Buying a new computer

**Seigi** · October 17, 2008, 09:57 PM

Well I'm planning to buy a new computer, since the one I have right now is really slow, and has all kind of problems. I have saved up about 630 bucks, but I'm still undecided whether I should buy a desktop computer or a laptop?
So I was wondering what would you guys pick, which one is better for gaming as well as for school?

Also, what kind of things should I look out for when buying a computer?

Any suggestions?

**killerken** · October 17, 2008, 10:10 PM

If you're after pure power, a desktop is the best choice. You can get more bang for your buck since the components don't have to be small.

Personally, I would buy a laptop. You may not be able to run your games on anything higher than low settings, but the portability of it more than makes up for the loss of performance in my opinion. I have a laptop that's like four years old, and I'm very happy with it- until Empire comes out. Unfortunately, in order to get a decent laptop, you'll probably need more than $650. Newegg has a kick-butt Asus with 1g GPU for $899. It's not a gaming laptop, but all that memory can't hurt.

**Wheelchair** · October 17, 2008, 11:10 PM

P5K Premium - 200
E7200 - 155$
RAM2GG/800 - 45$
EVGA 9800GT - 170$
XionCase/PSU*450W - 75$

~645

That can play all games these days, Even Crysis on High.

You'll most likely need a DVD drive...and maybe a new HardDrive depending on the speeds of your current one.

**Seigi** · October 18, 2008, 12:38 AM

My monitor, mouse, speakers, and keyboard all works fine, so I don't think I need to buy a new set of them, just a waste of my money. Anyways, thanks for the suggestions guys. I decided to buy a desktop,

Originally Posted by Wheelchair

P5K Premium - 200
E7200 - 155$
RAM2GG/800 - 45$
EVGA 9800GT - 170$
XionCase/PSU*450W - 75$

~645

what are all those things do? sorry, i just know RAM, the rest i'm clueless,

**Wheelchair** · October 18, 2008, 01:02 AM

P5K Premium is the Motherboard, this is the main part of your computer and where you put everything else on it.

E7200 is your processor(CPU), the E7200 is GREAT for the amount you pay for it, It has a speed of 2.5GHZ and it is duo-core, meaning it has 2 processors in 1 chip.

The RAM I recommended is 1 stick, which has 2GB of ram in it, which has a speed of 800Mhz, which is average.

EVGA 9800GT (EVGA being the name of the company that makes the card for Nvidia) Is your main graphics unit, GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit. The 9800GT is a very good card and can run all games at High settings.

Xion Case is where you're components will all be housed, It's a case. The package you can buy will enable you to recieve a free 450W powersupply, to power all of your components.

**Freddie** · October 18, 2008, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by Seigi

My monitor, mouse, speakers, and keyboard all works fine, so I don't think I need to buy a new set of them, just a waste of my money. Anyways, thanks for the suggestions guys. I decided to buy a desktop,

what are all those things do? sorry, i just know RAM, the rest i'm clueless,

I take it then your not looking to build your own PC then? You should try it, its a good learning experiance.

**Seigi** · October 18, 2008, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Freddie

I take it then your not looking to build your own PC then? You should try it, its a good learning experiance.

I want to, but gosh I don't know how to do it, the only thing I ever did, was just I brought some new ram and replaced the old one with it, but that was because it was easy, you just put it in the slot. I don't even know which part is needed, or which one is right for my computer, where to buy it, or install it, so i thought it would just be better to buy it.

@Wheelchair Thanks for the information

**Zuwxiv** · October 17, 2008, 11:27 PM

Gaming laptops are horrible for school (and horribly expensive). They're heavy, have horrible battery life, and just aren't well suited.

The new Macbooks (the metal ones) boost some impressive stats, but you're paying an Apple premium. If you're okay with that, go for it. I love my MacBook (one of the older ones) because it gets amazing battery life, and I use it for school. I game on my desktop, which I spent about $1100 on a little more than a year ago.

Oh, also, do you already have a monitor and speakers? If you don't, that will really up the cost of a desktop. If you need to get new everything, Wheelchair's $645 rig turns much higher - maybe $800 with hard drive, disk drives, shipping+tax, and then at least a few hundred more for monitor and speakers.

**Wheelchair** · October 17, 2008, 11:44 PM

Zuwix is correct.

About the HardDrive, If its below 7200RPM you cannot use it.. well you can but it will severely bottleneck your system.

**Roman Clone** · October 18, 2008, 08:06 AM

There used to be competitions back then (Like in the Spring) with some guys trying to build a perfect 600$ rig. I'll see if I can scavenge for it...

Remember that if your computer still works, you can use parts from it or you can sell it on a website like Ebay.

**Seigi** · October 19, 2008, 11:23 AM

Here is my computer:
Dimension E310
MS Windows XP SP3
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz
2.5GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

Should I get a new computer?

