I don't really see it like that, if you can plug in a USB mouse into your laptop then you posses all the skills necessary to install a graphics card. Updating drivers on the other hand takes quite a bit more technical skill. Also, people who haven't built their own computer usually don't know what hardware is even in their machine, so they are incapable of keeping it updated.DeathsHands said:
Gaming Desktop
- Thread starter peel15
- Start date
Well, regardless, we can't really be throwing around generalizations like this; it looks bad.Cronq said:
^ He's right ^Cronq said:
Because there's nothing like spending 1k on a sweet PC only to have it clog up with dust and viruses a few months down the track because you're not motivated to keep it clean and maintained. Windows 7 takes care of drivers and software for you 95% of the time, and some good antivirus/spyware programs are free, but owning a PC is not as simple as having a console: hooked up to your TV, turning it on and off when you feel like playing a game. In a manner of speaking, a PC is for life, not for christmas
But anyways, if COST is your highest priority i'd go AMD for CPU (they may be cheaper, but my Phenom II 965 still runs Crysis, Metro 2033 etc etc at full spec 1920x1080 just as good as any hyper-expensive intel i7), some cheap value ddr2 ram, and anything up to a 1gb of good graphics RAM. DON'T skimp on the power supply! Everything else in the PC, yes, but you don't want a dirty $20 PSU frying your entire computer. At least $100, from a respectable brand, and make sure there's more than enough Wattage to run all the components at their full loads, otherwise pop goes the entire very expensive weasel..
I just got a friend of a friend to build my PC..but computer shops (not retail shops, actual PC maintainance shops) will do the job...for a price. Have fun.
There's also a major difference between getting a prebuilt from a small tech house or whatever, which can come very close to getting a custom build, and getting a prebuilt from a major brand that just shits out systems jammed with substandard, underpowered hardware.AC10 said:
Occassionally parts retailers will also have a line or two of systems they sell that, when you tally up what they're charging for the component parts, are actually cheaper than buying the parts and building the rig yourself. Good find if what they offer matches your needs (has happened twice for me, saved about 100 dollarydoos each time).
You forgot to mention the pre-installed proprietary garbage they always integrate with their OSes... Even when you spend three grand on a system with decent hardware, it still runs at about 20% of the speed it should thanks to bloatware.RhombusHatesYou said:
I can't remember how many people's brand new computers I've had to run DBAN on and manually figure out all of their drivers on reinstall...
Dammit... if only there were PC pounds that were overwhelmed with unwanted giftmas PCs around febuary when their owners decided they were too much hassle to keep bothering with.BrEnNo1023 said:In a manner of speaking, a PC is for life, not for christmas
Puppies just aren't the same... You can't take 4 unwanted puppies and pull the parts out of them to make 1 power puppy... Well, you can but it just doesn't work and all you're left with is a mess to clean up and a mass of animal cruelty charges.
I usually grab prebuilds without any OS... and if I can't get them OS free the first thing I do is reformat the HDD(s) and install a clean version of the OS (well as clean as a commercial OS can be - rarely have any call from anyone to install a 'nix OS on their new machine).loc978 said:
Small tech houses and parts retailers banging together a line or two of complete systems for sale rarely have any proprietary crap to install anyway.
Ephraim has basically hit it on the head (Even though they suggested AMD, evil!)Ephraim J. Witchwood said:
Those are probably the minimum specs you are looking at. In fact I will be building a friends computer with very similar specs to this over the weekend. =3
The one thing I don't necessarily agree with is the multiple HDDs thing. (Not that it's an issue, HDDs are one of the cheapest parts for a computer unless you are getting SSDs) You can run off one HDD perfectly fine. if you are worried about the need for reformatting, you could always make (Or get someone to make for you) a backup image/self restore for your drive.
You could even partition your HDD into OS/Other halves to make this even easier.
Unless you want to kill the computer in question... in which case soda blasting would do a quicker job of it.Ephraim J. Witchwood said:
That is true, however, having multiple HDDs is not something that is terribly hard to set up, much less use. It's really no different than getting an external HDD when you run out of space.Ephraim J. Witchwood said:Yeah, I suggested AMD, sue me.Azure Sky said:
As for suggesting the possibility of multiple HDDs, the OP says that he isn't very technically inclined, and a later post saying he can barely work a toaster (obviously exaggerating), so I was going for simplicity.
always remember, a puppy is more than a sum of its functional parts. Disassemble a puppy, and put it back together, and it won't...it won't work againRhombusHatesYou said:Dammit... if only there were PC pounds that were overwhelmed with unwanted giftmas PCs around febuary when their owners decided they were too much hassle to keep bothering with.BrEnNo1023 said:In a manner of speaking, a PC is for life, not for christmas
Puppies just aren't the same... You can't take 4 unwanted puppies and pull the parts out of them to make 1 power puppy... Well, you can but it just doesn't work and all you're left with is a mess to clean up and a mass of animal cruelty charges.
A computer is just a sum of its parts, can be pulled apart, chopped and changed with other computer parts, and will still function! It's different...therefore...betterer...yes...
Oh and for the record there is a PC pound...it's called eBay
Ebay, which brings us back on topic. Go to ebay for cheap PCs that people have probably used and probably still have a giant stash of illegal downloaded movies and twisted pr0nz on their old crusty 80GB hard drives. Bazinga.