What to do for christmas?

[physco827]

Ok I got a good list of things to choose from here for the christmas time, which do you think will be better for me.

1st option
Get from parents a s939 4000+, new mobo, x1900gt(or x1950pro don't know about that yet), use my own memory and I don't have to pay anything. That would run about 360 for them bucks now and I would want to upgrade again before college.

2nd option
Get from parents a e6600 and possibly the mobo. I would buy 2gigs ddr2 800 and an ok gpu before the DX10 cards. They would be paying probably 450 bucks there and I would probably be paying 350 bucks afterwords for the 2gig of memory and the graphics card. This option when i go to college next year I will only have to upgrage the graphics card.

Which option do you think is best?
Any suggestions to them to make them better for the money?

 

[physco827]

any suggestions? at all?

 

[apt403]

option 2. more bang for the buck, although you would have to be insane to buy 2gb of ram for $350.

 

[skyguy]

Well, Option 1 is certainly the cheaper route, you get off easy with that. Those specs should handle any college work (Office, maybe some lab stuff) with ease....Option 2 would be overkill by quite a bit. If you're into gaming, then again Option 1 is cheaper. That vid card will do the trick for awhile, then you just need to upgrade the card when you go DX10. Those system specs will handle Vista fine.

Seeing as you're a poor college student, I'd opt for #1. Option 2 has more power, definitely. But in this case, it sounds like your overriding constraint is budget, not bang-for-the-buck. In this case, bang-for-the-buck will cost you a fair bit of money. Option 1 gets you a respectable system virtually for FREE. Then you can upgrade a vid card later for Christmas, a good report card, or whatever

When you're a student (and ESPECIALLY in college), you RUN for anything that's free, and it's a bonus if it's in good shape. Option 1 fits that bill for sure.

 

[physco827]

apt403 that 350 is for a new gpu in addition to the memory. And I want to game in college I know that either of those computers can handle college work but i want a good gaming machine to last me a while. But if i go with option 1 then i would have a cpu bottlenecking my system when i get an r600 when they come out. Another thing is option 3:

Get a gaming laptop when i go off to college and not upgrade my cpu at all now.

Anyone else have an opinion on which of the 3 options i should go with?

 

[bliq]

If the 'rents are paying for college, I just vote for fiscal reponsibility and go option 1. College ain't cheap.

If you've got a schoalrship or something though, then hey, if they're willing, go option 2. Just realize that when you get to college, there are a billion other things to spend money on than just a phat video card upgrade. Trust me, you don't want to waste your college years hunched onver a monitor getting 300 fps on counterstrike. I've worked with many antisocial trolls in my career that started that way...

 

[lordaardvark2]

If the 'rents are paying for college, I just vote for fiscal reponsibility and go option 1. College ain't cheap.

If you've got a schoalrship or something though, then hey, if they're willing, go option 2. Just realize that when you get to college, there are a billion other things to spend money on than just a phat video card upgrade. Trust me, you don't want to waste your college years hunched onver a monitor getting 300 fps on counterstrike. I've worked with many antisocial trolls in my career that started that way...

or if you aren't in college go for INSTANT GRATIFICATION!!!! :twisted: :twisted:

just kidding. c2d build (optn 2) seems more logical for future tweaking. if you are a college student, not living at home, then you could drop by and tweak it with new stoof from time to time. if you're residential and actually a college student like someone said (i totally missed the whole college part), why in the hell do your parents need that much power! 8O

i could build mine a pentium 1 and they'd love it :lol:


--------------------------------------------------
Edit:

woops. found the college part. yeah, lappies are like a godsend for college. if you can somehow work one of those out, either by not spending much on a desktop for your parents or buying a laptop for your parents and running away with it, i'd personally prefer that. the only problem is that for uber laptops you pay an uber price... you can't mix and match to build your own like you can with desktops (although i so wish you could). you may want to consider a laptop and restructure your options. they're a lil more mobile than deskies ( )

 

[skyguy]

LOL Bliq. True enough.

Kid, don't let college get in the way of your education Other than doing homework and labs and stuff, DON'T spend all your time gaming. Seriously. Chicks don't dig that, you will soon learn. And you will also learn that your world will change, and you won't have TIME for gaming in college. You'll be SWAMPED with work, and the precious time you have left will be divided between sleeping, friends, parties, Homecoming, football games, trying to meet non-crazy psycho babes, and a multitude of other distractions. You will be SHOCKED at how little time you have left for gaming, especially after 1st semester.


