Building a new PC

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Looks like I may be buying a new PC and would like to ask some advice on what to get (I'm a software guy, don't know too much about hardware). I'm hoping to make this last for about 3-4 years before having to buy a new system again.

 

Roughly looking at:

P4 3GHz-ish

Asus motherboard

250Gb harddisk

DVD burner

1Gb

nice GFX card (nVidia FX6600?)

case, keyboard, etc.

 

Budget for the new machine (ex. monitor as I already have a nice 17" LCD) would be around 25,000-30,000 Baht.

 

Suggestions?

 

Oh, and any recommendations on shops (preferable in Fortune, but Pantip would be okay)?

 

Sanuk!

[unit731]

Read up on the specs for Windows Vista. Due in early 2007.

 

No, you don't need Vista. Some are still getting by with 98.

 

But if you are going to spend this amount of money, then prepare yourself. When XP first came out, many stated that they see nothing special and no need for XP. These same people now want to upgrade to XP and sadly, their old basic computers do not have the hardware for the upgrade. Vista will be that much better. I don't care what the punters on this board state about XP or Vista.

 

I recommend a dual drive. DVD-ROM and DVD/RW. Graphics cards can break the bank, but I would get the best one in your budget.

 

And I highly recommend the Media Center edition if you dabble in digital photos or video.

 

The specs for Vista are stated elsewhere on this board.

[..]

http://www.thanni.com/index.php?main_page=index for up to date pricing.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com for good reviews of stuff.

 

I use a shop in Fortune, Jet Computer, I think is the name. Good service and warranty issues are no dramas. If coming from the main (subway) entrance, go to the third floor. Jet is the shop at the "intersection" before the rotunda, far LH side.

 

I can help you build it if you need help. Just call.

 

Cheers,

SD

[kamui]

I would definately go for 2 GB RAM, for graphics, games and for upcoming Vista.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"I can help you build it if you need help. Just call. "

 

Thanks, SD. I should be able to find that shop.

 

"I would definately go for 2 GB RAM"

 

Memory shouldn't really I think as this is easily added later.

 

Sanuk!

[carlton68]

Hi,

 

Instead of one of those red hot Pentium 4 I recommend an AMD Athlon 64. Since March 2005 my two computers run with Athlon 64 3000+ CPUs. Didn't regret it for a second and think these are still good for another year.

As Mainboard I recommend AsRock, that is ASUS for cheap charlies.

Irrespective if you choose Intel or AMD you should choose a mainboard with PCI-Express interface for the video card.

All of the actual DVD Burners deliver acceptable results, burn Dual/Double layer and have all needed features. Two weeks ago I bought a LG GSA-4167B because it was a) rated very good in a computer magazine (actually top of the overall list) makes very little noise when playing DVDs (top of the list in that category) c) cheapest drive. Ok, it doesn't have the Lightscribe feature, but I don't need that.

Seagate offers 5 years warranty for it's harddrives. Go for the drives with SATA interface.

Together with 1GB RAM and a video card capable of playing Oblivion you will also meet requirements for Windows Vista. Even if you won't use that OS anyway.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"and a video card capable of playing Oblivion"

 

Hahahahaha, you see right through me, eh?

 

The thing is my wife was consedering buying a PC for her daughter, figured that I might as well buy a new one myself and give the little girl my old PC.

 

Thanks for the advice btw, guys. Feel free to keep it coming

 

Sanuk!

[Weird]

With that it's going to be basically all dependent on your grahpics card.

 

Take it from a hardcore gamer. My rig is like 4-5 years old now.. the only thing I've upgraded is my card.

[Neo]

I recommend a dual drive. DVD-ROM and DVD/RW

 

Surely you have a usage in your mind for this. Would have been nice if you said "I recommend a dual drive if you want to ___". Care to fill in the blank? copy cd's? I personally hate the days of needing multiple optical drives meaning multiple drive letters and other issues and am glad to keep it simple and have one drive that does it all. Even if my budget allowed 100 drives I would want just one.

 

It's also curious you recommend getting a DVD-ROM when DVD/RW are so cheap. If you get a pair and your writer goes out, no problem you can use the other. But anyway I'd say you missed the mark; getting a dual layer writer is the most important feature for your optical drive. The whole HD-DVD vs blue ray is still at a sit and wait state; too expensive, read only, and remains to be seen how well each standard will be accepted.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Asked our network / hardware guy at the office to give me some suggestions based upon my requests. This is what he came up with:

 

CPU        Pentium4 631 3.0GHz , LGA775, FSB 800 MHz, L2 Cache 2MB, 65nm        7,450
Mainboard  Asrock Mainboard 775XFIRE-eSATA2 / LGA775 / Dual Core CPU Ready /    3,468
          Intel 945 Chipset / Dual DDR2 533	
Memory     Corsair VS DDR2 512/533                                              3,980
Display Card PCI-Express
          XFX GF7600GT T73G-UDF7 GeForce 7600GT, 256MB Dual-DVI 570/1450 MHz   8,900
Harddisk   Seagate ST3808110AS 80GB , 7200 RPM SATA-II                          2,290
DVD-R/RW   LITE-ON                                                              2,250
                                                                              28,338

CPU        AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Socket 939 2.000GHz , L2 Cache 512KB            6,090
Mainboard  ASUS A8N-SLi SE / Socket 939 / nForce4 SLI x 8 / Dual DDR400 /       4,990
          4-SATA / PCI-Ex2
Memory     Corsair XMS DDR 1G/400 (TWIN)                                        4,590
Display Card PCI-Express
          XFX GF7600GT T73G-UDF7 GeForce 7600GT, 256MB Dual-DVI 570/1450 MHz   8,900
Harddisk   Seagate ST3808110AS 80GB , 7200 RPM SATA-II                          2,290
DVD-R/RW   LITE-ON                                                              2,250
                                                                              29,110

 

Comments?

 

Sanuk!