building new comp for my girlfriend

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misfitsfiend

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 18, 2003
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my girlfriend is going to usf at the end of the summer, and she wants to take a new computer with her that she got from some scholarship money. her absolute most amount of money is $1400. i'm not quite sure which route to take here, intel or amd64 would be more expensive but better in the long run? she's going to use it mainly for internet, email, a few games here and there, and normal college necesssities (word processing, etc). i figure intel might be a little more reliable but i'm personally somewhat of a amd fanboy. she needs an lcd monitor, speakers, and keyboard/mouse. if i go the amd 64 route, should i get the 3000+ w/ 512k cache or should i opt for the more expensive 3200+ w/1mb cache?

here is intel route:
http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=799562

here is amd 64 route:
http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=799809

things i'm not sure of: monitor and speakers.
 
Why go 64bit at all? For what you claim she'll be using it, both systems seem to be overkill. I think an AXP would be more than enough.
 
Buy her an AMD Athlon XP system, modestly equipped. If she's going to college, she'll need the money for more things than just a computer. Spend half and have her save the rest.
 
Perhaps a laptop?

It has a built in lcd, speakers, smaller than a desktop and ultra portable for classes and places with wifi.
 
listen. you do NOT need to spend more than $600 on her computer. you Dont ned a64, you dont need an audigy2. all you need is 512 ram, 60gb drive and reasonbly fast CPU. thats all you need in a computer for 98% of all people that dont play games.

xp 2500
$70 mobo with onboard sound
60gb HD.
throw in a webcam + microphone

thats it. you dont need to build a computer thats expensive. now if you want to pay for software, that can drive up the price. but dont go insane.
 
Very true, i would go with intel with what she is doing. get a good LCD scrn but nothing major as she wont notice responce time and what-not unless she is a big gamers. get a good set of speakers and a MoBo with good onboard sound. (NF7-s comes to mind) a AMD 2500 will be fine with that MoBo.
as for the things your looking for.
2.1 Speakers - (if you dont have space for others) - CREATIVE I-TRIGUE L3450 2.1
5.1 Speakers - CREATIVE MEGAWORKS THX 5.1 550
LCD - i would sugest anything by Iiyama but thats just me.
 
yes, but she won't be overclocking and won't this technology be fairly obsolete soon? i know all stuff goes obsolete in a matter of months in our new technology world, but won't a 2500+ be not enough to last her through at least 2-3 years of college?
 
misfitsfiend said:
yes, but she won't be overclocking and won't this technology be fairly obsolete soon? i know all stuff goes obsolete in a matter of months in our new technology world, but won't a 2500+ be not enough to last her through at least 2-3 years of college?
Click to expand...

An AXP should be enough to last her about 3-4 Years, looking at the stuff she would use it for. If you want get like a 3000+ AXP, or a 3200+ AXP, and that'll last a little bit longer. You don't need a super-computer to play a few games, surf the web, and do word processing etc...
 
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