I want a new computer but I'm at a loss where to go...

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Cliche

OEM Depot is toast. They went back to ottawa/ontario. Both stores in Calgary are shuttered(They had their going out of biz sales last december)

You must be thinking of somebody else.

http://www.oemdepot.com/contact.asp

I've stopped in there within the last month.

[Vulcan]

One thing about NCIX are the forums and the user reviews. I did a lot of research there before ordering my system. The other thing that NCIX does, is price match.
Here is a good site for finding the best Canadian prices.

http://www.shopbot.ca/computers.html

If you decide to go the NCIX route, be sure to go to the Sale area, as the prices are a lot cheaper. What I put in my system, depended largely on what was on sale as well as what was compatible.

I got them to put together my system. It costs $25 dollars but it ensures everything is working and they even include a 3DMark 06 score.

Here is what I got in a big sale at the end of July.
1. Assembly and testing $25
2.Antec Sonata III case and 500 watt PSU [including free shipping] $109.99
3. Vista Home Premium $115.98
4. Arctic Freezing Cooler Pro7 $22.99
5.Samsung DVD +RW $36.99
6. Corsair memory XMS2 Twin 2X2064-6400C4 $149.99 minus a MIR $40 rebate.
7. Intel Core 2 Duo e6750 $206.99
8. Seagate Barracuda 500 GB SATA2 Hard Drive $99.99
9. Asus P5KC Motherboard $158.99
10. Yate Loon D12SL Cooling Fan $1.99
11. EVGA E-Geforce 8600 GTS Superclocked $212.00 [I price matched this]

Total came to $1118.01 with $17.11 shipping insurance beforer taxes.

I've easily overclocked this system from 2.67 Ghz to 3.0Ghz and it seems very stable.

You would probably want to upgrade the video card to an 8800GTS or GTX for gaming but I don't think this case will fit a GTX, so add a $100 for a 8800GTS. There are also some pretty good 22" monitors for under $300 . So you can put together a top system for about $1600 as some of the prices I got have gone up.
I'm not saying to get the same system as mine but it will give you some ideas. The Quad Core e6600 for $289.00 seems to be very popular. Oh yeah, Intel seems to be the way to go right now.

[Byrns]

Originally Posted by MaDMaN_26

Thanks guys... I think this helps - I got reading that Sharky Extreme guide and that looks interesting...

I think it comes down to me getting a better handle on the coponents as well... like not knowing that Nvidia doesn't make cards and who Ge-Force is, also understanding things like what exactly the Dual core and quad processors are and how they differ from what I have (an older pentium) - they still say they are only 2.4 or 3 ghz but are some how waaaay faster....

I noticed in worth and photons setups no sound card... could that not create a bottle neck of sorts in a gaming system??

@Byrns - monitors - nto sure , not even sure I'd want dual... maybe just a wide screen - 23ish inch... had not really decided... also I play any of those games... FPS or strategy are up my ally, I bought D&D online but my pc could not run it... so a MMORPG is not out of the question either...

I have a Dell 24" LCD (awesome and highly recommended), and I've got the 320mb Nvidia and it works great for me for the games I'm currently playing (WoW and Medevial 2), but if you're going to play something like Bioshock you'll want the 640mb card at least if you want to play it with everything turned on, on a 22"+ LCD. Take a look on Tomshardware at their Graphics charts to gauge the performance differences. My LCD, for reference sake, runs at 1920 x 1200. If you've got a 24" LCD you won't have a reason to go dual, nor the desk space most likely.

[GreenLantern]

I do not live in Edmonton or Calgary but have had Mem Express reccomended to me as an out of province provider. I cross referenced some systems with Tigerdirect.ca and they beat most of their prices, as well as dell.

I am looking to build a new system for around $1,000. Need a good new gaming system for the fall, I am still digging around the mem express site... I know a little still about what to look for, but I am mostly lost I will reference my finds with you guys for input, this thread is going to be very helpful.

[flamesftw]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I do not live in Edmonton or Calgary but have had Mem Express reccomended to me as an out of province provider. I cross referenced some systems with Tigerdirect.ca and they beat most of their prices, as well as dell.

I am looking to build a new system for around $1,000. Need a good new gaming system for the fall, I am still digging around the mem express site... I know a little still about what to look for, but I am mostly lost I will reference my finds with you guys for input, this thread is going to be very helpful.

