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Computer for College

T

The_Dominion

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 6, 2001
Messages
337
I recently got accepted to Georgia Tech, and I will need a new computer. I plan to attend in the Fall Semester,
. So I expect the prices of all these products to drop in price by this summer. It would mostly be used for work and FPS/MMORPG gaming, and I like to keep current. So what do you all think about this computer.

  1. AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor - Best Price $279.99
  2. Chieftec Dragon Mini-Tower Silver - Best Price $69.99
  3. Albatron K8T800 Motherboard - Best Price $117.00
  4. Corsair Memory TWINX XMS3200 Dual Channel 1024MB DDR 400MHz - Best Price $289.00
  5. Thermaltake W0013 Xaser Silent Purepower 480W Power Supply - Best Price $63.00
  6. ATI RADEON 9800 PRO - Best Price $219.84
  7. Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 , 120 GB - Best Price $98.00
  8. Lite On Peripherals DVD+/-RW LITEON SOHW-812S Best Price $130.00
  9. Thermaltake Silent Boost For AMD XP - Best Price $24.00
  10. Samsung SyncMaster 955 DF CRT - Best Price $175.05
  11. Sennheiser RS-45 Consumer Headphones - Best Price $88.00
  12. Microsoft Windows XP Professional - Best Price $83.00
    [/list=1]
    TOTAL BEFORE SHIPPING: $1636.87

    So any suggestions on replacements, or other places to buy? Or maybe even a suggestion on a better product to get, and what to expect in the next 4 months. Thanks!
 
Everything looks really good! Games are going to be awesome on that beast!

Best of luck!
 
personally i would get a shuttle. but that's me.

also be sure to make it as quiet and dark as possible. you're not going to want to hear that thing humming and supre bright when you're trying to sleep or your roomie is.
 
Everything looks good. But, get everything at newegg and whatever you do, don't shop at tiger direct
 
i say it looks good...

I like the name too...

The Dominion... must be a trekie ;)
 
Originally posted by The_Dominion
I recently got accepted to Georgia Tech, and I will need a new computer. I plan to attend in the Fall Semester,
Click to expand...
Plan on getting bad grades if you have a nice computer;)

I think that most of us college students will agree that we spend WAAAY too much time playing games on our nice rigs...:(

Good call on the headphones, they end up being much more useful than speakers in a dorm setting.
 
Originally posted by Bugalaman
Everything looks good. But, get everything at newegg and whatever you do, don't shop at tiger direct
Click to expand...
mwave is pretty comparable really. I'd go for whichever one (newegg or mwave) was cheaper.
 
Originally posted by HRslammR
personally i would get a shuttle. but that's me.

also be sure to make it as quiet and dark as possible. you're not going to want to hear that thing humming and supre bright when you're trying to sleep or your roomie is.
Click to expand...

I'd go with shuttle as well...
 
To get most of these items I would probably have to do both mwave, and newegg. Although that case is only at Tigerdirect, so what models of shuttle are you guys reffering to?
 
You must get the Thermaltake SilentBoost for K8 CPU's, the AMDXP version will not work with an AMD64 cpu.
 
Take if from a guy that has two degrees and spent the last 6 years living on campus...

You want a SMALL computer, be it a laptop or a shuttle.

I made the mistake of getting a Cheiftec tower my senior year, and I had to move my entire rig

1. Every christmas
2. Every summer
3. Every time I changed rooms, dorms, or apartments
4. Every campus LAN party


On top of that, since it wasn't a laptop I was stuck using the university computer labs for a lot of my classwork.

Modern university campuses are wonderfully technological. Look for wireless internet almost everywhere, and a general acceptance (or even encouragement) of laptops in the classroom.

I would strongly suggest you get a powerful laptop with a good strong GPU (Mobility 9700, anyone?).

You can plug it into a full size monitor, keyboard and mouse when you get home, and you also have the portability that I promise you will want.
 
