Would you reccomend AMD for a person who knows little about computers?

[Shroomer]

Okay... My friend wants to upgrade her system and I reccomended AMD from a price standpoint.

My Question:

Should I really reccomend this to her as AMD's usually need a bit more TLC when it comes to setup and drivers and such? How many of you use Win XP on AMD systems as I don't have it on mine? Should I worry about this as long as I reccomend a known stable system?

I have little trouble with mine, but I have a hard time putting myself into other's shoes when it comes to lack of experience.

[David]

AMD is usually faster for the same MHz. AMD CPUs are also a lot cheaper.
If you do reccomend an AMD CPU go for an Athlon-C, AthlonXP or Duron >1,2GHz as these are the newest and fastest CPUS (AthlonXP is the faster CPU).

[joey_rjm5]

I don't think she will have a problem with it. She could but then what would you do?????...Post at overclockers. I say go with AMD.:)

[JetMech]

I understand your hesitation with recommending AMD to a novice. For us hardcore a few probs with drivers is just a challenge. For others it might be a disaster as they trash their sys trying to make it work. From a pricepoint angle the Tulatin Celeron 1.2 might be a better way to go. On an Asus TUSLC-C it can be overclocked to roughly 1.6 and it's performance is not that far from What an AMD would give while allowing good stable performance. Just my dollars worth.:)

[joey_rjm5]

I guess the question is...Are you going to help her if she runs into problems? You are here so I figure you know a little about this stuff.

If you are not in the position to help her out then go with what's gonna be stable.

Also, you have to take into account what she is willing to pay for what. Weigh it out and see what seems best, and if you ever have a question you know where to go.:)

[Jeff Bolton]

i would go with the amd. because with the pentium 4 you'll most likely have to deal with RAMBUS and whatnot, and why not go with some good 'ol DDR. i mean i don't know much about pentium systems, but if you are helping her, go with the AMD since you know what you are doing.

jeff

EDIT: the price difference is a no-brainer too.

[Mr B]

Originally posted by joey_rjm5
I guess the question is...Are you going to help her if she runs into problems? You are here so I figure you know a little about this stuff.

If you are not in the position to help her out then go with what's gonna be stable.

Also, you have to take into account what she is willing to pay for what. Weigh it out and see what seems best, and if you ever have a question you know where to go.:)

Thats the best thought here...only if you plan on helping her put it together, and keep it running while she learns all the little tips and tricks...then go for AMD. Other than that, I'd build a Celeron rig...those C800's (and up) overclock to the moon with minimal effort, and are plenty fast enough for a beginner....

[muddocktor]

I would say that it depends on if she wants to actually learn a little something about the workings of a computer and operating system or if she just wants to surf and play games without doing any overclocking or modding the comp. If she just wants to surf, then I would say to stick with a Celery 1.2 on an i815 board because it's my opinion that Intel chipsets are a little more stable and have less issues than Ali/Sis/Via chipsets. Also, the P3/Celeron procs don't put out near the heat of an athlon so that you have an extra margin of cooling if she is 1 of those people that doesn't ever open up her computer to clean the dust bunnies out of the hsf. If she wants to tinker with overclocking, then I would say that the athlon would be a good way to go.

[Shroomer]

More to the story:

I don't even know if I should help her because she is one of those people who say "if I'm going to spend $250 upgrading this sytem I should just buy a new one from Dell".

I quoted her a kt133a with a 950 duron, a volcano5, a 7200 rpm hard drive, 256 meg of ram, and a new Enhance power supply. If you ask me, that pretty much IS a new system.

If I had went with a nice Celeron combo it would have been 50-100 dollars more.

I mean come on.... All of that for $250 would have been a hell of an upgrade from her P2-300 with 64 meg ram and a Quantum Bigfoot hard drive.

Also I will be able to help her set it up and support her for less than a year before she goes off to Grad school.

Now I DO know a bit about this stuff... I've had a Duron @ 1g for almost a year now and it has been pretty stable for me. I just don't know.

