"I am building a computer,
I am building it bigger
We are widening the corridors and adding more lanes
I am building a computer.
A limited edition"....


Anyway, I need a new computer, my laptop is about 4 years old now. I've been debating on whether to buy a laptop or a desktop. I know that to get a laptop equal to a desktop in power is almost double the price, and since I already have a laptop, I'm thinking about just getting a desktop.

I also know that building it yourself is a lot cheaper than buying one premade but not sure how much cheaper. I'm thinking about buying a cheap computer and than building upon that because a cheap computer will come with Windows Vista but if I buy it separately, it's a ton of money.

What do you guy recommend on computer building? Any recommended sites?

My budget is about US $2000 and I want a computer great for powerful applications, multitasking, gaming, just about everything. What should I keep in mind while building and what would you recommend on the various things I'd need to buy for upgrading?

If you drop 2k on your computer it will devalue in about a month. There is something referred too as the "sweet spot" that is price per performance is the best. The upper end specialty products should be avoided imo. For 800 dollars you will have a computer powerful enough for anything you want. Then in one year, you could spend another 800 dollars and have a computer better than your 2 thousand dollar computer.

So I wouldn't spend more than 700 excluding Hard drives, and monitors.

Adding on to what Zylo said is the fact that you should really avoid premade computers. The price is outrageous compared to building yourself.

(Can't find an example but I'm sure some outer tech-savvy person can explain for you.)

Well the only reason I considered a premade computer was the fact it'd be a cheap way of getting windows vista since vista goes for a ship load of money, especially the higher versions.

I may do what you said Zylo, just keep upgrading. For sure I want 4 GB of Ram and for sure I want a 64 bit processor.

Maybe so, but remember now, prebuilt computers hike the price, and thus you kinda pay for Vista anyway. Why do you want Vista... Get XP...

Anyways. I suggest building it yourself. It is cheaper, and that way you can get the computer you really want. I also agree on what the others said. Don't spend the whole 2000 dollars in one shot. You can get a perfectly good computer for a simply price (probably half of that, with monitor, HDD and any fancy stuff)

My college sells copies of 32 bit vista for 10$ so if anyone wants one of those...

You might be able to find a nice premade computer and it might save you work and perhaps a headache. All the parts I've ever ordered have worked wonderfully so I've never had to send anything back or remail which would just take a lot of time.

I've been using 64 bit xp for awhile on my computer, but just switched back too 32 about 3 months ago. I had several pieces of hardware that didn't have 64 bit drivers, a wireless card deal mainly. I think any amd or intel proc you buy should be 64 bit but who knows if you want that os. Ram is very cheap now days so you might want to CAPITALIZE on that.

Yeah, RAM is dirt cheap now days, I've definitely noticed that.

But I definitely want Vista, eventually everyone will be on Vista and I think it'd be very foolish to be going backward when I could be going forward with Vista. And service pack 1 for Vista fixes a lot of things. Not to mention I can always have a virtual machine on a vista machine of windows xp, and I've still got my current laptop with vista on it. Also I definitely plan to get 64 bit because that's also the future and again, I don't want to be going backward.

I went to a microsoft event a while back and they definitely seemed to have been pushing 64 bit and Vista. And since a lot of my computer usage will involve a lot of microsoft products which will require strong computers such as Visual Studio 2008 and other programs, I think I'm best to go with what they recommend and what my company recommends.


Also, would it be a problem to just buy a really cheap computer which comes with Vista and just build upon that?

Well the only problem with upgrading a cheap dell or whatever computer would be... If the motherboard is good to expand with or can expand. And the power supply usually can't support very much more hardware. I wouldn't hesitate if I wanted a computer and wanted a good deal to buy one though. They sell comps on www.woot.com often.

Well check out this Acer Aspire for $400
Click Here

The Windows Vista Home Premium that it comes with (64 bit version) is $400 alone on amazon
Click Here

So do you see it as being a problem at buying this computer and just upgrading it and replacing most of the stuff it comes with? Because the price alone is worth the vista and I'd probably replace everything except the case, hardrive, the freebies and maybe even keep the ram and just upgrade on it.

And if anything, I could just sell the parts on my ebay store that I don't need.

EDIT : Stoped links scrolling pages.

Well too me Vista isn't worth much at all. As with all the other windows versions Microsoft lets people pirate it purposefully. Windows has never been worth much. I mean right now I could go to my old HS computers and probably pick up the keycodes to about 60 windows xp pro editions. That is the way Vista will be/is. Windows is worth the cd

Or you can be a professional and get Linux!

As an aside I would debate that Vista / 64 bit is the future. I installed a 64 bit windows Christmas 3 years ago for the first time. Thought it was the future then but I guess not. There is very little benefit and the possibility of many drawbacks even if you foresee none now. Trust me I know from experience.



The Wiki article has some interesting information on vista as well.

Like I said, the business I work for is a Microsoft business so I'd need something with windows vista. And 64 bit may not have been good back than but I'm sure it's a lot better 3 years later.

How much is 4GB of ram now? i rember 512MB was $100 not so long ago

I wouldnt bother with 64-bit, not that many programs take advantage of it yet.
If I were to build a new comp, I would like to have 4gb ram, but its probly not needed.

Im running a intel core2 duo 1.8ghz, 1gb ram, vista ultimate. After tweaking vista and using a readyboost drive I am able to operate it at full effects without any lag. Be sure to go get a 1-4gb flash drive that is fast enough for readyboost, and use it soely for readyboost.

My point is you dont need a 'really' fast computer these days. And as for a 2K computer which is no good in a month, pft, my comp is 2 years old and still does everything I need. IW's computer is close to a year or two old, and its probably still on the fast side of modern computers.

EDIT:
Also, there are AWESOME gfx cards out now that are almost half the price of yesterdays 'extreme' cards, and are better.

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=VCD
I dont htink its listed here, but radeon just released another new cheap gaming card, when benchmarked with the 8800 GTS ('THE' card to have according to gamers) it totaly whoped it.

Who broke the tables... (also, we need a emoticon)

Bigbob: I actually kinda do need a 'realy' fast computer because of some of the applications I will be using on my computer and I'll also have a lot of very powerful applications running at the same time also.

Plan ahead. Get plenty of RAM, but get a mother board that supports your core2 duo 2.4ghz, and also supports a core2 duo 3.2ghz. If your 2.4 isnt enough, upgrade to a 3.2.

I would say get a Mac but your a PC guy arn't you? ¬_¬

Well I do some programming work and windows is the operating system for most programmers, especially the type of work I need to do. Also there's just to much software out there that don't work on Mac's

Anyone familiar with ibuypower.com?
http://www.ibuypower.com

It appears that you can build a computer on their website, they build it for you and then send it to you.

EDIT: Fixed link so it acutaly works

Thats a pretty cool business idea really inst it, especialy if you like doing that stuff. Widens your customer base LARGLY!

It's still cheaper to do it yourself but they give you a warranty and customer support (though I heard their customer support sucks).

Might go with them, not sure yet.