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Posted: 8/30/2001 11:54:39 PM EDT
Well the old P166 is dying a slow death and I'm looking for something to replace it with. For the most part all I want is something to play games on and surf the web with. Don't need a excellent sound system but I'd like kick ass graphics.

Any recommendations or sugguestions on what to get without breaking the bank????
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 12:05:45 AM EDT
[#1]
I would look for an AMD athlon(at least 800mHz), dirt cheap right now, get 256mb 133mHz ram chip, get the best nvida video card you can afford. You could probably pick up a mother board with soundchip on board but I would spend a hundred bucks and get soundblaster 5.1
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 12:11:54 AM EDT
[#2]
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 3:56:59 AM EDT
[#3]
[url]http://www.suredeals.com/user/models.asp?line_id=2591[/url]
[url]http://www.pcinfinity.net/[/url]
[url]http://a102.g.akamai.net/f/102/3117/30m/www.overstock.com/sub132.html[/url]
[url]http://www.systemquote.com/[/url]
[url]http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/desktops.html[/url]
[url]http://www.fticomputer.com/cgis/newsystem.cgi?[/url]

Link Posted: 8/31/2001 11:14:12 AM EDT
[#4]
Quoted:
Check out www.pricewatch.com
Ai
View Quote


And once you've found some cheap prices there, check
[url]http://www.resellerratings.com/[/url]
to make sure the mail-order company is legit.

One caveat -- since the companies know about this site, they usually put in a few positive reviews of their own when they start.  Look for at least 20-30 reviews, and a score of at least 5 (the higher the better).
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 11:54:08 AM EDT
[#5]
The "current top dog" CPU is generally pricey, but the "2nd dog" is usually a real bargain.


[b]* get the fastest CPU you can afford[/b]
With the latest round of CPU price-cuts...An Athlon 1.4GHZ is only about $40 more than an Athlon 900MHz.  On top of that, the Athlon 1.4GHz is comparable to the 1.8GHz Pentium 4's (which are pricier).  While the CPU itself is easy to upgrade later, chances are, you'd need to upgrade the motherboard as well which is tough.

[b]* get the biggest hard drive you can afford[/b]
Just like CPU's, if you look at the prices of hard drives you'll find among the different sizes there are just a couple dollars difference in price until you reach a point where the prices jump up.  For example:
10GB - $79
20GB - $89
30GB - $109
40GB - $119
60GB - $189
The "sweet spot" is at the 40GB mark right now (it will change).  A 7200rpm drive is generally faster and a twin-drive RAID 0 setup is very fast...but I'd guess that most users don't notice and are happy with a 5400rpm drive.  Hard drives are also quite involved to "upgrade" so get the best you can now.

[b]* a ton of memory lets the system run full speed[/b]
A friend has an Athlon 800 with 128MB of memory.  It's pretty speedy.  Memory's so cheap these days, she bought another 256MB of memory making 384MB of memory. [i]It made a very noticable difference in speed![/i]  Unlike the CPU/motherboard or hard drive, memory is very easy to add later.

[b]* for gaming a specialized video card makes all the difference[/b]
The current "top dog" I'd say is the GeForce 3, but some real bargains are to be had with the GeForce 2 series.  Current games run great with 32MB of memory on the video card, but for games coming out this next year, you'll want a video card with 64MB of memory on it.  Video cards are easier to "upgrade later" if you needed to.

That's the basics, other things such as keyboard, mouse, etc. can be a personal preference.  And add-on peripherals such as digital camera, scanner, printer, etc. can also be handy.  Though I can't seem to live without my printer, scanner and CD-writer these days.

- Robbie

Link Posted: 8/31/2001 12:59:20 PM EDT
[#6]
Otay now I'm really confused[>:/] Went and checked out all the links and have been trying to figgure out what/where to get.

Any recommendations for places that guy's (and girl's) here have purchased from??

I'm real leery about getting a POS or getting taken from a internet scam artist.
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 5:28:28 PM EDT
[#7]
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 5:46:45 PM EDT
[#8]
Heck ifin I know what I want to do. What we have now is a Micron Home MPC that's aprox 4 years old. It's a P166 with 96 mb of ram and a 6 gig hard drive. Now if somehow I could just take her in for a overhaul to make it more productive and to give the munchkins something then I'd do that.

What I want is something that can run Rogue Spear (dang gum Dell laptop won't) along with other games and for surfing the web.

Otherwise I'm open to any and all suggestions.
Link Posted: 8/31/2001 7:12:21 PM EDT
[#9]
Tell us how much money you want to spend.
Can you build your own computer system?
There is nothing that you can do with you P-166 system. Any money you spend on it would be like driving down the road and throwing money out the window.


Link Posted: 8/31/2001 11:11:32 PM EDT
[#10]
Link Posted: 9/1/2001 12:04:06 AM EDT
[#11]
Get at least 256mb of RAM.  RAM make the world go round.....
Also, a 7200 RPM hard drive is far better than a 5400 RPM drive.  Noticable difference in day to day work.
CPU speeds are getting less and less relevant as we go forward.
Getting RAID is not a real benefit unless you have some particular desire for the potential increase in speed or failover capabilities.  


Also, if you aren't a PC tinkerer, I'd recommended getting something with a warranty instead of building it yourself.  I think this is more what you are looking for.  Find a local vendor, or a cheap mail order place to get you set up with a decent system(dell, gateway, etc.).  All the horror stories folks are going to post following this message are personal anecdotes from people you don't really know over the internet, so take them with a grain of salt.  

Flame away computer dweebs but unless you are planning on fixing his machine for him...don't build it for him....[:>]
And troy, fastest is always a relative term.  [:P]

Yes I'm in a sardonic mood.
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