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Old 05-10-2006, 03:55 PM   #1
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Calling all computer "nerds"

Ok...I'm looking to build a new computer finally. My old Pentium 3 running at 450 mhz with something a bit more....modern....

I'm still using the old computer just as a file server for now, but I think it's time to get something better since the lastest build of Windows Media Player uses 50-75% of the processer resources

I'm not a gamer, I don't do A LOT of photo editing or multimedia stuff. Mostly I just go on the net, do some word processing, and listen to A LOT of music and movies. What I'm looking for then is a machine that multitasks well basically.

Here's where I'm at:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=1818123

To that I would add a decent (but nothing special) 256 or 512 mb video card from eBay. My biggest concern is that it have an s-video or component output to hook to my TV and that it doesn't bog down during movies

I will also add 2 gigs of DDR400 ram. The stuff is cheap enough and I'm sick and tired of not having enough.

A TV tuner in one of the PCI slots, a 120 gig Seagate hard drive that I have sitting around, my old CD burner, and a new DVD burner should round it out. All told I figure it will run me about $400 which is kind of a bargain it it works even twice as well as my ghetto computer does.

Any input on this set up? Also....how well does the socket A Sempron overclock? I know I will have to unlock it probably, but even if I could eek just a little more out I would enjoy learning about it.

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Old 05-10-2006, 04:15 PM   #2
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Your link takes me to Xandros instead of a computer.

IMHO I would recommend getting a Mac, even a Mac Mini would be able to let you watch your media on your TV. If you haven't seen Front Row you should take a look. You could then add one of the Elgato tv tuner/dvr systems.

http://www.elgato.com/

But since you specifically said WMC have you seen these two articles:

http://www.technudgelive.com/2006/04/bargain-dell.html
http://www.technudgelive.com/2006/05...dell-high.html

I can't see the computer you had picked out but if you are going to add a lot of your own components anyways it may be cost effective to get the $400 Dell and add your additions.

The Sempron processors are highlty overclockable due to being similar to the Athlon 64 and having the same stepping cores which are run a much slower speed in the Sempron.

Still for what is available today I would recommend the Intel Core Duo for anyone buying a new computer.
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Old 05-10-2006, 05:54 PM   #3
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Sounds like your use is simular to mine. I had got a store display emachines desktop 2 or 3 years ago for a pretty good price at the time. I do everything with it you are looking to do exept for the dvd burner. It does bog down on some of the higher quality games but I don't play that type anyways. I have a Model number T2385 Celron CPU 2.3GHz , 512 mb of ram. I have had some people tell me that emachines is a junk pc to buy. But for price who cares. I also tell them that while they paid 5 times as much as I did and if they ran it five years and I replaced mine every other year with a newer model I am ahead of them with a faster pc than they have. I have not had any problems with this one either.

Since I have cable internet I yanked the dial up modem and put in a ATI video card and I am running 2 moniters on it. Now I don't have a s video jack but I do have AVjacks to hook up to a tv if I wanted to but I hardley use that. I also put in extra usb ports in and I have a few external hard drives for backing data up. I have an extra 120 gig hard drive in it that most of my stuff is on.
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Old 05-10-2006, 06:26 PM   #4
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Sounds like your building the same computer I build about a year ago. I have an Athlon 3100, cd burner (that I had) DVD burner, 120 gig HDD 1Gig Kingston RAM, one of those 15 in one memory card readers & an extra 20 gig hdd I had laying around. I also bought a capture card recently to convert some Hi8 video tape to digital but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Shop around online, I got most of my stuff from the same place as a "bare bones" system, the motherboard, processor and power supply were already installed in the case & tested. If you've never built a computer before this is the way to go.

This is where I got my bare bones system http://www.americancomputech.com/

I looked up the order # here are the specs (keep in mind this is from a year ago)

M825G+Pro3100A Series Kit 1 $191.90 $191.90
* PC Chips M825G V9.2A, Video/Audio/LAN, DDR266/333, Retail Box
* AMD Athlon Pro3100A+ Processor
* ECS Socket A Cooling Fan
* Apacer Internal 15-in-1 Flash Memory Card Reader - Beige/Black
* Codegen 6082 Silver/Black ATX MidTower 350W P.S. w/Front Audio & USB

TOTAL Shipped was $208.32

I bought the RAM & Hard drive from Best Buy & Ckt. City, both were on sale at the time (with mail in rebates)

I think the HDD was $80.00 & the ram was $100.00

I got my DVD burner & capture card from http://www.newegg.com/ The 1st DVD burner I had wouldn’t work, they were great about getting me a replacement. All I had to do was ship them the broken one at my expense, which was about 3 or 4 bucks.

I'm just using the intergraded sound & video cards which work fine for me. I could upgrade if I ever need to.

The DVD burner & Capture card were each about $50 shipped

I probably have someware around $500 into my computer, I think it works great. I'm not a gamer either, I'm more of a multi tasker/TV show/music/movie downloader, this setup works great for me.
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Old 05-10-2006, 07:33 PM   #5
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Wow! I didn't realize so many of you spoke greek.
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Old 05-10-2006, 07:52 PM   #6
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I'd do the Mac thing, but everything I own is windows based. I don't want to dive into trying to get it all to work. I did own a Mac at one point though....a Performa 575. It was a big day when it was upgraded from 1 MB of RAM to 4 MB.

I've shopped around for the basic models from everyone else. The problem is that I feel like fr the same money I'm getting a machine that is slightly better tailored tomy needs and certainly holds more upgrading possibilities. That's what's kept that other computer alive all these years.

Here's the link to that barebones kit that I was looking at.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...9037&CatId=332

Thanks for all your input. I think I might have to jump on this and start building soon. Socket A is outdated already....might as well not push it any farther
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Old 05-11-2006, 06:21 AM   #7
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I built my Uber Computer and love it. Can watch a movie and TV at the same time.....if I wanted to.
Nice Antec Case
Good Asus mother board
2 gigs memory
Here’s my page with the specs ….
http://www.graphicsandsuch.com/home/projects/pc1.htm
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