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Buying new desktop and laptop

Discussion in 'Computers & Modding' started by damanali, Mar 10, 2009.

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  1. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    Ok, my dad is planning to upgrade our old desktop,but since buying a new one which has the newest technology is cheaper than upgrading the parts, one by one, I'm convincing him to buy a new desktop.

    I'm wondering what should i look up when buying a new desktop comp and also a laptop for me?
     
    damanali, Mar 10, 2009
    #1
  2. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    dont buy a prebuilt desktop, buy parts and build your own. Cheaper, you get a better machine and you know its been built properly.
     
    Loonylion, Mar 10, 2009
    #2
  3. steben

    steben New Member

    Yeah, you're better off reading some guides on how to assemble a pc. You'll probably save yourself a couple hundred bucks.

    However if you MUST purchase a pc, i'd go with something that is pre-built. (Not Dell or Gateway, anything but them!) You could also check some specialty local computer stores, at least their custom built pc's will/should have quality parts in them. Again check some guides for how to build a PC, make sure you know what you're looking at.

    What to look for for Vista computers:
    -Make sure the operating system is 64 bit, so you can upgrade it! (The System will have at least 4GB of RAM)
    -Nvidia/ATI video card, hopefully something with 256MB RAM (Vista is a resource hog, get something with a video card)
     
    steben, Mar 10, 2009
    #3
  4. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

     
    damanali, Mar 11, 2009
    #4
  5. anandjones

    anandjones Well-Known Member

    Laptop, then no (in normal cases).
     
    anandjones, Mar 11, 2009
    #5
  6. king_leo

    king_leo Well-Known Member

    help how do you post a new topic
     
    king_leo, Mar 11, 2009
    #6
  7. kryz

    kryz Well-Known Member

    king leo your way off topic...

    something with LOTS of ram... :D
     
    kryz, Mar 11, 2009
    #7
  8. king_leo

    king_leo Well-Known Member

    old and I now how to bug people but I wont
     
    king_leo, Mar 11, 2009
    #8
  9. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    yes, thanks loony and steben, i went to the store and i canvass the prices, but in the end, the store clerk told me to just buy a pre-built and if i still not happy, just buy the parts and upgrade the pre-built desktop.

    here is what they advise me with the desktop:

    Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.3ghz
    Gigabyte G31-ES2L motherboard
    Onboard PCI-E 256mb LAN 10/100/100
    Patriot 1GB DDR2 800 FSB
    Hitachi 250 GB SATA HDD, mousepad
    Liteon DVDRW 22x
    Casing w/ Power Supply and Genius Keyboard
    Logitech S-100 Speaker, Genuis Mouse

    And here are my question but they told me the answer: that its pre-built in the motherboard

    1.) What is the video card? Can i play games like GTA or Sims?
    2.) What is the sound card? I know there is a speaker but its different from, the sound card, right?
    3.) What upgrades should i make with this pre-built?

    If anybody has the answer to this, I really appreciate it! Thanks in advance,
     
    damanali, Mar 11, 2009
    #9
  10. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    PCI-E 256MB LAN? you've got two things mixed up there. PCI-E 256MB would be information about the graphics card, 10/100/1000 LAN is something entirely different.

    sound card will be onboard and they are usually adequate.

    upgrades: bigger hard disk for a start, 250GB won't last long. More RAM, 1GB is a bare minimum these days, you want 2-4GB. if the graphics is onboard I would suggest you upgrade it, this would also involve a new power supply most likely.

    Can you check that motherboard model, as gigabyte don't recognise it. It should be GA- something. give me the correct model and I'll be able to tell you if its onboard video and what sound/video it has.
     
    Loonylion, Mar 11, 2009
    #10
  11. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    so, what do you mean about what i got mixed up there? to be honest, i really dont know about this things, i just typed what i read in the flyers given out.

    you said i can upgrade the graphics right? do you have any suggestion for graphics cards?

