Whats the best system you can build for under 500 dollars [Archive]

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-20-2005, 11:31 PM

I'm going off Newegg...

AMD 64 2800+ $114
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-491&depa=1

AOpen AK86-L Motherboard $65
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-137-042&depa=1

Kingmax 512 MB PC3200 $64.25
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-006&depa=1

NEC 3520 DVD Dual Layer Burner $62.50
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-040&depa=1

Seagate 80 GB Barracuda SATA Drive $72
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-040&depa=1

Antec 350W case $58
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-149&depa=1

Asus ATI Radeon 9200SE $48
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-506&depa=1

==============

That all totals out to $482, throw in another case fan to help cooling for $9.50
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-129-028&depa=0

Total is $491.

I'm assuming you've already got a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and XP floating around.

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-20-2005, 11:36 PM

And I know it'd push you over $500, but I'd throw in a CD-ROM drive also, those run about $15, or $25 for a DVD-ROM (even better).

MannyIsGod

01-21-2005, 12:38 AM

Very fucking nice.

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-21-2005, 12:57 AM

And that'll be a $100 consulting fee by the way ;)

baseline bum

01-21-2005, 01:18 AM

That's just sick to have that kind of system for $500. BTW, Newegg is by far the best online dealer I've ever found. The prices are usually very good and the service is top-notch.

2 things
- that CPU is OEM, so you gotta get a heatsink too
- I'm not so sure about AOpen boards. I'd probably spend an extra few bucks to get one made by Abit or Asus who have consistently made incredible motherboards for years (those are the only 2 companies I ever buy a motherboard from) with amazing BIOS best of all no jumpers.

Nbadan

01-21-2005, 02:01 AM

with amazing BIOS best of all no jumpers.

No Jumpers is for pussies. :lol

I think it's a mistake not to switch over to a PCI Express if you can afford it, but the video card, MB and 775 Pentuim w/fan will cost around $350 or more leaving little for good RAM, a decent inexpensive Sound Blaster, and a double-layer DVD writer. Probably closer to $600 but at least you'd be moving forward instead of backwards.

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-21-2005, 02:09 AM

Yeah, the AOpen gets good reviews, but I'd go with a Gigabit board, or one of the aforementioned Asus or Abit boards (I was trying to come in under price point).

PCI-Express ain't worth it right now. There's scant few boards, and the cost isn't justified unless you're running out to play Doom 3.

Good catch on the processor fan and heat sink, damn had to ruin my fun bum :lol

As long as the board's got 5.1 channel audio, you're fine.

I admit I had to skimp a little on the mobo, but I was doing my damndest to come in under $500.

whottt

01-21-2005, 02:10 AM

whottt

01-21-2005, 02:15 AM

BTW, AHF, how about a real test...what kind of new laptop can you get for under $500?

Getting wallet ready and :smokin

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-21-2005, 02:19 AM

Under $500 laptop? Head down to the south side, it's probably hot though ;) You should asked at Thanksgiving, Best Buy had a Toshiba for $499.

The dual layer drives are great. I just built a new AMD 64 system (liiiiiittle bit faster than the one above) with the NEC burner in it and it kicks ass (for comparison's sake it encodes and burns a DVD in 40 minutes, versus 2.5 hours on my 2 GHz Toshiba laptop).

I haven't even touched dual layer media, it does great on the single layers, and you can do compression with DVD Shrink to fit anything onto one DVD (outside of that LOTR Extended Edition, forget it!).

MannyIsGod

01-21-2005, 02:34 AM

The most intensive program used on this computer will be Access.

Not gonna worry much about the power, but I wanted to give my mom the best bang ofr her buck.

I used to be more into building systems, but I've gotten way out of the loop.

Thanks for the help.

Nbadan

01-21-2005, 02:43 AM

PCI-Express ain't worth it right now. There's scant few boards, and the cost isn't justified unless you're running out to play Doom 3.

