Technologically challenged

[Rosa]

It's time for me to get a new computer, after the 10th year that I've had this 500 mhz one. I'm excited and can't wait to get rid of this poor excuse I call a computer. However there's only 1 minor problem, with a mind as old fashioned as mine I have absolutely no knowledge about computers. So don't even consider me building my own computer, never going to happen.

Anyways I'm looking for a decent computer nothing top of the line, however I don't want one only for the sake for music and Microsoft word either. If I'm to buy one of those computer packages what kind of specs should I be looking for?

I'm thinking something along the lines of 500 gb hard drive and some sort of decent graphic card, but I have no knowledge on that dual core jumbo mumbo so help here would be greatly appreciated. Not sure if this is needed but my budget is around 1000 dollars Canadian. A bit more or less doesn't matter.

Thanks for your time!

[Gooner-fan-deano]

Id get the AMD processor compared to the intel one... DDR2 ram I think is the best at the moment (2gb is a good amount to have)
Hope this helps a little, im not very good with computers either :)

[BlackWolf]

OMG!
Thats worst suggestion ever! Please dont come here if best you can say is get AMD!
They are year to year and half behind Intel on processors!!
Suggesting to buy one is not only showing how "much" you know about computers but also so misleading that it hurts. Please go read a bit bout computers and manufacturers and new processors and dont come here before you know smeg about anything. People come here to ask help and misleading them with BS information is worst thing you can do!

Now to "packages"...
You shouldnt :P building comp isnt that hard... but ohh well...

Intel processor Q6600, E8400, Q9450 (only processors to go for atm)
GPU (grpahics prosessing unit) Nvidia 8800 GTS (G92), Radeon 3870, Nvidia 8800 GT (G92)
At least 2048 Mb of RAM (doesnt really matter what brand RAM it is cause all are coming from 2 different manufacturers and are in the end pretty much the same).

Rest is up to you. Like Hard drives, DVD burners etc... those are what you pick if you want / need... manufacturers are more or less same.
Need more help dont hesitate to ask.

[Maxi]

Blackwolf, that's a high-end gaming comp you're suggesting, and it doesn't fit in her budget (1000 Canadian $ = 600€ approx.).

Firstly, where will you be buying it Rosa? You're better off buying one at a local pc shop instead of buying one of the 'big brands' like HP, fujitsu etc (Dell isn't that bad). I guess you need a new LCD screen with it aswell? You're looking for something along these lines; Cual Core E8200 or similar (2,6Ghz), 2Gb of ram, 400/500Gb Hard disk drive, Geforce 8 series graphic card (8600 or above) or Ati 3850 (card with 512mb ram). Maybe you can post a couple configurations you have seen and/or have links to a website from a shop nearby we can take a look at? ;)

[Rosa]

@ BW
I am completely clueless as to what you're trying to say for the first half of your suggestion, so with the best of my abilities I'll try to answer that one. I don't have much knowledge on computers, all I know is I have 1000 dollars to spend and I'm asking for what I should be looking for if I want a decent computer. I will keep in mind the specs you suggested, thank you very much.

@ Maxi
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/prodde ... &langid=EN (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=BDL10002688&catid=24014&logon=&langid=EN)
^^ thats the computer I'm looking at right now. From my judgment looks like what I'm looking for. I think o_o.

Anyways bottom line is I'm trying to ask for what specs should I be looking for so I don't get stuck with something that's considered bad by most people :P while spending a considerable amount of money

Also, whats the deal with this "quad core" thing that the computer I'm looking at has? What's the difference? o_O

[BlackWolf]

My first half was for gooner whom was suggesting AMD processor. Thats all.

Because i cant get a smeg out of that shop your teling about... i would say DONT buy from there!

Look at this..
HP Media Center PC with Intel Core 2 Quad-Core & HP 22 inch wide LCD monitor
This HP Pavilion A6352F is loaded with Microsoft Windows Vista Premium to manage all your digital music, photo and video. It also features an AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core Processor, 3GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory, 400GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive, and a 16X Dual layer DVD+/-RW drive with LightScribe.

How come it can be intel processor that is AMD processor? If that is not the case why i cant get any details of that comp from that page?

