All DVDRWs are also CDRWs. You can play and burn both CDs and DVDs.

okay great!

thank you very much!

edit: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/sys/657693592.html
my mom still won't let me get it so I'm trying to get the lowest price possible.
Is that one good (I would probably have to change the CD drive though right? I'm fine with that)

The specs are wrong.. the 4800+ is not a 3.0ghz dual core.. It also does not state what power supply is present. The listing seems fishy to me, but I guess that's just my opinion. Plus your mom does realize with Craig’s list there is no warranty so if you get a bad machine you’re just plain screwed..

ya, I'm not getting it. I also noticed they didn't list the hard drive.

I'm really sorry I'm double posing, but I finally decided that (if possible, which I think it is) I would upgrade my mom's dell dimension 4600. I was wondering:

A. If I could
B. If I would have to upgrade the cooling fan
C. If I could still get the 9600GT
D. What kind of everything to get
E. If I would just use an external hard drive or chage the internal one
and
F. How to do it all (I can probably find that all)

Thanks very very very much. (and obviously if I can't upgrade it, then you don't have to answer the rest of the questions)

A) Some things..
B) You can't upgrade any fans on the Dell. Dell has specific parts that make this impossible..well unless you want to start cutting on your case and doing some serious mods. Do you mean get a new power supply? Yes you will.
C) No, the 4600 only has an AGP slot which really restricts what you can buy.
D)If you want to know what is compatible with your system go to Dell’s support pages. They have detailed information on all of their models.
E)You could get an external hard drive for storage but don't plan on running programs off it if it is usb. You will get poor performance
F)Do a google search on how to build/install. Dell support pages has some instructions specific to your model as well.

Keep in mind you're putting money into an already outdated machine just to make it a little bit less outdated.. not generally a good use of money. It would for sure need a new graphics card, new power supply, you're looking at a new hard drive, possibly more ram.. that kind of money you really are better off putting it into a new machine. Anything you put into that machine won’t work with a newer one because of all the older parts.. old DDR ram, AGP video card, etc.

That model also uses passive cooling.. Just one small aluminum heatsink w/fins. The heatsink for that one and the 4700 my mom has looks to be the same.. and I can tell you it is really pathetic. I'm not sure how well it would do with all the heat generated.

okay, thanks again, back to the original idea again. Looks like I won't be able to play the sims 2 for a while

Sorry I'm double posting but its been a while. I've been configuring different systems on different sites and I was wondering, for the same price on a website, I could get 2 8600GTS video cards or 1 9600GT.

Which one would work better?

one 9600gt is faster than 8600GTS in SLI. 8800gt would be faster. From newegg.com you can get and 8800GT for about $130...$180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...%2f+Video+Cards

The 9600GT runs a little under the 8800gt but it's more energy efficient and runs a bit cooler too. You'd also save a ton of money getting a p35 chipset motherboards instead of a nvidia sli board.

Thanks very much.

I was just looking through the paper at the ads (like I always do), and stumbled upon this HP. I know its graphics aren't as good (I'm not going to be playing games that are that graphics intensive, just stuff around the quality of the sims and less) and it has vista, but it is a good price to include the monitor and an all in one printer, and it has a TV tuner. What do you think?

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...e=KJ382AA%23ABA

there it is without the monitor or printer, that was just in this morning's paper for an ad at best buy. I was also wondering in the future, if I did get this one, if I would be able to upgrade the video card.

Thanks in advance.

It's pretty expensive without doing any upgrades/changes, and I would not recommend that quad core for playing TS2 and shuttering is an issue.

I priced up hundreds cheaper and stronger for TS2 computers for you earlier..and you turned them down because you said they were too expensive.. so not really understanding what you're looking for at this point.

well I earned more money, and I do need a monitor too, and as I said, for barely anything more at best buy I can get it with a monitor and an all in one printer. That is all.