Total cost is just about $100 more than the basic system you designed, but you get comparable performance of a $200-$300 8XAGP GForce or Radeon video card. Besides, Radeon is gonna convert all its newer cards to PCI Express. You know motherboard makers aren't gonna be far behind.

baseline bum

01-21-2005, 03:09 AM

I would figure you wouldn't be down with Radeon considering how horrible ATI's Linux support is. They still write their freaking drivers for XFree86 even though most distros have switched to XOrg months ago.

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-21-2005, 03:10 AM

For starters, Manny said he doesn't need to do anything more than Access. So why are you even still going about PCI-Express?

And even if it were relevant, it's not even anywhere near just a $100 difference, not even close.

For starters, there are no AMD PCI-Express mother boards out there, you've got to have something with an Intel 915 chipset on board, which basically means you're staring at a Pentium 4. So you've already added on well over $100 in cost for a damn processor and motherboard, just for the *privilege* of buying an expensive ass video card that does Manny's mom no good. But to play devil's advocate...

There's only two decent PCI-Express cards out there, the GeForce 6800 GT (over $400 and usually out of stock anywhere that would have it - it even goes higher than manufacturer's suggested list on eBay!) and the ATI X800 (good luck finding one anywhere, it's basically the vid card everyone's heard of but no one's ever seen).

You're looking upwards of $1000 for a PCI-Express capable system, and for what? Go check out Tom's Hardware, anything over x4 on the PCI-Express is essentially useless in modern day computing, and will be for some time.

Combine all that, spending more jack just for a vid card you're not using, then throw in the fact that you won't even be able to throw Windows 64 on your pretty little PCI-Express system two years from now, and you've just dropped a grand for an already obsolete computer. Good call on that one Dan.

I do all this for a living right now, I'd like to think I know my stuff.

whottt

01-21-2005, 03:22 AM

LOL and for starters...from the date ATI starts making cards for PCI express, it'll be about 3 years before they actually have drivers that work worth a shit with those cards.

Never buy a 1st generation ATI card....ever.

All I buy are ATI AIW's...but I learned a hard and expensive lesson about buying 1st generation ATI's...

ATI has just now reached the point where their Radeon drivers actually work with AGP.

If dude is buying a PC for his mother and it's just to run business apps, the last thing he needs to be doing is fucking around with a bunch of 1st generation hardware.

whottt

01-21-2005, 03:29 AM

Aggie, you are right, my problem with dual layers has more to do with the disks than the drives themselves...I guess I'm just saying the dual layer format doesn't give me enough incentive to go out and buy a drive just to get the dual layer capabilities....all the new ones will probably have that capability though so I may as well start getting ready for it. I won't pay extra just to get that capability though.

I love DVD shrink, it comes with a bunch of my favorite editing software...like DVD Copy or Clone(otherwise known around my house as, "rent it once, own it forever" :smokin)

I'mn bummed I missed out on that Toshiba. The laptop I have right now is an old Toshiba and it has been just about the most durable computer I have ever owned. It's 4 years old and I have never had to do a single repair on it...

whottt

01-21-2005, 03:37 AM

Manny I have some questions for you...

1.Does your Mama want a new monitor?
2.Is anyone going to be doing any heavy audio and video work on this PC?
3.Does she already own a copy of WinXP?

I just got done building my mom a New PC...and if your Mom is like mine, $500 spent entirely on the computer and interntal hardware is probably more PC than she needs...

And the monitor is probably important to her...

My advice is don't worry about getting any high end audio or video...a good MB with onboard will work for her purposes...and that way you can spend some of that money getting her either a small LCD monitor or a very large CRT monitor.

In the past, I've always spent a lot of time and effort and $ setting up my Mom's PC for audio and video and she never uses that stuff...ever.

What ever you do, get her an Antec Power Supply and lots of memory.

Nbadan

01-21-2005, 04:05 AM

You're looking upwards of $1000 for a PCI-Express capable system, and for what? Go check out Tom's Hardware, anything over x4 on the PCI-Express is essentially useless in modern day computing, and will be for some time.

