Need Some Serious Advice...

[Audiokid]

Hey guys. I must throw in the towel, I have no freakin' clue what I am doing right now. I am in the market for a new PC and there are a few options open to me.

Alienware- Quite pricey, plus I couldn't get a discount for shareholder at NFM.

Dell- Kind of pricey for my set up, but I could get 200 dollars off or so at Nebraska Furnature Mart(NFM). Plus, one option for a 6800 Geforce I believe.

Building My Own- Parents might help me with finances towards it, but I would have no clue on how to go about assembling it. I'd be able to get exactly what I wanted.

Any other options- ???

I'm in dire need for a new PC, I'm still running my ol' Hewlett Packard with a Intel Celeron (633mhz) and Windows Me. It is quite slow, and very unstable. Maybe even more so than me on a balance beam (:lol: just the thought scares me.)

Any input on all of this junk would be highly appreciated. I'm planning on selling three or four R/C cars to make up for this price difference, so it really can't be over 2,000 dollars US currency. Looking closer to a nice set-up at 1,500. Also, I'd like to hear what it would take to build my own, I'm no wizard, but I do know a thing or two, just not about computer hardware... Think I could catch on?

Thank you,

Matt

[penguinrusty]

If I can build a computer, you can too. Mostly, you have to A. Get the parts. B. Assemble it (using an antistatic wrist strap) C. Setting jumpers D. Setting BIOS E. Installation of drivers F.

What do you intend to do with it? Gaming? Just surfing the web?

[Audiokid]

I'm planning on getting into some moderate gaming. I'd like to get into LAN parties or whatnot. I also want to do some programming and web page design (stuff I'm taking in high school.) I want to store my music and what not on it. It will be an everyday computer, but I want to be able to run FF 11. I have a score to settle with the copy I got for Christmas. I don't need the absolute best, but I'd like to be able to run the latest 'n greatest. I think I could manage putting it together if I looked at a diagram or something, but about BIOS... I read into building one once, got confused, gave up lol. Think I could do it? I'm taking college courses, next one is on taking apart/putting together computers. Perfect timing, maybe I could borrow an old one or something..

[RaDiCaLpEdE]

i sell build your own
My moms dell is cool but 2k is kinda spendy
if you got 1800-2k go a dell like my moms!

[Audiokid]

I'm getting more and more convinced into building my own. Does anyone know if I could make a computer case out of a sheet of lexan and a dremel? I think it would be cool to airbrush your computer case :) .

[Rustla]

Ummm, this isnt know technical serious advice hur, but I've got somthing of a paint scheme.....

A floresent light inside, with a light coat of blue, so it glows thru the lexan, then with some lighter blue ghost flames :)
then stick your Ground zero beside it..

[Audiokid]

I was thinking: Painting it candy red with chrome trim pinstripes around the outside. And in the middle of the side, you have a diamond shaped window so you can see inside it. It would have red and blue LED'S and maybe some chamelean paints. Not to mention red and blue USB cords lol.

[penguinrusty]

Or just buy an awesom-possums case to begin with. If you want so store music and stuff, I would suggest dual harddrives or just one large one. ALso, make sure you have a good power supply and don't skimp out on the mobo and processor like I did.

[Audiokid]

Yeah, I'm thinking on either a Pentium 4 extreme w/ hyper threading or an AMD something or rather. I'll be getting prime stuff, so I'll want to get a good mobo and stuff. I just wanna make a case because it'll give it a bit of extra custom flair.. Plus, I figured I could have it read "Ground Zero" in clear lexan, then illuminate it with red or blue LED's

[ND4SPDR]

AMD! It's cheaper with equivalent to better performance than similarly rated Intel chips. My Athlon64 3200+/motherboard combo cost $220 and is comparable to my friends significantly more expensive P4 3.4 ghz machine.

Don't worry about the case too much, since all you really need to start are a case with handles (for LAN parties) and a window. You can add lights and LED fans and crap later. It's better to have a fast machine than a pretty one, imho.

If you don't feel comfortable with building it yourelf, I probably wouldn't. It's way too easy to break something and, if you don't know what you're doing, you're downright screwed if you can't get it to work. However, building a computer is not hard. Just read the manuals and avoid electrostatic discharge.

[Audiokid]

I found someone else at my school who is interested and we might build them together. I think it woudl be a lot easier with someone else, we can catch each others errors and what not. I never feel comfortable with this stuff, but I want to do this and I feel like I could do it as long as I took my time. The only thing is, I have no idea what I'm doing, so would I be able to pick up on it, or should I just buy a Dell?

[WESTOZ racer]

Dell is a company who strive for the most stable computer they can build. They are generally for offices which dont require decent computer performance. They are also rip-off merchants, sell only semi-upgradable pc's and are also heavily biased towards the evil empire (Intel) since they get huge cash incentives to stick with poorer processors.

Build it yourself. There is more than enough info on the net to be an expert builder.