first timer

[pb4life52]

hey

im a complete and absolute beginner when it comes to computers. i would really like to buy a computer off of ibuypower.com, but im not sure what is good as far as parts wise. i need it for basic functions including aim,itunes,firefox, and a few high quality games. i would really like it to be fast but not anything that is like a supercomputer. my budget is 1000-1500. thanx in advance!!!

[plunko]

thats a big price range. does this include an operating system(microsoft), monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers?

[ktkendall]

Hello and welcome to PC mech:

That looks like a good site where you can configure your own PC to whatever specs you like. From what I saw, I would stay away from the ECS motherboards though and pay a little more for an ASUS board or at least the Gigabyte boards.. ECS are really bargain basement boards and perform as such.. Of course we here are much more about building your own PC, but if you have no desire to do so nor the PC knowledge or support to do so then I don't recommend it, but as far as prebuilt PC's many of us here would recommend Dell, simply because they are proven, and will probably not be out of business next year when you need their support, and the prices are good, and of course they also push the budget PCs with budget components too, but you can configure yours there also with better parts for a little more..
KK

[pb4life52]

i used to have a dell and really didnt like it. i really like the way the ibuypowers look and i have a couple buddies who have had really good experiences w/ them. my budget includes the operating system and speakers. this sounds dumb but what does overclocking mean?

[ktkendall]

Overclocking is simply setting the bus speeds higher than the default setting for the hardware you have. For instance, I have a Pentium 3G processo, and default setting for my board to get my processor to run at 3Ghz is 200Mhz. So If I simply up my boards bus speed to 210Mhz, that will push my processor to run up above 3G and my memory to run faster also beyond 400Mhz. You eventually hit limits though where the system will not run stable, so you back it down to where it will be faster than stock, but stable.. That site Ibuypower loks good and if you have good word of mouth experience that it is reputable then I would go for it, but like anything you get what you pay for, as I mentioned I see on their stock offerings they use budget ECS motherboards, but I would configure mine with the better name mobo..

[kosova]

Overclocking is making a computer component run at a higher clock speed than the manufacturer's specification. Although there are many different reasons for overclocking, the most popular reason is to increase hardware performance. Overclocking can result in system instablity and sometimes even hardware failure if done carelessly. Overclocking is mostly practiced by PC enthusiasts in order to realize the full potential of their computers. Some hardware enthusiasts purchase a low-end computer and overclock it, thereby attaining performance of a higher-end system, while others will overclock high end components, attaining unprecedented performance. The fastest home computers in the world are overclocked and often a non-overclocked computer is slower than an overclocked one.

read more: here

[pb4life52]

what is the purpose of having an aftermarket powersupply?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by pb4life52 what is the purpose of having an aftermarket powersupply?

Most power supplies that come with the case are cheap low quality units. Buying a good quality power supply separately will mean your system will get all the good clean steady power it needs.

Cricket

[jayb1234]

That ibuypower site looks pretty shaky to me. They reccommend nzxt PSUs which are generic junk, and list SLI Ready power supplies, which are not SLI Certified power supplies. They don't list the brands of a lot of thier parts, CD/DVD, and several other types on the second page. And the prices seem pretty high. Monarch computer would be a better site to check for a configurator build.

[pb4life52]

so i prolly wanna look into a nice powersource. i didnt know that about ibuypower i will check into monacrh thanx.

edit: im looking in to getting the amd. what is sli?

[jayb1234]

SLI allows you to run two identical video cards together for better performance. You need an SLI mother board, power supply and cards. Go here for more information and the list of certified parts. It is significantly more expensive than a non-SLI setup and not really worth the added cost for most people. About the only people who will see a benefit from it are the benchmarkers and the extreme gamers who insist on getting every possible FPS in video performance,

[kosova]

Scattered Link Interface, can be a really nice feature. Buying an sli mobo with a certafied SLI PSU isn't a bad idea. With SLI the 2 computers split the workload and you have more GPU power, you can buy 2 cheap cards run them in SLI and see some great performance. Most gamers get SLI just for the eye candy (bullets bouncing, cool graphic effects etc). SLI is a new technollogy and i doubt it that SLI is a fluke, sli (to me) seems like the future. IF ya decide to go with SLI stay away from crossfire.

[blue60007]

Scalable Link Interface. It's fine to go with SLI, but only if you don't have to sacrafice other parts to be able to do SLI. Like if you have to go with a slower CPU or less hard drive space, etc to be able to afford SLI-certified parts. With that said, you really only get benefit by going with high end parts (such as a single 7800GT or GTX). Going SLI with two 6600GTs would be silly, cause for the same price you could get a 6800GT which would outperform it, and you could add another 6800GT in later.

[kosova]

i agree with blue, only go with SLi if you really want mor upgradeability for the future. The PSU, mobo, and i think SLI video cards do cost a little bit more. But one great benefit of SLi is that like right now a 7800GTX costs hundreds, you could buy one, then in say 6 months that price will go anywhere from 10-40% down so u could then buy the other one and have a cheaper but better build. I hope ya know that with SLI both video cards must be identical, except for crossfire setup.

[pb4life52]

ok thanx a lot. im not that much of a hardcore gamer so i dont think im gonna get sli.