Help needed building a computer...

[northerner2121]

Lately, I've found myself more and more dissatisfied with my Mac. Not only does it have very few games, but learning a whole new word processing suite is just not my thing. I'd buy Office for Mac, but I just want a good ole' XP machine again.

So, I'm now looking into new computers. I'm going to put my iBook up on eBay within the next few weeks to help fund this new box, and i've also got a couple hundred stored away. I've never built a computer myself before, but I know people who've got experience and could do it for me. Basically I want a computer that can handle FS2004 with a healthy frame rate and not have a way out-there price... What components would you recommend and what's the pricetag look like? I only want pricing for everything inside the box... I'll take care of peripheral devices later. Thanks!

[FlyCharlestonSC]

I would reccomend the Toshiba A60. For a while, I thought I was gonna have to get a new laptop (as I thought mine wasn't worth repairing) and if you want a laptop, this is your best bet. It runs for $899. It's 7 pounds, has a 15 inch screen, DVD/CDRW combo, integrated wifi card, celeron with 1.53 GHz, 256 MB of ram.

If you want a desktop, get a dell.

[Hockey07]

He's building it, not buying it :P

Get a 9800Pro if you want great results and a not too bad price (that's the videocard :P). I'd also go for 1024mb of RAM, but if you can only get 512 for whatever reasons, then get that at a MINIMUM. Processor, Intel or AMD, doesnt matter, I prefer AMD but I wont choose the processor for you. Just dont get a Celeron!

[FlyCharlestonSC]

He's building it, not buying it :P

But that's my point--why build it when you can buy it for less...

[Hockey07]

What? You're telling me to go give $1900 to Dell, when my computer from them has faulty hardware (my sister, dad, and mom have one though), over spending $1200 on building it myself?

Buddy, go learn the facts, big companies like Dell and Alienware and whatnot, they ask you for TONS more money to get a computer than to build one.

[NOTAR520AC]

Dude, you're getting a Dell!

[FlyCharlestonSC]

What? You're telling me to go give $1900 to Dell,

for a nice desktop, it shouldn't cost that much

[bbuse]

What? You're telling me to go give $1900 to Dell,

for a nice desktop, it shouldn't cost that much

Dell sells a number of good desktop systems for under $1000 that I would consider buying for myself. My current system is getting old enough that it is getting to be time to do a system upgrade and I am seriously considering Dell. Recently I have heard many good things from others who have purchased Dell systems, especially in the area of ease of installation and ease of use.

[fly1346]

If you want to build your pc you can get parts off of ebay. I recommend a good ASUS motherboard P4, with 3.0ghz with hyper threading technology! These will last you a good 4-6 years! You also want 512mb-1gig of ram depending on how much you use your computer and what you use it for! I also reccomend an 80gb hardrive-120gb nothing less! And you want a 9800 pro card! You can add neon lights and a nice looking case. All these parts can be found on ebay and can cost you less than 1000 dollars!

[Airbus_A320]

He's building it, not buying it :P

But that's my point--why build it when you can buy it for less...

When I get a new one i'm not gonna buy it either.. i'm gonna build it no matter what. More fun and you'll get the parts/performance exactly as you want.

[b777]

When I get a new one i'm not gonna buy it either.. i'm gonna build it no matter what. More fun and you'll get the parts/performance exactly as you want.

Exactly Building may cost more but to upgrade a computer you built yourself is cheaper than buying a replacement. Also, you don't have crap programs installed by the computer manufactures taking up your hardrive.

I have a MSI K7N2 Delta L mobo with an AMD Anthlon XP 2500+ processor, 512mb PC2700 DDR and Nvidia FX 5900XT 128mb, 256bit. It runs FS2002 well with most all settings at high but it struggles a with FS2004 when flying in dense scenery and clouds.

I would recommend a P4 3.2Ghz with HT or AMD 3200+ 64bit processor and at least 1GB of PC3200 DDR ram and a 128mb (preferably 256mb with 256bit if you can afford it) video card. Radeon 9600XT, 9800PRO and Nvidia 5900 Ultra are good midrange cards.

[Hockey07]

Building does not cost more! You might say "Dell sells $500 computers, you want to pay $1000?" That's the problem -- YOURE NOT GETTING A GOOD COMPUTER if you spend $500. You'll get oh intergraded video, celeron processor, 256MB of ram, 40GB harddrive... And uhm, if you want to play FS, the first 3 things will not go NEAR cutting it. So when you build one you're getting a REAL video card, the BEST processor you can afford, the MOST RAM... You know?

