boink

Hi All...Larts list parts list of course
I need a new comp here. my old box is 10+ years old.

I got a quote from Uptime Computers in Seattle about 20 min away from me for this...here's his quote and parts list.

PREMIUM SERIES 45nM PENRYN
DATE 06/02/08 DUAL CORE
CASE ---------- INWINN MINI
CPU ----------- INTEL C2D 3.0GHz #E8400 45nM 1333MHz 6M
SYS BOARD ----- INTEL DG35EC
RAM ----------- 4GB DDR2 667MHz
HD CONTROLLER - PCI-IDE-I/O-USB ON BOARD
DISKETTE ------ N/A
HARD DRIVE 1 -- SEAGATE 250GB SATAII
HARD DRIVE 2 -- N/A
CD-ROM -------- SAMSUNG DVD/RW
EXTRA STORAGE - N/A
MONITOR ------- N/A
SOUND CARD ---- ONBOARD
SPEAKERS ------ N/A
FAX MODEM ----- N/A
NETWORK ------- 10/100/1000 ONBOARD
KEYBOARD ------ MS COMFORT USB
MOUSE --------- MS WHEEL USB
OPERATING SYS - WINDOWS XP PRO
APPLICATION --- N/A
APPLICATION --- N/A

PRICE --------- $1,186

ETRUST ANTIVIRUS ADD:$39.95


here's what I'll want to do with it....
general email and web surf.
play Doom 3 and Quake 4 probably some other games but I'm not a huge gamer...big fan of Kennith Scott, art director at id software.

watch rip and burn DVD's
play rip and burn CD's

use Adobe Premire and Photoshop (older virsions)

run some shareware apps...3d modeler...and ?

I want to see what the deal is with this torrent stuff

I have an old but great looking Hitachi 21" CRT monitor but I do plan on hooking up to my Sharp Aquos 42" lcd which is 1080p.

this is just my home box for fun, shopping ebay etc. I need no office apps like word or MS office...no tax software no financial stuff on my comp.

according to the guy at Uptime my 10yr old NT workstation here is junk. even the SCSI HD's arn't fast enough to save. plus, I'll need to bring it in so he can swap my old files. my CD burner is dead. zip drive seems to be dead but I'm pritty shure it's a software snafu that happend after trying to clean out a hijacker or spyware.

while I'm stitting here writing this I also called up RE-PC here in Seattle...just to ask about transfering my zip disc data to cd's or flash drive...of course they can sell or build me a comp too. XP or they even have a win2k box.

so...I think I'll hit them with this parts list and see if they can hook me up with a better price. they are on my commute rout so I'd save about $4 in gas money if I buy my comp and feuture peripherals from them.

I'm not into building a comp.

it'd be great if someone can give me some feedback on this. after speaking w/ RE-PC I'm leaning twards them right now.
I need to get a box without Vista.
thanks for your thoughts

Lasereth

That's a little pricey for a non-gaming PC. Why don't you try Dell? I recently bought my dad a Pentium dual-core 2140 CPU with 2 GB of ram, 250 GB HDD INCLUDING a 20" widescreen LCD with keyboard, mouse, mousepad, speakers, WITH windows XP and DVD burner for $399. You could ramp up the CPU to a core 2 duo if you wanted and the price would still be like $500 or $600 instead of over $1,000 without a monitor. What videocard does it come with? If you're gonna play Doom 3 or Quake 4 you'll need an actual videocard, not onboard video, and one with some decent power.

Martian

Yeah, that's a massive rip-off. You can get a PC with identical or better performance for half the cost. A 3 GHz C2D and 4 GB RAM won't do you much good in terms of any graphics applications if you don't have a decent video card, and unless you're running a data processing center you're not likely to need that kind of hardware for anything else.

Go get a better deal somewhere else. I'm not a big fan of Dell, but even they're miles ahead of this guy.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

boink

interesting. I thought it was pricy too. Uptime said they could do the data transfer off my NT box for $90 per hr. as well.... kinda spendy there too.

