this seems to be the closest place to post this i guess
A friend is looking for a full out system
software and such not a major concern he will be loading Linux on it anyway
just wondering if anyone has run in to any good deals on a decent system under $500
closer to 400 if possible (monitor not necessary)
i offered to put something together but he prefers to go with a packaged deal
There is plenty of choices there http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Lprice=200&Hprice=499.99&CatId=6
or depending on where you live go to this website. its www.pcworld.co.uk . dont go for a dell, hardly worth the hype that they get on the telly.
Dell is better than Hewlett Packard, I would buy a Dell before HP. But always before that, build my own. Try www.newegg.com and www.tigerdirect.com
or depending on where you live go to this website. its www.pcworld.co.uk . dont go for a dell, hardly worth the hype that they get on the telly.
hes from the USA. ive checked his profile :p
hes from the USA. ive checked his profile :p
cheers belama.:)
Dell is better than Hewlett Packard, I would buy a Dell before HP. But always before that, build my own. Try www.newegg.com and www.tigerdirect.com
agreed, but since when did this thread turn into dissing the manufacturers of pc's. i just said dont go for a dell cos of the supposed lack of customer relations from them. oh well im just happy with my Packard bell desktop for now (apart from the ones i've built evidently).:)
i've built all of my machines
purchasing something that level would cost me around 8,000-10,000 from ibm/dell
however this one isn't for me
for a friend
all tho hes proficient with the software end hes never really worked with the internal aspects of a computer and from what i understand he doesn't really want to get into it
doesn't really matter the brand just basic hardware specs
Wasnt trying to "diss" any computer company. From my experience HP is very limiting, and the only way to upgrade is to buy an entire system. DELL you have some say-so into what goes into your computer.
8000-10000 $ :eek: ? I just built a high performance gaming rig for around $1000.
how very true. anyway its always best to build your own. least then you know what the specs are and how far you can take it.
how very true. anyway its always best to build your own. least then you know what the specs are and how far you can take it.
Yup, thats the way to go if you can. You know 100% what you have, you cant get screwed and you save money on assembly.
Wasnt trying to "diss" any computer company. From my experience HP is very limiting, and the only way to upgrade is to buy an entire system. DELL you have some say-so into what goes into your computer.
8000-10000 $ :eek: ? I just built a high performance gaming rig for around $1000.
Render farm machines X 5 (late 2004)
dual xeons 3.2 500fsb 2mb cache
12gb ecc registered ram
Quadro (well i cheated here a bit, gainward 4600 TI self modded and bios flashed to Quadro) :mrgreen:
ide raid 5, 5 x 250gb
licences
Render server (early 2005)
dual xeons 3.4 800fsb 2mb cache
16 gb ecc reg low seek time ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000
scsi raid 5, 8 x 300gb, Seagate Cheetah 10k rpm
server and laptop covered under licences pruchased earlier (cheaper to buy site/bulk licences some times)
in dire need of a cooling solution on my scale :(
but everything is for rackmount servers
Render farm machines X 5 (late 2004)
dual xeons 3.2 500fsb 2mb cache
12gb ecc registered ram
Quadro (well i cheated here a bit, gainward 4600 TI self modded and bios flashed to Quadro) :mrgreen:
ide raid 5, 5 x 250gb
licencesRender server (early 2005)
dual xeons 3.4 800fsb 2mb cache
16 gb ecc reg low seek time ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000
scsi raid 5, 8 x 300gb, Seagate Cheetah 10k rpm
server and laptop covered under licences pruchased earlier (cheaper to buy site/bulk licences some times)in dire need of a cooling solution on my scale :(
but everything is for rackmount servers
pity ur in the usa. i've just been PC parts shopping and got some quite nice parts. not sure if the company will ship out there but look on their website.
www.autdirect.co.uk
email them at sales@autdirect.co.uk
they do everything and I mean EVERYTHING for all intel and amd platforms.
Render farm machines X 5 (late 2004)
dual xeons 3.2 500fsb 2mb cache
12gb ecc registered ram
Quadro (well i cheated here a bit, gainward 4600 TI self modded and bios flashed to Quadro) :mrgreen:
ide raid 5, 5 x 250gb
licencesRender server (early 2005)
dual xeons 3.4 800fsb 2mb cache
16 gb ecc reg low seek time ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000
scsi raid 5, 8 x 300gb, Seagate Cheetah 10k rpm
server and laptop covered under licences pruchased earlier (cheaper to buy site/bulk licences some times)in dire need of a cooling solution on my scale :(
but everything is for rackmount servers
niiiiiiiiiice!
