Time for a New Computer

I haven't bought a new computer since late 2003 mostly because I'm reluctant to give up some software I spent a great deal of money on that won't work on new one. That one actually failed about 3 years ago, it did survive the fire. Pretty sure it was something on the motherboard went. I found a Gateway on CL for $40 with no HDD's in really good shape. Actually still using my HDD's from 2003 in it. Nothing wrong with it but it's just time for new one especially considering the age of the HDD's.

Anyhow I'm looking at bare bones systems but I'm not up on the "latest and greatest", found this on Tiger Direct for $540:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchToo ... &CatId=333

* GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 1600MHz DDR3, SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 7.1-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX Ready
* Intel Core i5-3570K BX806237i53570K Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.40GHz (3.80GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Unlocked, Retail
* Patriot Intel Extreme Master Viper 3 PVI34G160C9 4GB Desktop Memory Module - DDR3, 1600 MHz, UDIMM, 240 Pin, 1.5V, PC3-12800, 9-9-9-24, XMP, RoHS
* EVGA 02G-P3-1559-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti Video Card - 2GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), Dual DVI, Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Plus Photoshop Elements 10 Promo
* Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE 22X Internal DVDRW Drive - SATA, 1.5MB Buffer, 22x DVD+/-R, 8x DVD+/-RW, 16x DVD+R DL, 12x DVD-R DL, OEM, Black
* Ultra LSP550 550-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Lifetime Warranty w/ Registration
* Ultra XBlaster Mid-Tower V2 Case - ATX, MicroATX, USB 2.0, Audio, 6x 3.5" Bays, 4x 5.25" Bays, 7x PCI Slots, Lifetime Warranty with Registration

$100 for OEM copy of Win7 and I'm in business. I already have a real nice monitor, keyboard etc.

Thoughts? Any other suggestions? I know one thing I do not want to deal with is anything I can't do a clean install of Windows on. My last PC came with a restore partition and a full copy of Windows on disc. First thing I did was delete the restore partition and full reinstall of Windows. LOL

Looks like a nice combo. My needs don't require a dedicated video card, but yours might. One thing I will definitely do on my next build...use a solid state hard drive for the OS. Silent, and very fast. Most people that upgrade to a SSD can't believe the difference. The traditional platter drives are fine for data storage...I have a 2TB drive for storage that was about $100.

See how much it costs to double up on that exact memory if the motherboard can handle 8gig. Yes, I just built one with a ssd and boots very fast. Prices are coming down but not that fast. You may also qualify for the $14.99 upgrade to Windows 8.

Tiger Direct - that's the same place I bought my current computer from. It's got a big hard drive & tons of memory - that's about all I was after. $400 shipped (refurbished), when just 5 years earlier I had bought a new Sony Viao for $1,000 with NO monitor - just the tower!

So far it's working out ok ... but it's had this problem since the day I got it with Windows Update -- every time it tries I get a 0x00..whatever code. But then I had a blue screen crash, and it asked if I wanted to revert to an earlier state even though I had that feature turned off. Thinking it was my only way out, I did it ... now suddenly Windows Update works .... sort of. Half gets in, other half gets the code. I never have any luck with these damn things to begin with. Somehow I always seem to find a way around all the quirks.

Next time, I'm going Apple - no question.

Smitty, sounds like something is corrupt or just plain messed up...a clean-slate install of Windows is probably in order.

Anyone need some 400 GB SATA drives? I have three that were used in a file server for backup purposes, it was only booted up every couple weeks. to sync with the other computers, so the run time on the drives is minimal.

I'm running this hand me down HP E2200 cpu, 3gig ram, Vista

Just fixed my gaming PC that I put together with an Asus P5G41-M LE/SCM mobo, core 2 duo E8400 3ghz. 500w power supply. I put it together to fit an Asus EN8400GS Silent vid card; minimal to run my old WWII Hell's Highway game. PC crashed bad but turned out to be memory gone bad; Corsair DDR2 xms2 sticks-2gig. Corsair replaced the memory twice for me no problems! I'll be more careful turning the rig off from now on. Was able to re-install XP and get running well again.

I have a PC guy in NJ here, he could set you up sweeet, but I'm sure you'll figure out your best setup. This guy is cutting edge, does repairs on the side. Had a great conversation with him, at the limits of my pc knowledge, the low end of his. He shops at a warehouse in Paterson you have to go to physically, best prices anywhere. This guy went in to my customer's house and got them straightened out in 1/2 hr. after I tried and quickly knew I couldn't fix their problems.
Everybody happy.

This guy knows everything holy *censored*; he even got a student discount on a copy of 7 for like $40; by getting an email account at an australian .edu website

I've used Mwave in the past; slow shipping from the left coast; and Newegg.

Rob R. wrote:My needs don't require a dedicated video card, but yours might

I dabble with 3-D applications plus I get to play cool games.

mozz wrote:You may also qualify for the $14.99 upgrade to Windows 8.

I saw that but I'm not so sure I'm interested, from what I'm reading 8 is the ME/Vista version.