Show me one of these "Dell sells a number of good desktop systems for under $1000 that I would consider buying for myself." computers and I will tell you why they are under $1000.

[Excalibur2004]

I know the feeling of a store bought and will never do that again! They put in the cheapest s**t and charge you full price. A good computer that can do what you are wanting it to do can be had for under 900 dollars. Plus you have the piece of mind that if anything breaks you know what it is and how much to replace it. Also not to mention putting in quality hardware that will last a long time. So having said that here is my advice (with links) for your new system. I don't work for newegg but I do trust them and have been dealing with them happily for 3 years now

I prefer AMD processors so that is where I will be basing this system. If you really want an Intel system I'm sure I can help you there too but for now lets build you a shopping list.....

Processor:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (Throughbread Core) 2.0ghz

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-336&depa=0

$92.99

Heatsink:

Thermaltake Volcano 9

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-106-017&depa=0

$28.98

Thermal Paste:

Arctic Silver 5

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-100-007&depa=0

$12.58

Memory:

Kingston 512MB DDR PC-2700

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-202&depa=0

$79.00

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-7VT600 1394

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-128-197&DEPA=1

$77.00

Video Card:

ATI RADEON 9800PRO

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-286&depa=0

$218.99

Hard Drive:

Maxtor 80gig 7200rpm

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-132&depa=1

$62.99

CDRW:

Lite On 52x32x52x

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-939&depa=1

$29.50

Computer Case:

There are so many choices and the best place to find them is Ebay

here are some guidelines for cases:

- Midtower with 4 cd bays/ 4 floppy bays (2 external 2 internal)
- 400watt power supply is a must!
- front USB ports / audio / etc

$80.00 is a good figure incl shipp

Operating System:

Windows Xp Pro OEM

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=37-102-143&DEPA=6

$141.99

Options:

You will notice I left out a floppy drive, I really don't see a use for them now with the advent of the pen drive / jump drives but if you must have one:

Sony 1.44 Floppy Drive:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=21-103-109&depa=1

$9.99

or if you want to go the modern way

Kingston Pen Drive 64mb

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-189-010&depa=1

$21.99

Your bottom line is:

$824.02 Including shipping (excluding the options)

whew!! somebody jump in if I left anything out....

[b777]

I know the feeling of a store bought and will never do that again! They put in the cheapest s**t and charge you full price. A good computer that can do what you are wanting it to do can be had for under 900 dollars. Plus you have the piece of mind that if anything breaks you know what it is and how much to replace it. Also not to mention putting in quality hardware that will last a long time. So having said that here is my advice (with links) for your new system. I don't work for newegg but I do trust them and have been dealing with them happily for 3 years now

I prefer AMD processors so that is where I will be basing this system. If you really want an Intel system I'm sure I can help you there too but for now lets build you a shopping list.....

Processor:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (Throughbread Core) 2.0ghz

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-336&depa=0

$92.99

Heatsink:

Thermaltake Volcano 9

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-106-017&depa=0

$28.98

Thermal Paste:

Arctic Silver 5

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-100-007&depa=0

$12.58

Memory:

Kingston 512MB DDR PC-2700

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-202&depa=0

$79.00

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-7VT600 1394

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-128-197&DEPA=1

$77.00

Video Card:

ATI RADEON 9800PRO

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-286&depa=0

$218.99

Hard Drive:

Maxtor 80gig 7200rpm

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-132&depa=1

$62.99

CDRW:

Lite On 52x32x52x

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-939&depa=1

$29.50

Computer Case:

There are so many choices and the best place to find them is Ebay

here are some guidelines for cases:

- Midtower with 4 cd bays/ 4 floppy bays (2 external 2 internal)
- 400watt power supply is a must!
- front USB ports / audio / etc

$80.00 is a good figure incl shipp

Operating System:

Windows Xp Pro OEM

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=37-102-143&DEPA=6

$141.99

Options:

You will notice I left out a floppy drive, I really don't see a use for them now with the advent of the pen drive / jump drives but if you must have one:

Sony 1.44 Floppy Drive:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=21-103-109&depa=1

$9.99

or if you want to go the modern way

Kingston Pen Drive 64mb

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-189-010&depa=1

$21.99

Your bottom line is:

$824.02 Including shipping (excluding the options)

whew!! somebody jump in if I left anything out....

Good midrange system but to run FS2004 smoothly, you probably want a faster processor and more memory.

[Excalibur2004]

Good midrange system but to run FS2004 smoothly, you probably want a faster processor and more memory.

not really, he may want to up the memory a bit but the processor should be able to handle that game easily.

most of these newer games are relying less on the processor and more on the "balls" of the video / memory combination.