Originally posted by jagec
Plan on getting bad grades if you have a nice computer;)

I think that most of us college students will agree that we spend WAAAY too much time playing games on our nice rigs...:(

Good call on the headphones, they end up being much more useful than speakers in a dorm setting.
Click to expand...

This is all true.

Some people think it is their god-given right to live in an environment completely devoid of outside noise.

I constantly had neighbors that would bitch if they could even detect the fact that I was playing a video game, regardless of whether it was loud or not.

As for the "too much time playing on our rigs" comment, this is true, especially with the extremely powerful internet connections most universities offer.

But its all a matter of self control, and this is true whether you are in college or have a real job.
 
Originally posted by KingPariah777
Take if from a guy that has two degrees and spent the last 6 years living on campus...

You want a SMALL computer, be it a laptop or a shuttle.

I made the mistake of getting a Cheiftec tower my senior year, and I had to move my entire rig

1. Every christmas
2. Every summer
3. Every time I changed rooms, dorms, or apartments
4. Every campus LAN party


On top of that, since it wasn't a laptop I was stuck using the university computer labs for a lot of my classwork.

Modern university campuses are wonderfully technological. Look for wireless internet almost everywhere, and a general acceptance (or even encouragement) of laptops in the classroom.

I would strongly suggest you get a powerful laptop with a good strong GPU (Mobility 9700, anyone?).

You can plug it into a full size monitor, keyboard and mouse when you get home, and you also have the portability that I promise you will want.
Click to expand...


I have to agree with moving the rig around, pain in the arse. Back when I was in college though we didn't have wireless connections however Lan Jacks abound aplenty. Today's day and age, I'd have to say go with the laptop with a strong GPU.

UNLESS this is going to be mostly gaming and less about school.

Have to be honest with yourself though in this regard, what do you REALLY want out of your computer.
 
Originally posted by jdblitz


UNLESS this is going to be mostly gaming and less about school.

Have to be honest with yourself though in this regard, what do you REALLY want out of your computer.
Click to expand...

My assumption is that we are all either Com-Sci Majors, IT-Business Majors, or Engineering Majors of some sort...

Whether we want to admit it or not, we depend on our gaming rigs for a large amount of schoolwork, especially later on in college...

Granted, a freshman may not need his computer too much other than for spreadsheets and typing papers, but its still necessary.

Edit: Who the hell wants to sit in a cold, dimly lit computer lab, on uncomfortable, dirty office chairs while working on HP's from 8 years ago with mouses that have corroded and clogged roller-balls, while fat chicks in their dorm pajamas cough and hack while giggling for hours with their friends over some inane instant messenger conversation?
 
I am going to have a laptop also. This computer is coming out of my pocket, my Father has agreed to pay for a laptop for the school purposes.

Also, I don't like the Shuttle boxes, they are just too small for me. I like having room in my computer, I still have horrid memories of my HP Pavilion, and trying to upgrade that. I don't even know if my motherboard would fit in that small case. I understand the portability issue, but this thing is also around $200 more, which I may not have.
 
Damn, those prices are incredible. Kinda makes me wish either of them shipped to Canada.
 
Originally posted by KingPariah777

Edit: Who the hell wants to sit in a cold, dimly lit computer lab, on uncomfortable, dirty office chairs while working on HP's from 8 years ago with mouses that have corroded and clogged roller-balls, while fat chicks in their dorm pajamas cough and hack while giggling for hours with their friends over some inane instant messenger conversation?
Click to expand...
I don't know, I don't mind sitting in a nice padded chair in a well-lit, pleasant temperature computer lab, working on brand-new Dells with 3GHz P4's, plenty of RAM, new optical mice, and 20" LCDs in a relatively quiet environment.

But then again, I don't go to school in Chicago:D

j/k btw. My old college had a pretty bad computer lab, I feel your pain:(
 
I was also considering maybe getting Kingston ram for about $100 less. I don't know if I should though, but if I can save $100 it would be nice. Any comments on wether or not I should stick with the Corsair?
 
