Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Going PC shopping....what should I look for?

It's time to get anther one of these silly things tonight / towmorrow. My current PC is about three years old and has too many little things wrong with it for me to even try and deal with. RE: I'm an impatient pr***

I don't game, I don't do any video editing, I don't do much of anything with it really. I use Auto Cad / Turbo Cad Pro, store my pictures, read these boards....not much.

Oh, I hate computers and they hate me. It's an odd relationship, but it works.

I'm going for one of the "under $1000" el' cheapo's that are sitting on the shelves in the big box stores. You know the ones, Best Buy, Sam's club, Comp USA....etc.

When I get it, I'll just network it to this one, transfer my files / programs and then re-format the hard drive on this POS. The Boy can have this one if it survives the reformatting process.

So are there any brands I should avoid? Any processor preferences? I think the only thing I would like is a big assed hard drive so I can load CD's in a lossless format. I'd like to burn a CD ever now and then too.

Mike, I'm pretty much on the "build your own" program after the last couple experiences, but I don't think that's "you"

It seems to me that there are two fatal flaws in most off-the-shelf systems. First, the video is usually integrated instead of separate (you'd probably need an upgraded video card for the CAD stuff). Second, all the crap bloatware that gets pre-loaded.

We have HP's at work and I still have some Dells at home. No problems with either. We DID have trouble with Gateways.

I'm still intrigued by the notion of using this Sony 200 disk thing to rip all your CD's to your hard drive. THAT would be worth something to me. I don't know whether you have to have a Sony PC or not.

I'm sure somebody with more experience than I will be along shortly.

I too build my own now, but honestly if you're going the cheap route, you can't build your own as cheaply as they can sell you one. It's when you start going more high end that building your own really saves money.

If I were you, I'd opt for a basic model Dell and upgrade the video card. The cheapest Core 2 Duo model they make should keep you happy for a good long time.

I don't know much about computers but if you get a dell or HP(like me) and you're going to upgrade the video card you should make sure that your power supply can handle it. Even the dual core ones usually only come with a 300 watt power supply.

If you're going with Dell or HP, keep an eye on www.xpbargains.com. From time to time Dell will offer significant rebates on systems and I've found this site invaluable at finding these rebates. I have good friends who have purchased PC's and laptops from Dell at 20% off based on coupons/rebates from that site.

I'm generally in the build-my-own boat too, but there's nothing really wrong with any of the major brands anymore. Dell, HP, Toshiba, Sony - they're all about the same. However, my wife used to be in charge of the tech support for a 1,000+ student college and she always said that they had the fewest problems with Apple and HP machines out of all the others. YMMV.

Get something with an Intel Core2 Duo. Note the '2', and note the 'Duo'. At the risk of a flame war, that's probably the best processor on the market right now. Absolutely nothing wrong with AMD based systems (I have 2 at home), but Intel is ahead of AMD for the moment. As a database administrator and application developer by day, I can tell you that the Core2 Duo technology really works and is really great when doing multi-tasking operations. You'll be amazed at how your PC will be able to do autocad renderings and index your MP3 collection at the same time.

Get something with a 7200rpm hard drive. There is a difference between a 5400 and 7200.

Get something with at least 1GB of ram. Don't skimp on this. You just simply can't have too much RAM. 2GB is better if you're going the Vista route.

Thanks all ya'll's...

Building one would be cool. I did that a few years back just to say I can do it, but I tend to get carried away. Last year I was all fired up to build another one, but $3000 in parts with some super duper water cooled case, multiple hard drives and all, I figured I was getting carried away.

I'm using a HP with 1.67 gig processor with 512 ram now and it will run Cad, but it's painfully slow.

I've got these items listed wrote down to look for.

In some ways, putting together a computer is a lot like putting together a home theater. I'm more knowledgeable about the former than the latter, so here are my recs (with the appropriate HT analogy )

Processor: Think watts per channel. It doesn't hurt to buy as much as you can afford, though even the entry-level will probably be adequate for most of what you're doing. I don't know about the requirements for AutoCAD, but otherwise, even the cheapest processor could meet your needs. Like WPC, comparing clock speed (GHz) within the same chipmaker's line gives a rough estimate of performance, but there are diminishing returns as you get higher and comparing clock speeds between chipmakers is somewhat meaningless.

RAM: Think amplifier. You can never have too much. While you can still hear music/run programs at the low end, having more can make the experience more pleasant. Of course, there will be diminishing returns for higher prices. If you only upgrade every few years, then get a computer with at least 1 GB of RAM. I would get a slower processor with 1 GB over a faster processor with 512 MB.

Hard Drive: Again, think amplifier: it never hurts to have too much. When comparing different hard drives, a rough rule of thumb is $0.25/GB is a good deal, and $0.50/GB isn't.

Video Card: think video processing on AVR's. What comes included will satisfy most people. If you can't think of why you need more than that, then you probably don't need it anyways. However, check to see if AutoCAD needs specific drivers or video cards.

Windows Vista: Think HDMI. It's the wave of the future, it's supposed to make your life easier, but it's still somewhat unrefined currently. There's a decent chance you don't need it now, and can wait until the next upgrade (even if that's a couple of years away) before getting it. I wouldn't pay extra for Vista, as there are some incompatabilities with some older programs.

You should be able to get a Dell with an LCD and a warranty for under $1K. I don't have much experience with HP desktops. I would stay away from Gateway and no-name Walmart cheapies. As mentioned before the power supply is critical and the really cheapo brands will come with a PS that I wouldn't trust to power a flashlight.

As far as build your own, that ship has pretty much sailed on the lower end market. The margins are so thin that only the big players can build a really cheap-yet-decent computer. I build my own but I am exacting about each piece I put in. The cost of building a pretty high end machine has remained constant for me at about $2K since 1998. I'm about to yank the guts out of my current machine and upgrade most of it. The old stuff will upgrade a server. But it will still cost me $1200 to upgrade the Big 5 (Mobo, Memory, CPU, Video card, HDD), the bulk of it going to the vidcard and CPU.

So much for setting budgets……..I ended up spending $1300.

I picked up another HP from Sam’s Club. I wandered through all the PC stores and this looked to be the best bang for the buck.

It came with a monitor (HP w22 22” monitor), wireless HP keyboard and mouse. Some bundled software that I wont use.

Intel Core2 Duo E4300 processor w/ 1.8 ghz, 2 MB L2 Cach, 800 mghz front side bus (yeah, like I know what the hell all that means)
Intel ViiV technology (U-hu, yep I know that means too)
2048 MB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM
320 GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA hard Drive
Super Multi DVD Burner with Light Scribe Tech
Nvidia Geforce 7350 LE Granffics card
Dual NTSC HD TV Tuner

So now I get to move all my files over from old to new. This may be my farewell post.