i am retired with a severe disability.i am on a fixed income,i know my pc is not the best.i see all the other pc specs and it makes me kind of envious.my pc is 9yrs old i rebuilt it,new power supply,new hdd,new ram,new cd/dvd combo drive,new everything except motherboard wich i had tested and is in very good condition.how do i build a new one being a poor individual.by the way my disability is ms.i would like to get help in finding or building a new higher end pc.thanks all you pc pros for your input or help. please no bad comments ifeel bad enough as it is!
The poor and PCs
- Thread starter faulty56
- Start date
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
Hi faulty56 
I think I posted in one of your other threads. I think it was a thread about IE8. Please forgive me if I came off as disrespectful, I only meant to be helpful.
What budget are we looking at for this build?
Are you interested in AMD or Intel type boards?
Would integrated graphics suite you or would you need more graphical power? Integrated graphics should be fine unless you want this build for gaming.
Are you looking to transfer Windows XP SP3 or installing a new Operating System?
What is the power output of your power supply?
I think I posted in one of your other threads. I think it was a thread about IE8. Please forgive me if I came off as disrespectful, I only meant to be helpful.
What budget are we looking at for this build?
Are you interested in AMD or Intel type boards?
Would integrated graphics suite you or would you need more graphical power? Integrated graphics should be fine unless you want this build for gaming.
Are you looking to transfer Windows XP SP3 or installing a new Operating System?
What is the power output of your power supply?
pc envy!
my problem is money.my budget is pretty nonexistent.my friends gave me this pc.it came from stetson university here in deland,fl it is a dell optiplex gx240 completly rebuilt.i bought all the components of ebay and tiger direct.all parts are brand new! i would like some advice on what type of pc would be best for music studio programs and some light gaming.i have alot of music.also guitars and other sound equipment.in this economy i have enough problems just keeping food in thehouse. music and my pc is all i have to do with my time which i have alot of.just wish i could find that darn money tree i planted! ha ha.
my problem is money.my budget is pretty nonexistent.my friends gave me this pc.it came from stetson university here in deland,fl it is a dell optiplex gx240 completly rebuilt.i bought all the components of ebay and tiger direct.all parts are brand new! i would like some advice on what type of pc would be best for music studio programs and some light gaming.i have alot of music.also guitars and other sound equipment.in this economy i have enough problems just keeping food in thehouse. music and my pc is all i have to do with my time which i have alot of.just wish i could find that darn money tree i planted! ha ha.
Mizzou
Posts: 783 +0
Hi Faulty and welcome to Techspot Went ahead and put together a quick list of components to see if this falls within your budget. This should at least serve as a starting point for further discussion.
APEX Vortex 3610 Computer Case - $19.99
MSI NF725GM-P43 Micro ATX Motherboard - $49.99
Crucial 2GB DDR3 1066 x 2 - $29.98
Rosewill RV350 350W ATX Power Supply - $24.99
SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM - $16.99
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz - $61.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - $99.99
LITE-ON USB Wired Standard Keyboard - $7.99
KINGWIN KW-03 USB Wired Optical Mouse - $5.99
Western Digital Recertified 250GB Sata Hard Drive - $59.99
Total System Cost - $377.89
Went ahead and put together a quick list of components to see if this falls within your budget. This should at least serve as a starting point for further discussion. APEX Vortex 3610 Computer Case - $19.99
MSI NF725GM-P43 Micro ATX Motherboard - $49.99
Crucial 2GB DDR3 1066 x 2 - $29.98
Rosewill RV350 350W ATX Power Supply - $24.99
SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM - $16.99
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz - $61.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - $99.99
LITE-ON USB Wired Standard Keyboard - $7.99
KINGWIN KW-03 USB Wired Optical Mouse - $5.99
Western Digital Recertified 250GB Sata Hard Drive - $59.99
Total System Cost - $377.89
many thanks!
that looks fesiable i have a 25inch lcd monitor and new microsoft optical mouse and keyboard. are those cpu specs good for running high end music and media programs? i have always bought from ebay and tiger direct i have never bought from newweg.com do they have a very high rating/reviews?
that looks fesiable i have a 25inch lcd monitor and new microsoft optical mouse and keyboard. are those cpu specs good for running high end music and media programs? i have always bought from ebay and tiger direct i have never bought from newweg.com do they have a very high rating/reviews?
