PC Advice needed, Please!

[PackCat]

I am looking for a GREAT Desktop! The one I have now is 8 years old, a Gateway that has been upgraded as much as it can!

I want something that will last me that long again. I need speed and storage where it will not store up and make it slow.

Advice????

Price is a concern looking under $1,000, if possible. I have a Monitor, just need the tower.

[dcarolina187]

Well, if your Gateway has lasted you that long might want to get a new Gateway but if you want different name brand computer i have a Compaq an mine is around 7 years old an it still runs like its new it's very fast i watch movies an download songs everyday an it anit slow down a bit

[PackCat]

My Gateway was custom made, they do not do that anymore. I did not think they were the same buying at Best Buy or a place like that??

[Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ]

Save yourself some money and build one. You can get twice the machine for the same price you would pay for a gateway.

let me know if you need some help. I just built mine 3 weeks ago for under $800 and it's a gaming rig.

[PackCat]

Save yourself some money and build one. You can get twice the machine for the same price you would pay for a gateway.

let me know if you need some help. I just built mine 3 weeks ago for under $800 and it's a gaming rig.

What site did you go to? I would love the help. I just know that I want fast and to last long!! As far as specs I am clueless!

[Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ]

I bought every part at newegg.com

Some specs of my system.

MSI K9a2 platinum motherboard

AMD 9950 quadcore processor with a huge cpu fan from freezer extreme

ATI 4870 video card

4 gig OCZ Reaper memory

Vista premium

2 hard drives

Thing you have to think about is if you want an Intel or AMD processor then go from there.

I like AMD since I game a good bit and they are cheaper compared to the intel units.

[GRWatcher]

My HP is 7 years old and running just fine. I've upgraded the power supply, graphics card & put in a 2nd hard drive. If you're concerned about storage, consider an external HD.

[natty]

What site did you go to? I would love the help. I just know that I want fast and to last long!! As far as specs I am clueless!

If you don't know how to build your own computer I'd just get a dell. Something like this is a good buy imo.

[Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ]

If you can put a bookshelf or piece of furniture together you can put a pc together.

Getting a Dell or Gateway is a crap shoot. Both companies are terrilble on customer service and the parts they put in their computers. I had a gateway back a few years ago and it was nothing but problems from day 1, it's the reason I learned how to put one together myself.

[Zaximus]

No to Compaq, No to HP, no to Gateway.

If you want one of those off-the-shelf PC's, get a Dell or a Acer. I've bought 25-30 Acers at my work (off pcconnection.com) and we've only had 1 bad CDROM. Keep in mind our employees use these PC's 8-10 hours a day, for the last 5 years. They aren't heavy in graphics though.

Building it yourself is the best bet, for sure.

[cookinwithgas]

I've bought 2 HPs in the past 3 years for my daughter and I. On mine I added a video card and some more RAM for gaming, hers, her hard drive failed a year into it but it was under warranty. Hers was a cheaper model.

I used to build my own PCs but found it was not worth a weekend of tinkering, trying to load/find drivers, etc. to save maybe 50-75 bucks on a 500$ machine. Preloaded PCs have all that stuff ready to go as far as drivers, and someone, somewhere, has tested the parts together and determined that they all play well together enough to offer a warranty to the machine as a whole.

[Zaximus]

I've bought 2 HPs in the past 3 years for my daughter and I. On mine I added a video card and some more RAM for gaming, hers, her hard drive failed a year into it but it was under warranty. Hers was a cheaper model.

I used to build my own PCs but found it was not worth a weekend of tinkering, trying to load/find drivers, etc. to save maybe 50-75 bucks on a 500$ machine. Preloaded PCs have all that stuff ready to go as far as drivers, and someone, somewhere, has tested the parts together and determined that they all play well together enough to offer a warranty to the machine as a whole.

Everything you buy to build a PC comes with driver discs, in the last 10 years I've never built a PC that didn't come with all of that.

[PackCat]

I called Dell to build them for me just the PC and it was 931.00 for that.

With the Gateway that I have, I was told that it could only hold up to 1GB hard drive, so how does that external thing work? Is that really worth doing that or just getting a new computer?

[Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ]

1GB hard drive? You sure he didn't mean memory? If he meant memory and you can only go to 1GB, damn.

Here is a 1TB external for under $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822204069