Anyways...
http://www.sigelectronics.com/PC-Mac-Ha ... ATA-Refurb (http://www.sigelectronics.com/PC-Mac-Hardware/NoteBooks/Acer-AM5620-E1207A-C2Q-6600-2-4G-3GDDRII-500GB-SATA-Refurb)
Theres one... then buy this:
http://hardwarecanucks.pricecanada.com/ ... 12P3N841AR (http://hardwarecanucks.pricecanada.com/detail.php?product_id=521598&sku=512P3N841AR)
Installing videocard is really really easy. With those 2 you will have top end computer with the funds you said.
Tho no screen in that set.

http://hardwarecanucks.pricecanada.com/index.php
Thats only canadian site i know... they seem to know a bit on their site so it cant be completely flawd.

[Rosa]

Wow, everyone's telling to go acer. So after seeing BW's suggestion and talking to Podunk

I've decided on

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetai ... &langid=EN (http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=BDL10001412&catid=20215&PCName=desktop%5Facer&logon=&langid=EN)

and since theres no graphic card on that I'm going to buy one, but not sure which one

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/prodde ... 304&catid= (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B2749BCCA9199FD9D1396CFA594BC8D3421C23FCAFB0F395A214AD83D71F19E372E80DEC02 7305A540DC1D9A73BFCD2EE1B683DDFE3A05E86AD66EF010A667FD1762B64C9657EECCF9E1D8A51573CBACC2F042544BDC29 F047393B8967FE673FDED8BB3E4B5FA35C44ECA42A33D527D28AA51B6BDBB85AACDDC05AD9F0CCF7DECBB79E78F49FDCFCAB 42D59043D982AE2D98AB218318F8CA2B5871D0DAB190F06AF002E21399996F1EDB42C5597503E1C0BE306FD8E16672EC0200 4961AB9CF170&sku_id=0665000FS10092304&catid=)
or
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.ph ... 99.243.390 (http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=016601&cid=999.243.390)

I think that's the best for my budget, bless me with your computer knowledge!

[BlackWolf]

How i put this.... :(
No, no and NO!

Hunny your on right track atm...

Problem is that with that amount of money you just cant get GPU worth of getting for.
Heres list of GPUs to buy from cheapest to more expencive.
Prices may differ a bit but if you cant get one of these then you may as well go without one.

Ati 3870, Nvidia 9300 (both about same priced), Nvidia 8800 GT, Nvidia 8800GTS.
Anything below 3870/9600 price is waste of money! With 20 euros (i think like 35 dollars) steps to twice the speed.
I have no idea how to explain this better but this...

You have 2 processors...
Q6600 it costs (in euros) 220.
Q6700 costs 450
Why? Cause its top of the brand.... what you get for those 230 euros? nothing! Actual benefit is 1/10th in megaherz.
Now lets talk about GPUs.
With price of 3870 you get not best but decent GPU its top of the ATI's brand (was before x2 for maniacs).
What is cheaper is 3850... for what price? 20 euros... I dont see reason to go for those models... thats same as my 1.3 hours work and yet you get twice the power.
If 3850 costs 150 euros and 3870 costs 170 euros yet is twice better why to go for 3850?
Same goes to 8600... it suxs! 8800 GT that costs 20 euros more is twice the more GPU than 8600.

I hope Maxi can help you out in here... Hes smart fella and if anyone you should listen to him...

And you know. Acer suxs! All those big companies suxs. :P But thats my opinion. With same money you could get much more if you would build it yourself. Its what i started to do while i was like 13 and had no idea of comps. Yet i did it and never regretted it.

PS. i almost catched you in IRC.... im sure i, maxi etc could give you so detailed instructions on how to build computer you couldnt miss it. That way you could get so much more for your money and enjoy using it much more.

[Bobbin]

How i put this.... :(
And you know. Acer suxs! All those big companies suxs. :P But thats my opinion. With same money you could get much more if you would build it yourself. Its what i started to do while i was like 13 and had no idea of comps. Yet i did it and never regretted it.


From my experiance Acer make decent machines, and they're pretty affordable.

If you're working to a budget, then an Acer could well be the best thing to be honest...

Just make sure you get a minimum of 2gig of RAM if running Vista, and to be honest, any modern machine is decent enough for most uses.

if you want an all out gaming machine, yeah it's going to be expensive.

The machine you've picked is a good base, it's nothing special, but it will server you proud, as for your choice of GFX cards, go for the second one, it's a new chipset, and whole both are 512 MB, the second is likely to be a little faster.