If you can tell us what music/media programs you use we can look into them and report back the best recommendation for a system. Some of the newer AMD processors (As recommended in the Techspot PC Buying guide : Motherboard ASRock A75M-HVS $70, Processor AMD A8-3850 $135) have integrated graphics which give performance at a similar level to low/mid range discrete graphics card. Also the CPU recommended by Mizzou is a dual core processor. Some media software can take advantage of 2 or more processor cores for improved performance. This may or may not be the case with the software you are using, so if you can, let us know what software you use
Getting ahead of myself
I thank all of you for your advice and input.but i have to be realistic,i only have guitar tracks at the time ,i would like to have a decent sound studio software program.i play guitar when i can,i have lots of friends that play too,but i have to be resonable iam on a very tight budget having a fixed income.i do have a good speaker system ihave klipsch pro media 5.1 surround system. I also have over 400 albums on my pc at present,and 2095 tracks of music also so you can see i love music alot it is the only thing that keeps me alive!! i am almost embarresd to even be on these forums.i have viewed some of the pros pc specs and i dont even compare. so i do appreciate all the great input.so please keep in mind that i am poor. i just want to have fun with my only hobbie.
I thank all of you for your advice and input.but i have to be realistic,i only have guitar tracks at the time ,i would like to have a decent sound studio software program.i play guitar when i can,i have lots of friends that play too,but i have to be resonable iam on a very tight budget having a fixed income.i do have a good speaker system ihave klipsch pro media 5.1 surround system. I also have over 400 albums on my pc at present,and 2095 tracks of music also so you can see i love music alot it is the only thing that keeps me alive!! i am almost embarresd to even be on these forums.i have viewed some of the pros pc specs and i dont even compare. so i do appreciate all the great input.so please keep in mind that i am poor. i just want to have fun with my only hobbie.
Mizzou
Posts: 783 +0
That's the only thing that really matters. Like Arris said, the more specifics you can give us on how you use your system the better we'll be able to pick the components that will give you the best bang for the buck.
You may also want to look at one of the DIY kits you can get from some electronics shops - like this one here - http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1148895&CatId=332 . It's a fairly fast machine with the option to toss in a faster video card at a later date if you need better gaming performance. There are lots of bundles like this - In fact, I used one of these DIY bundle's to build my daughter's last computer. It was around $425 and included an i5 2400, which is pretty fast by today's standards.
the poor and pc's
ok here is what i am looking for,i like intel motherboards,an amd might do me better for music and media.ddr3 system with a good sound card.i will be using a peavy 128 band sound board,and sound effects processor.also a denon linear tracking turn table,and a sony dat recorder.i know i will need extra peripherils for this to be done,i hope i can this done in about 5 to 6 months.it will have to be a little at a time.lets start with maybe a complete cpu worry about the other stuff later!i also am in need of a decent sound studio program any advice on that would also be greatly appreciated!thank all of you for such great input!!
ok here is what i am looking for,i like intel motherboards,an amd might do me better for music and media.ddr3 system with a good sound card.i will be using a peavy 128 band sound board,and sound effects processor.also a denon linear tracking turn table,and a sony dat recorder.i know i will need extra peripherils for this to be done,i hope i can this done in about 5 to 6 months.it will have to be a little at a time.lets start with maybe a complete cpu worry about the other stuff later!i also am in need of a decent sound studio program any advice on that would also be greatly appreciated!thank all of you for such great input!!
