ArosaMike Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Well, my folks computer that I built for them about 6 years ago is on it's way out. HDD is on it's last legs, and it's getting decidedly leggy. It has an issue with the graphics card that's intermittent too which causes the screen to go mental every now and again (probably a dry joint or something.....driver updates have never fixed it).So, I thought I'd have a look at what's available in component form for them so I could just build a new processor, motherboard, GPU and HDD into their existing box, but bugger me, WTF is with all the different versions? When I last looked it was simple...there was AMD and then there was Intel. AMD had the Athlon, which had 1 or 2 different chipsets and Intel had the Pentium with 1 or 2 different chipsets. Now, what appears to have happened, is someone Autistic has decided that what we need is 50 different Intel processor types each with about 1000 different sub models and 20 different types of connection. Clearly realising this isn't enough choice, they then encouraged all the existing chipset manufacturers and about 50 new ones to invent a further 40,000 different chipsets for each of the 20 different connections for the 1000 different sub models of the 50 different processors resulting in about 3,000x10E64 possible permutations.....and don't even get me started on graphics cards and HDDs....is there actually a game that can use 2Gb of video memory and 800 cores? As much as I would like to spend the next decade reading performance benchmarks on HardOCP and Tom's Hardware, it seems it'd take me about 5 years to navigate their websites now.So, would anyone between the ages of 11 and 16 care to explain to me how all this works? I just want a computer for my folks, but don't want all the **** that comes with a Dell. They may be 65 but having used computers very successfully for the past 20 years, they really don't need access to a 24 hour call center in Delhi and an online tutorial on how to use MS Works.I'm only 25.....I can't believe I've been left behind by all this already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver! Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Hahahhaaaaaaa! Intel motherboard from PC Ro A list: Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3LAMD motherboard from PC Ro A list: Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P...and for the rest of the components: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/alistBut to be honest, unless building a very specific machine, I would buy an off the shelf base unit from the likes of Dell. Call them up and tell them you don't want all the extras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_273 Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 (edited) at this thread, I had exactly the same experience recently (at age of 20!). I think when you turn 17 and get into cars the computer world passes you by...TBH, I think nowadays it would be just as easy to go out and buy a Dell or HP and perhaps do a clean install of Windows to remove all the pre installed crap that comes with pre-built machines. I have done this on a friends' Dell and HP machines recently and they now work very well Edited January 11, 2010 by jon_273 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 I work in IT and it confuses me - PC's seem to be getting simpler and more complicated at the same time. Like you, it was a simple choice a few years back; you had a Pentium4 or an Athlon. You had ATI or Nvidia. Now, however, you've got Intel Core2Duo, Dual Core, Quad Core, i7. Then you've got Athlon X2 or X4 and another....and that just the processors!I always build PC's because I like good quality components...people like Dell stick crap mainboards and RAM in, downside is the cost. But I'm not sure I can be bothered anymore, I'll probably just buy one of these "bundles" that gives you the core components all together, because its a minefield otherwise.Its like overclocking - last time I did it, you had about 2 settings.... FSB and Voltage. I tried to OC my 2year old mainboard with Q6600 and I got lost in a sea of numbers, settings, voltages and much more. So I gave up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDGM Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 People were "wow" when I bought a 486dx when they came out. 4Mb ram and 120mb HDD. It was a sensation.NOw I'm using an Acer dual core something or other small form with 320Gb HDD and 2Gb ram.I can't type any faster than I could in 1991 and I'm plagued more by things not working properly than ever before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArosaMike Posted January 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ta for all the responses folks. Glad I'm not the only one bemused by it all, but thanks for the links (particularly PC Pro). I used to use Scan amongst others (and Dabs when they used to be cheap which is a long long time ago!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4T VW Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Aria have some massive deals going on at the moment.A 2TB drive for £80 +Vat tomorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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