Alright... Since I'm starting to get a steady income of money (Even though it's very little money right now) I figure I should upgrade my computer a bit... Since it's a new computer and fairly bottom of the line... It's decent... but needs so much more stuff... I need more RAM, that's the first thing I know, I can handle that on my own I do need a new video card, maybe a new keyboard and mouse... Maybe a better webcam and mic... New speakers... Everything... Yes, we... I don't know all that much about computer hardware... I'll admit it I know absolutely nothing, pretty much Which is the purpose of this thread If you could, suggest some stuff that would work well together... My computer uses Windows XP by the way, if that helps... <.<;; Thanks too

Reply

For keyboards, I like Belkin's natural/ergonomic keyboard. I'm using it right now, in fact. USB plug-in ... two USB ports on the back of the keyboard (so I don't lose any of those valuable ports - only have two on this laptop) ... and the ergonomic layout just makes typing easier, not to mention a little more comfortable.

As for the rest of the stuff: I would definitely read replies to your original postk,, but you can also look around at consumer-opinion sites for reviews of different hardware.

Reply

Hmm... Isn't Belkin a little expencive? Im pretty sure that they do stuff for Mac users pretty much, and I remember to saw some products from Belkin related to iPod accessories - man the price is astronomical! I would rather choose keyboard from Logitech or some similar manufacturer...
As for the rest of the hardware:

[+] RAM - you will find probably modules from samsung, but everything depends where you live, and what is accesible to you... Anyway for RAM there is no much guidelines, it's about amout of money you gave, decide how much ram you want, and go with it. what manufacturer of ram you choose denends only on what amout of money you are ready go give, so, you have to decide on your own... If ram has warranty, and it sure have, you will have no need to worry about choosing.
Another thing about RAM - if you think to upgrade a rest of the hardware like Motherboard or Processor, then RAM would be last thing to buy because you must know what exactly are specifications of Motherboard/Processor to choose right RAM module, because they have different speeds (you can read more about RAM here) so you will must refer to User Manual of Motherboard.

[+] MotherBoard - Which one to choose? There is whole buch of manufacturers and types... So, this would be a short guide to what to do when choosing. First, as always, check what amount of money you have. Decide what do you want from new motherboard (from now called "MBO"). But be sure that it's for your processor, so decide between AMD and Pentium(Intel). So choose your type and check if it has integrated onboard:
LAN
WLAN
enough USB ports
USB 2.0 support
FireWire support (if you are into videoediting, or you have Camera, you will need this)
SoundCard *(is it hometheatre, 2/1 5/1 7/1 system)
Modem *(dialup, you never know if you will need it...)
How many expansion slots it has (now they are PCI-express - no longer ordinary PCI expansion slots are supported)
How fast is graphic card slot (if it's PCI-express its everything ok)
---> Note: if you buy new MBO, you need a new Graphic Adapter too. because you can't plug your old graphic card (with AGP slot) into new one PCI-express one...
And that should be it about Mbo.

[+] Graphic card/adapter - okay, this is basicly simple. you see how much money you have left, and choose one of cards that have minimum of 256 MB ram on it (we talk about graphic cards here) and I would go preferably with GeeForce from nVidia. Again, you will need the one that has PCI-express slot if you buy MBO with PCI-express expansion slots on MBO.

[+] Processor - Amd or Intel? Ok, I would go with Intel, Pentium type above 3 Ghz - if I have the money. If not, choose Amd, and that 64bit version of Amd. So, basicly this is it...

[+] Cooler for processor - buy watercooling system, they are the best choice today, Thermaltake has some good water cooling systems (I have Bigwater from Thermaltake)

[+] HDD - hard drive, go with Seagate, they are not too expencive, and have quality and endurance too, but beaware all HDD drives are warm, so it would be best to use HDD cooling soulution, you can find some at local hardare informatic stores, it's not expencive stuff, maybe up to 20$, it's basicly called hdd cooler - it will boost performance of HDD and give stability to system, specially in hot summer

So, that's it... If you have any more question, feel free to post here and ask... probably my english isn't so understandable, so sorry for that...

 

 

 

Reply

It all depends on what you will do with your computer.
If you're a gamer, you're better of with some low latency ram and of course and AMD64 FX in combination with a SLI setup (tough that would cost you over $1200)

If you just want to do some office work, you can look for something like a A64 3200+, some cheap ram and a normal videocard.

There are a few tips:
CPU wise:
- High End Intel Chips tend to get HOT and they also consume a lot, try to avoid them.
- If you do a lot of multitasking (eg. videocompression and gaming), you can buy a Dual Core CPU. These CPU's have (like the name says), 2 CPU cores and the power of 2 CPU (it's not like intel's HT, there yoy only have 1 CPU). AMD offers you the A64 X2 and Intel offers you the P4 D.
-Don't get SocketA semprons or S754 A64 cpu's, these sockets don't offer any upgradability in the future.

Memory wise:
-If you go A64, make shure you don't buy 4 Double Side RAM, because these will have to work at a Command Rate of 2T, wich is slow(er).
-Don't be happy with only 512Mb, 1Gb is the standard nowadays.
-Latencies are important, 2.0-2-2-11 is a lot faster than 3.0-4-4-11, but you'll have to pay for it.
-You could also consider getting higher clocked memory (250Mhz). A64's can have lower multi's, so you can up the HTbus and memory clock while maintaining the same clock speed, of course, this will work faster because of the higher bandwith.

VGA wise:
-PCIe
-512Mb is fun, but not worth the money
-There are a lot of cards out there, you'll have to find some reviews to get the best choise. I (and probably other) can help if we know what you'll be doing with the pc.
-SLI/Crossfire can yield high performance, but it's an expensive step, only get it if you realy need the power.

Just tell us what kind of computer it'll be, so we can help you more specific.

Reply

well i really need more information before i can help you. i costum build computers for my self and friends n other people based on their spend cost. give me a number of total amount of money you gonna spend. n tell me the use for the computer such as gaming, data, etc.

Reply

Well, my computer can handle anything but any decent games released within the last twoish years...

So my needs are for gaming, mostly...

As for money... I don't have that much of it to spend, so don't list any incredible top-of-the-line stuff that's only gonna get me excited


And thanks for the help, everyone
Keep sugesting stuff though, if anyone has anything different

Reply

www.newegg.com

ill make a list for you later. there some new stuff that just came out.

Reply