(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: November 26, 2005, 03:28:47 AM Today (Saturday) is probably the day for you.http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=124297&cmSearchKeyword=T3306Should only be about $230-250 if you skip the AOL BS, which we'll be doing.. but still, $230-250 for a complete PC plus monitor and printer/scanner/copier isn't terrible.Used to build my own.. now I pick 'em up cheap like this and modify them a little. Different vid card, more RAM, better power supply.. this current eMachine has done well for me for about two and a half years now.. and will continue to be used by other members of the household once I pick this new one up later this morning. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #1 – November 26, 2005, 08:07:07 AM sempr0n processors are garbage, but usally a step above a celeron. What was your old model? This would be a good cheap little computer. Dont let them screw you out of the printer and what not, and bring the ad in with you. If you can get the factory ESP, unless you are good with computers(sounds like you are), and there is no warrenty voiding. You can overclock it, burn out the cpu, clear bios/cmos, and have them fix your computer with a 90 day warrenty, or till the end of your current warrenty. Figure out if it has the lite-on dvd drives. Those are total garbage. They will break usally within a couple of weeks. If you need a hookup, I know a few people that can litterly just send you out parts if anything breaks. They will not send out a cpu, but everything else they will ship to you. when you register it(online of over the phone) if you choose to do so, have the serial number ready. Its in the little cover, you prolly know where it is. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #2 – November 26, 2005, 11:03:11 AM Don't know about everyone else's CC, but ours was sold out of that machine by 5 PM yesterday.. so we ended up getting another machine from Office Depot. eMachines D6417.. Athlon64 3200+ on an ATi motherboard. Already in the process of building it up a little bit.And yes, I do know something about computers.. took my first PC repair shop job in 1995. Got out of the business a couple years ago.. which, unfortunately, is an eternity in PCs. Didn't have PCIe, PC3200, 64-bit, SATA, commodity DVD burners, etc. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #3 – November 26, 2005, 06:45:49 PM eh,... like its that much diffrent anyways. Just diffrent cables. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #4 – November 26, 2005, 07:34:20 PM I have used lite - on for years (both cd and dvd burners) and they have worked just fine Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #5 – November 28, 2005, 12:47:46 PM the new sempr0ns are just athlon chips with 512 cache, so they are actually really good for the money. I would only take an "eMachine" if it was free, fixing it all the ed time isn't worth the money. Lite-on drives are touch and go, they can last for ever or just be complete junk either way.I still build my own, I don't like the super cheap cases, PSU, and MB's that get used in built systems. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #6 – November 28, 2005, 01:01:35 PM I would tend to agree with Funky Cricket, but if I could get a built system really cheap like Bird351 did then I would probably go for it. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #7 – November 28, 2005, 01:22:06 PM "Fixing it all the ed time"? My last eMachines worked just fine for 2 and a half years. Only thing wrong with it right this moment is that the fan on the 9700 Pro I added to it has died after all this time. My fiance's machine has mostly worked fine, except for some video card issues involving cheaper Radeon models we installed. Not stuff I would blame on the computers as they were shipped and sold. (we're talking Radeon 9200-type hardware.. not exactly top shelf stuff)Trust me.. as a former "roll my own"-snob of several years' experience, I know all the lines to justify avoiding PCs like this. It's overblown. As for the cheap parts thing.. this came with a MSI motherboard in it and a Venice-core, E6-revision Athlon64. Not exactly cheap junk. It's just not up to the level of expectation of the average member of the hardware-snob club. I know where you're coming from.. your opinion WAS mine, about 3-4 years ago. Then I got sick of building my own and decided to pick up a couple cheap machines and just tweak them a bit. (good vid card and PSU, more RAM, etc.) Besides.. a lot of the new enthusiast-type hardware just doesn't do it for me anymore. I absolutely HATE some of these new cases, the with windows in the sides and what not. Poseur-shiznit. I didn't buy my computer to look at it.. I bought it to use it.. and I don't care what anyone else thinks when they look at it.If I build another PC from scratch, it'll be a SFF.. and it'll be because I'll have taken the A64 3200+ out of this one and dropped in an X2. The opinion you have of eMachines PCs was accurate.. several years ago. I should know.. I fixed some of 'em. From my current experience, that opinion is about as outdated as Quantum Bigfoot drives, Pentium OverDrive processors, and EDO RAM. The biggest problem with an eMachines PC at this point is the average buyer of one. "PICNIC", as they say.. and "PICNIC" is why I got out of PC repair. The CD-ROM tray is NOT a cupholder.. and the machine does NOT work better the more ya kick it. Ugh.Sorry for the rant.. but having the experience I have and still seeing these statements gets a little irritating sometimes. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #8 – November 28, 2005, 02:00:39 PM still. i saw so many of those things in for repair at the last "weekend" (read: under the table) job that I will avoid them for awhile.Though to your credit most ppl that buy that cheap a PC are usually the culprits behind the breaking.I am not a fan of all the moding either. staight cases for me and NO lights, but I just like to know what is in my machines and that I can rely on em IMO.But as you stated, one of the biggest worries in those machines is the PSU and it sounds like you change em anyway. at least you have had luck with em and for 300 bucks you really can't argue too much if it breaks after a year or so.. hhehe. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #9 – November 28, 2005, 02:11:29 PM The new PC came with some random 300w PSU.. which should be fine for the PC as it sits.. but I took the Antec TruePower 430w out of the last PC and stuck it in the new one.I like the eMachines cases.. for micro ATX cases, they're decent. This one came with the floppy drive eliminated, in favor of a memory card reader and a 7th USB port that's just underneath the second 5.25" drive bay. I plan on picking up a couple SATA drives and setting up a RAID in addition to the PATA drive in it now. It has enough room for 3 hard drives including the original. I'll pick up another external HDD enclosure (have a USB 2.0 drive enclosure with a 200 gig Barracuda already) and use the second external drive as a backup to the RAID. Probably going to pick up two 120-gig 'Cudas and a 250-gig for the other external case. Once I get everything sorted out, I'll give the first external one to my fiance for her machine.One thing to note: I did hack up the original eMachines, just enough to stick a 92mm fan next to the video card. That's the extent of my eMachines case-modding. I'll say it's coming in handy, since the 9700 Pro should be fried by now with a dead fan.. but that 92mm is keeping it going. Gonna pick up a Zalman passive cooler for it soon.I'm honestly a little surprised at the board that came with this new system. Already has the BIOS needed for the X2 swap.. (ATi RS480 chipset) has 4 SATA ports.. 4 DIMM slots.. plenty of USB and FireWire ports.. PCIe x16 and 3 PCI slots. I kinda expected 2 DIMMs and 2 SATA and maybe even a PCI slot missing. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #10 – November 28, 2005, 07:23:51 PM not all of the specs will be the same as a computer store bought motherboard though. And msi will not warrenty it for longer then emachines. Also, those card readers are basically a usb interface, and for some reason like to go bad. I dont know how a usb anything can go bad easily, but whatever.There not bad computers, I love it when someone says "emachines is get a gateway". They are the exact same just so yall know. Also, emachines is one of the only computer manufactures that embraces the 64 bit cpu's. Everyone else ignores it and sticks with the p4 stickers. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #11 – November 28, 2005, 11:14:55 PM Sorry folks but I'm still in the "build it yourself" boat. My current Athlon system is so rock steady that my friends hate me for it. I guess when you spent a couple of years as a Lead computer Tech. you know how to make em work right. On the 1100 mile journey to florida I some how had a screw come loose and cause me some ide issue's. But I've fixed that. Oh yeah, I like my fancy lights and windows. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #12 – November 28, 2005, 11:31:08 PM Quote from: CougarSEI guess when you spent a couple of years as a Lead computer Tech. you know how to make em work right.How about when you spend around 8 or 9 years at it?Sorry, but that statement of yours came off as a little insulting.. as if you're insinuating that you can build a PC I can't. I started repairing PCs for a living when you were ten years old. Don't assume that because I'm behind on car stuff that my PC experience is similarly lacking. :DPC lights and windows = chrome or Type-R badges/stickers/whatever. (actually saw a power supply branded "Type-R" the other day.. what a joke) If it doesn't make it go faster or do something useful like read a CD, it doesn't have much of a place on my computer. Hell, I've made PCs out of hanging a slide-out ATX tray on the side of a desk and building a system on that. Wasn't a bad overclock, either.. Pentium 166 MMX @ 2.5x100.. gotta love the old Super-7s. :D Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #13 – November 28, 2005, 11:44:56 PM You are such an over dramatic person. Quote Selected
(expired) If anyone needs a cheap new PC: Reply #14 – November 29, 2005, 01:58:01 AM i look at naked ladies and car stuff with my computer Quote Selected
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