Thinking of Building a PC?
825285
Some of that is old stuff.\n\nSTAT II is the up and coming thing instead of ATA 100\n\nWhat is the RAM?  DDRII?  That's new, also.  DDR is old and SIMM is ancient!\n\nThe CPU is 64 bit ready, correct?
34342
Buy the most that you can afford.  I would make sure that the computer has at least 512mb memory, 2ghz processor, 128mb video card and 160gb harddrive.
2195
The question is do you want to plan for the future now by getting a dual core processor.  Currently not many applications support dual core processors (save for Windows and some versions of Linux) so they would only be utilizing one core, games and Office, for example.  By late next year there should be plenty of applications that can use dual core processors and the prices will likely drop as well.  For now, I think you are fine with the AMD 3700+.  Next year, if you wanted you could most likely pop a dual core chip into your motherboard, just make sure the BIOS supports it.  If you want to check out a dual core system, this one is one of my favorites http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavilion-Desktop-PC-A1250N-/sem/rpsm/oid/134690/catOid/-12962/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do for the price it's an excellent value, that is, if you are looking at a whole system and not just a processor upgrade.
991274
if it is your budget go for it. nothing wrong with more power. make sure you build it with a 64 bit CPU.
862574
Holidays and back to school.  Dude just build one yourself.  When you buy a computer from some hack company you mostly just pay for the name.  Look on the web, its pretty easy to do it yourself, better components for half the cost.
813914
Built my first computer,about as hard as a snap together model I used to build when I was little. Biggest worry, static electricity.\nSure, there are some cheap computers out there. But once you get what you want added on, you'll be surprised at how high that price will go. Not only that but upgrading certain things will be impossible or just a downright pain in the butt. \nIf you're looking for the minimum, just buy one. If you're looking to for something a little nicer with some goodies and may want to upgrade or add on as you go, build it yourself.\nAlso, if you have the time, check some of the deal websites out there, they can make things MUCH cheaper with rebates and sales for certain items. An example...you might find a hard drive you want for $80, but catch the deal and you might get a $40-$60 rebate. slickdeals.net is a favorite of mine.
486057
go with dell or HP prices are a little cheaper at HP get more stuff on the PC. But by all means you are definitely a Media person so Aim for larger Hard drives and Pentium M. it is made for media experience\nand when buy comp. make sure you customize it take out everything you don't need (prices will change dramatically) and only put in what your going to use. (ie. DVD burner x read and write speed you need to get the job done) if you can try to get your hands on a program called Alcohol 120% you will be amaze at it functions.
660216
agreed, building it on your own will give you the most bang for the buck. at $1,000 the performance companies like alienware are out of the question. so you're left with dell or build.\n\nif i were u, i'd choose build for higher quality components and every dollar's worth of performance.
1046304
Hi,\nthe biggest question you have to reslove is "What do I really want to do with my new computer?"\n\nIf you are a heavy gamer and get frustrated because you are a couple of frames per second FPS slower that the max or you have need of a powerful machine to do some 3D graphics procssing (ie: rendering a complex animated scene) or as you mentioned you are heavy into Video processing then you have to do some serious studying ahead to get the best match for price / performance. Study benchmarks that are specific to video processing and then you can make some intelligent decisions.\n\nIf you are a casual gamer and just want some speed and are on a budget then it's easy to throw one together.\n\nFirst oreder of business is PCI Express, it's the new kid on the block and for some reason the video care mfgrs. are only charging about $160 for a PCI Express video card that is about the equivalent of a $500 AGP card.\n\nBeyond that choose either AMD or Intel and go with the 64 bit. AMD has both excellent performance and excelent pricing. Each manufactuer has chips in the $900 to $1000 range (and above if you start looking at XEON and Opteron processor) but for the general usage, you can get a pretty decent AMD 64 bit for around $300 - $400.\n\nAdd a case, a high quality power supply, cooling system (if you get some of the higher powered chips) a decent mother board. Lots to choose from  http://hardwarehell.com/mobo.htm \n\nPersonal experience stay away from PC Chips they're kind of weak in the BIOS can't do much over clocking and they have less settings overall. \n\nGet a board wth a fast FSB front side bus, some decent quality memory (at least a gig) and a SATA hard drive. DVD burner and DVD player. and you are good to go.\n\nThere are sooooo many chips and soooooo many motherboards that it is almost a full time job keeping up.\n\nSome chips within the same manufacturer like AMD are very close in performance and yet are several hundered dollars apart in price.\n\nDual core just means (a new trend in chip technology) that there are two processors on the same die or physical chip. \n\nI have an AMD 3000+ 32 bit with 1 GIG of memory and an ATI x700 graphics card that is respectable in performance.\n\nI can play games and I can render simple stuff and I do a fair share of video creation using a program called MAGIX Movie Edit Pro.