[muddocktor]

If she is "One of those people" that complain about getting superior performance, then let her buy a computer from that ****** with Dell. That way, she can have her a P4 running SDRAM that will perform like a dog and integrated everything else but have a warrantee that will expire in a year if she doesn't pay extra for 1 of the premium warrantee plans.

[Spartacus51]

Help the poor woman out, save her from hell, oops I mean dell. In your attempts to get her going though you may want to have her read http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51257 Those AMDs are bad ya know.

Seriously though, I've had plenty of experience with both Intel and AMD, and I've found that every computer will give you a headache. If you get quality parts to go along with a quality AMD you shouldn't have any more problem than an Inhell system... damn, all my words are ending up as hell... To think, I was going to warn against AOHell next...

It's tough to go wrong now if you're just going to be a vanilla surfer. Celery, Duron or Athlon, hardly matters to those that don't care.

Just keep in mind that you're the one that's gotta fix it when it breaks regardless, so get what you want.

[Menardsguy]

Of course... Amd works great in winxp... At least it has for me... I reccomend amd to everyone...

[Menardsguy]

Now that I think about it I wouldn't build a computer for someone that knows very little about computers. I did for my brother and every time he has a problem he comes to me. If he had a computer built by a company like dell or hp he would still come to me first, but if I was busy he would have other alternatives like tech support. Right now he has only me and I always end up driving over there to halp him out. (Last time i tried to work on his computer and didn't get anything done for about an hour because his computer was really really really slow... (athlon 1000 etc... not very slow hardware...) anyway it turned out that his harddrive was like 80% fragmented and he only had about 200mb free.) Major companies have programs pre-installed that have scheduled tasks like updating drivers, DEFRAGMENTING, etc.

I have a friend who built a computer for a neighbor and he is always going over there trying to help them out. It can be very frusterating when they have problems with not only hardware but software. Also if something breaks there is usually a warranty.

[Yobbzz]

Originally posted by Menardsguy
Now that I think about it I wouldn't build a computer for someone that knows very little about computers. I did for my brother and every time he has a problem he comes to me. If he had a computer built by a company like dell or hp he would still come to me first, but if I was busy he would have other alternatives like tech support. Right now he has only me and I always end up driving over there to halp him out. (Last time i tried to work on his computer and didn't get anything done for about an hour because his computer was really really really slow... (athlon 1000 etc... not very slow hardware...) anyway it turned out that his harddrive was like 80% fragmented and he only had about 200mb free.) Major companies have programs pre-installed that have scheduled tasks like updating drivers, DEFRAGMENTING, etc.

I have a friend who built a computer for a neighbor and he is always going over there trying to help them out. It can be very frusterating when they have problems with not only hardware but software. Also if something breaks there is usually a warranty.


I know what you mean I built a system for my mom one for my brother and one for my ant. Some how I have become there tec support. What I do is show them what I am doing so that they can fix there own problems. It really sucks driving across the city just to run scandisk or the defragmenter or empty the temp internet files. I have set up the task scheduler for all of them but they turn off there computers the day it is scheduled to run. Anyway I spend more time going over to my ants and brothers who are both running intells they I do going to my moms who runs a Athalon. What I'm trying to say is if someone dosn't know what they are doing with a computer they WILL have problems with it regardless what name is on the CPU.

[JetMech]

Definitely a lose lose situation. :(

[dugans]

As someone who builds and sells the occasional pc I have done a good bit of tech support, but one of the things I tell my customers is that they are getting a BETTER pc for the money, but less available tech support: while I WILL do it, it happens when my schedule permits- not always when they want it. That is sometimes the price of saving a few bucks.

That said, one of the first thing I ask prospective pc customers is if they think they want to mess around with the "innards" of the pc- most likely if the answer is no then a stable rig is most important. The next question is about....noise! Athlons can be difficult to run quietly with air cooling. Not impossible, just difficult.

These questions pretty much tell me what to recommend.

If any of that helps.......

[-=HN=- Wild9]

for someone who knows nothing about computers, i would stick a celeron in there, just incase a heatsink slipped off or the fan quit working, that way, it will just keep locking up instead of burning up.

[Shroomer]

Too late.... Here's what she got and what she paid!

