My friend and I want to buy a computer for the least amount of money possible but that has this sound card in it: ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1. I dont know where to go about doing this the best way, should i make the computer from scratch or should i buy one already made and just put that sound card in it myself? any good tips would be awesome. thanks.
Build it yourself. You can build one and install it a lot cheaper than you can find one that has that particular card already.
Try newegg.com and also pricewatch.com.
So youre saying just build the entire cpu myself?
You are asking for help so you wont know how to build a pc so do what i do and that is.
Go to a few computer shops and ask for the best of everything they have in terms of a computer or what you are looking for.
Then buy all the parts from computer swap meets/markets or online sites. Then take it to a shop and get them to build it for you.
My tower was priced at $5000 I got all the parts for 1800 or so and it cost me $70 to get it built.
Putting a computer together only sounds hard it is literally one of the easiest things to do in regards to computing. It is alot easier and less time consuming to build the computer than it is just to install windows once you are done lol.
It is also ALOT and I mean ALOT cheaper if you can put it together yourself so I would deffinatly look into that option. It only looks hard, most components just snap into place (Ram/GPU/Soundcard) with mabey a screw to hold it in tight and everything else just plugs into the powersupply once you have it in the right spot.
But if you just want to save time and buy a pre made computer it should take you less than a min to install a soundcard since all you have to do is slot it in and then tigten one screw (in most cases).
It really depends what you’re using it for.
If you’re only surfing the internet, running some light applications, and maybe office then you can get some good deals on low budget pre-built stuff. It’s easy to open any computer and slap in a sound card.
If you want to be able to play any new game, then you can save a lot of money by building it piece by piece.
[quote]jzzz wrote:
You are asking for help so you wont know how to build a pc so do what i do and that is.
Go to a few computer shops and ask for the best of everything they have in terms of a computer or what you are looking for.
Then buy all the parts from computer swap meets/markets or online sites. Then take it to a shop and get them to build it for you.
My tower was priced at $5000 I got all the parts for 1800 or so and it cost me $70 to get it built.[/quote]
x2. It’s way cheaper, even with every high quality parts you put in it. A big advantage is that you control every program that gets installed on the computer. Most pre-builts have tons of useless crap installed that just slows you down. If you’ve never built one before, and to save a few headaches, get a tech or someone who has experience to install the drivers/software/etc… Mainly because sometimes you might have to download drivers if the originals dont work well with your computer. After you build the first computer yourself, you can continue to upgrade parts as you go and become more familiar with doing the installation procedures.
[quote]jck524 wrote:
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1. [/quote]
Why is it you want this exact sound card? Are you doing some sort of digital recording and heard it’s the best? Do you happen to have one lying around and want to put it to good use?
The best resource out there right now for putting a machine together is located here:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=122887&t=553826
Through their creativity and deal-finding skills I’ve gotten a case, power supply, and GPU cooler for free, as well as good prices on other hardware.
A lot of consolidated work from bargain hunters and techies alike. It’s worth signing up for an account there and asking questions as well if you have any.
Have a good one,
Dan
The first question you should ask yourself is: ‘What do I need this computer for?’ Then ask ‘What’s my budget?’
If you’re aiming for casual basic gaming to virtually no gaming, and running office applications and browsing the internet then I’d suggest buying a netbook. This is a very cheap, portable and small laptop and run for about 300 united state dollars. You might get a better deal on ebay even.
If you looking for casual 3d gaming, browsing the internet, encoding songs, or use resource intensive applications (Mathlab, Matematica etc) then it is worthwhile building the computer yourself. There are plenty of tutorials online on how to build a tower/desktop computer, it really isn’t hard.
If you’re looking for some hardcore gaming then it is even more worth it to build your own computer.
If you don’t know what parts to buy etc, just go to a computer forum like the above poster pointed out and you should be fine.