[BlackWolf]

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.ph ... 99.243.390 (http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=017634&cid=999.243.390)

That is from same store is ACTUALLY the newest chip and is pretty decent card. Even compared to those cards i mentioned earlier.
Beats 8600 by miles and costs what? 50 dollars more.
If you look at this.
http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/X-200 ... 520145.png (http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/X-200707161529520145.png)

And then compare it to this.
http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/X-200 ... 728168.png (http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/X-2008031817322728168.png)

You should understand difference what you get with ~50 dollars. Your budget allows you to get computer that will run any modern games with decent settings with decent quality. Getting anything below that means you have wasted your money.
To say it other way around... GPU is last thing you should svae your funds with.
Get slower CPU... go for E4500 or so... with good GPU it will still be better. Today CPU speeds are almost meaningless. GPUs are what makes your computer tick. Q6600 is damn good CPU but you could get 2x better results with slower CPU and better GPU than you can with q6600 and sucky 8600 GT.

[Maxi]

To be honest, the Acer you posted isn't that bad at all coupled with a 8600 GT. The Graphics card is the strict minimum if you want to game, though. Might be better off getting a 9600 or a 3870 as BW mentioned above to last a couple years. Although, I still think you're better off buying on at a local pc store, a similar pc to the Acer, but one they build/made themselves instead of a 'big brand' pc. If you live near/in a big city there's bound to be a lot around. Maybe you could check their websites?

(And BW, I think you mean the 9600 instead of 9300)

[BlackWolf]

I was like wtf... untill noticed typo in older post :P
But yeah i agree with maxi... buy from local store if you can.
What is most important is to remember (at least for me and to tests & games) that GPU counts a lot more than anything else in your system. If you must pick between better GPU or better CPU pick GPU.

[Gooner-fan-deano]

I didnt say amd was better but it's cheaper and i wasn't the one talking about getting a nvidida 8800... she isn't gaming so a 256mb graphics card would be necessary?

Im trying to help and learn as well

[atsanjose]

to be honest rosa, you really dont need any advise :P

just go to a decent computer store, there they will show you the packages. you say what you want to do at the computer and they advise you what package suits you best.

if you want to compare prizes then go to another store and compare specs too :P

but really, if you are used to 500mhz it reaaaaaaaaly doesnt matter what you get :P

only decision you have to make is choosing the size of the monitor. but thats only a money issue :P

[Hippie]

i have a 256mb 7800 gtx oc and it still plays all the games out (albeit not on highest graphics)

[Maxi]

The point is that she's looking for a PC to use for a long time. The one she has now is 10 years old! Means you might aswell go for a good thing now, to be sure it'll support software/games in a couple of years. ;)

[BlackWolf]

256mb GPU?
wtf?
Theres such cards too?
I didnt know they even make such sucky cards anymore... have not done any decent GPU below 320mb for year or two that i know of, rofl. Ohh and all modern games supports up to 512 mb of GPU memory. nobos.

Whats the point in upgrading computer if all you do is to play bushtarion anyways? There isnt such comp that would boost windows speed even nearly enough for it to show. But thats not what Rosa was asking. She wanted help to buy new computer and asked if she could even do some gaming with it. And thats what we are trying to help her to do.
We are suggesting her parts that would make her computer fly. We are not suggesting her to buy some 2-2.5 years old parts that "still works" hell my geforce 9800 pro still works... but every game i played was hellish to play... it was 4-5 years old ffs. Where is the benefit in buying something that doesnt work nowdays and in year will work even less? huh.

Both me and Maxi bought new comps like 2 weeks ago. Before that both of us did lots of research and discussed about it with others. So i think we know a bit and we dont suggest to buy old or 2nd grade stuff. We want to help with best of our skill.
So please leave your opinions to be your opinions and dont try to force those to poor Rosa.

[BlackWolf]

I made new post to post some links...
First ones will be some CPU ones... 2nd part wil be some GPU ones.
So you can check those out if you really like....
Will start with this:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007. ... &chart=424 (http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=880&model2=1096&chart=424)

Heres small GPU comparison
That page shows pretty well what im talking about when i say NO for 8600
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/472/13/

[CLem]

She already got new a computer now as far as I know

[Maxi]

Any ideas if she even read what we've said here? :P

[CLem]

no idea, but she got the acer one