Anyone (18 years old+) know much about new PC's?

sweet (i'm not 18+ but, ik alot about computers)

The trick to getting a lasting computer is not to "Buy Big". If you buy exactly what the sales people tell you you'll be in the hole for twice as much and most of that will go to things you won't need or will go out of date in a few months. 7-8 years is quite the request, so it all depends on what you want to do with the PC. If you want to play the newest games then you're kidding yourself to think one PC will be able to keep up to date for 8 years. If you're just looking for a fast PC to perform simple tasks and run the latest home software then you will want a good motherboard with 3-4 (preferably 4) slots for ram, look for it to be compatible with 2GB sticks so you can update as requirements change. Two harddrives, size isn't quite so important but having two allows you to keep necessary programs and data on one hard drive with your OS and everything else on the other. If you keep the hard drive with your OS neat and tidy and under 50% used you will notice a huge difference in loading times. Get a good processor, brands are a matter of preference. Normally I'd say dual-core is plenty, but if you want it to last 8 years you would probably do well to get yourself a nice quad-core. Graphics cards are impossible to keep up with, so if you want to stay onboard with gaming technology you'll have to update it as necessary, otherwise just get a nice one that will run your Monitor. Sound cards...unless you're an audio engineer don't pay for more than your speakers will run. If you are just going to use 2 cheap speakers get something simple, if you're going for Dolby 5.1 then look for a more highend sound card. Don't cheap out on the Powersource, good powersources will be adaptable to several different motherboards and run much much quieter. I can leave my pc running over night and not even hear it. What am I forgeting...Ethernet card...don't worry too much, most motherboards have them onboard now. If your service provider should suddenly increase your Mb/s to more than your card can handle, then you can pick up a better one, but that may not happen for years so why pay out before you have to.

Best of luck, don't buy a prefab, go to a computer store and tell them EXACTLY what you want and have them slap it together for you. Warrenty if possible. Don't let them sell you anything you are unsure of cause that's usually a grab for commission.

Form what I've gleaned off the internet, running two video cards at once is a waste of money and energy. If you're going to be using it for gaming atleast; maybe if you were working in CAD or some kind of 3D rendering program. SLI technology is shoddy at best, so running one 9800 is fine for anything else. Vista seems to give some people problems for no other reason than its new and windows hasn't put out a proper service pack for it. Lets call it growing pains.
UGH
this explains Vista pretty well.

Now maybe this is a weird link, but most of these people know what they are talking about. Read the stickied topics at the top of the page for some ideas. Oh and firewire is like USB only faster. Its not as widely supported as USB however. Lately anyway the only things that almost always have firewire support are digital devices, like cameras. I can't really give you any specifics about anything though. My computers about as old your current one, and most likely in dire need of repairs. Also, get another hard drive. You can never have too much storage space.

I have a suggestion: don't get Windows Vista.

^^^ That suggestion ain't half bad actually.

For the love of donuts.....don't get Vista....

Vista is mainly a blight because you can't play 90% of games on it.

I'm not going to get bullied into buying an XBox!

Vista ain't that bad, but if you're getting this PC for gaming, XP is still the best bet. Even those vista-exclusive releases can easily be *tweaked* to run on XP. but 64-bit Vista, if you plan on gaming, that's a complete waste.

Now what do you plan on doing with this PC? mostly gaming? 3D rendering? Internet surfing and movie watching? Quad core with 8gb is way overkill for gaming - its really only useful for 3D rendering & 3D CAD at the moment. For gaming, you're better off going with faster Ghz dual core, and 4GB tops. and use the money saved on getting more hard drive space - one 500 gb will fill up quickly; I have one 500 and two 320gb in my rig and running low on space :)

One thing that a lot of people overlook is the case, PSU brand, and cooling. I mean, you can get a quad core 8gb rig for braggin' rights, but if you power if with generic 600W, you're insane. Get something high end PSU like PC&C, Enermax, etc.. I've been buying Mushkin brand PSUs here at work (I recommend and build high-end PC workstations) and the Mushkin 650W is a beauty AND a workhorse:

www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/mushkin650/
ultra shiny and very heavy, sleeved and modular cables, and very reliable power. we run quad core rigs running high-end simulations 24hr a day, and these PSU haven't failed us yet.

