My 5-year old Dell doesn't cut it anymore!

Hey guys, I'm looking for some help putting together a new computer as I haven't been following the hardware situation in years. Mods please move/delete this if necessary.



My grandfather bought me a Dell as a highschool graduation gift, but it's starting to go. Cuts out randomly, floppy drive doesn't work, and I can't play any new games or run Vista (not that I'd really want to...).

I started looking at wiping the harddrive and swapping in new components, but honestly, when it's this old I think I should just get a new CPU tower and save myself the hassle and risk of part-failure.

Here is what I have at the moment:

• Dimension 4500 Series Intel Pentium 4 Processor @ 1.8 GHz
• 2x128 MB DDR SDRAM
• CD-RW Drive
• HK-206 Speakers
• SB Live! 1024 Digital Sound Card
• 56k PCI Modem
• 16x DVD-Rom Drive
• Windows XP CD
• MS Office 2000, 2002
• Dell Back-up CDs for the DVD drives and speakers
• 17" Monitor. Not flat.
• 64MB GeForce4 MX Graphics w/ TV-Out
• 3.5" Floppy Drive (broken)
• 40 GB Harddrive
• 128 MB Harddrive (which I'd like to use to transfer files to the new comp)
• Keyboard, Optical Mouse
• HP 854C Deskjet Printer
• Canon N67OU Scanner
• $10 Chinese Webcam
• Shitty Wireless Gamepad

For the new system, I'm looking for something I can keep going another 3-5 years with occasional simple part-swapping. I'd like to be able to keep playing new games that long, and also use Vista if it becomes essential in the future. I multi-task like a bitch, and run my computer a lot so I need something reliable.

I was thinking I'd buy a new CPU tower with a DVD drive, and see if my Dell Windows XP CD, monitor, and speakers will take in it. Or should I bite the bullet and go Vista? (Might kill my scanner/printer). I'm happy to use my current monitor and peripherals until they die. Getting a new tower would also leave my old 40 GB Dell sitting around as a present or back-up.

What kind of memory and ram should I be shooting for? I want to get a DVD writer, should I jump on the blue-ray bandwagon or wait it out?

Money isn't that tight for me, so I'm not going to begrudge even a few hundered bucks if it's really worth it, but I don't want to overspend for overclock-bragging rights, or pass up on reusing components that I've already got.

Thanks a lot,

HU

Jam it back in, in the dark.

1. Get the fuck away from Dell and never go back.
2. Aim for RAM above 1,000.
3. 8000 series GeForce card, or one of those top notch AGP cards.
4. Core 2 Duo or better(AMD wise)
5. See 1.
6. Yes get a DVD-RW, better yet, if you find one get the one that can burn/write all CD/DVD formats.

Dells are built with too many limitations, even thier so called "better" models and are hard to upgrade.

Look around here for a good PC: http://www.newegg.com/index.asp?CMP=...3&ATT=Branding

I stress 1. again. I own 2 worthless Dell PC's and both are pieces of junk.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Dell's aren't that bad for the price, but they're terribly unfriendly to the person trying to upgrade their computer. All proprietary computers do this, but Dell is pretty notorious for it. (I've seen Dell motherboards with only PCI slots, no AGP, no PCI-E)

Are you building your own or are you buying a brand name one?

You have a LOT more possibilities (infinite) if you build one yourself. But buying a pre-made saves you the trouble of putting it all together.

Either way, what's your budget? From a more numerical perspective, since your current budget is pretty subjective.

Finally, do you plan on gaming any? Video Editing? Server Running? etc.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Winter Storm

1. Get the fuck away from Dell and never go back.

What are you saying? Dell is a great brand, especially regarding the prices.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

try ibuypower.com they got some really good pcs and good prices too you can get a nice quad core PC with a SLI solid graphics card set for just under 2,000 bucks :-).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Winter Storm

1. Get the fuck away from Dell and never go back.
2. Aim for RAM above 1,000.
3. 8000 series GeForce card, or one of those top notch AGP cards.
4. Core 2 Duo or better(AMD wise)
5. See 1.
6. Yes get a DVD-RW, better yet, if you find one get the one that can burn/write all CD/DVD formats.

