What to look for when shopping around for new pc

[zeropointbug]

Combo deal at Newegg.com
-Intel i5 750
-Seagate 1500GB HHD
-G.Skill 4GB RAM
-Gigabyte motherboard
-700W PSU
-NZXT LEXA PC enclosure (case)

extras (but required)

-POWERCOLOR 5670 Video Card (for media)
-Zalman CNPS 9700 CPU heatsink
-Windows 7 Home Premium


With that great deal of a combo, along with the 9700 CPU heatsink, you can overclock the i5 processor from 2.66GHz to roughly 3.6GHz no problem on the stock Vcore (CPU voltage). This system will do anything you want it to do, even play games, albeit with lower settings. Plenty of HD space, processing power and RAM.

$830

Oh, I forgot to mention you have to build this system, which you may not want to do, so if you have any friends who can do it for you, go for it.

[Gee]

Originally Posted by zeropointbug

Combo deal at Newegg.com
-Intel i5 750
-Seagate 1500GB HHD
-G.Skill 4GB RAM
-Gigabyte motherboard
-700W PSU
-NZXT LEXA PC enclosure (case)

extras (but required)

-POWERCOLOR 5670 Video Card (for media)
-Zalman CNPS 9700 CPU heatsink
-Windows 7 Home Premium


With that great deal of a combo, along with the 9700 CPU heatsink, you can overclock the i5 processor from 2.66GHz to roughly 3.6GHz no problem on the stock Vcore (CPU voltage). This system will do anything you want it to do, even play games, albeit with lower settings. Plenty of HD space, processing power and RAM.

$830

Oh, I forgot to mention you have to build this system, which you may not want to do, so if you have any friends who can do it for you, go for it.

I'll look into a setup like this. I guess one thing that comes to mind is with the new mother boards can older card pci cards like an additional video card still be used? The memory is probably different then what is used on this mb. I was a little confused with the different types of cards which I didn't really pay much attention to prior to this either. APG, PCI, PCI-E, etc. Does anyone have a link to a place that might help me understand the different ones or how to identify them? Is the PCI slot outdated and not used on the new mother boards anymore?

Under the system properties on my pc it has intel Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz 4.78GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM. Is that 2 cpus? One a 3.20Ghz and one a 4.78GHz. I would of thought they would be the same speed. Visually, there is one huge heatsink with the fan shroud over it. A smaller black heat sink seperate from that one. I will have to check out the ram. I know I have 4 - 1mb chips of RAM installed but it's only showing 3.25gb of ram. How does this system compare to what's available? Slightly better then the abacus? Decent but on the verge or fossil fuel. Upgradable to improve it maybe video card with more memory?

[squeeforever]

Originally Posted by Gee

I'll look into a setup like this. I guess one thing that comes to mind is with the new mother boards can older card pci cards like an additional video card still be used? The memory is probably different then what is used on this mb. I was a little confused with the different types of cards which I didn't really pay much attention to prior to this either. APG, PCI, PCI-E, etc. Does anyone have a link to a place that might help me understand the different ones or how to identify them? Is the PCI slot outdated and not used on the new mother boards anymore?

Under the system properties on my pc it has intel Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz 4.78GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM. Is that 2 cpus? One a 3.20Ghz and one a 4.78GHz. I would of thought they would be the same speed. Visually, there is one huge heatsink with the fan shroud over it. A smaller black heat sink seperate from that one. I will have to check out the ram. I know I have 4 - 1mb chips of RAM installed but it's only showing 3.25gb of ram. How does this system compare to what's available? Slightly better then the abacus? Decent but on the verge or fossil fuel. Upgradable to improve it maybe video card with more memory?

PCI-E (AKA PCI-Express) is more common now for videocards. The older standard was AGP, but there aren't many AGP cards still around and even fewer mobos. a standard PCI is your usual slot for things such as RAID cards, wireless cards, etc.

[JERRY2KONE]

What I have planned is to build a newer unit for myself and then give my 14 year old son this one as a hand me down. He is thrilled to get this one though, because it is a pretty good unit. Anyway you could always sell your outdated one for a few hundred dollars or donate it to charity(without the HD of course). Just do a little research and start by buying a good CPU that appeals to your sense of computer savy. Then find a desent motherboard to match the CPU for mounting, and one that has all of the latest periferals. I found a book called "The Ultimate Custom PC Builds" that gave me all of the items to look for and how to find the best ones. I am sure that it is outdated by now, but there has to be something out there similar that is up to 2010 standards that will lead you in the right direction. Once you read up on what the different components are and how they differ anyone can build a pretty good system from scratch. I had to acquire help formatting the drives and getting all of the best software installed, and that takes the longest of all to complete. Still it was not all that hard to do. Now I plan to do the same thing with todays technology and build something that will last another 10 years or so. This one is 16 years old and still runs great. Everytime something failed on it or got broken in shipment I just upgraded it with the newest replacement. I have replaced the motherboard(cracked), the Video card(cracked), the hard drives twice due to viruses, and upgraded the RAM to 4gig, and finally the sound card was updated to 5.1 surround.

Now I just want something faster and more modern in components. The case I have is an old Thermaltake and it weighs like 20lbs empty.