buyin a computer soon and... Created 18 years ago2005-10-04 07:27:53 UTC by Ansith

Yeah, there's nothing whatsoever possible to keep (or worth it) from his present one.

Once you build your own, youll never go prebuilt ever again.

Hehe, I didn't read the whole thread though, didn't see his specs.

Custom Built are the best. I get my parts and Rectron (Factory PC shop) and I get it damb cheap. Much better than those prebuilds that come with cute moniters and stuff.

yea my computers almost 5 yrs old now and its screwed really bad from the upgrades i gave it a wile ago so more would give me alot of problems

So you must get a new PC of course

yea totally then i can play hl2 witch i bought a wile ago

5yrs isnt very old. Most people upgrade their PC. The most expenisve part of PC's are getting one. After that its pretty cheap, since you only have to upgrade now and then.

yea but the upgrades i got for it around a yr ago screwed it so what do you think more would do for it?

Nothing good : Next time be carful of what upgrades you buy.

i dident buy the upgrades they were free of this guy we know hes a computer fixit guy

This thread is a breeding ground for noobs, build your own damnit. Prebuilt computers suck for too many reasons to list.

don't like this thread? don't post! then everyone is happy. And ansith, i'll bet you got windows xp service pack 2 (if you have xp) because I had to reinstall windows after I installed it the first time.

m0p has a point though...

i dont have xp because it would probly be bad on it with only 128 mb of ram

I wouldn't recommend Windows XP even if you had 4GB of RAM.

I wouldn't recommend XP to any one but my worst enemy, and even then I'd feel bad for him!

m0p, stop being uneducated :P.

so what you guys are saying is Xp= Bad

XP sucks but you need it to run most games. Vista (next version of windows) is gonna suck a million times harder.

XP Pro is alright. Get it if you're a gamer. Which you are.

Yeah, its a bit hard trying to game on anything but a Windows machine, without have to resort to rudimentary emulation and other things.

So XP is bad? I think it is a gigantic step from Windows 98-Blue-screen-of-death.

Nothing new there. It's like saying that a flying car is better than a normal car. Of course it is, but roads and parkings are made for normal cars.
So if software is made for Windows, then we will use Windows. At least me. I use my computer for doing things, not for looking at it and smiling about how much free memory and resources I have or how different my OS is from other people's, making me cooler and smarter...
PC's are after all, just tools.

I'm sick of these Anti-Windows fanboys.. I have never had a single issue with windows, I've used Linux, but all the configurations just lead to the same performance of Windows.. I agree that Vista is going to suck hard. Get this, before Vista has even been released, tests have found over 40 Critical Security flaws.. like catastrophic.. gg windows.. but on the topic of your computer Asinth. I'd say that an Athlon 64 bit Processor, a Radeon Video Card with 256 MB video memory, at least 1 Gb of RAM (2 Gb is overkill, unless your on AIM, Downloading pr0n, and using a high end graphics program while playing HL2) NIC cards are cheap, any kind will do, as for the MOBO, just get something that can handle the Processor and some decent RAM. Dont be intimidated by building a computer. The only thing that is easy to screw up is applying quicksilver (heatsink Compound) and putting the heat sink on. Be gentle but use force for the heatsink, and apply compound liberally but not too much. If all else fails, read the manuals for all of your parts, they give helpful information, like installation tips, and possible hazards when working with expensive parts. On the subject of a Case; you can turn a boring case into something sweet, with some spray paint, a skillsaw, some plexi-glass, and some fancy modlights, and fans. Oh Oh, make sure to get some fans to put in the case, to help cool your processor, but remember you need intake and exhaust (in and out) otherwise you are just blowing around warm air. Hope I could help

Windows has always been full of security holes. There is absolutely nothing safe of it, short of never connecting to the Internet.

As for the BSOD, I've still encountered them in XP (they're rare, but they're there, I assure you).

Oh, I've encountered some BSOD in XP, but ALWAYS due to hardware related issues, not software problems.
A blue screen of death in XP is there for a reason, it usually means something has gone bad.
The bsod in Windows 98 meant that everything was going as well as usual

I'm not trying to sound like a mod, but this forum's purpose was for computer building tips for asinth.. if you want to debate/flame windows vs. linus (or any othe OS) start a different forum thread. I'm sure Asinth doesnt care which OS you like more, or what flaws you can find in Windows.