Dells are built with too many limitations, even thier so called "better" models and are hard to upgrade.

Look around here for a good PC: http://www.newegg.com/index.asp?CMP=...3&ATT=Branding

I stress 1. again. I own 2 worthless Dell PC's and both are pieces of junk.

1. It's true, Dell will hunt you down, and drink all the milk in your fridge without using a cup, and put it back in with barely any left.

2. Aim for at least 2048mb of Ram, 2 gig is becoming the standard, but if you want it to last longer i'd honestly aim for 3-4gig (And ram is dirt cheap right now, won't hurt the pocket much)

3. Video card REALLY depends on what you want to do. The 8800 series are pretty solid, but I'm rather disgusted with Nvidia's drivers for Vista. ATI this round doesn't have too much that is interesting. Once again, Nvivdia should be coming around with a new Graphics Series in Novemeber. I know that you could always be waiting for next generation with computer stuff, but the 9000 series should have much better Dx10 support, and hopefully better Vista drivers. You could always get something really cheap until after xmas. But once again, all depends if you game or want video acceleration etc..
AGP isn't even a consideration, current gen chipsets won't support them.

4. CPU really depends on your needs, but as Winterstorm stated, Get a dual core Core2Duo or AMD X2. Intel is releasing their Penryn (new Core2Duo), and Amd is coming out with their Barcelona, so you may want to wait a month to grab either or. If money is an Issue, go with a Dual Core, If you can throw in a extra hundred or so, get a Quad, It will last longer, and the Q6600 dropped in price recently to a reasonable amount.

Motherboard wise, go with one of the new chipsets like the P35/X38 *for intel*, for the PCI-E 2.0 spec etc..., for future GPU upgrade possibilities.

5. Your dell windows XP cd will not work on a different computer. Vista shouldn't have too much of an issue with those printers, but some playing around might be required if they are very old *Too lazy to look those model numbers up*

6. HDD wise, don't know what you are looking at , but a 500GB hdd can be had for about $120cdn, so i'd imagine it's cheaper usd. That should tide you over for awhile. If that is too big, 320's go for about $75 these days. Just go SATA and be done with it. Many new mobo's only have 1 IEDE connections anywaysv (Usually used up by DVD/CD drives), so i wouldn't bother with your old 40gb hdd. Mabye throw it into an external hdd case and use it as a small backup device.

7. Your monitor will work with the computer *with a digital to analogue converter...* , but that's like buying a Porsche to drive around town at 25mph and never faster. 22' LCD's are cheap.

That's about it for now, as Omni stated, try to give us a $ figure and a Idea what you want to DO with it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Build this on Newegg:

Core2Duo E4300 or AMD X2 3600+ Brisbane
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 pro(intel) or freezer 64(AMD)
An 965p intel mobo(gigabyte s3) or an AM2 Nforce AMD mobo
2Gb of RAM, 2 sticks 1+1GB
400GB 7200RPM HDD
ATI X1950Pro PCIE video card
Creative SB Audigy SE audio card
Lite-On or Sony Optiarc DVD+-RW burner
Centurion Case
A decent 450-600W PSU
Look around on Slickdeals.net for a 22" LCD. Pounce on it when it is below $200. Check reviews first. Acer makes 'em nice.

All for around $500

Build the pc. Check the temps. Overclock the processor(E4300 OC to 2.6 easy, maybe to 3.0 without voltage, AMD 2.5 without voltage)

You have a fast computer for several years. Play the latest games. Upgrade the video card in one or two years to a Nvidia 9800 or ATI 3XXX

have a good one.

edit: If you aren't much for Linux, pirate windows XP SP2 corporate.