I've found ncix generally has superior pricing even with shipping for me(and i live in calgary so no shipping costs with memoryexpress). You should look into them as well, especially their weekly deals.

[flamesftw]

I forgot to add that if you are looking at purchasing vista, ebay may be the best option. I was able to buy a BNIB windows vista ultimate edition full retail(not oem, academic, ect ect) for about 230 bucks canadian including shipping.

For reference that retails for about 530 bucks with GST here.

[Cliche]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

You must be thinking of somebody else.

http://www.oemdepot.com/contact.asp

I've stopped in there within the last month.

Hmmm.. Guess they moved and just shut down their south store.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the other computer companies around town, like Computer Rack and BCOM...

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Cliche

Hmmm.. Guess they moved and just shut down their south store.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the other computer companies around town, like Computer Rack and BCOM...

I meant to mention them, they are all within a block of each other.

[Bertuzzied]

I'd go with memory express. Just picked up the quad 6600 on the weekend. If you don't mind waiting for your processor and you are building try www.directcanada.com . The processor is only $288 there compared to $319 at memxpress. Free ground shipping if you order over $300.

[LockedOut]

Originally Posted by Kobatuzzied

I'd go with memory express. Just picked up the quad 6600 on the weekend. If you don't mind waiting for your processor and you are building try www.directcanada.com . The processor is only $288 there compared to $319 at memxpress. Free ground shipping if you order over $300.

NCIX owners also own Directcanada and also another online store which I can't remember (almost same name as NCIX).

Edit: This is the store I couldn't remember NXSource http://www.nxsource.com/

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Kobatuzzied

I'd go with memory express. Just picked up the quad 6600 on the weekend. If you don't mind waiting for your processor and you are building try www.directcanada.com . The processor is only $288 there compared to $319 at memxpress. Free ground shipping if you order over $300.

That seems to be the best price in Canada by a dollar over NCIX. Most companies seem to be willing to price match these days, so if a person wants to deal locally with memxpress or another outfit, I'd use Shopbot, which I linked to in my earlier post. I'd just write down all the prices and sites where I found them and take the list into the store after checking that they'll price match.

[Vulcan]

One of the big selling points for these Intel core 2 dual processsors is that they overclock easily and well if you get a proper motherboard. For those wanting to save some money, the e4300, 4400, and 4500 make a good choice and after overclocking suffer very little performance lose compared to the more expensive processors. These are listed for $129- to $150 on Shopbot.

The other advantage to using one of these processors is that they have a multipliar between 9 and 11. This allows you to by cheaper, slower memory and still get good over clocks, as the memory is tied to the Front Side Bus. The higher you take the FSB, the higher the memory you need. Say if you buy an e4300 with a 9 multiplier, you will have to overclock the FSB to 333 [333x9] to get 3.0 Mgz. 333 is the speed of DDR2 5300 memory rated at 667mhz. So the cheaper PC2 PC2-5300 will work fine at a 1:1 ratio with the e4300 compared to the PC2-6400 that I bought. I'm not great at explaining this, but money can be saved for say a better video card.

[Burninator]

Bought the 22" Samsung tonight. I must say I am impressed. The jump from 19" CRT to 22" LCD widescreen is amazing. Quite happy with the purchase.

[worth]

the samsungs are good panels. once you go widescreen, you'll never go back.

[MaDMaN_26]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

One of the big selling points for these Intel core 2 dual processsors is that they overclock easily and well if you get a proper motherboard. For those wanting to save some money, the e4300, 4400, and 4500 make a good choice and after overclocking suffer very little performance lose compared to the more expensive processors. These are listed for $129- to $150 on Shopbot.

The other advantage to using one of these processors is that they have a multipliar between 9 and 11. This allows you to by cheaper, slower memory and still get good over clocks, as the memory is tied to the Front Side Bus. The higher you take the FSB, the higher the memory you need. Say if you buy an e4300 with a 9 multiplier, you will have to overclock the FSB to 333 [333x9] to get 3.0 Mgz. 333 is the speed of DDR2 5300 memory rated at 667mhz. So the cheaper PC2 PC2-5300 will work fine at a 1:1 ratio with the e4300 compared to the PC2-6400 that I bought. I'm not great at explaining this, but money can be saved for say a better video card.

