Need new computer

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Go to your local computer store and get the following assembled for you:

1. ANTEC NSK 4482B BLACK W/380W PSU (this comes as a set wholesale)
2. ASUS P7H55-M-LX Motherboard
3. Intel Core i3 530 CPU Retail Box
4. Western Digital WD10EALS 1TB Hard Drive
5. KINGSTON 2X2GB DDR3 1333 CL9 RAM kit
6. ASUS 24B1ST/B SATA DVD-RW (or equivalent)
7. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

That will set you up with a good, reliable system that will perform well and won't break your wallet.


+1 I do this work professionally, and you won't find a better value than this deal. This setup will be viable for several years and the parts quality is much higher than a machine in a box. Just make sure the kid at the store where you get it built doesn't try anything cute like parts substitutions, thinking he knows best. You want those parts, those brands, those part numbers.

 

[Schmoe]

Thanks ya'll, seriously. I'm feeling the love....COME ON....worth as much as a rusty 74 Pinto????? ha ha ha, that's funny. I kind of figured it be worth squat, but I figure ya'll be the ones to know.
What I'm planning on using the computer for is this and my other concern:
1. Debating on going wireless, even with a desktop. The router is right next to my current computer buy hard wired in. Sometimes works, sometimes it don't. Last night, I unplugged the router and went straight to the desktop. Internet came up. Unplugged it and put the internet feed into the router and then ran a plug from the router to the desktop. Internet said it couldn't connect, but checked the settings, and all is apparently working fine, 100 MPS. The antivirus from Avast is up and running and no taskbar incon saying internet is unplugged. Hence my thinking on just going wireless and not worry about it or maybe my settings are wrong. Will wireless handle as much download speed as hard wired? My service is showing 100MPS.
2. Will need word, excel...all the "office" stuff.
3. Surfing.
4. Maybe some games, but not really into that and neither is my daughter at this point. Will she want to game? Don't know.
5. FOR SURE, music editing. I record on a analog Tascam 4 track and then dump into stereo input on a computer. Will need stereo mic input. I already have editing software that I can reload. Will want sound on it as well.
6. May want to watch a football game or see a movie on it from time to time.
That's about it.
Will the above set up have stereo output jacks and mic input jacks? Will I need graphic/sound cards?

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

A really nice N-class wireless router that has worked for a myriad of people that we have suggested to buy it is the D-Link DIR-655 model. Wired/wireless, it's a really nice unit no matter how you configure it.

What kind of router do you have? Is it from the cable company as part of a monthly rental?

 

[Schmoe]

Linksys WRTGL5. Pretty common one. My wifes can't use her Ipod with it, won't let us in without a password. I have the password, but it doesn't work. Going to have to find a manual, go manual hard reset and just reset the whole thing. The last I tried that, I screwed it up.

 

[unDummy]

Linksys manuals and support is available at the website. Make sure you know the model number and rev. WRTGL5 doesn't show up. Must be off by a couple digits. Hard wire a PC to the router. With it turned on, hard reset it for 15 seconds. Log into it with its defaults settings and set everything up. Check for firmware rev's as there might be an update to deal with some known issues.

What is your budget for the PC and its intended uses?
Do you need a new monitor or can you use the old one? mouse? keyboard? ....

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/desktop/

 

[Schmoe]

It's the WRT5GL. I would do the hard reset thing, but to be honest, I'm scared. When I first got it, I had a really hard time getting it to work on the wife's laptop. Took me a couple of days to get it running. She's deep into nursing school right now and needs to use it constantly. She would have my head on a platter if I screwed it all up again. I just found out a way to get into the 191.168.1.1 site, it was always showing 404 forbidden. I can do a hard refresh and that should bring up the router settings, I hope. From there, I'll just turn off all the password protected settings so that I can get the ipod and Wii to fire up. At least, that is my thinking. Why do I feel like such an idiot.....at least I don't have this problem changing oil!!!!!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Thanks ya'll, seriously. I'm feeling the love....COME ON....worth as much as a rusty 74 Pinto????? ha ha ha, that's funny. I kind of figured it be worth squat, but I figure ya'll be the ones to know.
What I'm planning on using the computer for is this and my other concern:
1. Debating on going wireless, even with a desktop. The router is right next to my current computer buy hard wired in. Sometimes works, sometimes it don't. Last night, I unplugged the router and went straight to the desktop. Internet came up. Unplugged it and put the internet feed into the router and then ran a plug from the router to the desktop. Internet said it couldn't connect, but checked the settings, and all is apparently working fine, 100 MPS. The antivirus from Avast is up and running and no taskbar incon saying internet is unplugged. Hence my thinking on just going wireless and not worry about it or maybe my settings are wrong. Will wireless handle as much download speed as hard wired? My service is showing 100MPS.
2. Will need word, excel...all the "office" stuff.
3. Surfing.
4. Maybe some games, but not really into that and neither is my daughter at this point. Will she want to game? Don't know.
5. FOR SURE, music editing. I record on a analog Tascam 4 track and then dump into stereo input on a computer. Will need stereo mic input. I already have editing software that I can reload. Will want sound on it as well.
6. May want to watch a football game or see a movie on it from time to time.
That's about it.
Will the above set up have stereo output jacks and mic input jacks? Will I need graphic/sound cards?