AFAIK XP just restarts your computer instead of showing a BSOD. Doesn't make it a bit better.

To disable this "feature", right click "My Computer", pick 'Properties', select the 'Advanced' tab, click 'Settings' under "Startup and Recovery" and tick "Automatically restart" off. Or summin like that.

[/derail]

I think it is a gigantic step from Windows 98-Blue-screen-of-death.

Windows 98 SE is a hell of a lot more stable than anything else, in my experience! (except for winxp, which is pretty good, too.)
As so many people have said, windows is the way to go, because unless you are m0p, who apparently plays hl without windows, you'll need it to run hl/hl2/steam. My suggestions: Defrag your hd often, it will improve performance, get a good hard drive (fast) , and remove programs like msn messenger, any of that stuff that loads when your os does. If you know what you're doing, or have a friend who does, you can get by just fine with a somewhat inferior computer.

i got windows 2000 nt and it runs fine (most of the time)

Ooh its a gem win2k! I only went to Win2003 Server to run my OP4 Server smoothly!
Why don't you get a Geforce 5700LE, cheap as bananas and damn good for the money!

GeForce 5 series sucks, really, it does. All sorts of shader-related issues.

Pentuim III owns!!

Listen to m0p he knows alot about computers.

Yes Pentium 3 does own alot, the latest Pentium-M's are based on the later Pentium 3 core, Tualatin, which has an 8-stage pipeline (VERY VERY SHORT, and fast).

Athlon64 is the way to go, if you can afford it. Then, when more 64 bit apps come out, you'll be able to use them to their full potential. (just don't get one in a laptop!)

GeForce 5 series sucks, really, it does. All sorts of shader-related issues.

Ultra budget card though! Mine runs HL2 fine!

Athlon64 is a marketing scam

i have GeForce 5200 :> runs hl2 fine too

Athlon64 is a marketing scam

Unless, of course, you use them, and then you realize that "hey, that athlon64 worked better than my p4 did, and it was slower! wow!" although hard drive speed is also an issue. But a 1.6ghz athlon64 outperforming a 3.2ghz p4 in any situation is just nuts!

I never got BSODs on Windows 98. But I get them on XP, on both of my computers. If all games were OpenGL, Id be on Linux right now.

Unless, of course, you use them, and then you realize that "hey, that athlon64 worked better than my p4 did, and it was slower! wow!" although hard drive speed is also an issue. But a 1.6ghz athlon64 outperforming a 3.2ghz p4 in any situation is just nuts!

It takes at least a 2.06 GHz A64 to beat a 3.2GHz P4. And 64-bit is nothing to get excited over.

i'm talking from experience here. My old laptop could do video editing no problem, my new one sucks at it. (of course, my old laptop had crappy cooling and fried the mobo 4x!)

Frag, a 1.8GHz Dothan could kick the living shit out of a 2.4GHz A64. Intel strikes again!

Yes Pentium 3 does own alot, the latest Pentium-M's are based on the later Pentium 3 core, Tualatin, which has an 8-stage pipeline (VERY VERY SHORT, and fast).

It does!?! My computer owns and it's 6 years old!

I'm with Kasperg! w00t!

Elon: he means the design, not the old products, if you see the difference.

m0p: why are CPUs ever designed with long pipelines? Is it a design intention or a limitation of some kind?

7th, if you plan to use x86 for server use, or specific apps, such as video/audio encoders, sometimes higher clockspeed helps more than short pipelines. And as you probably know, the shorter the pipelines, the possibility of high clockspeed decreases.

So it's more of a limitation? I'm aware of the 'raw clock' beating things, and they make perfect sense in most cases. You want to calculate pi with a particular algorithm, you need either lots of a particular unit, or for it to go fast on its own.

You really want a balance of pipeline and clockspeed. For example, the Dothan has a really short pipeline, and quite a low clockspeed, and performs well in alot of applications, but sucks at others, such as video encoding, and as a server. But, the Prescott has a really long pipeline, and high clockspeed and performs well in video encoding, yet it sucks at other stuff such as gaming.

I see... variable pipelining...

I'd say a pipeline with 15 stages or so, and a reasonable clockspeed would probably be the best combination, but it also depends on the rest of the architecture.