Buying a new computer
 

I have an older laptop, that has been serving as my desktop. My randomly bought Macbook has been my work computer, but my wife wants it, because it has a Japanese keyboard. I want to move the old laptop to my work, and buy a smaller desktop, that will last for a few years. I've built a computer before, but the mac cube is really looking good to me, especially with dual boot. Can it be a gaming (Warzone 2100 Resurrection or Far Cry 2, not asking much), or should I build a decent computer on a gamers box platform and run XP?

You can build SMALL gaming pc for pretty fucking cheap.

$140 - Newegg.com - ZOTAC GF9300-G-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
$105 - Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE Sugo SG05-B Black SECC / Plastic Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case SFX 300W 80Plus Power Supply - Computer Cases
$52 - Newegg.com - Intel Celeron E3200 Wolfdale 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
$50 - Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Desktop Memory
$145 - Newegg.com - XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
$50 - Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc Black 8X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 8X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-R 24X CD-RW 24X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE(ATAPI) 12.7mm Slim 8X DVD±R Burner - CD / DVD Burners
$85 - Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$627 total and its about the size of a box of tissues. Will play basically every single game out at max setting on all but 30" uber monitors.

DirectX 11.

:)


Stick with PC, you can always turn it into a dual-booting Hackintosh.

Now I almost regret spending $150 for an HD 4890 on sale at Best Buy. Oh well.

I knew it, I just knew the first response would be "build one". Thats why I love this forum, haha.
Most forums would have replies like "ZOMG i l0ve <3 my SONY VIAO!!1 It haz 125mb DRAM i has A few gammes my mom put n it and itruns thm GREAT and FASt too"

Building doesn't scare me, what to put in it does. I am a car gun guy, and haven't kept up on the computer stuff since I got out of school. My last computer was built by me, but it was build almost 7 years ago.

Research, research and more research..... I just built a fairly budget gaming rig within the last 6 months and the fucking thing is already outdated by a fair amount. I didn't realize the 5000 series ATI cards were already out. Damn 4870! I just spent $1000 building it and it could probably be rebuilt now 6 months later for $700. Oh well, it's future proof enough that it should be good for another few years.

i buy a new laptop from XtremeGear - www.BuyXG.com once a year as a work tax right off. i like them a lot and if you bot the same thing from dell or hp it would cost you 2500 to 3000. ~1000 from this site

Problem is that it sounds like he's not buying one every year like you. So a non-upgradeable laptop is probably not a good idea.

um i dont think many of us consider laptops upgradeable, i mean hell you can do ram, and hd's but other than that its a pain to do graphics cards etc imo.

you can upgrade the hole thing, it's just cheaper for me to buy it though work and sell my old one.

Is your reading comprehension as bad as your grammar? We are AGREEING. The whole point is that I am recommending him a desktop like the build in my first post that is upgradeable in the future. He even stated he'd like to go with a small desktop PC.

Anyone have comments on the AMD side of processors?

I used to have a K5. It worked. No MMX, though.

They are pretty solid. Dirt cheap for what you get out of them. Dunno how much of an enthusiast you are, but that CPU I linked while being just a Celeron is a Wolfdale core. That means that you can overclock if from the stock 2.4GHz to 3.4GHz with just the stock cooler. The make if even better, that little ITX motherboard allows you to do that! I will probably be building that exact machine soon.

Comments as in what? Kind of a large field to span. I've always been an AMD guy myself. Intel sort of has the monopoly on fast processors right now, but AMD I think are the best bang for your buck processors. Might be a bit less on the performance end, but they make up for it with prices. I currently run a Phenom II 940 which is about equal in performance with the bottom end i7's (which cost about $300) and you can get it for $150 right now. I paid about $200 for it when they first came out. Hard to beat that kind of price. Power consumption is good and the heat isn't as bad as people make it out to be. With a modest overclock at about 3.4ghz the idle temp is only about 35* and under full load it never goes over about 52* with stock heat sink.

I've always built my PCs. Ive built 15 AMD64 based PCs for our team at work then build another 23 Intel Core 2 Duo CPU PCs. Id say if you want to go for best bang for buck right now, get an Intel i5 CPU with a P55 chipset mobo. You will get a long time out of them before needing an upgrade. I recommend a MSI, or EVGA and also the Gigabyte brand motherboard. Asus had been a PITA in my experience. For RAM, I'm a Corsair fan, but Mushkin, Buffalo and Patriot are good. Stay away from Crucial for their gaming grade memory. For video, you can get a lot from a $150 videocard these days.

If I were to build a bang for buck PC, I'd have a i5 CPU, P55 chipset mobo, Corsair RAM with the lowest timings for the rates speed of the motherboard and a Ati 57xx videocard, SATA drives and a Pioneer DVD burner and at minimum a 500w powersupply. If you want, PM me for more info, I'll gladly help you choose parts to make your build for your intended use.

Check out :

AnandTech

Tom's Hardware's 2009 Gift Guide: Part 1, For System Builders : Processor: Intel Core i5-750 - Review Tom's Hardware

H has reviews on a part by part basis
[H]ard|OCP - HardOCP Computer Hardware Reviews and News

I usually get my parts from:
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
ZipZoomFly
www.mwave.com

You gotta be careful with places like

TigerDirect.com - Computers, Computer Parts, Computer Components, Netbooks & Electronics

Sometimes you have to look for a particular CPU stepping or a videocard version and some sites don't differentiate the version you are buying.

My last build had an AMD in it. When I built it AMD was supposedly in the lead.

Newegg all the way. They have gotten virtually all of my electronics business in the last 5 years. Checked my total purchases the other day and they have me on record for over $5,000. Mostly a bunch of small stuff.

on the contrary neo i was just shoring up your position on the subject. Your comment was rather open ended and could have led some poor sap into thinking there was such a thing a a viable updateable laptop.