Here is what I would do. Shave off a few hundred bucks off of your rig (cheaper memory, maybe a 9600...) and scrape together a few hundred more dollars.

Then buy the cheapest laptop that you can get your grubby little hands on. Try to find a new one being cleared out or a used laptop from a reliable source. It only has to be powerful enough to run word and maybe some light image editing, media creation software.

This way you have options. You have your nice upgradeable rig for games and most of your work, but if necessary you can always go mobile.

This is basically what I did. I took my main rig down with me and also picked up a old model E-machines laptop on clearance for around $400. The laptop (which paradoxically was often more stable than my desktop box) saved my hinnie more than one time. For example, my Sophmore year, my roomate and I had, shall we say, disagreements about what constituted proper study music. Leading to some truly imfamous speaker wars. Anyway, whenever it got to be too much for me, I could always just grab my laptop and find a quite little corner to study in.

Personally I never used it in class. Too many opportunities for distraction. In the social sciences at least (I'm a poli/history major) I've noticed that people who use laptops in class tend to be the least engaged with class discussions and generally aren't the best students. 'Course it might be different if you are doing CS.

Also, have you tried those wireless headphones? I've heard less than positive things about Sennheisers wireless line and about wireless audio in general. Of course it depends on your useage, if you are playing games with them I doubt it matters.... but if you are planning on listening to a lot of music through them you might want to consider using a wired option.
 
Blip, thanks, but I already stated I would be getting a laptop anyway. I doubt I would be getting much more than the cheapest POS Laptop anyway. However this computer, this is mine. It will be my pet project over the summer, and something I fund completely.

However I am aware that this Mini-Tower will be a bit hard to move for the occasional LAN Party, not to mention the monitor. Hopefully I will be in a dorm where I don't have to go far, for the party.
 
What is the point of getting #9? That is a retail 3200+ right? Also $289 is a lot to pay for a gig of 3200. My muskin lvl 1 3500 will do 2-3-2-6 and costs $210 for a gig. Also check and see if Georgia Tech has a student discount for Windows XP. I bought mine from the University of Michigan for $15.
 
Originally posted by The_Dominion
I was also considering maybe getting Kingston ram for about $100 less. I don't know if I should though, but if I can save $100 it would be nice. Any comments on wether or not I should stick with the Corsair?
Click to expand...

Well, you only need a sigle stick on the a64 (seeing as it is single channel memory) I personally like corsair

just my $0.02usd
 
Just wondering if any of you guys have taken your watercooled computers to college? I would of course pick up like a 400 or 500 mhz laptop for papers and so on if i take mine. It will definitly have a soldered in relay so my roomie cant mess it up.
 
Originally posted by specter554
What is the point of getting #9? That is a retail 3200+ right? Also $289 is a lot to pay for a gig of 3200. My muskin lvl 1 3500 will do 2-3-2-6 and costs $210 for a gig. Also check and see if Georgia Tech has a student discount for Windows XP. I bought mine from the University of Michigan for $15.
Click to expand...

The point of #9 is good cooling, that is also quite, I never trust the fans that come with the box. Yes, $289 is alot, but it is really fast Corsair Ram. Thanks for the tip, I will check that out.
 
just make sure your system is quite, i would go with the zalman 7000 alcu for the HSF (works great and quite as all get out) if you plan/need to have it on 24/7 (large rendering project for class or complex 3d models?) if you system is a wind tunnel with tornados your room mate will hate you, and force you to turn it off at 10pm every night! and that sucks.


if you are going in to a area of study that needs alot of CPU power, you could spend about the same and get a great dual xeon setup or a dual amd setup (amd massive legacy now :() and have more overall power then the A64 but you will not get the last few fps in games.

you could get both speakers and head phones, when i was in college i used both my klipsch 4.1 (during the day watching dvds/games/tv(good capture card and you dont need a TV :D)) and used my headphones for past 10pm gaming/what ever (damn noise rules :().

just my 2 cents.
 
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