Choosing the right computer system

[androsovic]

Choosing the right system

Nowadays, everyone’s all hyped about computer performance parts, it’s all about how much RAM you have, what kind of graphics card, the size and number of your hard drives; all for the sake of having the biggest e-penis.
There is clearly no point in purchasing a dual core system, with the latest video card, if all you do is play Warcraft all day, or slightly higher end games, this is comparable to purchasing a dual core setup for my mother who occasionally logs onto the internet to read some mail and check out home and gardening sites etc. These systems are designed for use by industry professionals and computing enthusiasts (the ‘gosu’ men).
However, most of the time, you don’t use half of the capabilities of the processor. This guide will help you choose the right PC for you, instead of the “best”, which can save you some days of going without lunch.

Custom Built or Vendor Bought?

Vendor Bought

While it is an exhilarating feeling to build your own PC, this can be quite a frightening experience for a first timer. You can incorrectly connect wires which may cause components to fry, as was in the case of one of our GAMERs here. In the event that you are a first time PC builder, have someone with some experience supervise you.
A vendor bought PC may serve your needs quite well with a few minor upgrades. For example, if you (or if your parents force it upon you) to purchase a DELL, some minor RAM and video card upgrades will suit your needs quite well. Not to mention, you get technical and warranty support and perhaps a printer, scanner and other tools the family will want.

Custom Built

Firstly deciding what kind of parts you are going to need should be your decision, just remember to set a budget and stick to it, keeping in mind, needs over wants. After you make your decision, you may want to head to a review site, such as Tom’s Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com) or our trusty friend Google and entering “<part name and model> review”. Usually a product may have issues that real life users can’t cope with or may not perform as advertised, which is the purpose of reviewing the item. Next, you may want to scout around for different prices at different web sites; some sites offer better prices than others on certain items, as well as shipping specials occasionally. Some popular shopping sites: Amazon.com, Newegg.com, Directron.com, Zipzoomfly.com, Xoxide.com.
Make a nice organised list, with the name of the item and the source and the price. Example (this is my personal wishlist for summer):

ASPIRE X-QPACK-AL/420 Black/Silver Aluminum MicroATX Desktop Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144109 - $84.99
http://www.directron.com/xqpack.html - $79.99


ASUS A8N-VM CSM Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $78.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570


AMD X2 3800+ Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562 - $169
http://www.amazon.com:80/gp/product/B000ANJWP6/sr=8-1/qid=1153827783/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3737269-9652904?ie=UTF8 - $162

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $5.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007

Shipping

The next issue is of shipping. If you have a skybox and a credit card, shipping to Trinidad would be a breeze, if not, you can always ask around for someone who does and ask them to ship it for you, perhaps for a small fee, just make sure to find out up front.

Conclusion

Don’t go rushing out to buy a computer system with the best specs that will be underutilised. This guide can help you save money, time and some high blood pressure points ;).

[crash]

cutom biult computers all the way..had experiences wit dell and wit ibm and it sucked..ibm has poor services and dell does jus coincidently start to give porblems wen the warranty up..lol..how shocking..so cutom built all the way!!

[cereal_killer]

but andro, buying a more high end pc will end up lasting u longer even, it mat be under utilized now but laterd down the line u will be thanking your self for spending the extra money.

[androsovic]

maybe so ck, but is just a guide to help men save a little $ and some food for thought

[Forscythe]

Thats why you try and research when new chips/chipsets coming out.

Prices drop for parts that only a few months ago was pressure to buy.

Learn..... the art of the Most Bang For Buck!!

Also when in doubt wait one more month!! :D

[CRaZYMoFo]

Good stuff Andro. Well done.
Forscythe, remember not everyone is interested enough to be researching in detail the upcoming hardware that is going to be available soon. Many people simply want to know what options are available now because they want to organise their PC now. Not everyone is a tech whore like some of us.

[Paradoxxx]

Nice combo although I would prefer to go Core 2 Duo than dual core AMD, hey its your personal choice ;)

[ecktt]

For those who eh know i real bored this week...so....
I kinda 50/50 on the "articel". I, 4 1, does always encourage people to buy "Insert favourite brand name computer here". Why? Cause if they have to ask, the they eh know euff to build their own. From my personal experience, i repaired more "custom" pc than brand name. I think there are a few reasons for this.
1. Warranty. The brand name people honor it so consumers doh have to end up by me.
2. Big name assemblers put more engineering into their products.
3. Local assemblers eh know what they doing.
Just about the only people i can recomend buying a non-brand name computer to is a tweaker. Why?
1. They supposedly know what they doing.
2. Can typicaly create something faster than what can be bought for a lot less money.
3. Does void warranty in 60 second.
4. Doh realy care/need technical support.
As for under utilising a machine, Dat same machine will feel slow doing the exact same thing u was always doing on it 3 years form now. People who use a computer have the habbit of becomming perminately connected to it. By this i mean they begin to do more and more "important" tasks on it and before they know it, they are hooked. The end result is that they do eventually begin to use all the features/power of the machine.

[Doobs]

I've been through many a computer in my day. I currently have a pc graveyard on my cupboard. The question of vendor bought vs custom built is a personal preference. And I totally agree with some of the suggestions of Andro. Currently I do all my professional work on my Core Duo iMac n all my gamin on my Pentium D Dell w/7800GTX. Alot of guys here are young and stil going to school, soon when it comes to buying a PC money is no longer an issue when they start to wrk. However other issues come to play such as interest in and time to gaming. As with everthing time changes all. You can get the most sooped up PC but u hardly find the time to use it. Thas life. Theres a common saying "by the time you gain wisdom you're too old to benifit from it".
Newayz, maybe I'm jus ranting but....thas what u do when u got nuttin betta 2 do :cool:

[bounty_killa]

Alot of guys here are young and stil going to school, soon when it comes to buying a PC money is no longer an issue when they start to work. However other issues come to play such as interest in and time to gaming. As with everything time changes all. You can get the most sooped up PC but u hardly find the time to use it. Thas life. Theres a common saying "by the time you gain wisdom you're too old to benifit from it".
Newayz, maybe I'm jus ranting but....thas what u do when u got nuttin betta 2 do :cool:

Daz real through breds, I have all d time in d world to play games now. I sure when i start 2 study in UWI for engineering i will get no time and wen i start 2 work, god forbid, I might even lose interest in games!

[eddoes]

i do engineering in uwi. trus meh. yu have time to game. lol

ps; i do electrical engineering, harder dan the ress!!!!