Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests I think I might build a computer ...

While I generally agree with what you're saying auiotour as I also have always built all my own systems, I'm also sure that neither you nor me can beat every price that Dell offers. They have pretty damn amazing deals sometimes. Yeah, their high-end systems are rip-offs, but there is NO competing with their standard home-use PC prices.

Looking right now, they are offering a P4 2.4Ghz, 128MB, 40GB, and XP-Home, but the real kicker is that it also includes a 17" LCD Monitor. Total price $699 and Free Shipping.

Dell uses re-branded Viewsonic monitors -- a brand I personally swear by. But care to guess how much the monitor alone sells for on Pricewatch? $425

That means you only got $275, including shipping costs to your buyer, to build a complete P4 2.4Ghz system. So, that's maybe $225 left.

Which is just about how much it costs to buy a really crappy Mobo (same as Dell's all integrated) and the CPU.

You still haven't bought the case and PS (another $75 for a Dell-looking one), RAM (~$50), Hard Drive (~$75), CD-R (~$40), Software (~$100 minimum), Keyboard/Mouse/Speakers (~$50), and some value for a 1-year warranty (~$50).

You're now down $450 on what Dell could build it for. And I was REALLY generous on the software thing. Dell includes an awful lot of software.

go for it man. word of advice dont go with a hitachi harddrive. In my animation class all of our computers had hitachi drives and they all ended up failing. I think it was because they were always being used for rendering and things like that so they might not hold up for hard use.

Not sure if the motherboard is good for what you want, but I think it is,,, but www.tigerdirect.com has a real cool case with 400watt power source, soyo kt600 mobo and a 90mm fan for $130. The motherboard itself is normally $140, so it looks like a good deal to me, but I don't really know much about computers.

At Best Buy we have 19" CRT Veiwsonics for 199.99. You can get a good price, rather a better price then Dell.

Dell and Viewsonic monitors are virtual carbon copies, buttons in the same places, specs almost the same, except that Dell's monitors are all black and until recently Viewsonic didn't make many black monitors for their own use.

Back in '99 or '00 when you bought a Dell (anything but the lowest end), you bought a Viewsonic monitor, said it right on it. After a while, they started rebranding them; but they're still Viewsonic. On some models Viewsonic will slightly downgrade the performance, ie their version of the E773 is .25, Dells is .27; otherwise they're the same.

Even their part numbers are almost all the same

Dell Part# --> Viewsonic Part#
--------------------------------
E771 -----> E771
E773 -----> E773
E171 -----> E175
E151 -----> E155

The above are all Dell's lower-end CRT and LCD models.

Dell's higher end monitors are also rebranded... mostly from Sony.

Here's what I'm looking at now, at a total of $839. When funding is approved (soon hopefully), I'll do more than cursory comparison shopping on prices. Great tip on looking for deals in looking at circulars for some items (HD, etc.) perry!

Case: Antec SLK3700BQE (I like black better than beige) with 2 120mm fans and a 350 Watt PS, $98 total
MoBo: Abit NF7-S v2, $90
CPU: Athlon XP 2500+ Barton, $85
CPU fan: Volcano 9, $22 (overclocking is a possibility eventually and I like the variable fan speed)
RAM: 2x 512 MB PC3200 (Kingston), $160
HD: a Hitachi 80MB, $67 (I'll prolly buy the HD in person during a sale)
3.5 drive: $8 (cheapest black one I saw)
CD/DVD: Lite-on 48/24/48/16 CD-RW/DVD-ROM, $51 (burning DVDs is a luxury I can live without for now)
Vid card: Gainward GeForce FX 5200, 128MB DDR, 8x AGP, $74
Speakers: $20 (el cheapo for now)
Kybd: $15 (el cheapo for now)
Monitor: $150 budget for a 17" CRT

There you have it ... 1.8 GHz Athlon XP, 333 FSB, 512 MB cache, 1024 MB DDR400 RAM (in two identical sticks), CD-RW/DVD-ROM, 4 USB 2.0 ports (MoBo supports 2 more), 2 IEEE1394 ports, 10/100 LAN, with decent video support and decent audio support (5.1 Dubly AND Digital out on the MoBo). Along with room for upgrades and tinkering for about $900 all told.

I looked at Dell ... people that build computers make me buy too many things I don't want to get the things I do. That's why I want to build it myself.

The last three items I can upgrade later if I want (and can afford), especially the monitor. The one I buy now can be handed down to my gf's computer when I'm done with it. I got a cordless Logitech mouse for Xmas, so that moves up and this POS gets the old one back when it turns into a Linux file/print server.

I found a student upgrade copy of XP Pro for $82. Student Office 2003 is $150 if I feel I can't live with Office 2000 anymore (and that $150 gets me 3 licenses). AV - I can use AVG free for now, spend money later. Most of the stuff my current PC chokes on is C++ compilation (set the hourglass for big programs), Oracle 8i (haven't confirmed that it actually works on this PC yet, I barely had room to install it), and other Comp Sci dealies that are CPU and memory dependant - but thay are all free or already owned.

Two questions:
1) RAM. Gotta go with a top tier manufacturer, which pretty much leaves Kingston and Crucial as far as I can tell. I read the Kingstons tend to get hot (but are a bit cheaper). RAM heatspreaders are recommended - anyone want to comment on RAM cooling? The heatspreaders I saw looked pretty flimsy; I suppose they work to cool a few degrees. I'm not sure if active RAM cooling is appropriate for my setup ... don't want to go overboard.

2) Vid card. I don't see spending $100 for a high end - I just want middle of the line. How are the GeForce FX 5200 cards? Gainward looks to be a reputable brand, and that card is priced well for what it has. I definitely want something that is 8x AGP capable.