To give you an idea:
sub 300USD->buy a netbook, mainly used for internet and office applications. Virtually no gaming.
sub 1000USD-> Casual gaming, internet and office applications. Look for deals around…not always worth building it yourself.
sub 1900-> Medium range computer. All rounder. build it yourself
3000 USD±> Gaming computer. Build it yourself, you’ll save bucks
As a further note the beauty of building a PC yourself lies in balancing things out… If you into sounds then it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of money on a graphic card. Instead get a good soundcard (if you into DJing I highly recommend MAudio soundacards, if you’re a general audiophile and gaming obsessed fella then get an X-fi soundcard by Creative).
Depends on what you want really…I’m a computer junkie myself. Or used to be anyway…
As a further note if you gonna build a computer yourself…a rule of thumb to save money on the CPU is to buy an AMD cpu. Intel Celeron is ok if you’re on a budget…I’ wont enter into the technical details, just use it as a rule of thumb.
if your only doing sound stuff, buy a dell, they are cheap as crap, and just put the card in yourself (it snaps in place and you run the cd).
if you want a bomb gaming pc build it yourself…
And to agree with everyone else, building your own pc is hella easy… you literally just plug everything in and use screws to hold in the motherboard…
Installing all the bs software and doing crazy raid arrays is an entirely different story… I hate the software part…
[quote]Bicep_craze wrote:
sub 300USD->buy a netbook, mainly used for internet and office applications. Virtually no gaming.
sub 1000USD-> Casual gaming, internet and office applications. Look for deals around…not always worth building it yourself.
sub 1900-> Medium range computer. All rounder. build it yourself
3000 USD±> Gaming computer. Build it yourself, you’ll save bucks
[/quote]
This price list is absolutely silly. It’s very easy to build a great casual use computer for about $600, less if you know how to shop. To call 1900 the top point of a middle range computer is ludicrous, 1000 would be the cap for a mid-range machine capable of playing all modern games at reasonable resolutions…
For 3000 I built a machine with 12GB of RAM, an i7 940, Gigabyte high-end mobo, FireGL 8600, Velociraptors in RAID 0, and a 24" e-IPS monitor for CAD and Flow Dynamics work. A fantastic gaming computer shouldn’t cost more than $2000, and that’s REALLY pushing it.
Somehow I feel like I’ve had this conversation before. Did you copy and past that from Tom’s Hardware or something?
Last spring I build a computer for the first time. gaming computer, cost about $1200 and was meant as a best bang for my buck machine.
Anyway, the process itself is not too bad, I was scared as to whether my computer would work or not, I probably almost static shocked it to death a couple times.
In the end it’s really not to hard to put the computer together, but there is a chance that some of the parts you get might fail (most likely the ram), in which case you deal with RMA’s and replacements. Ram failing is common as hell.
My recommendation, if you like do-it-yourself projects and have a lot of time and patience, build it yourself, your wallet will thank you for every additional machine you build.
If you don’t have too much free time and need the computer now, just find a solid desktop and shove the sound card in.
One more good option is to find a store like microcenter with tons of computer parts. You can pay them $100 or so to put your parts together for you and get a years worth of repairs and service. It might drain the money you would save by going custom in the first place though.
gl
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
Bicep_craze wrote:
sub 300USD->buy a netbook, mainly used for internet and office applications. Virtually no gaming.
sub 1000USD-> Casual gaming, internet and office applications. Look for deals around…not always worth building it yourself.
sub 1900-> Medium range computer. All rounder. build it yourself
3000 USD±> Gaming computer. Build it yourself, you’ll save bucks
This price list is absolutely silly. It’s very easy to build a great casual use computer for about $600, less if you know how to shop. To call 1900 the top point of a middle range computer is ludicrous, 1000 would be the cap for a mid-range machine capable of playing all modern games at reasonable resolutions…
For 3000 I built a machine with 12GB of RAM, an i7 940, Gigabyte high-end mobo, FireGL 8600, Velociraptors in RAID 0, and a 24" e-IPS monitor for CAD and Flow Dynamics work. A fantastic gaming computer shouldn’t cost more than $2000, and that’s REALLY pushing it.
