New Computer?

[rowyn]

I'm thinking about getting a new computer. Lut has offered to put one together for me, so the theory is to buy all the computer-bits and have him assemble them into a working machine. We don't currently plan to scavenge much from my existing computer, apart from peripherals (keyboard, monitor, trackball.) My 3d videocard, motherboard, and existing RAM all need to be replaced for any kind of meaningful upgrade, my powersupply and fan are already somewhat iffy (especially the fan), I don't have a DVD drive ... we're at the point where just building a new one seems to make the most sense.

Even though I'm planning to get a whole new machine, I do not want to buy an off-the-shelf box from a major chain. The one experience we've had with that (getting an NEC from CompUSA) was bad.

I'm assuming that buying parts and building it will be the cheapest route. I should probably check that assumption once I know what I'm building. There is a local store that will assemble machines to spec, too, so if it turns out the price difference is small, I met yet go that way.

Anyway, I'm posting this to ask advice from all my techie friends. I don't want to get a top-of-the-line machine, but I do want a machine that will still meet minimum specs on most new games two years from now. (My current computer has lasted me three years, so I don't think that's unrealistic). These are the things I want to know:

1) Brands and parts to avoid or look for. What experiences have you had with, say, AMD CPUs or Voodoo video cards? What're the best values? What looks like a good value but is really a total dog? Etc.

2) Companies to avoid or use. If you've had a good or bad experience with buying from a particular chain, online store, or mail-order place, that'd be helpful to know.

3) Any other useful advice. :)

Comments

[ex-strangess744.livejournal.com]

(smiles gleefully) Your vacation ended. right :) I mean, for your sake I'm sorry it had to, but on the other hand, I'm sad because you deserve a longer break....
(looks wryly at her burnt-out lightbulb thinking that she defaults to..."May is gone. She will always be gone. Life is challenging" (wan smile))
Anyway, about the post, unless you buy the newest and absolutely best components for every aspect, it will be cheaper to build your own. If you do want l33tness _and_ you don't research your parts prices carefully, you could end up failing to save money or even costing some extra.

Avoid Packard bell. Anything to do with Packard bell is evil according to my friends. Asus stuff works and it's cheap but it's fussy and expect some teething pains and performance short of specs (though you abysmally so). Dwayne believes strongly in ATI and AMD. I've had no bad experiences with AMD so I don't see why I should buy a more expensive intel processor, especially since AMD has over the last two years in particular exceeded intel's general level of technical accomplishment (to the point that Intel tried to de-emphasize and branch out from their processing manufacture.)


For monitors, well, the acer monitor I got in 1990 lasted a lot longer than my Daytek, though the Daytek, to be fair, did last a good 4 years or so.

So far my Samsung 700NF is living up to what I hoped for, but I have no real basis for comparison and won't know till a few years how their quality control is. I'd study which monitor companies are still doing R&D on CRT's instead of winding down CRT production, or you could get a makeshift monitor and wait for performance on plasma or LCD to make it a feasible games monitor. Presumably, their QA should be better than companies who are abandoning CRT's.

BTW, in case you don't know....at least with some credit cards, if you purchase major home electronics on them, the credit card company will provide an extended warranty, as a consumption stimulus.

I would not deal with any major computer franchise store. While their prices are sometimes a little better, you often can't evaluate anything in store since they only carry a tiny fraction of merchandise, so you simply cannot comparison shop usually between researched choices), and the sales reps tend to be ignorant of important details. So what is the franchise store giving you ?

I'd find a home-business run one that's been around for a few years. Check how generous their tech support is; some companies pare it down to the legal minimum (or below, in some cases I think) to offer good prices, but heaven help you if anything goes wrong then. I would pick a place that is close to cheapest in the city for prices, and feel out if you (a) trust and (b) find knowledgeable the main technician at the store.

I would not buy cutting edge. Unless you are a total graphics addict, I don't even think there _are_ games that use the cutting edge fully, and won't for 6-18 months (in which time prices will drop substantially. I would go with stuff that is just about to be discontinued from wholesale because the profit margin on it is too small. And read up on an article about graphics so that you don't have any "bottlenecks" for the best expected graphics performance on your system.

there's been a huge breakthrough in HD storage lately, I'm told by my roomies. (ie commercial labs expect to have a terrabyte by Christmas); while this won't drop the minimum price of HD's much, it means either don't get any but the cheapest, or delay as long as possible so that hte cheapest one is the biggest one possible.

Hope this helps.