PC building

Azami

Azami

Member
Any suggestions? I'm in the market for a major overhaul on my old computer (Dell Dimension 4700).

Something custom built or stock would be fine as long as it can game well.
 
Azami said:
Any suggestions? I'm in the market for a major overhaul on my old computer (Dell Dimension 4700).

Something custom built or stock would be fine as long as it can game well.
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My only recommendation is to do a tonnnnnnn of research before you buy.

Also, scour the internet as if you're troubleshooting for a problem. Let's say you're buying a certain brand of motherboard, and a certain brand of graphics card; search: "issues with BRAND_1 motherboard and BRAND_1 graphics card". This will help you see common problems that people are having with some software/driver/hardware compatibility.

Building a computer is a lot of fun, and if you have well-researched components it will work that much better.
 
Bowser said:
My only recommendation is to do a tonnnnnnn of research before you buy.

Also, scour the internet as if you're troubleshooting for a problem. Let's say you're buying a certain brand of motherboard, and a certain brand of graphics card; search: "issues with BRAND_1 motherboard and BRAND_1 graphics card". This will help you see common problems that people are having with some software/driver/hardware compatibility.

Building a computer is a lot of fun, and if you have well-researched components it will work that much better.
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Great great point. I had problems with a motherboard because I didn't do enough research. I bought on brand name, features, and price and you totally need to add in "reviews and issues" to that list.
 
ewoksrule said:
Newegg reviews are pretty legit, especially the ones where you can see they purchased it.
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Don't use newegg as your only source though. Newegg is decent, but you have to realize that a lot of people there exaggerate their technical experience/know-how, and many times they publish reviews with a week or two within buying the hardware.

I recommend to just stick with google searches. You'll find a treasure of information if you search specifically enough, including charts, graphs, comparisons, known problems, etc, and you'll get a much, much more rounded picture of your system components than any single site.
 
ewoksrule said:
Newegg reviews are pretty legit, especially the ones where you can see they purchased it.
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QFT. Usually in the past I've bought my computer hardware off of newegg and I don't buy anything unless it has a sizeable number of reviews and still has an average rating around 4-5 eggs. Even then I'll go through the reviews and find the low ratings to see what people had go wrong with it.
 
Bowser said:
Don't use newegg as your only source though. Newegg is decent, but you have to realize that a lot of people there exaggerate their technical experience/know-how, and many times they publish reviews with a week or two within buying the hardware.

I recommend to just stick with google searches. You'll find a treasure of information if you search specifically enough, including charts, graphs, comparisons, known problems, etc, and you'll get a much, much more rounded picture of your system components than any single site.
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That's true but also realize you then will bring in a ton of advertising ploys and hype. A lot of charts will be bogus marketing schemes. If you do go to Google, stick to hardware overclocking sites, gaming forums, or places like Tom's Hardware, places where people try to get the min/max out of the equipment will give you a better chance at real information and not what the vendor wants you to think. http://www.firingsquad.com/ http://www.tomshardware.com/ http://www.overclockersclub.com/ are decent examples.
 
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Also there are no perfect parts, the return policy and RMA process are important to research as well.
 
I would suggest you build it yourself and not rely on a company to build you one of their "custom" computers (they aren't really custom if you think about it).

The main things to do are loads of research and don't buy something that's cheap just because its cheap - with computers what you pay for is exactly what you'll get.

Also, having an idea of the cost would be helpful.
 
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The only plus side of a "company" computer (Dell/Gateway/Apple) is you don't have to deal with anything and everything will work out of the box. You pay both for brand and service.

Odale (and everyone here) is right though, putting a comp together yourself is fairly simple these days. And you have a ton of geeks here at CGA that would love to help you I'm sure.
 
Use one of the sites we've recommended for configuring your own system. For each option (memory, graphics card, motherboard ect) do a little research on each component. This will help you to learn about each part and how they intereact and will give you reviews as well.
 
Don't get a Mac. Especially not for gaming.

For $1300 what components do you need? Surround sound, monitor, keyboard/mouse? Or is that just for the PC?
 
Bowser said:
Don't get a Mac. Especially not for gaming.

For $1300 what components do you need? Surround sound, monitor, keyboard/mouse? Or is that just for the PC?
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PC, monitor, & keyboard mouse. But I can live if I have to keep my old keyboard/mouse, monitor if good ones of those sacrifice to much of the PC's portion of the budget.
 
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