Dimension® 8200 Series, Pentium® 4 Processor at 1.9 GHz Qty: 1 Unit Price: $1,888.00

Memory: 512MB PC800 RDRAM
Keyboard: New Dell® Enhanced QuietKey Keyboard
Monitor: 17 in (16.0 in viewable,.25MM) M782 Monitor
Video Card: 64MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX Graphics Card with TV-Out
Hard Drive: 80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive
Floppy Drive: 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® Millennium (Windows Me)
Mouse: Dell® 2 Button Mouse
Network Card: No Network Card Requested
Modem: 56K PCI Data Fax Modem for Windows
DVD-ROM or CD-ROM Drive: 48X Max Variable CD-ROM
Sound Card: Integrated Audio with Soundblaster Pro/16 Compatibility
Speakers: harman/kardon Speakers
Bundled Software: Microsoft® Works Suite 2001 with Money 2001 Standard
Digital Imaging Software: Image Expert 2000,Dell Edition
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1Yr Ltd. Warranty- 1Yr At-Home Service + 1Yr Phone Support
Internet Access Options: 6 Months of DellNet® by MSN Internet Access Included
Digital Still Cameras: HP PhotoSmart C215 Camera
CD-RW or CD-RW/DVD Drive Combination for 2nd Bay: 24x/10x/40x CD-RW Drive with Roxio's Easy CD Creator®
Choose Your Free or Discounted Special Offer: FREE! Lexmark X73 All in one Printer/Scanner/Copier(USB cable NOT included)

[bobt17]

ewwww:eh?: another victom of devalued mhz i feel sorry for her...

[stompah]

What is she gonna use the system for? WHY DOESNT ANYONE ASK PEOPLE THAT QUESTION?


My p3 700 system with a DVD player is all most people ever need. She spent $1,000 too much IMHO. For $888 she could have got a slower yet totally capable system and used the $1,000 for her future upgrades.



Too bad I didnt see this thread earlier. I would have told her it didnt matter which manufacturer she went with. That at her level of knowledge she wouldnt be able to tell a difference. Also I would have told her that she is basically spending her $ on a very overpriced tech support.


I have to laugh at Dell! First a 80g HD when the saddle her with a 17" monitor? I cannot tell you EXACTLY how long I have had this run of WinME without reformatting but on a 40g HD I am using 6g... AND I LOVE MY 19" monitor!

And the WinME with 512MB RAM? There is an oxymoron if I ever heard one!

2 button mouse? no optical scroll mouse? Just paid $30 for mine... I am sure it costs more to package than to make.


AND THE WINNER OF THE DELL'S STUPIDITY AWARD IS THE WARRANTY!!! ONLY ONE YEAR? FOR $1,888? ABSURD! FOR THAT PRICE THEY DONT EVEN INCLUDE THE USB CABLE????


Oh that is just so wrong......... I will stop but get your friend to return the computer. Maybe Dell will counter with an extended warranty or discount to get her to keep it.



PS I wouls have got a laptop for taht cash.

[muddocktor]

Well, at least she was smart enough to buy a system with rdram instead of sdram. At least it will perform as well as an oem P4 system can perform and not be crippled by poor memory bandwidth. She did screw up by not paying the extra money for the lifetime support though, IMHO. Dell does have some real good support; I've found that out with the 2 Dell laptops that I have owned.

[Shroomer]

I convinced her to get winXP instead of ME. In that price she also got an HP digital camera. I guess I'm okay with it as it's less work for me, but she just said that this should last her 5 years! Has a computer ever lasted anyone 5 years and was still able to use modern programs? I told her to expect 3.

Oh well. She'll live and learn.

[Arkaine23]

Oh the humanity! $1888?

[dugans]

Originally posted by Shroomer
Has a computer ever lasted anyone 5 years and was still able to use modern programs?

Yes. Although not in the same configuration all 5 years.

Example: K6-2 ( 4 years and change I think?) It can run Win2k, etc and new applications. Of course it won't run the newest games, but I'm not a gamer really anyway.

I also have family members who go even longer: bro-in-law still runs an overdrive-chipped 486! It is relegated to network backups now, but.......!