PC shopping.

[Kenoi]

Well one of these days, I'm currently saving up for a whole new PC, cause this one has one too many problems. the recent one was... that anti-virus problem like I posted in that one thread, (it got resolved with norton, thanks to Jokersvirus)
and now I dont think its the software anymore, so now this computer has frequent freeze ups... nothing's wrong, I checked for spyware, etc. all that.
I think this computer's reaching its last 'mega byte' <--- I try to joke..

but anyway, I just have questions, hope some of you can help (without rude comments & stuff like that, i'm just here for help please. moderators you can help me right?) this PC is from 2005, i'm just lookin to switch.

Are Shuttle PC's good? cons? pros?

what about this computer: hp pavilion s5710f

or maybe somethin better?

also, I cannot buy a computer from Best Buy... cause they F'd us up on the return fees... always read the fine print.... they are a nasty-shady-want-your-money-so-bad type of company. (would not discuss, its a long story)

recommendations? All I'm looking for is just a home/gaming type of pc.

thanks in advance.

[LiNuX]

Can't comment on Shuttle PCs. I've owned two HP computers in my life, first one lasted about 8 years, second one is still alive (currently used by my sister) and I bought that in 2002 or 2003. It has had problems such as the GPU failing and hard drive being slow, so I've replaced a lot of parts in there, so HP is good.

If you can, build it yourself (or find someone to do it for you). It's always better imo because you can customize every part of it, rather than what companies like dell have where you have a choice between 2-3 processors, gpu's, etc.

I have tutorial videos on building your own PC and there are plenty more around youtube if you think you can do it yourself. You'd probably end up saving a lot more money too.

[Kenoi]

hmm... Linux, don't you have a PC building site? and.... I kinda do feel confident, but I suddenly changed my mind cause... I'm good on everything, its just the motherboard --> CPU part of it.... haha.

so HP? hmm.
and also, I've been to places that have custom built PC's.... some of them I don't even trust cause the guy treats the customers like sh... crap. & its the only near place. next place is a 4 hour drive... I can't do that... haha.

and ibuypower & many other sites they're cool... but... how are they tested? & do they even come in the mail in good condition? how long do custom built pc's last....? thats what I wanna know... man, I have so much questions.

[LiNuX]

Yeah, link is on my sig called "custom computers" - and it's pretty easy, the motherboard especially. Just sit and screw it on. Same with CPU, usually just clips on.

My friend's cousin bought a pc from ibuypower after I offered him to build a pc, his pc stopped working after a month and had to go through a week or so of hassle to return his pc, and wait for a fix.

I have no experience with them though, and that's the closest person I know that went with them.

And Custom PC's have different life spans. Depends on how well you take care of it and stuff. My current pc will be 5 years old next January, still runs great.

Even a new pc won't last long if you're careless. I used to have a toshiba laptop, burned it in one year playing too many games years ago (back in 2002-2003).

[Psychotray]

Its a really hard and long process to make a custom computer, at least for me it is. I tried making my own computer once and ended up ruining all the parts. I recommend getting a Mac. Macs work very great, but I'd stick with what LinuX said and make a custom one.

[blackopzombie]

I would recommend using newegg for pc parts

[TheGateKeeper]

Well one of these days, I'm currently saving up for a whole new PC, cause this one has one too many problems. the recent one was... that anti-virus problem like I posted in that one thread, (it got resolved with norton, thanks to Jokersvirus)
and now I dont think its the software anymore, so now this computer has frequent freeze ups... nothing's wrong, I checked for spyware, etc. all that.
I think this computer's reaching its last 'mega byte' <--- I try to joke..

but anyway, I just have questions, hope some of you can help (without rude comments & stuff like that, i'm just here for help please. moderators you can help me right?) this PC is from 2005, i'm just lookin to switch.

Are Shuttle PC's good? cons? pros?

what about this computer: hp pavilion s5710f

or maybe somethin better?

also, I cannot buy a computer from Best Buy... cause they F'd us up on the return fees... always read the fine print.... they are a nasty-shady-want-your-money-so-bad type of company. (would not discuss, its a long story)

recommendations? All I'm looking for is just a home/gaming type of pc.

thanks in advance.

Like "LiNuX" has said, try to build it yourself. It's not really that hard, I did on my my own the first time and I didn't even use the internet. The only reference I had was the motherboard manual, I saw where everything went etc and plugged in from there. You learn the more advanced things as you go along, but that's the basics.

For brands, here is a rundown:

Ram: Corsair
Motherboards: Asus
Graphic Card: Used both Nvidia and ATI in my past builds, go with MSI or Asus
Power Supply: Have used both Corsair and Sea Sonic
Mouse: Razer
Headset: Creative
CPU: Have used both AMD and Intel
Hard Drives: Western Digital

Hope this helps buddy. If you do decide to go and build your own computer, read this.

[Slay]

Mine is custom built, most of the things you asked about got answered so here are some bonus things.

If your computer is crashing due to stress, put in a flash drive and use backup with it. It helps a lot, it basically acts as slow ram.

If you plan on building your own PC, I would suggest not buying anything integrated, because chances are you're going to want to buy more hardware in the future.

[TheGateKeeper]

Mine is custom built, most of the things you asked about got answered so here are some bonus things.

If your computer is crashing due to stress, put in a flash drive and use backup with it. It helps a lot, it basically acts as slow ram.

If you plan on building your own PC, I would suggest not buying anything integrated, because chances are you're going to want to buy more hardware in the future.

Never thought about using a flash drive as ram. I think it is cheaper to just get more ram though, I don't think anyone uses more than 8 gig from normal operations.

I also don't think any high-end motherboards have integrated stuff other than sound card and a network port, but I guess those are mandatory.