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Silent · 03-21-2005, 02:41 PM

Every pre-built system I have ever used was crap. They quickly degenerated into an unstable pain in the butt. Mind, you I'm a tweaker and so no setup of mine survives more then a week without changing.
Generally, when you are looking at a computer system, most parts have a best-bang-for the-buck catagory. With a kind of creeping featurism built in, depending on your budget.
Lately, I've been going:
AMD Processor (Barton Core, but will probabaly try the Sempron for my next build)
Asus A7N8X motherboard (Probably Asus K8NE for the next)
At least 512Mg RAM, name brand. Something with a lifetime warranty. Corsair rocks.
I've had good luck with LG brand CD/DVD devices but others have not.
I've had problems with cheap cases and heat build up. You can find some gaming cases with lost of fans pretty cheap and some already come with a power supply. Those supplies can be pretty nasty, so you may want to buy your own. Antec and Enermax supplies are good. The Antec Sonata is a good case+p/s combo for a decent price.
Best video card for a non-serious gamer is the ATI 9600. Get the XT version for a bump up in performance over the Pro. You don't need PCI express.
Western Digital (Some people don't like WD) or Seagate hardrives.
I use Samsung monitors, but they can have issues. Great picture quality, but some reliability issues. If you can afford, and don't game much, LCD is good.
Most of your other peripherals are pretty interchangeable.

All the above is my preference. Buying the parts is easy. The hard part is finding a good place to assemble them.

03-21-2005, 02:41 PM	#18
Silent Romanes Eunt Domus Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 702	Every pre-built system I have ever used was crap. They quickly degenerated into an unstable pain in the butt. Mind, you I'm a tweaker and so no setup of mine survives more then a week without changing. Generally, when you are looking at a computer system, most parts have a best-bang-for the-buck catagory. With a kind of creeping featurism built in, depending on your budget. Lately, I've been going: AMD Processor (Barton Core, but will probabaly try the Sempron for my next build) Asus A7N8X motherboard (Probably Asus K8NE for the next) At least 512Mg RAM, name brand. Something with a lifetime warranty. Corsair rocks. I've had good luck with LG brand CD/DVD devices but others have not. I've had problems with cheap cases and heat build up. You can find some gaming cases with lost of fans pretty cheap and some already come with a power supply. Those supplies can be pretty nasty, so you may want to buy your own. Antec and Enermax supplies are good. The Antec Sonata is a good case+p/s combo for a decent price. Best video card for a non-serious gamer is the ATI 9600. Get the XT version for a bump up in performance over the Pro. You don't need PCI express. Western Digital (Some people don't like WD) or Seagate hardrives. I use Samsung monitors, but they can have issues. Great picture quality, but some reliability issues. If you can afford, and don't game much, LCD is good. Most of your other peripherals are pretty interchangeable. All the above is my preference. Buying the parts is easy. The hard part is finding a good place to assemble them. Last edited by Silent; 03-22-2005 at 07:16 AM.