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UPDATED: Which non-Mac to buy? (no flaming)

chewietobbacca said:
Under $1500 eh?

Intel E6850 3.0GHz Dual Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115028

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 2 x 1GB (2GB) RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

Corsair 450VX 450W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003&Tpk=Corsair+450VX

Samsung DVD+/-RW Drive x2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151154

Now the fun part begins: You can choose your video card (If you can get an 8800GT in stock, that would be a great pick up, or a 3850/3870 depending on how much you want to game/how high you game). Here's one:

EVGA 8800GT (make sure to register it on their website for lifetime warranty!)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130303

Also, picking the case you like (both aesthetically pleasing and functional). For a good budget case that works quite well:

Cooler Master Centurion 5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068

All that and your price comes out to $1056.91 before tax or shipping. Add in an OEM copy of Vista or Windows XP depending on what you want and you're looking at $1200 before tax (if in CA) or shipping. Probably $1250 shipped w/o tax. And this isn't even looking at deeper deals w/ possible rebates etc.

That rig'll blow anything out of the water you can get from any OEM at that price easily.

Now I'd dig up a guide to build a PC but I don't have time to but I'm sure you can find a recent one. Honestly, building a PC is like a slightly more complex version of Legos but one where you can't put the pieces in the wrong slot (if you need to cut anything, you're probably doing something wrong!). Also, all the cables you need usually come with the power supply and motherboard anyways.
Click to expand...

Nice setup. :) I don't think you'll need 2 optical drives though. And as far as a case goes, my friend got the Antek Solo (http://arstechnica.pgpartner.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=20384690) and it kicks ass! MUCH nicer (both in make and with looks) than the other cheesy cases. The Centurion looks pretty solid though.
 
Just for the hell of it i put one together for you.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=7709848

I choose a slower speed processor purely for price reasons. You should be able to overclock the processor to 3.0+ Ghz.

All the suggestion in this thread should get you started. I think you need to do some research and reading as to what you specifically want so that you can make a better, more informed choice. Some of the choices I made are purely personal preference so feel free to change that stuff.

I suggest reading and lurking on www.hardforum.com to get a feel of what is what. The site is great and should allow you to figure out what is the best bang for the buck.

Good luck and make sure you do some of your own research before buying the stuff.
 
what i would personally get:

dell XPS 420
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6850 (4MB L2 Cache,3.0GHz,1333 FSB)
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs
Vista® Home Premium
500GB - Seagate 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
128MB Radeon ATI HD 2400 PRO
Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
22 inch E228WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
ATI Theater 650 PRO Combo Analog/Digital TV Tuner with Remote Control
Dell USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard

$1600 Canadian
 
You dont need a virus scanner. Just keep Windows up to date and dont download stuff from shady sites and never EVER install things that appear in the little yellow drop down bar when visiting certain sites. Only install the stuff from the yellow drop down bar if you know exactly what you are installing and its from a well known place (you will have to do it when you install flash from adobe's website). If you use torrents then only stick to popular torrents and always read the comments first, torrent viruses are rare though.

People get viruses by mindlessly installing things that websites tell them to just to get rid of the nagging pop up stuff. Never do that and youll stay virus free. Its virtually impossible to get a virus that you dont install yourself... it is certaintly possible to have someone hack you but the chances of that is literally like 1 out of 100 million (plus they usually need you to install a virus first anyways).

And if you get XP for the love of god do not use IE6, IE7 and FF are perfectly safe for now, IE6 is incredibly insecure and websites are able to install viruses through your browser without you even clicking anything.
 
Honestly since I built my rig in September, I have yet to get a virus on my computer because I've stopped myself from going to any a) shady sites b) shady sites and c) downloading from shady sites!

Don't open emails from people you don't know and don't download things from places you don't know and 99% of the time you will be fine. Most online email providers provide free virus scans of files anyways. For the most part, Vista's built in defender stuff actually does a pretty good job but if you are really paranoid about it, find a good free one online like AVG and you'll be fine. Again, i'd say 99% of viruses are found by people who decide its a good idea to go somewhere they really shouldn't online.
 
If you are only gaming, get the E6850 its that simple. Games only really take advantage of dual cores at the moment, so there is no point in getting a Q6600 unless he is going to overclock. I also think he won't need DDR 2 800mhz and would be better off with DDR2 667mhz instead. For GPU options there should only be one choice and it is the 8800 GT. The ATI HD3870 has nothing on the 8800GT. I agree that you should build your own rig so you have control over everything.
 
