[brettc1117]

i want to buy two computers and take out the components and make them into one but i dont know where to start. i have a small budget set aside for this and i want to know the best and cheapest computers to buy.

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i have a small budget set aside for this and i want to know the best and cheapest computers to buy.

One problem with this approach is many of the name brand machines aren't standard, they don't use standard motherboards or cases. Avoid Compaq or Dell, of the majors Gateway and Hewlett Packard stick pretty close to standard. You might have better luck buying a homemade rig in a store bought box, at least for one of the machines, since it will have standard parts and case. You could also just buy a new processor/motherboard combo for the box and add some memory since you will have all the other stuff.

What kind of specs are you looking for and what kind of apps are you going to run?.

[Tyger]

i have a small budget set aside for this and i want to know the best and cheapest computers to buy.

One problem with this approach is many of the name brand machines aren't standard, they don't use standard motherboards or cases. Avoid Compaq or Dell, of the majors Gateway and Hewlett Packard stick pretty close to standard. You might have better luck buying a homemade rig in a store bought box, at least for one of the machines, since it will have standard parts and case. You could also just buy a new processor/motherboard combo for the box and add some memory since you will have all the other stuff.

What kind of specs are you looking for and what kind of apps are you going to run?.

[Samm]

i want to buy two computers and take out the components and make them into one but i dont know where to start. 

May I ask why?

[brettc1117]

at least 512 meg ram and at least 40 GB memory. i will use it for mainly entertainment(videos and music) , and for video editing programs like adobe premiere and adobe after affects which take up lots of memory and can slow down a computer. the laptop i have now only has 256 mb ram and 30 GB memory and when i play music or videos there is a glitch every few seconds in the sound or picture and it is blury and using the adobe programs doesnt happen much because of the fact that it slows my computer down. i just want a computer to run these applications and i am interested in building it myself

[Samm]

I don't understand why you want to buy 2 computers then turn them into one computer. Why don't you just buy the individual components & build it from scratch?

[Tempest210]

As a computer hobbyist who has built a number of custom gaming rigs, plus done innumerable upgrades and computer servicing I’ve ended up with a lot of parts. Older video cards, which are still useful, like an Nividia Geforce4 mx 440, Pentium 3 processors, 16 speed CD burners, the list goes on and on.

None of these parts are suitable for more then replacement parts in older systems that people are trying to stretch out the life of. At one time when I got enough items together I’ll build a rig and give it to someone in need of a computer for light gaming, or so they could get on the net, but now I don’t even both with that as companies like Dell offer desktops starting as low as $379, this without a monitor, but still a P4, which often can then be built on. Just make sure it has an AGP or PCI Express slot if you one day want to get into gaming because the integrated graphics cards on these systems, even if they have 128 Megs, fail to play games like DOOM 3 at a frame rate that you could call playable, and even other games like Need for Speed Underground look awful compared to a dedicated ATI or Nividia direct X 9 card. And you can get some of these older cards for $30 to $50.

If your passion is video editing, then you really have to look at these things, processor speed, video card speed/memory, RAM, and Hard drive speed.
A new computer will have a decent processor, and should have 512 Megs of RAM and most have 80 to 120 Meg hard-drives, and they should be faster then anything in your older systems. This then just leaves the Video card.

I use an ATI 9600 XT All-In-Wonder card, with 128 Megs of RAM, not the fastest card by far, but it works great for video capture, editing and gaming, so you don't need to spend big dollars here if you don't want too.
http://www.hothardwa...m?articleid=506

You can take two older computers and take the best parts from each to make one system, but I'm betting you still will not be happy with the end result. Still the lessons learned might help you if you want to build your own system instead of buying one.

Good luck.

Edited by Tempest210, 08 October 2005 - 02:08 PM.