I am saving to buy my own computer, currently I use my familys computer, and they don't like me installing Linux or anything on it, so I want to get my own. My budget is about $800. Anybody have any suggestions? I don't know enough about hardware to build a custome one, I could go to 'tech advanced computers' right down the road and probably get a pretty good custome one, any ideas?

Buy an AMD processor. Have a CD writer.

But, what do you do most with your computer? If you're going to play a lot of games, you'd want a good gfx card etc.

You can often get old stuff very cheap. I'm not saying you should buy an old 486 CPU, but for example you don't need a new monitor.

dude, build your own comp, 128mb stick of ram - $9 60gb 7200rpm hdd - $200 ..very cheap

well, thats not really true... u can't just buy a 128 stick of ram... if u get a AMD, which i recommend for the price and the quality and even the speed! Its proven that an 1.35 ghz AMD runs office programms faster than a 1.7 Ghz P4... for a P4 u'd have to get the damn expensive RAMBUS, but for a AMD all you need is SDRAM which is pretty cheap. Check on which motherboards support an AMD, but i'd recommend a ASUS motherboard... those are good. if u get a 1.3 or 1.4 ghz amd, and if u like to play games, really, get a Geforce 3. With that gfx card u'll explore new horizons. A 45 or 50 GB maxtor HDD is not too expensive, and a DVD rom drive and a cd writer aren't too bad either... so i'd say with ur 800$ u can get a good pc, but if u want something with what i told u, 1000$ would prolly be enough... just not for the gfx card... that is a lil' bit more expensive... if u want that one, get like 1300$ or so... and really don't forget, AMD's are cheaper and run lots of things faster than P3 and P4's

Well true, AMD's are good, but I got a server computer, was amazingly fast for 600 Canadian. Have someone build you a custom and for $800 US I work wonders. Just shop around, ask prices, give specs, and you will find something suitable for you. Also, did you want to run linux or winblowz, cuz if you want to run linux, get ALL A-OPEN hardware for maximum performance.

ok i put this togerther:
pc133 384 mb ($24) - pricewatch.com
IBB 810 w/ 1agp, 5pci, 2isa, 3dimm, 2 usb - http://www.memoryshippers.com/
1ghz p3 oem - http://www.computerexpo.com/
40gb 7200 rpm hdd - pcstop.com
16x10x40 cdrw - pcbuyerclub.com
gforce2 mx 400 64mb agp - http://store.yahoo.com/lib/hoct12/pw.htm
win2k (who can't live without it, plus, read my rpcss.exe and mdm.exe post!) - volumehardware.com
^^^^^^^^^^^------$554 plus s&h
sound cards,keyboards,mice, power supply, case, monitor..whatevre else u need
werd

oops forgot to add prices other than the memory oh well..figure it out at their sites..peace

What version? The kernel or the distro? Anyhow, I don't think it matters concerning his new computer - I have Slackware 8 installed on a 486 and everything works.. except for the fact that X lags as hell .

So this shouldn't be a problem.

[ This Message was edited by: Peter on 2001-08-23 20:42 ]

I use RedHat 7.1

ok , I assembled my own 1GHz Athlon PC for about $700 , BUT I didn't have to buy a display ... here's what I got :
AMD 1GHz Athlon
NO-NAME 256MB SDRAM (PC133, CL3)
WesternDigital 20GB HDD (7200RPM, Ultra-ATA 66)
Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer
Nvidia GeForce2 MX400 (Elsa Gladiac, 32MB SDRAM)
Planex Ethernet card (dunno the model now )
AOpen 52x CDROM
NO-NAME Floppy-Drive (1.44MB)

that's it .... and after I bought this stuff I saved money and bought surround speakers for my PC ($250) so , now you see what you can doo if you got $800 ... maybe you can even get a Athlon 1.33 with DDR Ram by now for $700 .
[addsig]