What does the future hold?

1. DELL... HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA *sorry*
2. Intel has announced a 200mhz FSB comming sometime early next year (800mhz effective)
3. Chipsets will continue to evolve. Sometime next year AMD will make the big jump to the K8 architecture, bringing with it big chipset changes. Intel has 200fsb, granite bay and a few other things planned.

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie   </b>

2 years. Not possible. Technology is changing too fast. maybe 12 months might be reasonable if you get AMD. But not possible for more than 6 months with intel at the moment. And stay away from dell compaq gateway all those first tier OEM`s. You will get ripped off from ALL of them and will recieve a substandard system for it. You are MUCH MUCH better off building your own or getting a friend to do it for you. Or even your local corner computer shop is better. But if you are alright getting into the guts of the computer then ask all of us here and we would be happy to walk you through it. And stay away from intel too. You will save a lot of money with an AMD chip it will be much faster for the same price and you will have better upgradability if you get a NForce2 mobo because intel is changing all their specifications in the next 6 months and something bought now will not be usable in a few months time. (Like 4-6) Where as AMD will still be upgradable a year or so from now because they should stil be producing barton athlons which will be compatable with current boards. Oh and BTW the current intel true bus speed 133Mhz. And just for general info the current AMD true bus speed it 166Mhz.
Regards
AREA_51

I'll have to agree with the opinions already posted. Your 2 year figure is a pipe dream - things are changing way too fast. Neither Intel nor AMD will be on the same CPU socket 2 years from now. However, there's a reasonable chance you could upgrade just the CPU & motherboard in 2 years. That would make your upgrade a bit more work, but only add maybe $100 to the overall cost. The added challenge is that DDRII is right around the corner, and will most likely be mainstream in 2 years, so you might find yourself upgrading your RAM too. Your best bet is to build a system with a good case with a good, high output power supply. If you buy a machine from any vendor (i.e. Dell, Compaq, etc) your chances of doing the upgrade you seek in 2 years is pretty much nill. Good luck.

I am not against building my own PC. But how does the cost truly compare to buying from a vendor like Dell? I wonder about the following:

1. Cost of Operating system like XP Pro.
2. Cost of MS office XP Pro
3. Cost of individual compenents.

Would I be able to just buy Upgrades for the software. I have Win98 now. Can I just buy the XP Pro upgrade?

Which merchants do you folks buy the parts from? Any web sites that detail building a machine? Thanks.

Nearly all the OEM`s only use the cheapest components possible so they can make as much money possible. Though I would be suprised if you couldnt do a cheaper better machine yourself if you do the proper research. Example the celery 1.7gig dell machines I know for a fact that they are making a 100% profit on them at the very least. I managed to make a machine using an athlon 1700+ for about half the price of a celery 1.7gig dell. And that dell was only a very very basic machine too with sdram and the athlon had deascent parts in it too with ddr. So home made is for sure the best path. And yes you would be able to just buy upgrades for win98. I dont live in the us but a lot of people recommend www.newegg.com as a suggestion for buying the stuff. Hope this helps.
AREA_51