Combine all that, spending more jack just for a vid card you're not using, then throw in the fact that you won't even be able to throw Windows 64 on your pretty little PCI-Express system two years from now, and you've just dropped a grand for an already obsolete computer. Good call on that one Dan.

I build a PCI Express compatible computer for about $600 so I know it can be done. You don't necessarily have to buy a top-of-the-line PCI Express video card to surpass the video quality you would get from a 256k 8xAGP system. There are quality cards available for less than $135 that will do the job. It's best to stay with Intel MB since intel makes the only BIOs that works with the 775 Pentium chips. Total costs would be about $450 for the video card, MB, and chip delivered. Throw in a $55 512mb PC 2700, a used $20 soundblaster, a $25 52xCD rewriter, a $30 case w/ power supply, a $15 fan w/heatsink, and a $75 WD 8mg, SATA 120GB HD. A bit pricer, but infinitely superior.

Nbadan

01-21-2005, 04:12 AM

If dude is buying a PC for his mother and it's just to run business apps, the last thing he needs to be doing is fucking around with a bunch of 1st generation hardware.

Actually, I've built quite a few PCI Express systems and they are very stable. Intel boards are notorious for their stability if not for anything else, but your right it's more of a gamers machine than a 'starter' machine. However, I thought the objective was to build the best system for the money, not design the 'best basic system' for the money.

Shelly

01-21-2005, 09:05 AM

see what kind of deals Frye's is offering.

We don't have Frye's here. We used to go to the one in the Bay area all the time. That place cracked me up because it was the only computer store I've ever been in where you could by food and shampoo and other crazy stuff like that. I think there were some Moose heads on the walls also.

Toshiba laptops are great. Toshiba desktops are shit. My dad had two of them and they gave him nothing but trouble.

Samurai Jane

01-21-2005, 10:14 AM

We don't have Frye's here. We used to go to the one in the Bay area all the time. That place cracked me up because it was the only computer store I've ever been in where you could by food and shampoo and other crazy stuff like that. I think there were some Moose heads on the walls also.

Toshiba laptops are great. Toshiba desktops are shit. My dad had two of them and they gave him nothing but trouble.

There's one in Houston.. my in-laws took me there one time.. cool store.

This is Off Topic, but I didn't want to start a new thread..

Any of you programmers know anything about Managed C or MFC? If so, know where I can get it?

Useruser666

01-21-2005, 10:24 AM

The one below is $655. It has Win XP HE and 3 year warranty 1 year onsite. It has a mouse, keyboard, and speakers. It will ship out the same day as you order it and shipping is included in $655.

It only has 256 mb of ram, but you can easily and cheaply pick up more memory at Best Buy. The warranty makes this system better as a gift than build it yourself systems. If one you builds breaks, guess who is customer service?

I have bought several systems from this place and they are all still running great.

www.cyberpowerinc.com

AMD SPECIAL EXPRESS EDITION - NO MONITOR
# 2ND_USB: Build-in USB 2.0 Ports
# CAS: TURBO X-INFINITY Case 420W W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display (BLACK COLOR)
# CASUPGRADE: NONE
# CPU: AMD Sempron 2800+ Processor [+655]
# CDRW: (Special Price) Samsung TS-H522B 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
# FAN: INTEL CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
# FLOPPY: (BLACK) 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
# HDD: 80GB 7200 RPM ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
# KEYBOARD: PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD (BLACK COLOR)
# MOUSE: PS2 INTERNET MOUSE W/ WHEEL (BLACK COLOR)
# MODEM: PCI 56K V.92 FAX MODEM W/ VOICE
# MSGAME1: NONE
# MSGAME2: NONE
# MSGAME3: NONE
# MONITOR: NONE
# MOTHERBOARD: Abit NF7 nForce2 ULTRA Chipset 400 FSB AGP 8X w/ LAN, USB2.0, & Audio
# MEMORY: 256MB PC3200 DDR400 MEMORY
# NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
# OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 2
# PRINTER: None
# RUSH: *SAME DAY SHIP OUT GUARANTEE*
# SCANNER: NONE
# SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY PLUS ONE-YEAR ONSITE SERVICE
# SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
# SPEAKERS: 600WATT PMPO SUBWOOFER STEREO SPEAKERS
# UPS: None
# VIDEO: ATI RADEON 9250 8X AGP 128MB DDR W/ CRT & TV-OUT
# _PRICE: (+655)