I hadn't given Dell a thought as I figured they couldn't sell me XP any longer. Best Buy only has one little laptop that has XP on it.

the most powerfiull comp RE-PC has on the floor is $700 and it's got a proper vid card, 200gig HD and I think 3 gig of ram.

funny how the monitor is just about a freebie with the comp. seems a shame not to take it but the CRT I have looks really great and (ten yrs ago) cost me a grand.

what RE-PC's got also has a place for 2 vid cards so I'd be able to get a vid card I could plug a VCR into to transfer some old tapes with as well as a proper 3D accelerator.

I do really like Quake III and I see myself playing DM on Q4 some but I've never been good enough to go online. I definatly liked to download pro DM and turnament games when I had Q3 on my NT comp so I'd guess people still do that in Q4 now. I just read Doom 4 is going to happen. I'm into that.

all I can think of lately is every dime I save is good considering gas and the value of my USD which is going down the shitter.

oh...heh, so while these guys are transfering my data to my new rig or a flash drive....how do they know what it is ? or do they ? I mean, are the Geek sqads transfering tons of pron people want to save off their old personal home comps all the time ?? pritty funny to think.

oh and thanks for chiming in guys

Lasereth

Dell does sell XP still. You just have to get the proper configuration going.

sibylable

XPS is the best for Dell. And a recent deal for Dell XPS M1530 looks pretty good

Features:
Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, 4GB DDR2, 320GB SATA, Slot-Load DVD+-RW
128MB GeForce 8400M GS, 56 WHr Battery, 15.4" LCD & 2MP Webcam
10/100 + 56k + 802.11g, Vista Premium, High Definition Audio

boink

huh, so Dell still is an option even if I need XP. that's cool.

I'll get a parts list and price for data transfer service from RE-PC and compair to what Dell offers. they shure seem to be the most popular and I haven't read any bad reports on customer service.

I sorta doubt it's a good idea to hang on to a comp for ten years like my NT rig here but I want something that will last as long as possible.

boink

well...here's a list of what's in the RE-PC box...$685
no monitor

AMD athlon X2 3800 + 2 GHZ
4GB DDR 3200
200GB HD
DVD rom & CDRW (upgrade to DVD RW $75)
Nvidia 8400GS
Dual Gikabit Nic....? what's this ?
keyless wireless card...don't need that. but it's there.
Firewire and SATA ports
XP home SP 2

30 days support on hardware. I don't know what motherboard it's got but there's room for an extra vid card and it's got an nvidia sound card too.

I don't know the diff between XP pro and home virsions.

anyway...how's this sound to you guys ? seems like a good deal. I'd need to check on what DVD burner to have installed to be shure about dual layer support.

Martian

The price is certainly more reasonable.

An 8400GS might be a bit weak for Quake 4.

$75 is a lot for a DVD-RW. Around here they run $25 to $40, depending on what brand and speed you want.

Make sure the hard drive is SATA. You don't want IDE.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

boink

on the vid card...I thought so too after reading the vid card thread some.

the DVDRW is about $50 with a fee for installing...yeah, lame of me. I spose I could just buy it and make a post if I had a problem installing it. then I'd have a spare CDRW sitting around.

I have no problem with parts or tools, just the software magic that gets me stummped. I think I installed my ethernet card in my NT box lol... been so long.

thanks

Martian

There's no mucking about in software necessary for drives, apart from installing burning software if necessary. Mostly it's just a matter of plugging the right cables in. Sometimes you'll have to set a jumper.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

snowy

If I can install a DVD burner, anyone can.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Lasereth

That is definitely a more reasonable price, but again, you can get better from Dell.

The videocard sucks and will NOT play Doom 3 and Quake 4 well. Dual gigabit NIC is simply two network ports on the PC that are gigabit capable (only useful on fully gigabit networks).

Redjake

what do you know about video cards?

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

xepherys

Was that a cricket chirping?

At any rate, if you don't want to build something yourself, then yeah... Dell is probably your best bet. I dislike Dell, but their product is quality... it's just an unfounded personal beef I have with them.

As for a second video card, you are probably looking at a spec regarding SLI or Crossfire. These will be PCI Express slots. As far as hooking up a VCR [sic] to your system, you'll more likely be looking at a standard PCI card (not a video card slot card... meaning most likely PCI-e). Most boards have one or two still, though they aren't as common as they used to be.

