Gonna buy a computer...

[thrashingcows]

And I need HELP!!

I am a techno feeb...I got no idea what to look for.

The unit I have now is an eMachine Media Center PC.

Here's what it says it has, (crouching down and readling little labels on front of computer.)

3000+ AMD Athelon XP processor,
160GB, 7200 rpm Hard drive,
CD-rom 48x max read,
DVD +/-RW 4x Max write DVD +/- R,
Media reader 8 in 1,
512MB DDR SDRAM,
Windows XP etc.

The computer is about 5+ years old and is slowing down and just ain't pulling like it used too.

For me it works fine, I'm never in a rush and when things slow down adn lock up I wait, shut down and then reboot....the wife...not so patient!

So any advice will be appreciated.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

Start by looking for an offering that suits your budget with 4GB of RAM or more and then got from there.

4GB or more will along a 64-bit processor and a 64-bit operating system

All of those will get you ticking along nicely.

The actual processor and speed is the next thing I look at. I try to stick to 2 GHZ or more and I look for the most cores. Quad core being the most prevalent these days, but a higher speed dual core is nothing to sneeze at either as long as you're not into the bleeding edge games. If you are looking at AMD, you may need to do some research as they tend not to state the processor speed but instead state some number that means absolutely nothing to me... like 3000+ Athlon. That pisses me off enough to walk over to the Intel-based systems where things makes more sense.

Speaking of games, what you do there should factor into your graphics card choice. Unfortunately, I won't be of much help there as I am happy with my embedded video card that shares my RAM for video memory. I will say that video cards with 1GB of video ram are out there at decent prices now.

Hard disk.... I usually try to get the most in a PC, but I don't really worry about it as I prefer to have a second drive for all of my stuff. So, I just end up putting in another drive - as big as I can afford. A terabit drive can be had for under a hundred bucks now, so it's something you can worry about right away or wait and add it in later. Point is if you find a good offering that covers the stuff above but has a smaller HD, don't let it sway you. Storage is cheap and easy.

 

[68R/T]

DCF pretty much covered the important stuff. Some additional info to look for inre to the CPU, in addition to being multi-core, I always try to go for the higher amount of L2 cache memory on the CPU. A dual-core should have 4M or better and a quad-core should have 8M or more..

As for your existing E-mach, add 1gig of RAM to the poor thing. At 512mb of RAM it's barely breathing. :hmmm:

 

[Jester]

I was just in your shoes... Had a 5+ year old system that was showing it's age and had already been max-upgraded in most areas. I also really wanted to play Dragon Age: Origins on high graphical settings, so I did what any nerd would do.

Put together a nice little rig for $800 and now I'm happy:

-Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P Motherboard
-Antec 300 case
-500W OCZ ModXstream Pro power supply
-4GB OCZ Gold DDR3 Ram
-AMD Athlon II x4 Quad core processor
-WD 640GB Hard drive Black
-OCZ Vendetta Heatpipe CPU heatsink
-Samsung DVD burner

and the graphics card was the most expensive part:

- XFX Radeon 5770 1GB, DirectX 11 compatible

The machine is faster than I need, but building one yourself isn't without a few "glitches" and troubleshooting.

Dragon Age: Origins is awesome, if you liked Baldur's Gate 2 on pc, then you'll enjoy DO:A [smilie=J:

damn, I need a tight little gf.

 

[thrashingcows]

Well I ain't no gamer, so that's a moot point for me.

I download and watch a few TV shows on the computer and that's about it. As long as I can get on-line and fumble about I really just need the basics.

Thanks for the help guys, at least it will give me some numbers to start with.

 

[BootHead]

oh, and when you get it figured out send me your old one, it's a couple years newer than the close-out box I picked up nearly 8 years ago E-Machines T-1090. yup "upgraded" to 512 a few years ago. baby steps, man, baby steps.

Almost breathed it's last (scary BSOD every 10 minutes) a couple years ago but I cleaned all the pet dander from her fans ans we're still here..

 

[68R/T]

I love those old E-machine cases, they're a builders dream. Any of the after-market high-end components will screw in place.

 

[BootHead]

I love those old E-machine cases, they're a builders dream. Any of the after-market high-end components will screw in place.

really?, I got 2 hard drives laying on the bottom of the box