Next, don't just say 'case is included, obvsiously'... what brand of case? I mean, there's cases, and then there's cases. And the one I'm in love with (use it in my rig and recommend it to everyone) is the Antec Nine Hundred:

www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15900
Top mounted massive 200mm fan, twin 120mm fans in front for intake, 120mm fan in side, (and all those are included!) and room for one more 120mm at back. The two top-mounted USB and one firewire plug at very well placed, and a convenient pocket on top comes in handy too (My WD external USB drive fits there perfectly, and hooks into the nearby USB slot.)

I'll post a picture tonight of my rig but basically if you use this case, and get this CPU fan (Zalman 9500)
Zalman 9500

and mount it so it exhaust the hot CPU air upwards, for the 200mm fan to scoop up and out of the case, its just about the ultimate cooling setup you can get on air. heck, my temps are near water-cooling levels. and all those fans have low, mid, and high speeds for perfect power vs noise management.

On the Vista/XP debate - if a gaming rig, it's a difficult one. If/when DirectX 10 games start to become commonplace, you'll be forced into the Vista route like it or not, so it *may* be best to bite the bullet now. There's not much out there yet, but some top end games are already using the framework - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_10_support.

Also worth bearing in mind that if you using more than 4 GB of RAM, you'll also definitely want a 64-bit OS, otherwise you're wasting your money there. Again in that regards, although there is a 64-bit version of Windows XP, Vista fits the bill far better (yet isn't without it's issues, particularly with driver support).

Worth doing a bit of research on that one before making a choice.

USB and firewire ports are different, and are not compatible, which is why many computers come equiped with both.

Firewire is faster, but ever since USB 2.0 the speed is negligible, to me atleast. I don't need a super fast transfer speed. And, well, most if not all external devices come with a USB wire, buying an extra cable for something that doesn't need it is kind of a waste. That is to say, firewire is more for specialized use as opposed to usb, that is pretty much universal and backwards compatible with USB 1.1

there is 64 bit windows XP. I believe my friends computer runs on it.

Just one thing... Firewire should be quicker than USB for your external HD, but if the drive supports it you'll still need a different cable (the port is different). Honestly, I've not bothered looking at high end PC stuff for a while - it just depresses me given the state of my current desktop and the fact that I can't afford to upgrade at the moment.

I must confess something: I'm not 18.

I have both XP and Vista dual boot at home on my gaming rig, and i'll try to explain the differences I've come across with various games. I'll post later tonight. for now, got to scoot out of here

Thats all well and good RB, but you know you'll get to average, or at most below average, before you crack and get a new one!!

Oh and also, when I read your title, I nearly PM'd you to say.."you know you'll be leaving DoK out if you do that?!"

Seems like you're quite the legend around here DoK.

there's a reason why people say 2 gb of ram is the minimum if you want to run all the fancy features of Vista. Some intertubes say microsoft is busy building a new OS and should be ready by round 2012.

This is just something I read, and should probably be taken with the slightest caution.

It wouldn't be the first time they've made a crappy OS that was only used to test new technology that later dumped for something useable. Just saying, is all.

Vista wasnt worth having in the first few months. I had software that wouldnt work for my digital camera, mobile phone and MP3, all were redundant for a good 4 months, untill the producers finally brought out some patches. Fortunately at this state, most things have vista patches, all all new PC games are vista compatable. A clever soul like you would be able to find patches.

However I will say, I KNOW you wont keep it for 8 years, we humans never do the things we say we will. Why dont you just go great comp/overkill at this stage instead?

Thats exactly what I'm saying; you might be in a better position in 5 years financially. You might decided to buy a gold plated computer, to go with your solid gold house and your rocket car.

Seems like you're quite the legend around here DoK.

I'm the guy who pisses everyone off. I'm legendary.

Don't forget your diamond studded cd drive.

I'm not exactly a computer nerd. I only know what I pick up browsing the web. But from what I can tell, if you are going to be using your comp pretty regularly, and for high-demand tasks such as 3d gaming, it'll probably wear out your hardware before the 8 years is up. My comp I'm on right now is probably 3 years old, on it's second motherboard, but the RAM is dying, I believe.

But I could be completely wrong, so ignore everything I just said.