MannyIsGod

01-21-2005, 10:38 AM

I have a copy of XP that I'm not using, so she can use that. The high end video and audio don't matter, but at some point this system will probably get handed off to one of my sisters going off to school.

Anyhow, the system AHF built will work pretty kick ass. I have a few old 40x cd roms lying around that I can throw in there, and I'm not paying for an OS that I already have.

It'll be good to actually build a computer either way, I havne't done it in years.

whottt

01-21-2005, 11:46 AM

Yeah Aggie built came up with a nice system there, I'd only do it differently if she wanted a new monitor, or if you needed to get XP.

And the reason I mentioned that is that they have 15 in LCD monitors on sale at Fry's for 179$.

Slomo

01-21-2005, 11:48 AM

I'm not sold on the double layer DVD drives yet...I've only had limited experience with double layer disks(renting movies that are double layer) but in my experience once side is invariably fucked up and has to be cleaned. Those new sleeves they have come out with may solve that problem though. I got a thing for Plextor drives..but then I'm always having to burn or rip CD+G's for my girlfriend.

That is a good system you picked out there AHF.

I'd definitely give NewEgg a browse but I'd also check the weekend paper and see what kind of deals Frye's is offering...they always seem to have 1 or 2 sweet deals on hardrives, MB's, CPU's, or memory.
Whottt,

I believe you are confusing dual layer DVDs with dual side DVDs. Almost all movie DVDs are dual layered while few dual side still exist. Whenever you copy a DVD to a single layer DVD you do increase the compression by so much that you'll see all sorts of artifacts in the picture (specially on a large TV). Dual layer DVD allow you to clone a movie DVD and lose nothing of the quality - the main problem at this point is that the dual layer media is still quite expensive.

whottt

01-21-2005, 11:48 AM

We don't have Frye's here. .

No Fry's in SA? That sucks. They really do get some insanely good deals sometimes...especially on hard drives and MB chipset combos.

whottt

01-21-2005, 11:51 AM

Whottt,

I believe you are confusing dual layer DVDs with dual side DVDs. Almost all movie DVDs are dual layered while few dual side still exist. Whenever you copy a DVD to a single layer DVD you do increase the compression by so much that you'll see all sorts of artifacts in the picture (specially on a large TV). Dual layer DVD allow you to clone a movie DVD and lose nothing of the quality - the main problem at this point is that the dual layer media is still quite expensive.

Dual Layer is like D9 right?

Yeah I am talking mainly about the double sided DVD's...and IMO they are becoming more popular, at least here....I get a lot of them when I rent movies now..and I think they suck. I always get at least 1 error on one side of a double sided DVD when I am ripping it..then I have to clean it etc...sucks.

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-21-2005, 11:54 AM

Total costs would be about $450 for the video card, MB, and chip delivered. Throw in a $55 512mb PC 2700, a used $20 soundblaster, a $25 52xCD rewriter, a $30 case w/ power supply, a $15 fan w/heatsink, and a $75 WD 8mg, SATA 120GB HD. A bit pricer, but infinitely superior.

Infinitely superior? In what way? The AMD 64 is waxing the P4 on any and all applications. About the only thing you got going for that system is a PCI-Express vid card, and like I said, unless you're playing Doom 3, Far Cry, or Half Life 2, it's not necessary, and the benefit doesn't come close to matching the cost.

And further, I mentioned the only two worth while quality PCi-Express cards, which both are running ballpark $400.

