Computer guys: need advice

[GN One Day...]

Would it be better to replace my computer or can I do some core upgrades? I'm concerned that it's updated as much as possible and anything else would pretty much require new everything.

I've never built a computer. This is what I have:

Gateway G6-400, 1998 I think?
400 mhz pentium II
3 memory slots, max 384, I'm up to 320 now using all slots, PC100 SDRAM
<1 y/o Mad Dog nVidea GForce4 MX420 video card, can't remember much, 64 mb I think. May not be describing that very well.
Win XP installed
10 gb hard drive
100 watt power source
Tower case
original Boston Acc speakers and orig sound card (not sure what)
19" Sony Monitor, CRT flat tube <1y/o

I *NEED* more CPU, this thing is majorly maxed out, games are an impossibility unless they're pretty old. Win XP slowed me down a LOT when I upgraded to that. 10 gig's doesn't cut it, and it is a very slow drive.
I'd hate to buy a new one since I don't need the monitor, keyboard and peripherals. They price them so that you feel crazy ordering a computer and not paying for them, since you only save $50 for no monitor etc.
What I don't know is what all is compatible, what I could keep, what specs I need to look for etc. Can anyone easily tell me buy ____ motherboard, _______ processor __________ HD...will I have to replace the memory sticks all together to be compatible and fast enough? Should I not undertake this at all? Please advise.

Thanks again

 

[granatl]

Buy new. If you want the fastest of everything, it's often cheaper to buy the pre-fab PC, then it is to build one. But, if you don't feel that you need the 3+ GHz CPU, etc. you can do ok (money-wise) taking "yesterday's technology".
A Pentium 4 2.66 GHz (minus fan) is about $189 vs. $500 for the 3.2 GHz.
An ABIT BH7 motherboard is $95.99
DDR333 Memory for that board is $120 per 512 MB (reccomend 2 memory sticks for 1GB of RAM)
An entry-level NVidia Geforce 4 video card starts at about $55
A 120GB hard drive is $120.
And finally, a decent tower to house/power the whole thing is another $50.
~$20-$50 for a CPU fan + thermal paste + ...
So your total is about $770. It adds up quickly!
(These prices came from PCCLUB.COM if you're interested in digging for yourself)
There are ways to bring that number down. For example, going AMD for the CPU will be cheaper. Also, using their catalog instead of the website will save some dough.
HTH!

 

[T-top87GN]

If you can't build a computer yourself from scratch, then just call Dell and get one custom from them.

You'll get a nice warranty and by the time it runs out, you'll need to upgrade anyways.

 

[GHOUSE78]

yeah, due to the fact your Motherboard is so old, you definately have to upgrade that, which means new processor, Motherboard, and memory, and a new power supply to run the new chip
If you are buying all that you might as well buy a whole new one
Depending how much you wanna spend and what brand you want you can spend anywhere from $400 on up
I know they have hp's a walmart for around there, if you dont wanna go online, dell has some cheap starting out pc's too
Dell also has a refurbished section on their site that is even cheaper then buying new.
good luck

 

[1badTTA]

With the price of new PC's nowadays, it is pretty hard to justify building your own anymore. The only real drawbacks to getting a prefab PC is the video card they will most likely not put in there and the lack of upgradability in the future. The prices are really good though and you could buy a new one every 18months for the price that most of us builders spend to upgrade ours. I swore I would never buy a prefab but at the time the cheapest ones (of any quality) were $1200 minimum and I could build the same thing (actually better) for about $700. Now I would spend $1000 for something you can get for $499 with monitor. Just buy new.

 

[GN One Day...]

That's what I was afraid of. All the internals are so old, except for the video card, that it would be easier and about the same price to just buy new. I don't need the top of the line, if I could get something that was upgradeable later.

Quick look at the Dell site, I guess this would be hard to beat on my own, I could throw my video card in there and be good to go(I think):

$514.00
Dimension 2400
P4-2200
Windows® XP Home
40 G (I) 7200RPM
512 RAM
CDRW
56 modem
MicroTower

 

[victa1]

.....

 

[1badTTA]

Just remember, top of the line now will be bottom of the line in 12 months if it is still available.

My second computer (wife and kids) just died a few months ago and I had to think about what I should do, build another one or buy one. Answer was buy one (haven't yet but will). The old one lasted me from early '99 till mid 2003 and was still plenty fast even compared to the new 'puters out but it was also an Abit BP6 running dual Celerons clocked @ 550 each with 256mb ram. To try to duplicate something like that today would run me around $2500-3000 and wouldn't be worth it considering I could buy a brand new Dell with monitor (about $500) every 6 months untill I got one that matched the performance of my homebuilt and and still save $500 and have 3 or 4 complete extra computers sitting around.

 

[Dave@ramcharger]

I build my own.

Currently I have just 2. One is a P.4b 2.4 533fsb running at 2.85 with 1 gig of ddr2700 ram, 40gig WD Special Edition 8mb cache HD, SB live Dolby Digi sound card, Nvida Geforce 4 4200 8x card.

Second it a P4 2.6 800fsb hyperthreading chip running at 2.98ghz with 512 pc3200 ram, everything else being the same except the hd is an 80gig..

I built the latter one for less than 500$

 

[GN One Day...]

Out of curiosity, if I were to go the build it myself route, should I be concerned by my lack of experience? How easy is it to match components that are compatible? The benefit of going that way would be that I could pick up components here and there over the next couple of months and maybe end up with a better setup that would be more "upgradeable" in the future. Esp in the CPU area.

 

[GHOUSE78]

well once you decide if you want intel or amd chip and buy your MB(motherboard) and CPU based on that its pretty much downhill from there.
your MB will have a detail sheet of FSB speed (front side bus) and memory type (sdram, rdram, etc.) and how much Ram it can hold.
Once you know that info its pretty straight forward
the case, power supply, cd-rom, floppy, etc. are pretty much all the same, based on a full or mid-size tower
Just make sure you have a min of 350-400 watt power supply and you are ready to go.

 

[GN One Day...]

I didn't know that was all there was to it. I'm really tempted, just for the fun of it and something to start picking up parts for. I wasn't planning on this before Xmas, anyway. I'm assuming a mother board will have a "max" for processor speed, right? Might be able to go budget and when the current hot models come down upgrade again.

How about suggestions on AMD vs. Intel?

Good sites for components? With reliable pricing, there's one site that I couldn't ever get a good link for a good price. Forgot the name.

 

[3mta3]

Try www.mwave.com and www.newegg.com. I've used both with much success

 

[GHOUSE78]

yes motherboards, have intel and amd, but both of those manufacturers have different models too
the new big thing is the amd64, however the xp model/series is still going strong too, all socket a motherboards (that is if you choose amd) not to say who is better then another, but amd is a less costly cpu then intel
so if you wanted to get say an amd xp2000 cpu and upgrade to a xp3200 or whatever later you can absolutely do that with no worries.
BTW. the number 2000 refers to how intel describes their processors, like an (amd) 2000 = 2.00 Ghz (intel)

a good site to look at what is a good price for what part is pricewatch

 

[striker_29]

Bill, I would be happy to help you put everything together and get your software configured. Just let me know if you need a hand bud, its a piece of cake

 

[GN One Day...]

Thanks Mark! I'm still undecided, but I've been wanting to attempt it for a long time. I'm thinking that maybe after Xmas there would be some discounts out there and I could start picking things up. If I do, I'm sure I could use some advice.

Thanks to all,