Will be replacing old PC and need some advice

[tango71]

Hi folks,

I am new to the boards and find that this forum to be very helpful and informative. I am pretty knowledgeable about computers but not to the sense of knowing how to build one entirely from scratch. I am currently in the Philippines but have lived in Guam for several years. I left my old PC 500mhz Intel Pentium 3 back in Guam and settled for a second hand 233mhz Pentium 2 HP Kayak here in the Philippines. I work with graphics a lot and would like to replace my HP with some thing better. I would like to ask your opinion about the computer components that I will be buying soon. This is a pre-packaged PC and will be adding on some features to meet my needs.

These are the specs:

Package includes Free 15" AOC Samsung Color Digital Monitor, AMD Athlon 1800XP, ECS K7VMM Motherboard, 128MB SDRAM PC133K (Kingston), 32MB TNT2 M64 AGP Video Card, 40GB Maxtor/Western Digital Hard Disk drive, Midtower ATX Case with Power Supply, Keyboard, 500W AVR, 1.44MB Floppy disk drive, USB Ports, Stereo Multimedia Speakers, Audio Control Onboard, Mouse w/pad, glass filter and 3pc cover.

For this entire package it cost about P20, 480 or $409.60

This is the pre-packaged PC w/ upgrades

Casing: ATX Midtower with power supply (didn't detail how many watts for power supply)
Processor: AMD Athlon 1800XP
Motherboard: ECS K7VMM motherboard
HD: 40GB Maxtor/Western Digital Hard Disk drive
RAM: 256MB SDRAM (upgrade)
Graphic Card: 64MB GeForce2 MX400 AGP Video Card (upgrade)
Sound Card: On Board
CD-ROM: Cyberdrive 60x CDROM Drive (upgrade)
CD-RW: Sony 40x12x48 CDwriter (upgrade)
Monitor: 17" AOC Digital Color monitor (upgrade)
Modem: D-Link 56kbps Internal Modem (upgrade)
UPS (Optional): Tornado 500VA UPS (upgrade)

In pesos this will cost about = P34, 530 or $690.60
Without UPS = P32, 300 or $646.60

Well, that's about it. Thanks in advance to whom will reply.

Regards,
Tango

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

It sounds like a decent setup to me and certainly more powerful than your current system. The only things I can see that I would change is I would want at least 512 RAM if you do a lot of graphics and I would go for a DVD drive if you have a CDRW rather than another CD drive.

Good luck,
Budfred

[Whyzman]

Is an Operating System included?

Have you taken a look at NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com) and priced your selected components individually?

17" monitors are getting dirt cheap...perhaps around $100

Therefore, it looks like you're potentially around $600 depending on if you get an OS with the prepackaged.

My intentions are just to toss out the possibility that with assembling yourself you could potentially move components around to fill your specific needs...such as Budfred pointed out with the RAM boost.

One consideration is if you run into a problem where you suspect a particular component...or know it is a specific component failure. You may void warranty if you mess under the hood at all...which could mean that you'd need to ship the entire system back to have it serviced.

If you assemble yourself, you can swap out components and keep going...just a couple of thoughts....

I think you could stay within the budget you've established and focus the choices a bit better...

[tango71]

Thank you budfred for the welcome. Yes, you are right about the increase in RAM it will speed up my operations when I am dealing with graphics. I will be considering that option.

Thanks for the Newegg link Whyzman, but unfortunately this company only delivers to the US and Puerto Rico. I wish I could build my own PC but at this moment I don't have a clue. I do have fair knowledge about what is inside a PC and how it works the problem is what parts to buy and how to install it! :D

I will buy my PC here in the Philippines just incase I need some technical support I won't have to ship the entire system. I still have to find out whether the pre-packaged system includes an OS and also what brand of RAM the 256 upgrade will be.

[saphalline]

Here's a thought: Crucial (www.crucial.com/) will ship practically anywhere in the world (give them a call toll-free for questions) and they make top quality RAM. Not only that, but PC133 is now considered "older" (but still plenty fast for you) so it's dirt-cheap. I would leave that bundled PC's RAM at the standard 128MB, then just order two 256MB sticks from Crucial and pop those in for 512MB total! Oh, and throw out that 128MB stick of what is probably generic cr*ppy RAM! :p

The reason I say this is because if you price the upgrade to the 256MB and then go to Crucial's website and price what their RAM would cost, you'd probably find the prices to be very close. So I figure why settle for what they charge for RAM? Get your own. :) Most PC OEM's charge major for RAM upgrades so they can make a fortune off the amount of RAM that you should have gotten standard anyway! :mad:

EDIT - Just went to check on Crucial's prices (http://www.crucial.com/store/listModule.asp?module=SDRAM%2C+PC133&cat=RAM&package=168-pin+DIMM&submit=Go) of PC133 SDRAM. A 256MB stick of CAS2 is $41.39, so that's about $83 total for 512MB of top quality RAM! Add in some for shipping, don't know what that would be to the Phillipines, but I'm guessing that would still be pretty cheap compared to how much the "upgrade" would be for this bundle you're looking at. Am I right?

[tango71]

Hi saphalline,

Thanks for the tip and link about the RAM that I am thinking of purchasing. I didn't realize that this type of RAM (PC133) is out of date, but now I know and good thing I found this board! :D I called the dealer yesterday to inquire about the type of RAM that I will be getting. They do not carry 512 sticks but do carry 256 Kingston RAM for about $22 so 2 RAM's will cost me about $44 to get a 512 RAM upgrade into the package. Still affordable compared to Crucial's prices, but I do appreciate your input. :)

I was wondering if you have any thoughts about the Elephant sound card? This is the first time I heard of this brand. I asked the dealer if they carry Sound Blasters 5.1 but they said they do not and suggested the Elephant sound card instead.

[saphalline]

I was wondering if you have any thoughts about the Elephant sound card?
Never heard of it. Can't be all that great for gaming, tho. Maybe OK for music and basic sound, but the standard for PC games has been Sound Blaster for the last decade. Do they have any other Sound Blasters? Maybe the SB PCI 128? Or even an old SB PCI 16?

If not, ask if you can buy a sound card and have them install it. Or just get it without any sound card and do it yourself. The problem with them installing some Elephant sound card is that it might not uninstall completely (a total reinstall of Windows would take care of it). Then you're left with Elephant debris clogging up your system when you replace it with a Sound Blaster! :(