Get a laptop, and one with a decent vid card if you're lucky. It's so much more valuable at college than a desktop.

Lappy FTW!

 

[lordaardvark2]

LOL Bliq. True enough.

Kid, don't let college get in the way of your education Other than doing homework and labs and stuff, DON'T spend all your time gaming. Seriously. Chicks don't dig that, you will soon learn. And you will also learn that your world will change, and you won't have TIME for gaming in college. You'll be SWAMPED with work, and the precious time you have left will be divided between sleeping, friends, parties, Homecoming, football games, trying to meet non-crazy psycho babes, and a multitude of other distractions. You will be SHOCKED at how little time you have left for gaming, especially after 1st semester.


Get a laptop, and one with a decent vid card if you're lucky. It's so much more valuable at college than a desktop.

Lappy FTW!

yeah man. right on. i'm getting that at my new HIGHSCHOOL even 8O

but a laptop would be a better utility as it can be carried to classes and such. still not sure if you would be residential or w/e, but laptops sleigh the ladies, let me just tell you. you'll be swarmed like its some kind of Tag commercial.

kidding.

 

[reconviperone1]

go for option1 and hit them up next year, there are a lot of new things on the horizon, id ride out 2007 and get the best of whats new next year.

 

[physco827]

lmao bliq thats probably the funniest thing i have ever read.
I guess you guys are right. I will wait and keep my current system:

Intel Pentium 4 2.4ghz (no ht)
Abit SG-72
Kingston PC2700 1gb Dual Channel
eVGA 7800gs AGP

and then when college comes around I will see how much I still want to game and if I do I will probably go with a laptop.

Thanks for the insight, and any further insight from anyone please post i will still read and respond.

 

[skyguy]

Sounds like a very responsible move. By the time college rolls around, you'll have a much better idea of what you need (or don't) and what you want (or don't).

Do not underestimate the value of a good laptop during college. And do not also underestimate the allure of the female when in college either.....or beer......or frats......or sororities.....mmmmm......sororities.....but I digress


If I may offer one WISE piece of advice, learned the hard way by ME, when I LOST my year-end project: Buy an external backup drive. Seriously. Do it. Spend $60 and get one to backup your data/schoolwork at least once a week. Trust me, the professors won't care if your hard drive crapped out on you. And you'll be kicking yourself when you have a paper due and your computer is in the shop.

GET an external backup drive, and especially if you get a laptop. And get a decent USB jump drive too for cheap. You won't regret it...only takes one problem and you're screwed.

8)

 

[physco827]

I still don't really know what to do, because I still want to game the rest of this year and till I got to college, so would option 1 be best for that because then I will not be putting to much into it before college and then just get a gaming laptop. (Like an alienware!!!)

 

[skyguy]

Ok....accept the fact that you'll need a laptop for college. Ok, good. So then you need to ask yourself:

1) can you get a desktop from your parents for free, and will it last/be good enough for you until college?

2) can you get a laptop later for college, and can you afford it to be good enough also for gaming?


Answer those and you'll know what to do

 

[lordaardvark2]

Ok....accept the fact that you'll need a laptop for college. Ok, good. So then you need to ask yourself:

1) can you get a desktop from your parents for free, and will it last/be good enough for you until college?

2) can you get a laptop later for college, and can you afford it to be good enough also for gaming?


Answer those and you'll know what to do

its not like your current system's a slouch!

 

[crualtortus]

Since your parent would be paying 450 on option 2, why dont you just go with option 3. combine that 450 with the 350 you planned on spending, or maybe even save up some more and/or ask your parents if they will pay more if you pay them back (in time). and get a nice laptop from a cheaper company like cyber power. you dont need an alienware when you can get the same parts for like 500-1000 less from going with a diff company.

 

[sailer]

I still don't really know what to do, because I still want to game the rest of this year and till I got to college, so would option 1 be best for that because then I will not be putting to much into it before college and then just get a gaming laptop. (Like an alienware!!!)

Overall, moneywise, option #1 with the 939 seems the best to me. Though the cpus are getting scarce, you can still upgrade the graphics card to your heart's content, and realistically, that's where many gains in performance are made.

As far as an Alienware laptop goes, they are outragously expensive. Worse, upgrades are difficult. But its your money, not mine, so do what you like.