Tell him to build his own please!!!!!!!!!! (newegg.com) If he still refuses make sure he doesn't buy a Dell at least. Overpriced, horrible computers. No upgrade potential at all.
If you do buy Dell pray you don't have any problems because if you do your looking at a 3-5hr wait on hold waiting for their "excellent" customer service. I had a friend go throught that whole process and he was not a happy camper.
he does not want to build his own
and i don't think tech support will be able to help him much anyway
he will be using linux on
In my opinion, most packaged deals arent so good, especially the low-end ones. Maybe you could convince him to build one for him.
Hello,
At the various companies that I have done contract computer support for, I have not had a problem with Dell. I have run into problems with Compaq desktops, but Dell has been responsive and there for me when we needed parts and drivers.
IF you decide to go ahead and build your own computer, please write down and keep a sheet of paper of what is inside your computer. I recently rebuilt a computer for a lady who did not have any information at all, and I had to charge her $$ for my time to find out what motherboard she had, the ethernet drivers, the video card. Yes, I made a new sheet for her, and burnt her a special CD-ROM with all of them on "for next time".
It is a true nightmare if you do not document this down from the beginning, and know where your drivers are located. And if you get these items from a special shop, and they close there doors, what then?
It is not a problem to think down the road.
Christian
lol I think its the second time you post about the find drivers for old lady thing. Anyway doesnt matter.
If you built your computer yourself and really know your stuff, you dont really need to do a sheet. It's more for people who dont know computers much, like the old lady.
Tell him to build his own please!!!!!!!!!! (newegg.com) If he still refuses make sure he doesn't buy a Dell at least. Overpriced, horrible computers. No upgrade potential at all.
the unfortunate thing with dell is that they are dell specific parts.:)
the unfortunate thing with dell is that they are dell specific parts.:)
that is with almost every pre-packaged computer. HP, Dell, Emachines, if he is going to run linux, he doesnt need a very high-end computer anyway. Just a big enough hard drive and about 512mb of memory.
And with a pre-built system he might get plenty of extra software he might not want like windows.
I think this software that comes with the computers is crap. Some people though will base their buy decision on the content of the software bundle. They get all screwed because they think a 3ghz cpu is just a 3ghz cpu. They wont look at the other specs like FSB, cache... Same thing with RAM or Video, for them, 128mb is 128mb, the core or memory is ignored. I know people with that mentality they think they get good deals but the vendors tell them white lies to make sales. Of course these are people that dont know their computer stuff. Just to say dont let someone you know buy computers by themselves if they dont know much about PCs or they might get talked into buying crap.
these days $500 is sortof a small budget for a computer. You can get a pretty decent computer if you build it yourself but nothing that is really gonna last you that long. everything is constantly being upgraded so to buy a low-end machine now sortof makes you at a disadvantage because in a few years it will be out of date and still be able to use but most programs might not be made for machines nemore. programs and operating systems are moving closer and closer to being fully 64 bit(i am not certain but i think windows longhorn is gonna use some 64 bit applications) So just so you know you should spend wisely, it all really depends on wat you need the computer for, simple tasks this will be fine for years, for gaming this thing wont last against games already out, for pretty much any sortof development thing (ie programming, web design, 3d modelling) this machine probably wont do.
buying a machine from a vendor can yield similar results as building your own some times, you just need to catch good special
but that really depends on the person making the decisions
if you don't know much about hardware behind the machine chances are building your own won't yield a better result and cause you more problems long run
but that’s not really the case here
it is true tho that the major downside to prebuilt systems with little way around it is a bunch of software that comes with the machine
and there isn't much to do about that unless you look at smaller vendor barebones or refurbished
second thing
i can see why he doesn't want to spend much on a machine that won't last more than a few years
about 2 or 3 years and things will be changing fairly drastically
there is a few new storage technologies on the verge of being released
a portable HD/blue ray
physical drives easily capable of doing 2 - 5 terabytes per drive
about a year or 2 until nvidia finally blends in all their developments from the PS3 into their graphics cards
64bit architecture yes its around now but kind of useless when there isn't much applications optimized for it
memory capacity and speed will likely double by the time the machine becomes obsolete
there isn't much of a point seriously investing in a computer now
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