MyG5MacVerySLOW said:
okay, what if you don't want/need a great PC system, you just want cheap, fast,reliable PC

it's to use on those occasions where i need to test a site for appearance, compatibility, operability in windoze AND one where you have a few apps that are win-pc compatible only (and don't suggest bootcamp or parallels or whatever it is cuz i don't have an intel g5 yet either) -- i have an imac g5 ppc -- and i need to run them side by side anyway.

I just need a cheap fast reliable pc (or laptop) preferably xp since I don't know vista and don't really want to master another OS.

any suggestions or recommendations?

thanks
Click to expand...

There is no "intel g5".

Virtual PC works on G5. Works perfectly fine for testing a web site.
 
Stridder44 said:
x2.

And also yes, the 8800 GT/GTS is the way to go. I think you'll be a lot happier with the Nvidia drivers over the ATI ones.
Click to expand...

I would highly recommend AGAINST getting the 8800GTS. The GT preforms better, and is cheaper IIRC. The GT is meant to replace the current GTS, with a new GTS coming out sometime soon.
 
SpookTheHamster said:
I'm another one in the built it yourself camp. It can work out cheaper, you get the exact machine you want and you get a nice project for a day or two.
Click to expand...

How much time is needed? Do you get paid for your time? Say $25 per hour or $50 per hour?

How about the time and headache to find drivers, and figure out which driver is at fault? It took someone I know almost a year to figure out a driver conflict on his $2000 over-clocked PC that he built from parts. (it's wicked noisy by the way).

However at the end you won't have equivalent machines. Macs are designed to be stylish, QUIET, and works with OS X (and also windows if you buy intel mac, as low as $450 for Refurb Mac Mini). PCs costs extra to reduce their loud noise; to build a PC of the same quietness as a comparable Mac definitely costs more.
 
I got 2 x 1 GB of Ballistix Crucial DDR2 Memory at Fry's for $49.99. :D

Not to mention my processor runs at room temperature on idle.
 
"However at the end you won't have equivalent machines. Macs are designed to be stylish, QUIET, and works with OS X"

QUIET is usually a result of higher QUALIETY fans. I have 1 drive cooling fan that is noiser than the other 5 fans in my puter put together. Fortunatly it's only used to blow over the FW enclosure when on.
 
Consultant said:
How much time is needed? Do you get paid for your time? Say $25 per hour or $50 per hour?

How about the time and headache to find drivers, and figure out which driver is at fault? It took someone I know almost a year to figure out a driver conflict on his $2000 over-clocked PC that he built from parts. (it's wicked noisy by the way).

However at the end you won't have equivalent machines. Macs are designed to be stylish, QUIET, and works with OS X (and also windows if you buy intel mac, as low as $450 for Refurb Mac Mini). PCs costs extra to reduce their loud noise; to build a PC of the same quietness as a comparable Mac definitely costs more.
Click to expand...

20 minutes to put a computer together. Big deal. It takes longer to install the OS. If you have a problem wasting a wopping 20 minutes of your life then thats your problem.

Drivers? www.nvidia.com. Finished. Unless you get a soundcard then its: www.nvidia.com, www.creative.com.

Quietness? Quieter fans to replace in the case are like 5 bucks each. Then theres the heatsink to replace which is about $30 for a completely silent one. To get it quiet as a mac all you really need to do is replace the heatsink, the fans that come with a good case are fine.
 
I´d replace every stock fan that comes with the case and heatsink´/ cooler.
Scythe Sflex Fans would be a great choice. Even the 12 cm, 800rpm/8db ones are powerful enough.The 8800 GT will probably be your loudest component. You might want to consider something like Thermalrights HR03+ to replace the stock cooler. Of course, this would void the warranty on your video card. I have taken that route with my gaming / encoding rig and never looked back. From a bang for the buck perspective nothing builds home built rigs.
 
..actually wanted something similar

..but with PPC processing*.

*(Some HP workservers will run the Cell Processor and its PCI cards from
Mercury Computing. Have to wait on that stuff for now ; )

I hope this person is also considering "used equipment" and some Linux
variants.

You end up "building a network" instead of just "configuring a home desktop".

Christmas is coming..and those "net deals" get sweeter right after Jan 1.

ww
 
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