Forget Vista for a while

Most amazing jew boots

These guys are giving fairly sound advice, but I would add that you might want to get a smaller {like 80 gig} hard drive that sports 10,000 RPM to be your OS drive and drop a 320 or 500 gig 7,200 RPM drive in as a secondary for file storage.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by russ

These guys are giving fairly sound advice, but I would add that you might want to get a smaller {like 80 gig} hard drive that sports 10,000 RPM to be your OS drive and drop a 320 or 500 gig 7,200 RPM drive in as a secondary for file storage.

Not a bad idea, but the WD 7200.10's offer pretty much the same performance as the Raptors *10kRPM*, at a far lower cost per GB. Still not a bad idea though, I got 2 OS's running off my 75GB Raptor *Vista x64 and OpenSuse*

I'm also very curious why everyone is telling him to avoid Vista like the plague, wondering if anyone has some sound objections *I use Linux,Vista and XP, but if I had to live with only one i'd probably go with Vista*

Jam it back in, in the dark.

First of all: great advice everyone, thank you all immensely.

As for the price, since I'm bringing all the peripherals and a 128 GB hardrive, it better not go much over $1000. I was expecting around $400-700. If it gets too high I could just buy a console for my fun and run my existing computer into the ground.

Also, FYI, there's a good chance I may have to buy this computer in Canada, if I get moved there for my work. Not that that's really a problem, just means I can't use newegg?

Originally Posted by Omnislash124

Are you building your own or are you buying a brand name one?

I've never built my own before (just swapped/added components), so I was planning to get one prebuilt and avoid the learning curve and risk of DIY.

Originally Posted by Garret

3. Video card REALLY depends on what you want to do. The 8800 series are pretty solid, but I'm rather disgusted with Nvidia's drivers for Vista. ATI this round doesn't have too much that is interesting. Once again, Nvivdia should be coming around with a new Graphics Series in Novemeber. I know that you could always be waiting for next generation with computer stuff, but the 9000 series should have much better Dx10 support, and hopefully better Vista drivers. You could always get something really cheap until after xmas. But once again, all depends if you game or want video acceleration etc..
AGP isn't even a consideration, current gen chipsets won't support them.

5. Your dell windows XP cd will not work on a different computer. Vista shouldn't have too much of an issue with those printers, but some playing around might be required if they are very old *Too lazy to look those model numbers up*

3: Like I said, playing the latest games it the most graphic-intensive thing I should be doing on the home computer. I'm not making movies or CADD or anything. I have no problem waiting a few months if there's a big payoff, so maybe I'll wait for the 9000 and get Vista since my XP CD won't carry over.

5: The printer/scanner are probably 2001 models. HP says the printer passes, but according to Cannon.ca:

Quote:

ScanGear (scanner driver)
You can use the ScanGear for Windows XP as the one for Windows Vista 32 bit version. ScanGear does not support the Windows Vista 64 bit version.

But it sounds like I'd want to install 32 bit anyway.

And from a quick web search the scanner is giving people some problems.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I will not deny that Vista often has issues and even will outright not work with older hardware (especially scanners for some reason..), but that is partially fault of the company and their laziness with drivers *when was the last time a new driver came out for that scanner?* It is also the nature of the IT field.

As for buying the stuff in Canada, try to get some of the part in the U.S if possible. A $1000 system should be doable, but it will be easier from within the U.S. Despite the fact that the Canadian dollar is in the 93+cent range, some of our computer parts and other consumer goods do not reflect the stronger dollar. Most canadians would love for Newegg to come here, which they have been promising for years now..

Alai came up with a good system, although I would probably hold off on the video card until November/December, get a better PSU *only like $40 more*, and the 22' LCD screen, and you should be good to go, all for under $800usd, $600 without the LCD.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

My advice: Screw Vista and Dell.

If you want to play the latest games, you only need a few things.

1) Intel Core2Duo for $178
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030
2) Nvidia 8800GTS for $269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130082
3) 2GB RAM $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590
4) a decent mother board $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188017

Total is $616 plus shipping.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?