Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 89533 2008-05-03 08:09:00 Thinking of building a new PC - your experiences and recommendations please? Chikara (5139) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
665449 2008-05-04 03:15:00 I personally would only recommend building your own PC if you have a friend or someone you know that has at least built a few PC's before that can assist. I have seen far to many honest mistakes that have ended up costing the user money and or time. Last one I saw was a guy that put the plastic protector back on the C2D processor somehow closed the socket, amusing but not flash.

Chikara

You really need to state what you plan to use the PC for, a bit of word processing and browsing, or a full on gaming rig?. Also helps to know how much you want to spend, you can get some real value if you buy wisely or spend a bomb on a mediocre rig.
Battleneter2 (9361)
665450 2008-05-04 08:14:00 Hi

I built my own pc and it turned out to be a lot cheaper, one thing i should have considered though is that my pci-e is right beside my 1 of my pci slots and with my double sized card i have an unavailable pci port(i only had 2 to start with)

Hope that helps
a helpless random (13059)
665451 2008-05-04 21:47:00 1) Would you suggest it is a good idea to attempt to build one myself?
2) My work usually uses Dells and the IT guys at work rate them quite highly...


6) Worst case scenario - if I did try and build my own system and totally @&!* it up, what is a ballpark cost a technician would charge to fix it for me??!!

Up to you but if you physically damage something it won't be covered under the warranty.

All decent PC shops will build it for you.

IT guys who do business IT always think "brand" PCs are great.
Not.
Forget it, get a custom built one.
pctek (84)
665452 2008-05-05 06:08:00 Thanks guys (and gals), for all the helpful replies as always. :clap

To add a few points to some questions you've asked:

I haven't sat down and figured out my specs needed yet, I'll do that over the next few months (I'm currently on a short-term work assignment overseas, not back in NZ full-time for a few months, so I won't/can't start doing anything until then).
However I am looking to get a decent system, capable of playing the latest games - I'm not a hardcore gamer but do enjoy playing the latest ones. But I'll also use it to do a wee bit of audio and video processing and editing, again just amateur/hobby stuff but I'd like a system with plenty of storage space and grunt to do this reasonably quickly.
Budget wise, I'd be happy to spend around $4k if required. Bearing in mind my old system needs *totally* replacing, so that would have to include a new monitor, pretty much a new everything...

Thanks for the links and helpful info posted so far, that's exactly what I'm after - a chance to do a bit of reading and research before I build one when I'm back.

Thanks again all, and keep the useful info coming...

Tony
Chikara (5139)
665453 2008-05-05 06:24:00 Probably be better, getting the full version





Did you know, you can buy the Vista Upgrade Disk, install a trial, then do a custom(clean) install from inside the trial Vista . This will get you the full Vista without paying for the full Vista . Microsoft has not fixed this loophole in SP1, so they actually tolorate people who know about this to get Vista cheaper . So therefore, this isn't illegal .
SPARTAN 860 (2618)
665454 2008-05-05 06:46:00 Did you know, you can buy the Vista Upgrade Disk, install a trial, then do a custom(clean) install from inside the trial Vista .

Probably not, since I wont be installing Vista
Speedy Gonzales (78)
665455 2008-05-05 06:48:00 Did you know, you can buy the Vista Upgrade Disk, install a trial, then do a custom(clean) install from inside the trial Vista. This will get you the full Vista without paying for the full Vista. Microsoft has not fixed this loophole in SP1, so they actually tolorate people who know about this to get Vista cheaper. So therefore, this isn't illegal.

Yup did know that - in fact utilizing it right now :D

And it works for the academic versions too :clap
jwil1 (65)
665456 2008-05-05 07:10:00 Did you know, you can buy the Vista Upgrade Disk, install a trial, then do a custom(clean) install from inside the trial Vista. This will get you the full Vista without paying for the full Vista. Microsoft has not fixed this loophole in SP1, so they actually tolorate people who know about this to get Vista cheaper. So therefore, this isn't illegal.
And from where do we get such a disc.?
Cicero (40)
665457 2008-05-05 07:23:00 And from where do we get such a disc.?

I don't know anything about that little trick but..

With buying a new PC(bootable hardware) you can pick up a "OEM" version worth about $270

The "Upgrade" version is worth about $420 so its not going to be worth doing over the OEM version unless I am missing something.
Battleneter2 (9361)
665458 2008-05-05 22:10:00 And from where do we get such a disc.?

Most shops will have the upgrade disc.
Ascent (www.ascent.co.nz) has them for sure - you can search for other versions.
autechre (266)
1 2 3