Lots of computer questions..

[Anima]

Bare with me folks...I will be buying a computer around Christmas, and need to collect info about good deals, which stuff is important, upgrading, etc.

I'm buying my computer from a site I saw in a PC magazine, www.ibuypower.com

I personally think that from what I've seen, the deals are good. My goal for total system without a moniter was somewhere around 625$...but I am willing to go to 670 max. Yeah, I know, im getting a poor man's system, but I can upgrade alot of stuff later, and right now, this system is sufficient.

Keep no I don't know much about computers, but I know a little bit.

here:


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System Board: AOPEN VIA-KT-266A 266MHZ FSB UDMA-100 DDR MB

I don't know what any of this is, I've heard of something called a motherboard, and I suspect that's what this is. I don't know what anything stands for, except for the 266Mhz. is 266 Mhz good, or bad?

System Case: CASE-A268 Mid-Tower + 320 Watt power

Don't know what this is either. It's upgradable to 420 watts or so, but that's a hundred extra dollars.

System Power: Optional

This can be made to 420 Watts for 30 more bucks. It says if greatly improves speed, and helps with gaming. Is this true? Is it nessisary? Will I be able to upgrade my Watt supply later on?


Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.53 Ghz 266FSB Socket A CPU

1.53 Ghz isn't great, but again, as far as I know, it's possible to upgrade this later. Maybe when AMD get's a knew processor out, or around the time they reach 2 Ghz., I'll upgrade. This can be upgraded to 1.6 Ghz for an extra ten dollars, or 1.67 Ghz. for 20 dollars, which I'm considering. It isn't a pentium, but AMD is cheaper. If in the future, will I be able to buy a Pentium processor, and switch it with this AMD processor?(If I choose to do so) Do I need to switch anthing? Or just processors?

Memory: DDR 256 MB PC2100-266Mhz

[i]YAY! This improves apon my current computers crappy 128 SDRAM. hah...I will later upgrade this to 512 RAM, but 256 is sufficient for now. My question is if I install more RAM, does it have to be a 256 RAM Stick? would 128 Work? Will it have to be DDR SDRAM PC2100 at 266MHz? Or can I Mix and match?

Hardrive: 80GB ATA-100 5400 RPM HardDrive

This computer only has 3 GB's left. This knew Hardrive will be awesome. For 2 more dollars, I can get a ATA-100/133 7200 RPM HD at 80 Gigs. I don't know what RPM means, or if 100/133 is better than just 100. Either way, it's only 2 more dollars, and if is of significance and will help me, Ill do it.

VideoCard: GeForce 2 MX 400 64MB 4X AGP

I know this isn't the best card, but again,I hope to upgrade this to possible a GeForce Ti4400. I don't know what 4X, or AGP means...someone can help me on this. Anyways, most games run fine on a GeForce2, I think, anyways.

16X DVD Rom

This isn't a sony DVD Rom or anything. Meh. Does it make that much of a difference?

CD-RW 40/12/48 for Second Bay

CD Burners are a must...

3D Stero on board with 120 Watt Pimpo Speakers.

I don't know what this means...anyways, I can't afford to get a better sound system...maybe upgrade later.

And than of course it comes with a KEyBoard, Mouse, Windows XP Home Edition, and 2.0 USB...what does USB mean?

Furthermore, is XP Home Edition good? Will it be able to Emulate the '64 and the PSX?

Now, I have some more questions.

First off, will it be hard for me to install new VideoCards, RAM, and other additional stuff? I don't know anything about the inside of a computer or anything.

Now, my goal is to get the origional price down very low, because I can add stuff later. Would it be possible for me to get rid of the Cd Burner(saves me 70 bucks ), and possible buy another, more advanced one later, and still be able to have it internal, or make it so it's right below the DVD Drive? Or will I have to have an External one? Finally, if I don't buy a CDBurner right off the bat, like stated above, and buy a new one later, will I still be able to have a CD in one drive and be able to copy it in another? Or will I have to do that thing where you save it to your HardDrive than burn it?

I even have more, but I'll hold off on those.

I know what you thinking :sunglasse , you all like 'wtf!!111go out an search your self biyatch!'

I'm sorry, I know it's alot of questions. Truth is, my computers internet if screwed up, and REALLY slow...and I probably can't manage to look all this up. I'm hoping someone can spare 5-10 minutes and answer this for me. If you can't, it's ok.