Onboard audio is fine, 99% of all users are just listening to music (if they are at all) in stereo.

Manny asked for the best system for $500, you're already at $500 just on the mobo, processor, and "quality" vid card in your PCI-Expressway to Obsolete.

And for my money, there is not a better power supply out there than Antec, and there's no way in hell you're getting a quality power supply for $30.

And finally, you are rambling on about ATI making all their cards PCI-Express 3-4 years out. The system you've built doesn't even have the capability to go 64 bit with the new Windows OS. But I guess you can say you've got a POS first generation PCI-Express card from 2005 three years down the road to throw into the new system you'd be building to even be capable of going 64 bit (not to mention another $500).

Manny if you've got the old CD-ROM drive laying around, throw that in there and be good, let me know if you got any more Qs.

Useruser666

01-21-2005, 11:54 AM

Dual Layer is like D9 right?

Yeah I am talking mainly about the double sided DVD's...and IMO they are becoming more popular, at least here....I get a lot of them when I rent movies now..and I think they suck.

They should be more resistant to damage than single sided. The reason being is the label side of a cd or dvd is the side that contains the data. The slear side is just the plastic medium. The clear side can be "polished" or cleaned repeatedly with special chemicals. If the label side is scratched it's all over. That's why on writable media it always says to use soft tip markers to write on them.

Aggie Hoopsfan

01-21-2005, 11:56 AM

Whenever you copy a DVD to a single layer DVD you do increase the compression by so much that you'll see all sorts of artifacts in the picture (specially on a large TV)

I use Shrink, and at times have compressed movies up to 50%, and don't see the artifiacting. The other thing you can do with something like Shrink is take out all the extras, other languages, menus, etc. and it significantly decreases the compression of your movies.

Slomo

01-21-2005, 12:11 PM

Dual Layer is like D9 right?

Yeah I am talking mainly about the double sided DVD's...and IMO they are becoming more popular, at least here....I get a lot of them when I rent movies now..and I think they suck. I always get at least 1 error on one side of a double sided DVD when I am ripping it..then I have to clean it etc...sucks.
Yes dual layer=D9

Funny about the dual side DVD, they are almost non existent over here. What's on the different sides? Is it like you have the 4:3 version of the film on one side and the 16:9 version on the other or is it like half the movie on one side and the other half on the other?

What do you use for cleaning? I have SkipDoctor (SkipDR) which repairs pretty damaged discs.

Slomo

01-21-2005, 12:22 PM

I use Shrink, and at times have compressed movies up to 50%, and don't see the artifiacting. The other thing you can do with something like Shrink is take out all the extras, other languages, menus, etc. and it significantly decreases the compression of your movies.
The funny thing with MPEG artefact is that the larger the screen the more evident they are. Compression artefacts are actually present on original DVDs and when you increase the compression rate you're just adding some more. The way that MPEG works is that it "throws away" details in the picture where you are less likely to notice them (this is a very simplified explanation). So as the screen size increase the artefacts become more and more noticeable. Try it you'll see. On a 50" screen you can't miss them.

A German PPV satellite company went bust because they tested their transmissions on high quality 20" broadcast monitors. But people were asking for their money back because on normal size TVs (29" and bigger) the picture was pretty bad. When they realized their mistake there was no more transponders available on the satelites for them to provide the promissed channels at a good quality - so they went belly up....

Slomo

01-21-2005, 12:24 PM

whottt

01-21-2005, 12:24 PM

They should be more resistant to damage than single sided. The reason being is the label side of a cd or dvd is the side that contains the data. The slear side is just the plastic medium. The clear side can be "polished" or cleaned repeatedly with special chemicals. If the label side is scratched it's all over. That's why on writable media it always says to use soft tip markers to write on them.

Disagree, they are more likely to be damaged, a scratch on either side of the DVD will screw up the reflective capabilities of one side of it, and the label protects the data side...a lot of times you can scratch the top of the DVD just by not putting it in the drive correctly.