Oldie but goldie a poor mans pc!
i have been in the market for a new pc,but let me tell you pros a little about the system i have at present. it is a dell optiplex gx 240 it is 9yrs old but i rebuilt it from a bare motherboard.it is an intel i845 socket 478,1024 sdram,samsung cd/dvd burner,a new seagate 80gb hdd,ati radeon 7000 64mb ddr graphics card,audigy sound blaster pci sound card,microsoft 2000 comfort curve keyboard,microsoft optical scroll mouse,a dell 25" lcd hd monitor,klipsch 5.1 pro media thx surrond sound pc speaker system.my software as follows ;ccleaner,defraggler,advanced system cleaner 4 pro,iobit malware fighter,trend micro titanium maximum security,aro 2011,advanced task manager,auslogics disk defragmenter.i know this pc is not much,but i have in 2yrs now have had no crashes,freezesor blue screens nor fatal errors.it runs fantastic i now use opera and firefox as my browsers they work greaton my pc. my os is windows xp sp3.all of my software is paid for and registred ,she is old but runs fantastic.like i said have not had any problems,she runs fast and sure!the most dependable pc i have ever had.i hope you all find this amazing because it still is to me!!
i have been in the market for a new pc,but let me tell you pros a little about the system i have at present. it is a dell optiplex gx 240 it is 9yrs old but i rebuilt it from a bare motherboard.it is an intel i845 socket 478,1024 sdram,samsung cd/dvd burner,a new seagate 80gb hdd,ati radeon 7000 64mb ddr graphics card,audigy sound blaster pci sound card,microsoft 2000 comfort curve keyboard,microsoft optical scroll mouse,a dell 25" lcd hd monitor,klipsch 5.1 pro media thx surrond sound pc speaker system.my software as follows ;ccleaner,defraggler,advanced system cleaner 4 pro,iobit malware fighter,trend micro titanium maximum security,aro 2011,advanced task manager,auslogics disk defragmenter.i know this pc is not much,but i have in 2yrs now have had no crashes,freezesor blue screens nor fatal errors.it runs fantastic i now use opera and firefox as my browsers they work greaton my pc. my os is windows xp sp3.all of my software is paid for and registred ,she is old but runs fantastic.like i said have not had any problems,she runs fast and sure!the most dependable pc i have ever had.i hope you all find this amazing because it still is to me!!
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
Your saying you can't afford to purchase everything at once and need to purchase the parts separately?
The "Dell OptiPlex GX240" seems to be a BTX form factor. If this is the true a new computer case and possibly power supply will be needed based on ATX form factor.
When replacing the motherboard for new tech, a CPU and memory upgrade will be needed.
The hard drives and CD/DVD drives are probably IDE and todays tech rarely include an IDE port on the motherboard. Hard drives today all have SATA ports. This may require a hard drive and CD drive upgrade as well.
You seem to be happy with your PC with the exception of the Internet requiring more performance from PC's today. Seeing how you would practically need to replace all the components, a pre-built PC maybe your best option. Any store today would provide a PC with performance ten fold from what you are used to for around $300.
If however you do want to build your own PC a DIY(Do It Yourself) kit as mentioned above would be your best option. This way you know all the parts will be guaranteed to work together.
The "Dell OptiPlex GX240" seems to be a BTX form factor. If this is the true a new computer case and possibly power supply will be needed based on ATX form factor.
When replacing the motherboard for new tech, a CPU and memory upgrade will be needed.
The hard drives and CD/DVD drives are probably IDE and todays tech rarely include an IDE port on the motherboard. Hard drives today all have SATA ports. This may require a hard drive and CD drive upgrade as well.
You seem to be happy with your PC with the exception of the Internet requiring more performance from PC's today. Seeing how you would practically need to replace all the components, a pre-built PC maybe your best option. Any store today would provide a PC with performance ten fold from what you are used to for around $300.
If however you do want to build your own PC a DIY(Do It Yourself) kit as mentioned above would be your best option. This way you know all the parts will be guaranteed to work together.
I don't have any specific recommendations besides our buying guide, but I wanted to remind faulty that it should be pretty easy to save some cash on holiday sales this week/early next week with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Oh, and I'd avoid buying a new hard drive with the recent price hike. Your budget seems tight as it is, no reason to pay double or triple for storage if you can reuse an old drive or maybe buy one used.
Tedster
Posts: 5,746 +14
Just about any store stock computer with at least a dual core processor and 4gb of ram will be sufficient. I would recommend quad core if you can afford it. There are some real deals to be had. It very rarely pays to build your own nowadays unless it is a high performance system. The problem with store computers is that they almost always come pre-installed with bloat-ware. I would just buy a copy of Windows 7 -64bit and do a fresh install.
Similar threads
