Build new pc?

[Guest]

Hello to all;
I've just stumbled across this web site/forum site, and was wondering if anyone could offer any help...
I've got a pentium I 90 mhz with 32mb ram and it's reaching the end of it's life, or rather, my willingness to put up with it. I'd like to build a new pc, primarily to save some $$$ as money is tight. I would have about $700-800 to spend on a case, motherboard, video card, hard drive, cd and cd-rw drive, etc. etc., but don't know where to start. I used to roll up my sleeves and tinker with 286's to my current pentium I, but with all the changes recently (usb ports, etc) I'm a bit hesitant to just jump in.

Can anyone give their suggestions for a "shopping list" that would fill the need? I think I would be able to figure out cables, etc, but need some guidance on the hardware issues within my budget..... The pc would be used for web surfing, games with the kids, and as a dual boot linux system...
Thanks to all in advance........
Eric.

 

[Guest]

Well to start, I would get your tower and mobo first and work your way threw the check list of parts. Oh and also if your lookin to save some money, buy a AMD cpu. You will save money and at the same time get a faster and better cpu for the price. As for what else to get, well I'm sure you know that the skies the limit when it comes to the rest of the parts for your pc. At least building it your self, you will know what your pc is made off, and have pride in your work.... Goood luck

<font color=red> BgKahuna </font color=red>
<font color=blue> AMD Blue is the bad ass CPU </font color=blue>

 

[ckbumps]

there are many good sites with info on pc hardware
http://www.apushardware.com/?action=
http://www.amdzone.com/
http://www.gotapex.com/
http://www1.anandtech.com/index.html
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/
http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com/index.shtml
check out the reviews and articles and get and idea of what you want to build, do your homework and you'll end up wit a nice machine
good luck



$If Money Is The Root Of All Evil Than I Must Be Goin To Heaven$

 

[Crashman]

I have seen factory refurbished Dell PII 350's go for under $400 on the net if money is REALLY tight!

Suicide is painless...........

 

[dhlucke]

Since you've been putting up with a P90 I'll assume you don't need a high performance computer. Thus we can elliminate a P4 or the T-bird and go straight to a AMD Duron processor which is ultra affordable. Then decide if you want premium sound and video or if you can settle for a motherboard with onboard video and sound. I've been trying to find a motherboard with both of those and haven't decided yet, but they do exist for the Duron. Memory is very cheap, and you should be fine with 128 MB of PC133. Get yourself a good heatsink/fan for the processor since AMD's give off a good amount of heat. Get a case with a 230-300W power supply, and you'll probably want to get a new cd-rom drive since yours is proably 1x or 2x. You might as well get a new monitor too since yours probably has an extremely short life left and/or it's resolution and dot pitch are bad for your eyes.

Then ask yourself what you want. Do you want a cd-rw or dvd-rom?

"I think I brained my damage"

 

[Crashman]

Personally I don't even SELL P90's let alone use one. But for the price of the Motherboard, hard drive, and a Duron processor, he can get a complete system that is half the speed but requires no additional parts or assembley.

Suicide is painless...........

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Dang Crashman. Talk about overpaying. Over half a year ago I found a brand new Celeron 500 system (without monitor though) on clearance for $350 from Egghead. Since it was to replace my once dead P1-133, I just used it's 17 inch monitor.

My suggestion for you plumley is just go with a cheap OEM system. If the last system that you were used to was a P1-90, then just getting a Celeron system will be a huge performance improvement.

Egghead has some good clearance sales. But usually you can find something better from small OEMs. Still, if you want it here's a link to Egghead's clearance stuff. Just make sure that any system that you get has an operating system, preferably Win98. (It'd probably be best to avoid WinNT for your needs.) Most won't have monitors, so you'll probably have to buy one of those as well if you can't use the one from your old system.

http://www.egghead.com/category/Desktop_SD~2~1.htm

So my suggestion is surf around and find a good sale.

- Sanity is purely based on point-of-view.

 

[Guest]

Here's something I just put together on MWave (www.mwave.com)

This is a pretty kick-ass system for $600! Guarenteed to blow the doors off any Celerons out there!

I assumed here that you'll be re-using your monitor. If you need a new monitor also, drop the Duron down to a 650 or 700 (and overclock back up to 750-800 if you like), and pick up one of the integrated chipsets (Via KM133). This MB has integrated audio which should be pretty good, but integrated video really suck wrt a 3b MB AGP card. You could drop down to a 5400 RPM drive also to save about $20-$30, but again, that's a pretty big performance hit for the money.

I wouldn't go with less the 128 MB ram, and for about $40 you could bump this up to 256MB!

To shave a few more dollars, watch the flyers in your sunday paper. CompUSA & Bestbuy often run specials that will knock $20+ off of CDROM & CDRW prices. Sometimes on hard drives & memory also.
Good luck!
Eric

SKU Qty. Item Unit Price Ext. Price

A07068 CREATIVE LABS CDRW 8432 32X-READ/8X-RECORD/4X-REWRITE 2MB EIDE INT REWRITABLE W/SW (Brown box) Detail Specs $112.00 $112.00

A00803 AOPEN CD950E 50X EIDE INTERNAL CDROM Detail Specs $34.00 $34.00

B072-1-5 AOPEN MK33 Motherboard Specs
INWIN V500 TOWER CASECase Specs
1.44MB FDD/AC97 AUDIO
LIFETIME WARRANTY SDRAM (16X64(PC100) 128MB; AMD DURON 800) $273.00 $273.00

A10205 MAXTOR 20.GB 5T020H2 EIDE ULTRA-ATA/100 8.7MS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER (Bare drive w/3-yr warranty)* $112.00 $112.00

A12855 SHUTTLE GEFORCE2 MX 32MB AGP SDR #GF32 Detail Specs $82.00 $82.00

Sub Total $613.00

 

[Guest]

CHECK OUT PRICEWATCH.COM FOR PRICES YOU CANT LOSE WITH THEM JUST DONT BUY FROM A SITE THAT LOOKS SHABBY...GOOD LUCK!!

:hat