IMO they are infinitely more prone to being scratched, every one of them I have rented has been scratched on one side or the other.

whottt

01-21-2005, 12:36 PM

Yes dual layer=D9

Funny about the dual side DVD, they are almost non existent over here.

Well they were almost non-existent over here as well...they were actually one of the early formats for DVD that kind of got outdated, but IMO, they seem to have made a big come back lately, about half the DVD's I rent or buy these days seem to be the dual sided, and they have come up with DVD drives, I believe that can burn or play both sides without turning the disk over...

What's on the different sides? Is it like you have the 4:3 version of the film on one side and the 16:9 version on the other or is it like half the movie on one side and the other half on the other?

I haven't seen any dual sided with the movie split on both sides...what I usually see is the 4:3 on one side and the 16:9 on the other...or else just special features on one side and the movie on the other....

These might actually be D18's though since they usually have two versions of the movie as well as special features...that might be why the D10's seem like they are making a come back...

Anyway, my problems with the dual sided DVD's will probably be short lived since they now have sleeves that you can keep on the DVD while you play it...TDK also has a new polymer that is supposed to make DVD's indestructible, and I think I read something about a company making a breakthrough to where you can now put print on both sides of a DVD...

All that is neither here nor there at this point though...my issue is dual sided DVD's that I currently rent that are always scratched on one side or the other, making it impossible for me to steal them properly.

Since the ones I get that are scratched are usually rentals..I use a soft cloth to clean them and if they are deeply scratched I just blow off trying to rip it.

Useruser666

01-21-2005, 01:31 PM

Disagree, they are more likely to be damaged, a scratch on either side of the DVD will screw up the reflective capabilities of one side of it, and the label protects the data side...a lot of times you can scratch the top of the DVD just by not putting it in the drive correctly.

IMO they are infinitely more prone to being scratched, every one of them I have rented has been scratched on one side or the other.

You missed my point. The shiny side can be fixed or cleaned multiple times without real damage. If you scratch the label side, there is no fix, since you essentially scratch off the data.

baseline bum

01-21-2005, 03:34 PM

Any of you programmers know anything about Managed C or MFC? If so, know where I can get it?

Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) is a set of wrapper classes around the Win32 API to give an object-oriented interface to Windows. It basically allows you to program Windows apps in a style similar to how one writes programs in Java. It takes care of a lot of low-level things and keeps you from having to explicitly make function calls with like 12 parameters at a time and such like you would do in the Win32 API. Also, if you don't like using pointers you'll hate the Win32 API because everything is done through pointers and pointers to pointers.

Basically, Win32API is a C interface to Windows while MFC is a C++ interface. You hae more control with the Win32API, but your programs are better structured and development time is usually shorter if you have a good knowledge of MFC.

The MFC headers and libraries come standard with the Visual C++ compiler. You can actually download the compiler for free from Microsoft's website, but you'll have to pay the $1,000+ for the package if you want the text editor, debugger, and the ability to compile and link with the touch of a button instead of using makefiles and command-line processing.

I can't say much about MFC, because I always use the C-based API whenever I develop software for Windows (too lazy to learn MFC and I'm scared it will negatively affect performance, since all I like to write in Windows is games... always have to #define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN ). :spin

Samurai Jane

01-21-2005, 03:44 PM

Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) is a set of wrapper classes around the Win32 API to give an object-oriented interface to Windows. It basically allows you to program Windows apps in a style similar to how one writes programs in Java. It takes care of a lot of low-level things and keeps you from having to explicitly make function calls with like 12 parameters at a time and such like you would do in the Win32 API. Also, if you don't like using pointers you'll hate the Win32 API because everything is done through pointers and pointers to pointers.

Basically, Win32API is a C interface to Windows while MFC is a C++ interface. You hae more control with the Win32API, but your programs are better structured and development time is usually shorter if you have a good knowledge of MFC.

