performance ratio the Core 2 Duo is superior to AMD's offerings.

3. Sata-II made by Seagate or Hitachi. Newer Hitachi drives are rock solid and in my opinion are superior to Seagate.

4. I've always stuck with Asus motherboards -- I've only gotten one that was a piece of shit, that is it was made bad from the get-go and they couldn't pay me to buy another one... that's the Asus P5n32 Premium SLI.

5. IF you need quiet you may want to go with a cheap water cooling rig. You can get a Thermaltake Silent Water from ZipZoomFly for only $55 shipped. On the lowest setting it keeps my CPU at around 30-32 (on high about 27) degrees and is much quieter than the equivalent fan.

All and all it really depends on what you intend to do. Are you a hardcore gamer in your spare time? Then you'd probably want an 680i motherboard so you can SLI two video cards together.

[Lykos]

vista sux for me,i tried,Intel Core 2 Duo is my favorite with 4 giga ram

[Natural Cause]

Originally Posted by notabook

2. Intel Core 2 Duo. The Intel Quads are not true Quads, and price-to-performance ratio the Core 2 Duo is superior to AMD's offerings.

Why isn't it "true" quad? It's 4 cores on 1 chip... Hows that different from the dual which is 2 cores on 1 chip, does that mean the dual isn't "true" dual?

---

My computers =
PC1:

Asustek P5B Deluxe Intel P965 WiFi-AP ATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
GeForce 7950 GT 512MB, PCI-Express
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000rpm SATA
2x Segate 250GB 7200rpm Serial ATA
2 GB Ram (Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400 DDR2-800 2GB Kit 5-5-5-12)

PC2:

Abit AW8-Max
Intel Pentium D 820 (engineering sample)
GeForce 7800GT 256MB, PCI-Express
80gb Segate 7200rpm Serial ATA
3x 250gb Segate 7200rpm Serial ATA
2 GB Ram (Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400 DDR2-800 2GB Kit 5-5-5-12)

[notabook]

Originally Posted by Natural Cause

Why isn't it "true" quad? It's 4 cores on 1 chip... Hows that different from the dual which is 2 cores on 1 chip, does that mean the dual isn't "true" dual?

The Kentsfield isn't four cores on a single die but rather two DC dies built into one module. The dual core chips (core 2 duo) are true dual cores because they are two cores on a single die. It essentially is a return to the old P4 dual scheme (where they used two single core dies). Though it's speed increase will be much greater (when compared to the old P4 'dual' cores) it is still a cheat in a sense.

[Natural Cause]

Ok, well i stopped keeping up with tech and am keeping up with my programming Not enough hours in the day to keep up eith everything.

[PhillipB]

And of course, this just gets released:

http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatc...es/009926.html

[nosey]

Originally Posted by TexasDreams

I've ordered quite a bit from them over the years, and I've never had a single problem.

no problems here either built mine from tigerdirect, they always have rebates for shit, great deals

[Madame0120]

Roy has always build our machines. It really pays off becuase they are designed to be upgraded.

[Kard63]

quad core
https://gfy.com/fucking-around-and-business-discussion/700494-quadcore-installed-windows-xp-6-minutes.html

[WWC]

hmmm, i have always ordered from Dell and had no problems....

[Fizzgig]

Originally Posted by WWC-Raffi

hmmm, i have always ordered from Dell and had no problems....

We got one from Dell USA once and support was great. Dell Canada is a different matter.

[chaze]

it's two early for vista, just get a duo processor with atleast two gigs of ram so you can upgrade later.

And costco and newegg has the best deals on computers.

[gecko]

I would have said dell but you said you want to try another way.. get someone to build one for one

[J$tyle$]

I'm looking at this one http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Tab=0&NoMapp=0