42

The average small systems builder will deliver an assembled PC for
virtually the same price as they will sell you the component parts in boxes.

There are also still many pitfalls to actually assembling them. CPU
heatsinks can be intimidating... connecting the motherboard to the case
can often be trying, connecting firewire and usb headers if the wires
are all seperate can be a pain, BIOS configuration is also
intimidating... its not making tomato soup yet.

And while you are correct, that actually building pc's these day's is
comparative cake, selecting good components in the first place requires
for more knowledge than you give credit for.

Again a reputable small systems builder won't deliver a PC with the
wrong RAM type, mismatch the CPU and motherboard socket, forget the SATA
power adapters, or select a TNT2 because it says Xtreme 3D Gamer on it etc.

hughes

Compaq has a very nasty history of using proprietary technology . I.E. parts
that cannot be upgraded or replaced at fair market value. This means in
effect that it is economically inadvisable to ever fix or upgrade a compaq
machine. Since most people dont know how to fix or upgrade a machine in the
first place, and tend to buy completely new computers every few years this
is not nearly the problem it used to be.

Dell used to be the gold standard for reliable technology and customer
friendly service (second place going to IBM ) They have engaged in a
proactive market share war for the last couple of years . Customer service
is not nearly what it used to be and there parts are no longer completely
reliable.

I hope you get good value for what you paid but I would have never bought
either one Did your dvdr come with a nice movie copying software bundled?

rumbledor

Hmm. Processor speed? 2.66GHz seems like plenty to me. I run pretty well
with a P4 1.8MHz processor with GF3/64 and 512MB RAM. If I were to
upgrade anything on mine it would be RAM (to 1GB) and a new video card
in that order.

--
Rumble

May the presence of d00dism in your life be
inversely proportionate to your karmic value.

rumbledor

As far as expense goes, you can buy one a good bit cheaper than you could
build a marginally better one these days. If you're not a techie into the
hardware, buy a full system.

--
Rumble

May the presence of d00dism in your life be
inversely proportionate to your karmic value.

graeme faelban

It should work reasonably well.


More memory, better video card.

Very happy with my broadband and router. I use a Netgear RT314 router,
connected via Ethernet to my wireless broadband radio. Make sure that
the DSL modem connects via Ethernet to your router rather than being a
plug in card in your PC. --
On Erollisi Marr in <Sanctuary of Marr>
Elder Graeme Faelban, Barbarian Prophet of 65 seasons
Tainniel Fleabane, Halfling Warrior of 31 seasons
Giluven, Wood Elf Druid of 26 seasons
Graeniel, High Elf Enchanter of 25 seasons

stormguide

Agreed, there are too many headaches in building your own system. With
so many component makers trying to out-do one another, you run into so
many little incompatibilities between components. If you DO want to
have the satisfaction of building your own system - do TONS of
research first.

Buying a prebuilt system from a decent manufacturer is so much easier.
Getting support from one source as opposed to many is alot less
painful. You wont get the run around with the different manufacturers
pointing fingers at each other (well in theory).

paul botts

I've done this twice, once about a decade ago and once a couple of years
ago. It's absolutely doable, don't need any special knowledge or tools
anymore really, and it is sort of interesting to do at least once. I will,
however, never do it again. It stopped making any financial sense years ago,
and is pretty silly from a warranty/service point of view too. The only
value I'd see it in now is the learning curve that then leaves you able to
replace individual components of a PC as need be (upgrade a video card, swap
out a dead hard drive, etc.), that's a useful capability now and then.

jazz

Stick another 512 MB of RAM in that bad boy, and scrap the video card
for a 128 Mb model, and you'll be kicking. In fact, it will be almost
exactly what I built for playing Star Wars Galaxies, and EQ runs like
warm butter on it. I can keep the clipping plane out near max and dance
my way through the bazaar at peak playing times.
--
jaZZ

-"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity,and I'm
not sure about the former. "
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

faned

Not bad, but you won't be able to do "low level" tuning on a Compaq.
Considering most people don't bother doing that these days, it's probably not an issue.

Another 512 memory. It's cheap, get it for under $100 probably. You'll
have to make sure of whether you have an open memory slot, though, as a lot
of pre-built machines take the cheapest route and use two 256 meg chips.
You *should* have another memory slot even if that's the case, but check to
be sure.

Another cheap option would be a second hard drive. But that may not be much
use to you if you aren't into mp3s, movies, lots of games, etc.

The most expensive option would be a top end video card. Or, rather, the
next-to-top video card (*top* video card is always dramatically overpriced).
I like the Nvidia 5900, which is running about $250 retail storefront price,
and can probably be gotten for less during a Christmas sale.

The ram will provide the most improvement, and by far the most improvement
per dollar. The MX420 video card is fine for running EQ, but the higher end
ones let you turn on more bells and whistles.


Not really. Make sure you have at least a rudimentary firewall setup if you
are direct-connecting to the internet.

clydefrog

<snip>

Dear God, why do GeForce 4 MMX's even exist? They're not even real
GF4's. Ignore what everyone says about the RAM being first priority,
GET RID OF THAT VIDEO CARD and get at LEAST a GeForce 4 Ti4200.
They're cheap these days, and good performance-wise. If you can afford
something better, great.