Somehow I feel like I’ve had this conversation before. Did you copy and past that from Tom’s Hardware or something?[/quote]
If you’re really into gaming, then you know what I’m talking about. Granted, that’s a fantastic price for such a system.
But what about if you want more? It’s not only about resolution. Its also about having an overclockable motherboard, its about FPS at HD resolution, it’s about THX certified speakers, It’s about knowing what ADCs you have on your soundcard and research them, and know their real capability, It’s about throwing low latency DDR3 Ram and custom set the correct timings of the RAM modules via the bios, its about running benchmarking tools and squeeze every drop of power your computer has.
Its about choosing the right pair of graphic cards to run em in dual pci-express configuration and consider the use of SCSI hard disks instead of SATA…and that’s low end serious gaming…I could go on and on and on.
Your definition of High-End is way below the top end gaming league, at least I perceive a sub 3000 as non-gaming. It is a very very good PC mind you but again, I’m a geek, I mean A REAL geek…
Also define ‘decent resolution’. There are some people that define 1024x768 as decent. Decent is relative. In my mind decent is above 1960 x 900 at AT LEAST 40 fps with a single card configuration, at highest settings while running AT LEAST direct X 9.0a (don’t start me on shader version and the like…)
IF you are a student and want the best bang for your buck then yes, nowadays you can build a decent rig for around 600 USD if you know to shop. If you’re into gaming tough, the defenition of decent is a whole other story.
And no I’m a qualified electronics technician and happen to be a qualified computer technician which happens to love gaming rigs-a lot.
I don’t need to copy paste from other threads or ‘toms hardware’ although back in the days of the Radeons 9500s (right before when they stopped mass manufacturing them because of their bios flaw) I used that site tough as a reference to custom build PCs for friends.
If you’re a true audiophile, then you should then know about THD parameters and the like and the ‘gaming’ rig should be altered to cater for such use.
OP,
This discussion is pointless tough, as I said, What is your budget? Don’t tell me ‘the least possible’ just throw in a budget and then we can work from there. Seems like there are other people willing to help around tough. Anyway if you need to ask any questions, especially technical ones then PM me. I’ll reply back as soon as possible.
Ehhh…gaming…I miss gaming…Good night!
BC
[quote]Bicep_craze wrote:
If you’re a true audiophile
[/quote]
You threw a shoe right there. Go ahead and throw your money away. Your extra $1000 to get the same appreciable results and “warmer sound” subsidizes my purchases, so I suppose I should say thank you.
I’d call decent resolution 1680 x 1050 and above.
-Dan
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
Bicep_craze wrote:
If you’re a true audiophile
You threw a shoe right there. Go ahead and throw your money away. Your extra $1000 to get the same appreciable results and “warmer sound” subsidizes my purchases, so I suppose I should say thank you.
I’d call decent resolution 1680 x 1050 and above.
-Dan
[/quote]
I threw nothing. Some people enjoy the ‘visual feast’, some enjoy the ‘audiophile’ experience more. Some want something in between, which in my experience is what most people want. Again I said that the initial question the OP should ask and answer in this thread is:
-
What are the applications my friend is going to use on his PC?
-
What budget does he has?
It’s useless to continue elaborate on what’s ‘relative’ on whats a ‘decent’ system.etc. The audiophile doesn’t care if his rig is capable to run the latest game. He may want to play occasionally while playing/encoding music is what he’s going to do most of the time.
So might as well balance things out and shell out more money on a decent CPU, Speaker set, soundcard etc rather then a highest end graphic card etc while still fitting HIS budget.
I assume the warmer sound you are referring to refers to the use of vacuum tube based amplifiers instead of transistorized or IC based ones. Vacuum tube quality is way too over rated, granted they can withstand greater temperatures…
Nowadays I’d rather shell out a decent amount of money on a PC with a decent sound set up rather then spending money to have serious graphics if I had to choose, I have stopped playing games months ago, don’t have much time nowadays.