Heh, SirKit has been researching new computer stuff all day long. He was considering a Quad Core for a bit, but read that the extra two cores were only useful for folks doing heavy duty video editing. We need one that will run his Mathematica and my Chief Architect, so we need calculating and graphics power more than anything else. We’re looking for 2 or 3 gigs of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. We’d thought about trying to find one in the area and just pick it up, but now he’s looking to build one himself. Sure wish we had a Fry’s in town.
I recommend Newegg and ZipZoomFly to anyone building their own systems. I built our systems from the cases in several years ago, and both those companies were very good to me.
Newegg has been my computer e-tailer of choice ever since, and not once have I been mistreated or short-changed. I have ordered on Sunday night and received my shipment on Tuesday. I have ordered merchandise that turned out to be defective, and gotten an RMA without much pain.
Although you didn't ask ...
I recommend Antec cases, just for the ruggedness factor --- they're all metal.
Be careful picking a motherboard. Make sure you get one with lots of USB and SATA ports.
He may want to take another look at the QuadCore ... new versions of current applications, especially calc-heavy apps like Mathematica, will be taking advantage of the Quad's power --- those CPUs won't lie fallow long. I've heard the QuadCore Q6600 price may fall below $200 again in the next month.
Four gigs of memory ... most of the motherboards want symmetry.
Look at a 750gB hard drive as well --- 750 is the new sweet spot. SATA, of course, and a good fast spinner with a nice large buffer.
Two DVD/RWs, to facilitate copying.
And, of course, the biggest, baddest graphics card your wallet can stand!
And get flat-panel monitors, if you don't already have them ... they are wonderfully restful to the eyes. And, if you have the room and the wallet, get two monitors for each computer ... you have no idea how much back-and-forthing you do until you can park one application on one screen and the second app on the other, and just move the mouse from one to the other.
<laughing!>Dang, Suzi, but you just helped me build our new systems!
Let me give you two more URLs: Anadtech and Tom's Guide. They're both cool sites all on their own, but they both have guides for building new systems, and, more importantly, they have "Hot Deals" sections (Anadtech's Hot Deals, Tom's Hot Deals) where people post sales and rebates on computer hardware.
When I built our systems, I bought our Memorex CDRWs from Office Depot on closeout, with a rebate that made my net price less than $1 apiece. (Woot!) And our hard drives wound up costing around $40, which, back then, was pretty much a steal. I also got the cases for a song --- the e-tailer had moved, and in the process had lost a lot of orders. To try and improve their rep, they had a huge sale and offered free shipping for orders over $50. I reaped the benefits.
And, oh yeah ... you want to run XP, not Vista. Friends don't let friends install Vista.
More than you ever wanted to know about system buildouts!