If you add in the price of a monitor to the ava direct one, it is the same (well I need a keyboard and such too, I had a laptop before).

So really it isn't much more, it is just the quality. Right now I have $800, so it is still a while off. If only I didn't need the monitor.

The difference between the AVA machine with the superior graphics card and the HP one is almost $200. If you look at the price of the AVA machine with the equivalent graphics card as this HP then the price difference is over $300.. and at least the link you gave me isn't including the price of a monitor..

I see that for several hundred more ($1300) Best Buy is offering this computer w/a 19" monitor and printer. Now you're looking at a greater than $450 difference between the AVA machine with the equivalent graphics card. No matter how you look at it the AVA machine is several hundred cheaper.. as that monitor and printer are certainly not worth even close to $450.

HP monitors are really not very nice on top of it. This lg offered through Best Buy offers is really a lot nicer for only $230 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...d=1201913867265
Now that Hp printer retails for $75.99 at best buy bringing you to $305 add in a cheap mouse and a keyboard and you're at maybe $330, leaving you with a greater than $100 savings.

that more than $100 savings you could choose to put into the better AVA machine with the superior graphics card and now for approx the same price you have a greatly superior everything..

No matter how you do the math.. the HP is not a good deal. The only thing I would change about the AVA computer is I'd build on one of their P35 chipset motherboards and an E8400. The motherboard/processor switch would add about $50 but it would be worth it. I only didn't price one of those up before because you were calling much cheaper computers too expensive. If you have the money you should go for it.

Right now I only have $800 so it will STILL be a while. Is there a way to hook it up to a tv (it isn't an hd tv or anything, it is like 9 years old) or anything, so that I could get it earlier, and then buy the monitor as soon as I have the money.

Also, could you explain more about switching to intel? to do that I would have to choose a different base on the AVA website, so could you help me a little?

It depends on what kind of ports the TV has.. I'm not up to date on TV tech.. I'm not sure how old s-video is but if it has s video you can for sure. You'll have to take a peek and tell me what kind of ports it has.. If it just has the basic cable ports then I don't think so.

Yeah look here for intel: I like the GA-p35-ds3l mobo w/ e8400 processor. http://www.avadirect.com/product_de...or.asp?PRID=830

eta: Did a search and one website says even if you just have the cable port you can but you'd need to buy a special card for your pc. No idea how much those would cost. Something you could look into but I imagine it could end up being expensive.

You know, the intel one is actually $100 cheaper.

That makes me happy :D.

Hmm.. I had it configured more so not sure what you did to get it configured cheaper.. but cool The 8400 and the chipset is better than the AMD.

I configured it exactly like you did before, but with the different motherboard and processor.

So...


case: antec Sonata III w/500w psu
Psu: no upgrade
motherboard: GA-p35-ds3l
cpu: e8400
cpu coolers: no fan upgrade
ram: corsair 2gb pc2-5300
gpu: evga 9600gt
hard drive: Seagate 250GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA-II..16mb cache
subtract dvd-rom
dvdrw: Plextor PX-810SA
no floppy
XP home
$983.78

And the AMD was $967.68.. Not sure what you did differently.

If you read PC gamer... in the back, they always have a updated list of different type of systems one can build, there are 3 different types of systems you can build: Entry- Level, intermediate level and Expert. Entry level is under $500 and not bad specs at all, intermediate $750+, and expert $1000+..you should probably go to a store and just flip through to the back and just skim through it and compare prices of the parts listed online..

P.S if you got old parts from older systems, it can save you a lot of money..i took a 120gig HDD, CD/DVD-Rom and a 1gig of memory from a prebuilt my mom bought me and used it to build a newer kickass system, even though it sucks now..

actually, I upgraded the cooler, and the hard drive was a 500GB Western Digital

That works too.. glad you've found something you like

And now I have enough! It was my birthday :D. If I sell my old laptop I will have enough to get the computer and the monitor (which I kind of need :P)