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  signmeuptoo Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast Premium join:2001-11-22 LOSTinSpace clubs: 
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: [Windows 7] Build my own or buy pre-built? Is the purpose of your thread for advise and ideas, or is it meant to be a type of poll for fun? It will help knowing the reason for it so that I (we) can respond accordingly.
As for me, I will always assemble my own. If you want a bargain basement computer, yeah, factory can't be beat, but for an enthusiast or gamer, factory just won't come close in quality, features, and price to self built.
It's more fun shopping for the parts and putting it all together in my mind than having something with a weaker power supply served on a platter to me, I am just not that guy.
As far as brands, too many to list, too general a question to reply to without my response becoming way oversize.
I recently built a system based upon a Gigabyte board for my roomate that is darned nice for the price. -- Join Teams Helix and Discovery. Put that fancy computer to good use helping to find a cure, your mom will love you for it. »Team Helix »Team Discovery | |
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 |   fatmanskinny Premium join:2004-01-04 Wandering | Re: [Windows 7] Build my own or buy pre-built? More for advice and to see what people are doing regarding Win 7 and their hardware. | |
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 |  HarryH3
join:2005-02-21 Georgetown, TX
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: [Windows 7] Build my own or buy pre-built? said by pandora :I was able to install Windows 7 on an 8 year old Dell Dimension 2400. It appears Windows 7 is very tolerant of older hardware. Ack! Thanks for reminding me how old my PC is. I'm using a 2.4Ghz P4 version of the 2400, with 1GB of RAM and XP Home. It still works great, though I'd like to have another gig of memory. The price for 1 gig sticks of PC2700 is steep compared to newer stuff. I put 2 gig of PC5300 in a newer laptop recently for a whopping $15. It costs around $75 for this old 2400.
Back on topic, since I'm not a gamer, I usually just look for screaming bargains on turnkey systems. Around 18 months ago I picked up a Compaq 3.6 GHz Celeron system for my kids for $199 at an Office Depot clearance sale. I hate that it came with Vista, but other than that it's rock solid and does all that they need it to do.  | |
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 |  |   sapo I eat meat Premium join:2002-09-16 Sacramento, CA
| Re: [Windows 7] Build my own or buy pre-built? said by HarryH3 :]Ack! Thanks for reminding me how old my PC is.  I'm using a 2.4Ghz P4 version of the 2400, with 1GB of RAM and XP Home. It still works great, though I'd like to have another gig of memory. The price for 1 gig sticks of PC2700 is steep compared to newer stuff. I put 2 gig of PC5300 in a newer laptop recently for a whopping $15. It costs around $75 for this old 2400. Take a look at the for sale forum here, I bought 2GB of PC3200 for around $30. PC3200 is more common and will work fine in your system even if it is at reduced speeds plus there is the chance it supports PC3200 speeds as well for some performance gain. -- DO DO | |
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 |   fatmanskinny Premium join:2004-01-04 Wandering | I have a Dell Dimension 2400. | |
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 |  |   Ryan Premium join:2001-03-03 Attleboro, MA | Re: [Windows 7] Build my own or buy pre-built? Using the computer I built a little over a year ago. q6600 & 4GB of memory. Was originally running vista however switched it to windows 7 RC1. | |
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  Kilroy Premium,MVM join:2002-11-21 Ann Arbor, MI 1 edit | For me I'll just be purchasing a hard drive and installing it in my current machine (The machine has been upgraded to 4GB RAM and is currently running Vista 64 Ultimate). | |
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  TheOct
@verizon.net
| How about all of the above (just kidding) 
I have actually already built an Intel Core i7 based system with the intention of running retail Windows 7" on it eventually. Since the Microsoft Windows 7 Pre-Order Upgrade program is in full swing I have already ordered 3 licenses of the Home Premium version at the special price of ~$49.99 each. In fact at these prices I would still like to buy more licenses since 6 total would be ideal.
I hear tell that an X58, LGA1366 compatible Intel Core i9 CPU with 6 physical cores and 12 threads will be available in Q1, 2010. If its not too cost prohibitive and has admirable performance I could see buying one. At that point I could buy a lower cost X58 board for my current Core i7 920 and split my existing DDR3 RAM between the two. With other spare parts that spawns another Windows 7" system.
I wouldnt rule out other methods entirely but this is the way I would likely do it. | |
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  idlewillkill Go Blue Premium join:2005-09-28 North York, ON | Assuming putting it together isn't an issue for someone, the more powerful the system, the better off one is building it. At the low end, it's tough to match the prices of the Dells of the world, once you factor in OS. | |
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