Just put together my own computer :-)

[I'm Joe Dirt]

Here's what its got:

Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz Dual Core
1GB DDR2-667 PC5300 RAM
250GB SATA Hard Drive
GeForce 6600 256MB PCI-E Video Card
DVD Burner
Windows XP Professional

I think that pretty much sums it up.

I got a great deal on the Processor and Mobo. It was through Intel's special yearly deal for retail employees (as a member of Geek Squad I qualified). We recieved the Pentium D 820 Processor, the motherboard, Windows XP Professional, and Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements for $215.

I spent another $400 on the rest of the components.

The case and the rest of the stuff arrived today, the mobo and processor yesterday and so I was able to put it together. Took about 3 hours total cause I ran into some problems with the processor fan, but it all got worked out.

Now it runs like a dream

 

[kk2004]

Beat ya

I just got a

AMD64 X2 3800+
256 Geforce 7800 GT
512mb Corsair DDR 400mhz
80 gb Western Digital 7200 rpm
4X DVD Pioneer Dvd Burner

I built this machine and its amazing..

Bro could you buy products for me using your discounts?

 

[I'm Joe Dirt]

Oh man you're shooting yourself in the foot by having so little RAM and HD space! You should upgrade at least the RAM, youll see mucho difference.

I cant buy products with my discount for other people, id get fired silly I bet they are already onto me cause I just buy so much crap for myself lol.

 

[TheRelic]

Nice man... always good to get a new beast.

Im hoping to get a -

Athlon 64 4800+ X2 (or greater)
3GB ram
4 60GB HDDs' in a RAID array
1 200GB general drive
Nvidia 7800GTX 256MB PCI-E x2

As an upgrade soon... just gotta scrape together the poundage.

 

[I'm Joe Dirt]

Sounds like it will cost a fortune.

Why do you need 4 Hard Drives? Are you going to do data striping or what?

Also, you should just consider getting Western Digital Raptors, those are the 10,000 RPM drives.

 

[backbreaker]

Originally posted by TheRelic
Nice man... always good to get a new beast.

Im hoping to get a -

Athlon 64 4800+ X2 (or greater)
3GB ram
4 60GB HDDs' in a RAID array
1 200GB general drive
Nvidia 7800GTX 256MB PCI-E x2

As an upgrade soon... just gotta scrape together the poundage.

what's the point in 4 60GB hard drives with the low prices in hard drives these days?

Not a bad setup, but what type of motherboard are you using? All that can be for not with a crap ass motherboard

 

[backbreaker]

Originally posted by backbreaker
what's the point in 4 60GB hard drives with the low prices in hard drives these days?

Not a bad setup, but what type of motherboard are you using? All that can be for not with a crap ass motherboard

also what speed of memory you looking at, and if you are going to have an Athlon that is that expensive, I am assuming you are using it for gaming purposes. If that is the case, what type of cooling system are you planning to have?

 

[TheRelic]

Yeah, it will hurt the wallet a bit, but still be cheaper/more powerful than a powermac equivalent. I'm prepared to pay for something fast this time around .

As I do a lot of print/3d/video design (often at the same time), it needs to be able to, for lack of better phrasing, throw **** around at a million miles an hour, and still multitask. My current is a nightmare to work with.

And nah, won't be used for games, save for the odd retro clunker.

As for the small hard drives, I guess I could go bigger, but seeings as the RAID array will equal a collective 240gig, I thought it would be ok. Though thinking now, I dunno if you can even buy 60 gig anymore .

Haven't really sussed out the mobo/ram type just yet, just kinda fishing still, for whats available in my price range.

 

[backbreaker]

you can buy 40, yes 40 GB hard drivess till... although they are like a buck cheaper than 60GB.. I have 2 60 GB's laying around here someone I bought not to long ago.

The best value is probaby the 200GB range... I just sold 2, brand spankin new S-ATA WD drives of 160 for like $75 each on ebay.

IF you can afford it, get raptor drives, they are worth it.

I love raid... but be sure if you do raid, have another hard drive that you save all of your important **** on, because if for some reason the hard drive gets damanged, you can forget trying to recover anything off of it.


You started backwards! When I always desinged new PC's, I would always start with the Motherboard first, simply because a) if you want something in paticular, that motherboard might not have it.. i.e RAID or On board Video and b) it's the equivlant of buying rims and sound and not having a car to put it in (which sadly enough, I have seen happen )

For what you are trying to do, go with Asus... I don't own my company anymore and havn't built anything recently, so I am not as up to date on motherboards as I used to be, as they can get pretty detailed, however from my past experiences, retail, you shouldnt' have to pay over $150ish to get a great motherboard... and on the flip side, don't spend Under $100.

But Asus is always and always will be tried and true. I like Abit a little more with Athlon, but overall I still like Asus. I have an Asus laptop I built, it's a beast. My three computers all have asus boards in them, and about 80% of our motherboards my company sold were Asus.. unless we were trying to seriously cut prices or we had 1 very high end aMD 64 that could take nothing but an Abit

Memory, if you are going to do all of that, don't blow it by getting cheap memory. Go Cosair, doesn't have to be the really really expensive sticks.. as they can get as high as new processors, corsair makes great memory.


I don't play computer games, never could get into them, so I always end up getting All in wonder cards instead of the regular Radeon or Geforce cards... I wouldn't know how to act if my PC didn't have an all in wonder card in it

 

[TheRelic]

Thanks for the rundown backbreaker - I should really get reading a lot before blowing the cash.

Sorry for the thread hijack Joe dirt