I'm trying to wrap my head around your post Vulcan as it sounds interesting and like I need to understand the rating of my Ram in comparison to my processor... but I never knew that... I'm not sure I'm fully understanding... anyone else want to take a stab at explaining this to me -lol....

[worth]

Everything you could ever want to know on OC a C2D/C2Q:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647

Although I don't think OC is something anyone should try without background knowledge first. I think it would probably be easier for you to forget about OC and go with a C2D/C2Q

You also may want to sign up on the hard forum board because there is a wealth of knowledge there and a lot of computer people there that can help you out and a lot of threads to wade through.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by MaDMaN_26

I'm trying to wrap my head around your post Vulcan as it sounds interesting and like I need to understand the rating of my Ram in comparison to my processor... but I never knew that... I'm not sure I'm fully understanding... anyone else want to take a stab at explaining this to me -lol....

It isn't a direct correlation.
Here is a very simplified explanation:
The processor is made to run at a certain speed.
However, with some processors you can make them run faster. You do this simply by making them run faster (this is called overclocking (OC)).
In order to overclock, you need to increase the speed of the "clock", and you do that (one way) by changing a multiplier.
However, when you play with how fast the processor runs, you can't forget the memory - how fast can it save data, how fast can it supply data. So when you change the multiplier, on some motherboards it also changes how fast the memory needs to work.

Only about 1% of people every play with things like that. You need to worry about stability, memory timings, BIOS settings, power settings, and heat dissipation. But if you are willing to learn all that, you can buy a cheaper CPU, and speed it up so that it runs as fast as a much more expensive CPU. You need a fair bit of patience (and be willing to possibly burn out your CPU) .

99% of people don't need to worry about this. Get your CPU, motherboard, and recommended speed of memory and you will be fine.

Edit: Here are the steps on building a computer from a Blog I read.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000905.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000907.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000908.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000918.html
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GoneQu...veloperPC.aspx

(The first 4 links are the guy who built it. The last one is the guy who the machine was built for)

[MaDMaN_26]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Edit: Here are the steps on building a computer from a Blog I read.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000905.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000907.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000908.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000918.html
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GoneQu...veloperPC.aspx

(The first 4 links are the guy who built it. The last one is the guy who the machine was built for)

Interesting Blog Bobblehead... it has made me rethink the don't build it myself attitude I had going into this - maybe it would be worth it to build my own PC...

Does anyone want to explain the 64-bit O/S vs. the 32 bit O/S and how it pertains to gaming... does it matter, why woul a person install one over the other?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by MaDMaN_26

Interesting Blog Bobblehead... it has made me rethink the don't build it myself attitude I had going into this - maybe it would be worth it to build my own PC...

Does anyone want to explain the 64-bit O/S vs. the 32 bit O/S and how it pertains to gaming... does it matter, why woul a person install one over the other?

It really affects things at a pretty low level (below the level of the O/S).

64-bit mainly means you can access MUCH more memory. 32-bit O/Ses have a limit of 4GB (and even then some motherboards will only allow windows to see less than that - it is a memory/OS mapping issue).
Also, companies that make hardware also need to write new drivers for the a 64-bit O/S. So things like video cards, audio cards, and so on often had issues when being run on a 64-bit O/S
Servers generally need lots of memory and only need basic peripherals, so that is generally who 64-bit O/Ses have been targeted at.

It has long been advised for most people to stick with the 32-bit version, although I have heard of many people now saying they are running the 64-bit version with rare issues.

Edit: BTW, I just read there is an issue with iTunes on 64-bit Vista, so there are still a bunch of Gotchas out there.

[worth]

32 bit os will only allow something like 3.2gb of memory. you can stick 4 in there, but will only use up to 3.2.

there are still some driver issues, but i've talked to a few people using 64 bit vista who say they don't have any problems, and i will be using 64 bit vista ultimate when my rig is up and running. hopefully i don't run into driver issues. i don't think it's as much of a big deal now as it was 6 months ago. if i have problems i'll switch back to xp and wait for sp1 and better drivers.

Edit:

Leo Laporte taught me how to build my first PC when he was on the Screensavers. If you can find that video somewhere on the net, it helped me out a lot. I think i may have it on one of my computers at home...i may be able to upload it to yousendit or something like that if you want it.