The MFC headers and libraries come standard with the Visual C++ compiler. You can actually download the compiler for free from Microsoft's website, but you'll have to pay the $1,000+ for the package if you want the text editor, debugger, and the ability to compile and link with the touch of a button instead of using makefiles and command-line processing.

I can't say much about MFC, because I always use the C-based API whenever I develop software for Windows (too lazy to learn MFC and I'm scared it will negatively affect performance, since all I like to write in Windows is games... always have to #define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN ). :spin

Apparently I'm going to have to do some programming with one of these 2 and I'm not familiar with either one. The C++ compiler I used in the past was from Borland and UTSA apparently doesn't support it. I was reading somewhere that these 2 are associated with .Net so I was hoping to get a relatively inexpensive software package so that I could do my programming from home instead of spending all my time in the school labs.

Samurai Jane

01-21-2005, 03:44 PM

By the way, thanks for the info!

ChumpDumper

01-21-2005, 03:50 PM

I take perverse pleasure in just buying components on sale at Fry's piece by piece over a few months until I have enough to build a system, then tell everyone how cheap I got it.

baseline bum

01-21-2005, 04:00 PM

You can download Visual C++ off KazaaLite and it should come with MFC. I thought maybe it was something for work, so stolen software would put the company at risk. I think I have an MFC textbook somewhere in either PDF or Windows help-style precompiled HTML format somewhere if you want a copy of it.

baseline bum

01-21-2005, 04:08 PM

The warranty makes this system better as a gift than build it yourself systems. If one you builds breaks, guess who is customer service?

I disagree. You pay out the ass for warranty from an OEM vendor when you basically get it for free on every part you buy that's not OEM when you build your own system. The last system I built has a 3-year warranty on every singe major part (CPU/ MB / GPU / RAM / HD / CDRW / SOUND / ETC).

For tech support I've found nothing better than the forum at amdmb.com. No waiting on hold or any crap like that, and the community is really commited to helping AMD users fix their problems and do it quickly.

Kori Ellis

01-21-2005, 04:11 PM

Damn we have a bunch of computer geeks on this forum.

:nerd :nerd :nerd

Just kidding.

timvp

01-21-2005, 04:12 PM

Sincerely,

The lady who has four computers within three feet from her.

Literally.

:)

Slomo

01-21-2005, 04:16 PM

^^^ :lmao

busted!!!

and please don't insult me I'm not a computer geek, I'm a video geek :p :nerd

Samurai Jane

01-21-2005, 04:34 PM

I don't know if I qualify as a computer geek.. I don't build them, I only have 2 systems and I don't do programming for fun... although I did sign up for this Graphics class thinking it sounded like fun, so maybe I'm headed down that road.. :spin

SpursWoman

01-21-2005, 04:53 PM

I know how to turn mine on..... :)

Useruser666

01-21-2005, 04:55 PM

I disagree. You pay out the ass for warranty from an OEM vendor when you basically get it for free on every part you buy that's not OEM when you build your own system. The last system I built has a 3-year warranty on every singe major part (CPU/ MB / GPU / RAM / HD / CDRW / SOUND / ETC).

For tech support I've found nothing better than the forum at amdmb.com. No waiting on hold or any crap like that, and the community is really commited to helping AMD users fix their problems and do it quickly.

I have had nothing but succes with Cyberpower. The warranty is for 3 years with 1 year onsite. Since Manny is giving the system as a gift to someone who may not be very computer literate, having the ablitity to call someone and have them come out and fix the problem is a definite bonus. Nothing against Manny, but he may not always be availible to come fix it if something goes wrong. Also the warranty is from a single source, instead of coming from individual vendors.

The prices of the warrenties fromCyberpower can't be too expensive since the price for the system I gave is close to the others listed here and that price includes all shipping and a copy of Windows XP.

I usually get a system that consists of only the basic components for the best value. I then add to it by purchasing new parts as they come out and swapping other parts in that I have lying around. It's been pretty economical so far.