Richard S. wrote:I saw that but I'm not so sure I'm interested, from what I'm reading 8 is the ME/Vista version.

Agreed. Windows 7 is very stable and would be my first pick for a new machine.

Anywhere else besides newegg and and tiger direct to look?

So far I have it narrowed down to this one:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchToo ... u=B69-1440

# Intel Core i5-2500K BX80623I52500 Unlocked Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 3.30 GHz (3.70 GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Retail
# GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 1600MHz DDR3, SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-Ch Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI
# MSI Geforce GTX 550 N550GTX-Ti MD1GD5v2 Video Card - 1GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0(x16), 1x Dual-link DVI-I, 1x VGA, 1x HDMI, DirectX 11, SLI Ready
# Kingston HyperX Red KHX16C10B1R/8 8GB Memory Module - 1600MHz, 10-10-10, DDR3, CL10, 1.5V, Unbuffered
# Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE 22X Internal DVDRW Drive - SATA, 1.5MB Buffer, 22x DVD+/-R, 8x DVD+/-RW, 16x DVD+R DL, 12x DVD-R DL, OEM, Black
# Ultra LSP650 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Lifetime Warranty w/ Registration
# Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Case - ATX, Micro ATX, 120mm LED Fan, 4x 5.25 Bays, 5x 3.5 Bays

This has a slower processor that the other one but has better RAM, better PSU and most important to me the motherboard is a lot better. I probably would have already bought it but the case has vents in the top and I'm really not liking that idea.

I was looking online at the Mac Mini's from Best Buy just last night, but I did notice some great deals on the Dells they had.

EWF, thanks but I'm not looking for prebuilt comp. You have to put these together yourself but it's much cheaper.

Richard, I buy all my stuff from Tiger Direct, great place. check out this one also.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchToo ... &CatId=332

Take the savings and buy a second hard drive. go with the Western Digital (black). the blue is ok but the black is a better drive IMHO.

BD

I probably should have just went on CL and bought another for $40. LOL It keeps getting more expensive....... This what I'm up to now.

M17-7306 :: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional FQC-04649 Operating System Software - 64bit, DVD

E145-0550 :: EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 01G-P3-1556-KR Video Card - 1GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0(x16), 2x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Plus Photoshop Elements 10 Promo

Corsair CO-9050006-WW SP120 Quiet Edition 120mm Fan Twin Pack - 2x 120mm Fans, 23 dBA, 37.85 CFM, 1450 RPM

Crucial CT064M4SSD2 m4 64GB Solid State Drive - 2.5" Form Factor, SATA 6Gb/s

Ultra X-Blaster Mid-Tower V2 Case and Ultra LS550 Black 550 Watt Power Supply and Ultra GPC Keychain Bundle

Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Desktop Memory Kit - 8GB (2x 4GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, 9-9-9-24 CAS Latency, Intel XMP Ready, Unbuffered

Intel Core i5-2500K BX80623I52500 Unlocked Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 3.30 GHz (3.70 GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Retail

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 1600MHz DDR3, SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-Ch Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI

As far as the drives go Rob has two older drives I bought off of him. I'm getting a SSD drive for the OS and Apps.

Why don't you build your own rig? Honestly pre-builts are over priced and built with parts that are not very good.

The last pre-built computer I bought was in 2003 and it was an HP Pavillion Media Center. Worst investment I ever made. I had problems with it from day one. After that I've built all of my computers. Last one I built was in 2004 and I just replaced it in November of 2011 with another computer I built. And I just transplanted that computer into a new case a few weeks ago.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/717/img201209 ... 214012.jpg

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/69/img20120922140428.jpg

This one cost me about $700. The one I built in 2004 cost around $2500.

Richard S. wrote:I probably should have just went on CL and bought another for $40. LOL It keeps getting more expensive....... This what I'm up to now.

M17-7306 :: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional FQC-04649 Operating System Software - 64bit, DVD

E145-0550 :: EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 01G-P3-1556-KR Video Card - 1GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0(x16), 2x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Plus Photoshop Elements 10 Promo

Corsair CO-9050006-WW SP120 Quiet Edition 120mm Fan Twin Pack - 2x 120mm Fans, 23 dBA, 37.85 CFM, 1450 RPM

Crucial CT064M4SSD2 m4 64GB Solid State Drive - 2.5" Form Factor, SATA 6Gb/s

Ultra X-Blaster Mid-Tower V2 Case and Ultra LS550 Black 550 Watt Power Supply and Ultra GPC Keychain Bundle

Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Desktop Memory Kit - 8GB (2x 4GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, 9-9-9-24 CAS Latency, Intel XMP Ready, Unbuffered

Intel Core i5-2500K BX80623I52500 Unlocked Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 3.30 GHz (3.70 GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Retail

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 1600MHz DDR3, SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-Ch Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI

As far as the drives go Rob has two older drives I bought off of him. I'm getting a SSD drive for the OS and Apps.

What are your goals with this computer? What are you planning on doing with it? Because, honestly if your not playing video games then you are completely paying for parts and features you'll never use.