The SCSI drives... I'm sure they are FAST enough. They probably don't have enough disk space to worry about though. Ten year old SCSI drives are often still faster than ten month old SATA drives. *shrug* Unless you get Raptor X's. Regardless, it' more likely the space rather than speed. Plus, SCSI just never caught on in the home PC market. Still going strong in the business sector though. As for ZIP... *shrug* Unless you have a lot of data stored on ZIP, it's not a huge loss. 100/250MB isn't that big of a deal these days with 8GB DVD-RWs around.

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My Homepage

boink

personal beef ? sounds like me and ipods.

I think I got the zip disc thing figured out, I got a used internal zip 250 and a cord that hooks to it and a power source and has a USB plug on it.

this guy at the store also mentioned data transfers through modems with this cord where all the wires are swaped on one end. he said basicly I'd conect bolth comps through their modems and import through the new comp...anyone ever try this ?

I'm definatly leaning twards that XPS 630. seems like I spend more money when I config but it seems like a better overall value.

xepherys

through an actual modem... RJ-11 phone jack? Yeah, don't do that. What SHOULD be done is crossover your serial ports with a serial crossover cable and use software to xfer that way. It'll top out at about 115000bps though. Ideally you would use an ethernet crossover and just share the drive over the network and copy to it... then you are limited to 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s depending on the slowest ethernet card.

__________________
The prospect of achieving a peace agreement with the extremist group of MILF is almost impossible...
-- Emmanuel Pinol, Governor of Cotobato

My Homepage

boink

uhh...heh, RJ-11 ?!?
well, I have a netgear ethernet card in my NT machine, but I don't know what will be in the Dell box. I don't know the proper name for the patch cord the guy had at the store. slow transfer is fine by me if it works and is cheap.
i'd be cool if I could transfer my files myself...the home setup and data transfer option at Dell isn't free.

I gotta bite the bullet and call Dell.

ok...I took the leap. new Dell box on the way.

man...I hate spending a big chunk like that but whooo boy it'll be nice not getting constant promts to upgrade my flash and active X on nearly every page I turn on the net.

now I'll be able to spend more money on all kinda goofy USB devices ! WOOT !

seriously though it'll be nice to drag and drop a pile of music to an Iriver or something rather than analog recording all my MP3's to a minidisc.

I got the XPS 630 w/ standard processor
added 2 gigs of ram so 4 gig's total
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
48X Combo and 16X DVD+/-RW
McAfee Security 9.0...I kinda wanted to stop and ask you guys about McAfee but whatever...it's done now.

they give me 30 gig's of data space on a server for 1 year so I can offload what's on my current box there and then download it when the new comp is set up.

I have an old copy of Nero...but the Dell comes with Roxio Creator 10 Dell Edition. anyone know which is better and more usefull...less hassel with DRM ?

I spose when it's up and running I'll search here or ask about issues then.

anyone have problems with new Dells comming with alot of worthless software pre loaded or any other wierd stuff ?

I remember reading about new software like Photoshop encrypting licence numbers in their files so if you have .jpg's made with crack PS they wouldn't open ? did any of that ever happen or is that just for the tinfoil hat crowd ?

Lasereth

That is going to be one. freaking. AWESOME COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!

boink

thanks Lasereth, I spent about $300 over what I had in mind and then they wacked me with tax too of course but hopefully it'll last me a good while.
I droped like 15 hundred. so I hope your not just sayin that to make me feel good

I hope this means Doom 3 will run smooth ?

I never thought about it but the case is pritty big...22" deep so I guess I'll need to re arrange some stuff.

I wonder if I shoulda got the blutooth card ?...it'd be nice to have some type of wireless keyboard/mouse.

I wonder how Doom will look on a 42" Sharp Aquos ?

boink

hey all, my box showed up yesterday. it's pritty cool. nice case. looks great on my TV too.

so...the struggle begins as to how I transfer my data. the tool Dell uses to upload to their datasafe didn't install right on my rig. the tech couldn't help cause NT is too old for him. and there's some missing file that won't seem to allow it to work right.

I need a file transfer wizard on my machine to get it to network w/ my new XP comp. but my cd drive is dead too. so I dunno. I may try my storage space that comcast provides. hopefully I don't need to resort to emailing myself the old files !

__________________
when you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain't the way.