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

[EDIT] : Also, if you guys know any good sites for moniters, other good computer systems, and stuff related to computers, you can post 'em here if you want.

[Tovi]

Well, there are people out there, who can answer you better, but I'll give it a shot with my (not so great) knowledge on computers.


First of all, your motherboard is like the spine of your computer. It is I think the largest part in it, that connects every device to eachother. If you want my info, get the best motherboard you can get, and go easy on the rest. That way you'll be able to upgrade more without having to buy another mother board. 266 FSB is quite average for AMD I believe. I'm not too good with AMD, but I think the best AMD motherboard has 400 Mhz FSB.

Now, processor. Athalon XP 1800+ is a really good processor. It has the right price/performance ratio, and is very popular among gamers I believe. However, I see you are into Intel, but I have to dissapoint you. Once you get a AMD motherboard, you cannot get an Intel Processor without buying an Intel motherboard... But if I were you, I would stick with AMD, cause I think it's better,even though Gannondorf will kill me for saying this......

So anyway, moving on...

RAM... there's a bugger. You're gonna have to check which RAM is compatible for your motherboard. However, from the motherboard's name, I would say that it only supports DDR RAM. So not normal SDRAM. DDR RAM would include PC-2100, PC-2700, and another, um... PC-3200 I believe. So yeah, get one of those.

I believe for your Hard-Drive, RPM stands for Rounds Per Minute... So the more the better, so yes, get that 7200 RPM one for 2 extra dollar, it will be worth it.

Now, your videocard... It's alright, but I wouldn't expect to be able to play the latest games in full quality... 4X AGP means something in the lines of how fast data can be tranfered to the motherboard or something similar. The current best videocards support 8x, but that's really new technololgy. I don't think the even the Geforce4 Ti4400 supports 8x AGP...

About the DVD, get it. I don't think it matters if it's Sony or not, after all they all do the same thing, read DVD's. And 16x is a pretty good speed, so get that, why not?

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. I can't explain, cause I don't exactly know what it is, all I know is you can have USB cables, which are basicly cables that can transfer data. It's not important anyway, after all, all computers you buy nowadays have them anyway.

Now, if I were you, maybe I wouldn't buy a CD-writer right away. You can always take the computer apart, and insert an internal cd-writer, it's really not that hard. But maybe you shouldn't buy a cd-writer now, wait for DVD-writers to be cheap, and buy a DVD-writer. Just a thought, but right now, even the cheapest DVD-writer costs $300... so...

I don't know much about WinXP, cause I don't have it...

Now I think you shouldn't pay $50 to get your computer done. That's just crazy, if you're handy and a quick learner, you can get it done yourself. Have you ever made a model plane? Well this is the same, but a bit less delicate, and instead of glue, you have screws. All the info needed to put your computer together is (or should be) in the motherboard's manual.



Alright, now if you'll excuse me I'll just casually walk away, and wait until the hundreds of replies flood in, saying I'm completely wrong about certain things. Maybe I got a few things wrong, but at least I tried to help, right? ... right?

[serge2k]

I think that a higher amount of watts is better because if your computer needs less power than your power supply gives then your power supply is cooler

and XP is good

[Anima]

No, it was helpful, most of your stuff makes alot of sense.

I think I may hold off on the CDBurner. I'm not sure if even in a year if DVDBurners will get much cheaper. I Dunno...if I'd even pay 200 bucks for a DVDBurner. I don't have a chipped PS2 or XBox, which would be the primary reason to get one. Renting and Burning CD's is cool, yeah, but not worth 200 dollars. If I wasn't on a budget, than I'd get one. Maybe 1 or 2 years down the road.

Will the manual that comes with the motherboard include directions for installing new Video Cards, RAM, and other stuff?

Your motherboard idea sounds reasonable. But again, I'm desperate for a computer fast. Is it extremely pricey to buy a new motherboard 2 years down the road?

And well, I know my Video Card sucks, but if it can run WarCraft III, StarCraft, N64 Games, and PSX Games, than it's good enough. I will eventually get a better card, my eye's on the GeForce4 Ti 4200/4400 ...or perhaps a 128 MB GF3 Card.