    I also found a better specs from that flyer:

    Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8ghz 45nm
    Gigabyte G31-ES2L motherboard
    Onboard PCI-E 256mb LAN 10/100/1000
    PATRIOT DDR2 800 2GB
    Hitachi 250 GB Sata HDD
    Liteon DVDRW 22x
    Casing with Power Supply and Genuis Keyboard
    Logitech S-100 Speaker, Genuis Mouse
     
    damanali, Mar 11, 2009
    #11
  12. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    well it's the flyer that is wrong then. LAN 10/100/1000 is one feature. PCI-E 256MB has nothing to do with a LAN. The LAN chip could use the PCI-E bus, but LAN chips do not have memory. (with the exception of the bigfoot killernic, which is extremely high end). 256MB is the amount of memory on an entry level graphics chip, therefore I suspect the PCI-E 256MB refers to the graphics capability which would appear to be onboard.

    My previous point still stands, that motherboard module number is not a gigabyte product.

    EDIT: found the model, it's a GA-G31-ES2L. it has onboard high definition audio and gigabit LAN, but the graphics are intel media accelerator (which is crap) with 8MB-128MB shared memory, which is very bad. Definitely upgrade the graphics card.

    What are you intending to use this computer for?
     
    Loonylion, Mar 11, 2009
    #12
  13. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    Well mostly its for my dad for his browsing the net and playing his online casino. His old desktop boots like avast scanning your comp. It takes at least 5-10 minutes just to from pressing the on button and waiting for it to finish reading the comp content and access the internet explorer/mozilla.

    The store clerk told me it may be infected by a virus but its not, its just old and slow. And my dad, decided to buy a new one with all the fastness and new techs.

    Also, my lil sis can use it to do her animations stuff which sucks because of the slowness of the comps.

    So here are the main conditions they want:
    1.) It boots faster than singing the national anthem. ( in slow and dramatic tune )
    2.) It can play the online games.
    3.) It can play videos like watching TV.
    4.) Maybe for me to play at least Sim City or Civ4.

    Thanks again loony, you're very dedicated in helping all of us like you dont have anything else to do. Most Admin just dont care about the users and only think of the sites maintenance, but not you.
     
    damanali, Mar 11, 2009
    #13
  14. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    right, the onboard graphics will cope with everything except those games you want to run. I would suggest you get a nvidia geforce 8 or 9 series (the 8600GT/GTS are now very cheap and will cope with those games easily, however before you get one we need to determine if the power supply supports it. My best suggestion would be to get the computer, take the side panel (usually the left one when looking from the front) off and post what is written on the power supply (the box at the top rear inside the case, where the power cable goes in). I need to know the manufacturer and the Watt (output power) rating.
     
    Loonylion, Mar 11, 2009
    #14
  15. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    sure thing, I'll post the manufacturer and watt rating when i go back to the store. I dont want to buy it then regret it later like the router thing. The neighbors got the signal rather than on my room. lol
     
    damanali, Mar 12, 2009
    #15
  16. 4ds

    4ds Well-Known Member

    if u are striving for a budget computer for the vga card you can choose ATI instead the model is radeon 4670 it definitely better the old 8600(this card came out some years ago lol) and the comparing the power and the price of the card 4670 will definitely be worthwhile.
     
    4ds, Mar 12, 2009
    #16
  17. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    I doubt they'd open the case to let you get that info.
     
    Loonylion, Mar 12, 2009
    #17
  18. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    They said they will assemble the pc in the shop, so, they would let me see the content of there is no sale. But anyway, when i go back to the store, i'm going to buy it anyway and just upgrade the parts that i dont like, which in this case, is the VGA. I'm already content with their offer of Intel Core 2 duo and the 2gb of ram. I'll just need to find a good deal with the OS and the LCD screen.
     
    damanali, Mar 12, 2009
    #18
  19. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    I'd upgrade the hard disk as well, got for at least twice what is in there, and if you can choose what power supply they put in you want a 500W (W =Watt) minimum rating, from one of the following brands: Antec, OCZ, SeaSonic, CoolerMaster, Corsair
     
    Loonylion, Mar 12, 2009
    #19
  20. damanali

    damanali Well-Known Member

    are those brands power hog? and i didnt know you can change the power supply lol, here in our country you just plug it in a 220 outlet and there you go. and 110 if its made outside the country... damned i didnt took computer science or Information Technology in college. I should at least take a vocational course on comps or something.
     
    damanali, Mar 12, 2009
    #20
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