best way to get a new (budget) computer

[Lythe Featherblade]

Those who know me know I've been having problems with game crashes, the fact that I haven't been on in over a week now is that the game crashes seemed to be my 7 year old computer giving up. (my final conclusion is motherboard related, and the rest of the parts aren't worth saving).

So right now I'm looking for a computer on a budget. My one hope is that someone in the lower mainland (vancouver, BC canada) area is able to send me a copy of the computer magazine that lists all the deals the vendors have (I live on the island), so that next time a friend or relative makes a trip over I know where the deals are and can just arrange for them to pick the computer up. If there's an online version that would be even better.

The other is if there's an online store that actually has decent prices and reasonable shipping. Being in canada, I have doubts anything from the states would stay competitive price-wise due to shipping/border fees.

Budget wise I'm looking to stay under $450 including XP home (~$400US).

Parts wise here's a system I am considering, while possibly upgrading to an athelon 3200+ processor (anyone have thoughts on that?)

AMD Sempron 64Bit 2800+ CPU
MSI K8MM-V Motherboard_8xUSB2.0
512MB DDR 400_PC3200 Samsung DDR
160GB 7200rpm SATAII Hard Drive
S3 Unichrome Pro Video (O/B)
Realtek ALC655 6-Channel Sound(O/B)
10/100 Network Card (O/B),2XSerialATA(O/B), LG 52X32X52 CD-RW, 18" 350W & 2XUSB Front Tower Case
(also mouse, keyboard, speakers, but I'll propably drop those to cut costs)
windows xp home
total price $383 (without cpu upgrade) plus taxes/shipping etc.


I do have a radeon 9600 agp video card to plug in, I don't need anything beyond the basic tower.. and if anyone is not living too far from BC and wants to sell a not too old system, I'd consider those too.

Anyone who thinks I'm an idiot for settling for a bare bones system like that feel free to speak up, but seeing as my wife's computer is an athlon 3200+ with a gig of ram, lacking only a video card (which is in the mail) but more importantly me lacking access to it, I feel it's hard to justify a better computer, especially since I can always swap hard drives with hers if I have an ok system and need the extra ram for higher end games.

[Ironfang]

www.ncix.com

BC based online and walk-in store.

[resonance378]

You can always try NewEgg although it's a states based company I think.

[terroken2]

I got mine 2 months ago from walmart for $368 on sale. Same one as this one below so Keep an eye on Walmart online...
Only had to add 512 more ram and can play NWN2 on it albeit isnt the fastest and has lag in game some but it is playable. But you have a card so that should help.

www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5280738

[thedomicron]

keep an eye out for open item laptops at best buy or comp usa. see what they have, go home and do some research, sometimes you can get lucky with a budget rig which is 100-150 off. use that money to upgrade the ram and you might end up with something decent. just have to make sure the thing is easily upgradable.

also: try a forum like Anand Tech or HardForum. post the peices you have left, and then ask for help with gathering parts to build a newer system on your budget. ask them if its better to upgrade or buy new. they're uber geeks there and are more than willing to help usually. they like for you to do some reading around on their many FAqS and such first.

[Lythe Featherblade]

Thanks for the advice

after a bit of thinking I've decided to that IF I buy new, I might as well get the best bang for my buck, and not buy something that isn't upgradable in 2 years and can actually run for 7 years (and handle most things) like the computer that just died did.

The if is hinging on the matter of repairing the old, as my boss at work is debating getting rid of some old computer parts, and I could end up with a free PIII 866 chip and motherboard, which might be enough fix my own.

On the other hand, NCIX seems pretty decent, if the mb from work doesn't pan out, then here's the system (after much tweaking) that I'm seriously considering (remember prices are in $can, so for $US go about 80%). It's reasonably fast, can handle things for a while, and having a nice energy efficient cpu always helps.

Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Brisbane 1.9GHZ 2X512KB 65NM 65W OEM
(ADO3600IAA5DD) $125.91
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-M61VME-S2 mATX AM2 GF6100 NF400 PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Video Sound LAN Motherboard
(GA-M61VME-S2) $74.97
Memory Corsair Value Select PC2-5300 1X1024MB DDR2-667 240PIN DIMM
(VS1GB667D2) $84.99
Case nGear TK-8330B 16IN mATX Case Black 4X5.25 2X3.5 5X3.5INT 450W Front USB
(TK-8330B) $45.15
IDE Hard Drives Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 80GB SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 8.5MS 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty
(0A32727) $60.40
DVD Writer Liteon DVD+RW 18X8X16 DVD-RW 18X6X16 DL 8X CDRW 48X32X48 IDE Black OEM
(LH-18A1P-185) $43.60
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OEM
(N09-01153OEM) $109.75
Mouse Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse USB PS/2 OEM
(831115-0000) $13.95
Warranty 1 Year Parts & 1 Years Labour Limited Warranty On System Components
(1YEAR-DEPOT)
Full assembly and testing of the system.

This includes warranty coverage of the complete computer system (excluding monitor options, system options and software options, which are covered under individual warranties) as assembled and tested at NCIX.com. Usually ships after 3 to 5 business days.
YOUR TOTAL
All quoted prices are in CANADIAN DOLLARS
$558.73

PS I refuse to use celerons, even if they are free. I feel you shouldn't take a major hit to your processor before any other components come into play.

PPS these computer building programs are fun! Playing around on NCIX I put together a system that might function, (theoretically all the parts work together), and after 4 processors and 4 video cards (which the motherboard I found could handle), some server software, and 8 high definition LCD supersized screens, I built a $73,000.00+ computer system.

[Lythe Featherblade]

In the end the best budget PC is the free one. Got the computer from work, PIII 866 chip+MB +case, added the rest of the parts from my old computer, and it runs roughly as fast as my old one. (laugh if you want, but it does handle nwn decently) The sweet part is that the parts were from a backup server with fast swappable hard drives, so the parts are in mint condition with propably only a few (if any) hours of run time.

The weekly deals at NCIX are so very tempting, but considering the trends in hardware, I might as well wait until HG switches over to NWN2, and then buy new.

Any ideas on how long you'll still be able to buy windows XP with a new system? Being forced to get vista is the only downside I see to waiting too long.

[illandous]

You will no longer be able to by XP on a new system. Microsoft will not allow it unless it was on the shelf before the release date.

I'm sure that you would be able to find a copy out there somewhere though.

[chainlink]

I always build my own as I like to know whats in it and it gives me a heads up on problems before having to open it up. The system you've quoted above looks OK as it has the ability to take a better graphics card although I'd want at least a 160GB hard drive (and preferably the biggest I could afford) as they always run out of space when you start installing games. What ever you get don't expect it to last for seven years though (unless you play the same games for the entire life of the PC) as the speed of change seems to have ramped up somewhat and when DirectX 10 games are released it'll be time for a graphics investment if you want to play them at any sort of decent framerate.