TreoBenny
04-12-2007, 11:40 AM
Hello Rob and All! TreoBenny here :cool: ,
Beginner expert is an apt description for me as far as home computing is concerned. I've progressed beyond novice and I'm just scratching the surface of someone that actually knows something about computers. Of course, this means I have a whole new tier of questions and projects ahead of me. I can't ask my question w/o giving a little background;
About 14 months ago I bought an eMachines T3410 (http://www.e4me.com/products/products.html?prod=T3410). If you take a peek at the specs you'll see that this machine was a diamond in the rough for its price. I have upgraded just about everything on it:
Maxed out the RAM, (2 Gig)
Installed 2 CD/DVD burners
Dual-monitor NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 via 1 PCI slot
SoundBlaster Audigy 7.1-compatible sound via the other PCI slot
Two 250 Gig HDD's in the chassis
Three 250 Gig, one 200 Gig external (IDE) HDD's via USB
Vista Ultimate
The most recent upgrade was going from 1.5 to 2 Gigs of RAM. I've noticed that more and more the CPU is holding the machine back, (2.01GHz.) I'd really like to build my own tower so I can add more optical drives, have more available PCI slots, and several other reasons, rather than simply buy a new CPU. Google got me to your site Rob, and there's lots of good info. Here's why I think my situation is possibly unique:
I'm not quite starting from scratch. I know I need a case, power, motherboard, etc. But I also have several components I want to take from my BIG-T3410, (as I call it) like the HDDs, the video & sound cards and optical drives. Can I coordinate this type of patchwork idea or is it better to sell off everything and start clean? Of course, the HDD's are the last things I'd want to part with because I have so much data it would be hard to back it all up at one time. However, I get the feeling I'm clinging to the past with IDE drives.
I guess I'm not so much in need of how to build a PC, but how to best make the transition from a max-modded retail unit to a true custom tower. As a final note, my vision of my site, (treobenny.com) is similar to what you've done with MySuperPC.com so thank you for investing your time in the interest of the rest of us learning!
Beginner expert is an apt description for me as far as home computing is concerned. I've progressed beyond novice and I'm just scratching the surface of someone that actually knows something about computers. Of course, this means I have a whole new tier of questions and projects ahead of me. I can't ask my question w/o giving a little background;
About 14 months ago I bought an eMachines T3410 (http://www.e4me.com/products/products.html?prod=T3410). If you take a peek at the specs you'll see that this machine was a diamond in the rough for its price. I have upgraded just about everything on it:
Maxed out the RAM, (2 Gig)
Installed 2 CD/DVD burners
Dual-monitor NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 via 1 PCI slot
SoundBlaster Audigy 7.1-compatible sound via the other PCI slot
Two 250 Gig HDD's in the chassis
Three 250 Gig, one 200 Gig external (IDE) HDD's via USB
Vista Ultimate
The most recent upgrade was going from 1.5 to 2 Gigs of RAM. I've noticed that more and more the CPU is holding the machine back, (2.01GHz.) I'd really like to build my own tower so I can add more optical drives, have more available PCI slots, and several other reasons, rather than simply buy a new CPU. Google got me to your site Rob, and there's lots of good info. Here's why I think my situation is possibly unique:
I'm not quite starting from scratch. I know I need a case, power, motherboard, etc. But I also have several components I want to take from my BIG-T3410, (as I call it) like the HDDs, the video & sound cards and optical drives. Can I coordinate this type of patchwork idea or is it better to sell off everything and start clean? Of course, the HDD's are the last things I'd want to part with because I have so much data it would be hard to back it all up at one time. However, I get the feeling I'm clinging to the past with IDE drives.
I guess I'm not so much in need of how to build a PC, but how to best make the transition from a max-modded retail unit to a true custom tower. As a final note, my vision of my site, (treobenny.com) is similar to what you've done with MySuperPC.com so thank you for investing your time in the interest of the rest of us learning!