**Wheelchair** · October 19, 2008, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Seigi

Here is my computer:
Dimension E310
MS Windows XP SP3
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz
2.5GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

Should I get a new computer?

Yes, your CPU and GPU are outdated, not so much the ram.

Since you bought it from Dell theres a very good chance your only getting 50% of the performance you should from your machine, seeing as they stack the computer with so much bloatware that you don't need (Photo editing, movie burning, Norton antivirus)

**Seigi** · October 19, 2008, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Wheelchair

Yes, your CPU and GPU are outdated, not so much the ram.

Since you bought it from Dell theres a very good chance your only getting 50% of the performance you should from your machine, seeing as they stack the computer with so much bloatware that you don't need (Photo editing, movie burning, Norton antivirus)

so if I buy the E7200 and EVGA 9800GT you mentioned eariler, would it be compatible with the computer I have?

A friend of my dad bought the computer for me a couple of year ago, I was only playing online games and some writing on it and that was it, but now I have MTW2 and then ETW is coming, so I need to power up my computer

Also, thanks for the help, Wheelchair, you been really helpful

**Freddie** · October 19, 2008, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by Seigi

so if I buy the E7200 and EVGA 9800GT you mentioned eariler, would it be compatible with the computer I have?

A friend of my dad bought the computer for me a couple of year ago, I was only playing online games and some writing on it and that was it, but now I have MTW2 and then ETW is coming, so I need to power up my computer

Also, thanks for the help, Wheelchair, you been really helpful

The Dell E310 is a budget system and as such you have a budget motherboard. I've had a look and it doesn't have a PCI-ex x16 slot for the video card. Also the motherboard wouldn't work with that CPU (E7200).

Building your PC is very easy, and you can always use your current PC as a guide to see were the leads go but it's very straight forward. The only tricky bit is connecting the front power, LED light and reset switches to the motherboard, a small pair of hands is ideal.

**Wheelchair** · October 19, 2008, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by Freddie

The only tricky bit is connecting the front power, LED light and reset switches to the motherboard, a small pair of hands is ideal.

Thats what screwed me over the other day with hooking up my PC Pwe and reset switches haha.

**Roman Clone** · October 19, 2008, 07:03 PM

I would not have had needed to take my PC to a shop if I had known where the LED's went...

**Zuwxiv** · October 20, 2008, 05:25 PM

I got a nice big case, and found out that the power LED indicator has 3 spaces, while the motherboard has 2 pins. So no light for me.

But it's okay, because I have a blue cathode thing in it, and the fans have LED's, so I know when it's on.

Seigi, go ahead and try building a compute.r It's not that hard, there's plenty of people willing to help, and while it is possible to mess things up, there's really only a few big things you have to look out for - everything else is reversible. Read up on what you need, and double-check that what you are going to buy would all work properly. Then just give it a go.

I built my first computer a little more than a year ago and it's fine. The wires are a bit of a mess, and there's one or two things that I didn't do great, but I'm on it right now. It plays games and runs fine. It's a great thing to learn and is a kind of tech-rite-of-passage.

Just to get you started, you need the following things:
Case - what everything goes in. Generally it should come with fans to keep the computer cool (very important to keep things from overheating) and maybe it should come with a:
Power Supply Unit (PSU) - this is what powers your computer. Cables connect this to almost every other part. You need a strong enough PSU to power your video card and everything else.
RAM - One of two types of "memory" for the computer. RAM is used kind of like short-term memory. You'll probably want at least 2GB if you're running Vista, with the type DDR2, and clocked at 800mhz.
Hard Drive - the other type of "memory," this is where data is stored. You will want at least 7200rpm (how fast the drive spins, related to how fast it can read and write data) and probably around 500GB if you game a lot and have videos on your computer. You can also get separate drives - I have a 320GB drive and two 250GB drives on my desktop.
Video Card - used in gaming, 3D applications, and other things like video editing and encoding. This is probably going to be the quickest outdated piece you buy. Get something good, but not great - that's where you'll have the best bang for the buck. Nvidia's 9000 series is a solid choice, but my 8600GTS can run Medieval beautifully.
Processor - the brain of your computer, does the thinking. E7200 would probably be a good choice, any of the Core 2 Duo's are good processors.
Motherboard - what everything is plugged into (your processor, your video card, your RAM). Make sure that you have the right slots for everything - Intel processors need Intel-compatible motherboards, and AMD processors need AMD-compatible motherboards.
Disk Drive - DVD drive, most likely.

You also will probably need some thermal compound to connect the processor to the heatsink (which cools the processor), though my processor came with this.

You'll probably need a few SATA cables as well. They are for transferring information from the hard drive or disk drive to the motherboard.

Then you just need an operating system - I like XP service pack 3, because it works with older games. Vista is another choice, and if you're feeling hardcore try Linux.

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