[gannondorf]

1. average amd mainboard
2. case good, 320W of power will be sufficient
3. system chassis power does not improve speed
4. cpu is shitty, but cheap, and you can't put intel's pentium 4 inside, you need to get new mainboard for that
5. you can upgrade your 256 megs of ddr with all avaible sticks (128,256,512...). note your mainboard memory limit and it's not recommended to mix ddr speeds (like 2100+2400)
6. 80 gigs will do great, 7200 hdd's are significally faster. ata100 and ata133 are the interface speeds. theoreticaly, ata100 would have transfer rate of 100megs/sec, and ata133 of 133megs/sec. since your mainboard isnt equipped with ata133 controller on it, interface speed is equal to ata100. but em speed (7200rpm) will remain the same. you can buy ata133 controller later, in form of pci card, and then plug your hdd into it, instead into mainboard.
7. i dont like gf2 cards, but i can't overrun the fact that they are very cheap and really good for games.
8. dvd like dvd....
9. i cant quote the cdrw fact, because you didnt post witch brand and model is it
10. most onboard sound cards are efficient for non heavy usage. and your speakers have 120W of pmpo (peak music power output), and that's about 8W of rms (real music strenght). so dont expect blastoff sound from it.
11. usb - universal serial bus. in short terms, allows you to plug all sorts of external devices in your comp (mouse, keyboard, camera, modem...)
12. xp home edition has some know compatibility issues with emulation. if you want stable gaming and overall system, go for windows 98 se

if you buy configuration without cd-r drive, you can always buy it additionaly and instert it above (or below) the dvd. of course, you can buy external one too, but they are expensiver. and you will sure manage to copy one cd to anhoter automatically. just insert the original cd into dvd drive, and blank one in cd-r and that's it.

and now my sugestions : for the exact price of that mainboard, you can get one for intel's pentium 4. the p4 mainboard will work with ddr (if you buy one for ddr), and add the additional 50 bucks and you can get intel's p4 on 1.7 ghz.

[Anima]

Ok, so what's the RAM limit I can have on the computer?

Also, if XP has problems with Emulation, than when will emulators be made or so so that It can run well on xp? are any in production?

[serge2k]

some emulators already work with XP I can run pj64, cvgs, epsxe, zsnes, and some gameboy emulators

[Neverwinter]

Get XP...98 is crash happy. Intel owns AMD, I have a p4 1.8 myself. I also have the exact same video card you have, it runs most games pretty well but I'd much rather have a GF3.

[chaychigga]

On your computer the ram limit is 4 GB I believe. And yes, you can mix and match the ram module sizes but dont add modules slower than the PC2100 you are already getting, because the system will default to the lower speed (ie. PC1600).

[Anima]

Ok, well I'm going to hold off on a CD Burner and buy a better one later.

This saves me some money, so I have a few options

1)save myself alot of money and upgrade later
2)Upgrade my CPU from 1.53 Ghz to 1.67 Ghz for 20 bucks
3) I can get 420 Watt pimp speakers for 7 more bucks
4)Possible upgrade to a slightly better videocard...

I'm probably going to upgrade to 1.67 Ghz

Anyways, what makes AMD blow so much compared to Intel? Intels are WAAY more expensive, and I don't need a computer over 2 Ghz for the moment. Very few games even need a 1 Ghz to run.

Is it the way the processor is built or something? Or is it just because it isn't 2 Ghz?

[chaychigga]

Originally posted by Anima
3) I can get 420 Watt pimp speakers for 7 more bucks

lol

The people who say AMD is worse than Intel mainly point out that AMD is cheap (in the bad way), its not the current performance leader, its running on a slower memory system, its [maybe] not as stable as Intel's processors, and that its not good for overclocking cuz it already runs hot and at such a high voltage.

I hope I didnt miss anything gann = )

[Jimmy Onestroke]

And plus, my computer is an intel one, so it's automatically good. Even if I have screwed it up somehow... XP sounds like a good idea, I'm considering getting it myself.

[Eagle_Eye16]

wel everything is said except that soon intel 3gigahertz is comming out soon so the systems below wil drop in price unbelieveable

further the more MB RIMM is much nicer but i believe its also much more expensive so forget about that


p.s. i thought that DVDwriter was much cheaper anyways it is here about 100Euro don't know how many Dollars that is

[Anima]

Understood. I now need to reconsider if I want an AMD or Intel...the problem is is that when I upgrade...the intels...they are so damn expensive..

Anyways, if XP is really crappy with Emulation, what about Linux? It's free, so it saves me money. I know nothing about it at all, but I was wondering if that would be better than XP?

[MasJ]

XP is fine with emulation, linux isn't too good with it since there aren't a lot of emulators developed for it and it isn't very new user friendly either, so I think you should stay away from it. Just get XP Pro, it's got great stuff!