OT - Looking for a new computer

kerensky · #1 June 18th, 2005, 05:49 PM

Okay so now that I have a job, I decided it's time to get a new computer. My old one is a Compaq (or as we call them in my house "Comjunks"). I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions as to a good brand of conmputer to get.

Fyron · #2 June 18th, 2005, 05:50 PM

I'd recommend the kerensky brand. Build your own and get a better computer and spend probably half as much money. Building a computer is a fairly simple procedure these days, once you get all of the parts you need.

kerensky · #3 June 18th, 2005, 05:56 PM

Well, that is what my computer is now. What I really want is to get a new case. My curretn one has hardware issues and runs at 733megs, has 198 megs of memory, and in general only works when it wants to.

Suicide Junkie · #4 June 18th, 2005, 06:27 PM

Are you sure its the hardware?
It might just need some dusting. Pull stuff out, clean it, and reseat it nice and snug.

And if you're using windows, you probably need to format and reinstall it. A typical install of windows ages about as fast as fruit left sitting on the kitchen table. Go for a nice, relatively efficient 98(se) or 2k instead of the other bloated gunk they're pushing these days.

Make a disk image of your clean install for future use in restoring it to working condition, and partition off a section of drive for your personal files so they don't die when windows does.

Thermodyne · #5 June 18th, 2005, 09:59 PM

Dell will give you the most bang for the buck. Building your own would allow you to custom fit it to your specific needs. But unless you are going ultra high end, it will cost more than a dell of the same speed.

733 is slow by the standards of today, 2.8 GHz being the minimum for an office system at the moment. 3.2GHz is about the minimum for a gaming system. If you like AMD then substitute the performance rating for GHz and you will be close. If you build your own, AMD will give you a little more performance for the buck spent.

What are you looking to do with the system?

Suicide Junkie · #6 June 18th, 2005, 10:17 PM

For an office system, you don't need more than 400Mhz, win95, and 64 megs of ram for smooth operation.

Presuming, of course, that you don't lump in gaming above solitare in "office work". And of course, since SE4 runs fine on that system, it is sufficient for a gaming rig as well.

With a decent video card, win98, 700Mhz and a bit more ram, its also good for SE5, and thus is good as a gaming rig well into the next 5 years.

Fyron · #7 June 19th, 2005, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Thermodyne said:
Dell will give you the most bang for the buck. Building your own would allow you to custom fit it to your specific needs. But unless you are going ultra high end, it will cost more than a dell of the same speed.

I disagree. Every system I have custom built for the last 3 years, including many on the low end, has cost less than half of equivalent Dell PCs. I always bring a Dell catalogue to computer fairs for a good laugh.