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Old 18th December 2012
pcronin pcronin is offline
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Join Date: May 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shep View Post
As long as we are tossing opinions around, I think the Key Issue is chipsets and most specifically the video chip. I feel I have a lot more control if I purchase the components and assemble them. When you buy a Dell or HP it is like getting a box of chocolates - you do not really know what you're gonna get.

It is incredibly easy and online guides on how to roll your own abound. The vast majority of the connections are polarized. I do not have a grounding cable but for as few as I put together - resting my naked foot on a furnace register gets rid of my surface charge
Agree with this 100%. I've been building all my PCs since the 90s, except for the 2 Macs, and my reasons are that I will know exactly what chipsets are in the components.
Quote:
I put a high priority on the power supply and case. I am still using a Lian Li case I bought in 2002. It has gone through 3 motherboards. I also saw a recent article on energy rated power supplies and if you are a heavy user the return on investment is less than a year.

Where I tend to get burned is new connectors. The upgrade to a new Power supply was prompted by 24pin power connectors and SATA power connectors. I have several working AGP video cards gathering dust.
If possible, try to get a modular PSU. I have used these in a few build, and not only to they cut down on excess wires(thus adding cooling), they offer the possibility of ordering the new connections from the manufacture in the future.
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If I were in your shoes I would look for a Radeon/AMD video card with the 4xxx chipset. I think some can be had with hdmi.
Also what I have been looking at, my debate is now mostly on HDMI vs DVI/VGA outputs.
Quote:
I also recommend Newegg to do your hardware searches as it allows selection by chipset and features. For example, for a video card you can select an AMD/Radon, then 2400XT, then the slot (PCIe -2.0) then the amount of card memory, the connectors (vga, dvi or hdmi) and finally the manufacturer. I hesitate to recommend them as vendor although I generally have had good luck. I will not buy refurbed mother boards from them (never come with the heat shield)
I like to compare Tigerdirect and Newegg, but wasn't aware of the advanced selection features of 'egg. I usually find some known working chipsets (from the HCL) and google to find cards, then find them on Tigerdirect and Newegg.
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