943707
You don't need software to build a PC, just know-how, and the first site in the sources will teach you that.\n\nYou do, however, need software to run on it, otherwise a PC is useless, and - principally - the first piece of software you'll install is an Operating System (see the second link in the sources).  The most popular Operating Systems are commercial, such as the Microsoft Windows range.  Yet there are free offerings based on Linux, like Ubuntu and Debian (see the third and fourth links) that can run *some* Windows software using a package called WINE.  (See the fifth link.)\n\nAs for maintenance software, you don't really need it because most Operating Systems come with enough software to manage that task adequately.  But the final links offer freeware and shareware for every conceivable task you may think of, so give them a look.
957699
Run dxdiag. It should tell you about the RAM, CPU, OS(and build), and the DirectX version.
612018
if you are building a computer then you should know all about the hardware as well. dont try and do something you know nothing about
319031
I second that, WOW!  But, I'm guessing you are ordering this system and not building it yourself, for shame.  Build it yourself, get better quality components and save yourself some money.\n\nSpeaking of building one yourself, I put together a pretty nice system as part of one of my answers I'll list it below:\n\n600W Power Supply ($42.50), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817167010\nAMD Athlon FX/64/x2 Motherboard ($54), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186085\nAthlon 64x2 3800+ ($297), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562\nGeforce 7900GT 256MB GDDR3 Graphics card ($320), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130015\nOptical Drives (dual DVDRW drives $80), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101642\nWestern Digital 320GB SATA drive ($130), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003\n2GB PC3200 Memory ($134), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820150011\nWindows XP Professional ($145), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102062\nCase, Cooler Master Centurion 5 ($50), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102062\nCreative X-Fi Sound Card ($107), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102188\n\nA few notes, I went with a plain case and I cannot gaurantee that the holes with the power supply will line up with the case (it's always best to buy a power supply and case made by the same company but NEVER buy a case with a power supply).\n\nAnd all of this comes to about $1360, feel free to substitute any of the components I listed for something similar.  I picked the least expensive ones possible (but by no means cheaply made), these are top quality components that you WILL NOT get in any off the shelf system, custom or not.\n\nOh, those prices don't include shipping but I don't want to add $1300 of merchandise to my cart to find out.  But you can, you're under no obligation to actually buy it.
1121541
Try buying a Intel or Dell. Also, try Yahoo! Searching for mainframe computers.
874712
You'll need:\nEDIT: *a CPU\n*a case\n*a power supply\n*a hard drive\n*a motherboard\n*an optical drive would be smart (CD-ROM)\n*an operating system (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.)\n*keyboard & mouse\n*monitor\n*display card\n*RAM\n*probably more that I don't remember\n\nand any other peripherals you might want.\nyou'll end up spending as much as (if not more) as buying a computer.\n\nTry newegg.com and look in the ads for stores like Best Buy.
161164
If you want to try and build one yourself then I would go for a "barebones" PC which is usually just the processor, motherboard, case and fan.  if you want to stay on the cheap side then go for the AMDs and if you want performance then the AMD64 would be right up your ally.  Good Luck
28778
You.  You make the best PC.  If you build it yourself, by looking at what aprts you need, then you make it exactly to your specifications and needs.