Computer?

[zandperl]

I need to buy a PC. I attempted this last summer w/ help from kelsin, but I never got off my @$$ to actually buy it. I thought Newegg.com sold whole computers, but apparently they don't. I do not need a monitor or other peripherials, just everything that goes in the case. So what do I need to get, and do you have recommendations for which one? I

Comments

[sirroxton]

ConureCam! That's pretty great.

NewEgg does sell headless PCs:
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=10&name=Desktop-PCs

If you want to go that route, let me know, and I can try to help you pick something StarCraft-worthy.

If you want to go the component route, this guide is your best friend -- SERIOUSLY. Check out the budget box. All these boxes are designed for gaming.
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200805.ars

[zandperl]

Oh ho! It does do PCs! It got any w/o the mouse/keyboard? Yes, I do believe that's the route I'd like to go, just b/c it's so much simpler than mucking around with parts.

I'd like under $1k ideally, and I should be able to get all the software I need for free from my work or T$'s, so I don't need to buy them or have them preinstalled. If they come w/ the box though, I won't knock it.

[sirroxton]

If you're not going to build your own, it's hard not to recommend a headless Dell.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DDCWFAX&s=dhs

Upgrade to the E8300. Get the 2GB of 667. Get the HD 2400 XT. Upgrade to XP Pro.

Now, the 2400XT is not a great card. We may want to remove the video card altogether and order the Radeon HD 3850 separately on NewEgg for roughly $30 more. The HD 3850 has pretty low power consumption, but let me dig a little more and make sure that wouldn't strain the power supply on the Dell.

[sirroxton]

Or you could get the Radeon HD 2600 XT from NewEgg and actually pay less.

[zandperl]

What's the difference between the 2400XT and the HD3850?

[zandperl]

Why Dell? Reliability, cost, customer service, or something else? I'd heard that the customer service had gone downhill since their initial awesomeness.

Video card: are you saying that if I choose the 3100 Intel card, I'd then pay $130 for the Radeon HD 3850, or just $30?

Should I buy the wireless card (Dell 1505, $70) through them, or something else?

[sirroxton]

Price. The OEM price advantage for budget boxes is huge. That advantage shrinks a bit for enthusiast systems, but that's not what most people need.

2400XT = $40-$50
2600XT = $70-100
3850 = $130-$160

First off, notice that Dell is stiffing you on the price of the 2400XT. They charge $100 for it. (Buying video cards from OEMs is the equivalent of buying popcorn in the theater. The theater's margins on ticket-sales are super low, but they make up the difference at the snack counter.)

The 2400XT is a little underpowered for gamers, although it'll probably run Starcraft 2 acceptably well. That title is expected to not have really high requirements.

The 2600XT is a mainstream gamer's card, and should play all upcoming games acceptably well.

The 3850 is a high value mid-range card. You won't need to make trade-offs between resolution and antialiasing.

[seekingferret]

My experience with Dell has been high quality, responsive customer service. But my other experience has been poor quality components- shoddy plastic cases that are underengineered and break, capacitors made out of spec (one summer I worked tech support for a company plagued all summer by exploding capacitors in Dell computers), and an utter lack of quality control. I usually opt for Dell because I tend to view computers as commodities and don't mind if they break down as long as they're cheap. But you, coming from a Mac background, may find Dell quality control frustrating.

[zandperl]

But you, coming from a Mac background, may find Dell quality control frustrating.

You forget, I'm the statistical anomaly for Macs: every problem that others haven't had with their Macs, I have.

I don't think of myself as a Mac user. I think of myself as a both Mac and PC user. I have only had a Mac at home for the past 6 years; I primarily owned PCs for 8 years (and before that I used my parents' PC). I've had much more problems with Macs in the shorter time I've had them than I've ever had with PCs. IIRC though, my most recent PC was a Dell, and I never had problems with it.