Another computer question...

Sean · January 30, 2005, 11:15:54 AM

I just bought these on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5160995363 and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5161044920

I guess I should have asked first, but do any of you have any experience with Compaq Computers? I bought a Video Game yesterday that my HP wouldn't play, so since it was 5 years old anyway I decided to upgrade.

The problem was finding something with 512mb of Ram, Athlon or Pentium4 processor, and compatible with the new Video cards. I found Custom built Towers all over the place that had the P4 and Video cards already in them, but they were all over $500, plus an extra $100 to get XP home installed in them.

This one had all the main system requirements I needed, the AGP 8x slot for the Video card, Slots for more Ram, USB 2.0 ports, Memory Card reader, Cd Drive and a DVD drive, and of course the Windows XP is already in it.

So will this stuff be good for a few years, or did I miss the newest technology?

kb426 · January 30, 2005, 11:42:19 AM

I think you did fine. We've had compaqs before and found they stood behind their warranty well. Same exp. with Dell. Real poor with gateway.

Sean · January 30, 2005, 12:10:05 PM

The main thing I was worried about was the Expansion slots. The AGP 8x is supposed to be pretty fast, but while I was looking all this stuff up online I noticed that they now have something called "PCI Express" thats even faster. I decided that the PCI express stuff was probably intended for Kids that do nothing but play video games. The Geforce2 Video Card thats in my HP Computer has done everything I needed it to do up until now, and it is fairly old technology.

I don't think I need a "Gamer" PC because I don't play that many games, and my Kids don't play them at all. But... I do like to play the WWII Games that are coming out and the newest ones are pretty impressive. The one I just bought and couldn't play is Medal of Honor-Pacific Assault and it uses 4 CD's just to download it into the computer. The MINIMUM requirements are a P4 or Athlon processor running at 1.5 GHz or faster, at least 3.0 Gig of free space, at least 512MB of Ram, a minimum 64MB Video Card that fully supports Direct X 9.0, etc.

I am hoping this Compaq and the Video card I bought will keep me in good shape for several years, but as fast as they change stuff I don't know...

Dave · January 30, 2005, 12:20:43 PM

Quote from: "Sean"I just bought these on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5160995363 and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5161044920

I guess I should have asked first, but do any of you have any experience with Compaq Computers? I bought a Video Game yesterday that my HP wouldn't play, so since it was 5 years old anyway I decided to upgrade.

The problem was finding something with 512mb of Ram, Athlon or Pentium4 processor, and compatible with the new Video cards. I found Custom built Towers all over the place that had the P4 and Video cards already in them, but they were all over $500, plus an extra $100 to get XP home installed in them.

This one had all the main system requirements I needed, the AGP 8x slot for the Video card, Slots for more Ram, USB 2.0 ports, Memory Card reader, Cd Drive and a DVD drive, and of course the Windows XP is already in it.

So will this stuff be good for a few years, or did I miss the newest technology?

Im suppriesd they have an 8x agp slot and not video built on the mother board that you cant turn off. Thats the problem ive had working on compaq pukers. I usually buy a bare bones system from ebay from a company ive delt with many times and i get the memory i want and mother board and processor and case then i finish the rest. I just worked on a compaq for a buddy at work who wanted to run the nascar game but nascar didnt like his video card and its built on the m/b.. He is sol...

The thing i find is that compaq dell etc like to use the cheapest stuff they can find to make the most profit. That doesnt always cut it. Remember this is just my opinion and im entitled to it. I did but one new compaq and after taking a day off work to talk to tech support about thier crummy modem that wouldnt work I took it back and got my 1200 bucks back.
Dont worry I told em what I thought ..
Dave

Sean · January 30, 2005, 12:42:42 PM

Quote from: "N8DC"
Im suppriesd they have an 8x agp slot and not video built on the mother board that you cant turn off.

It does have built in Video, but so did my HP. When I added the Geforce2 to the HP, it worked fine. I guess it overrides the integrated one. Although it worked fine on its own, I did go into the "Device Manager" and turned the integrated one off manually.

Hopefully I am able to do the same thing with this Compaq. Compaq's site says that there is an empty AGP 8x slot inside this model, so I would think thats why its there.

Here's Compaqs spec list for it... http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00239779

kb426 · January 30, 2005, 02:36:27 PM

Sean, you're correct in thinking that pci express is something most of us don't need. And as long as you have the 8x agp slot you can use all the high end cards. There was a period when compaqs modems were messed up. One of my friends had one years ago like that. I'm building my own these days not so much because you save money but more so that you pick what components you use. I have gotten some real educations with incompatibility. I use Newegg.com for stuff and have been 100% satisfied.

Sean · January 30, 2005, 07:19:33 PM

Quote from: "kb426"There was a period when compaqs modems were messed up. .

According to the guy I bought this from, Hewlett-Packard bought Compaq a while back. He mentioned that Compaq had some problems before that and that they were going broke because of it. He claimed that they are an excellent machine nowdays mainly because of HP's ownership.