The Core i3 CPU has video right on the CPU.

THe board comes with 8-channel audio.

Just get the parts I listed and you'll be good to go. That is a complete system.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
I just found out a way to get into the 191.168.1.1 site, it was always showing 404 forbidden. I can do a hard refresh and that should bring up the router settings, I hope.

If you've found a way to access the router through that IP address, then why would you still want to do a hard reset? Just go into the appropriate settings and change the password so that you know what it is.


Quote:

From there, I'll just turn off all the password protected settings so that I can get the ipod and Wii to fire up.

Having no password is a rather bad idea - it leaves you extremely vulnerable to hackers and various other security threats and unauthorized users stealing your bandwidth and your personal files/information. Don't turn it off, just change it to something new and write it down so that you don't forget.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

As for i3 vs i5 CPU, my vote is for i5. The backplane speed of the i5 is nearly double that of the i3. After building a PC for the kids with the i3, I like it, but an i5 on sale a NewEgg.com would be my suggestion.

 

[Schmoe]

Funny, I couldn't get the 191.168.1.1 to work on the wifes' laptop, but it did come up on the other computer. FINALLY got all the problems with the router fixed, well sorta. I pretty much disabled the MAC and security settings, and all is good. Not really too worried about security settings where I live out away from the city and I live on a deadend section of the neighborhood, not a lot of traffic. Also, I scanned around the house and it seems that there are only a couple of other routers and they are secured. I didn' enable the firewall and limit the access to the number of computers that can use it at one time. I have a good church bud who is really into computers. I showed him this list and he said that those were A-1 components and that it could be built for around 5-600 bucks. I'll just use the same monitor I have and speakers. Thanks ya'll!!!!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Also, I scanned around the house and it seems that there are only a couple of other routers and they are secured.

What this means is that you cannot access their network, but they can still access yours freely.

 

[Schmoe]

Yeah, I realized that, but what's the worse that can happen? I mean, they can't get into my computer and I can check the log from time to time. If it shows up a lot, I can easily block them.

 

[greenaccord02]

They could access your router and screw up all the settings and set a password on it that you don't know. That's what's most likely.

It's possible that if someone wanted to look up or do something on line that they wouldn't want tracked, they'd do it from your wireless network. This is fairly common practice. That way, when the FBI comes knocking, they're knocking on your door.

Less likely is the possibility that they might listen for and capture transmissions on the network, which are unencrypted, and use those to gain information about you. It's not difficult, but it is unlikely.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Funny, I couldn't get the 191.168.1.1 to work on the wifes' laptop, but it did come up on the other computer. FINALLY got all the problems with the router fixed, well sorta. I pretty much disabled the MAC and security settings, and all is good. Not really too worried about security settings where I live out away from the city and I live on a deadend section of the neighborhood, not a lot of traffic. Also, I scanned around the house and it seems that there are only a couple of other routers and they are secured. I didn' enable the firewall and limit the access to the number of computers that can use it at one time. I have a good church bud who is really into computers. I showed him this list and he said that those were A-1 components and that it could be built for around 5-600 bucks. I'll just use the same monitor I have and speakers. Thanks ya'll!!!!


You are very welcome!

Let us know when you have it up and running.

 

[SnPb]

If it's a Linksys WRT54GL, the "L" in the part number indicates that it runs a Linux kernel. There are several open source versions of firmware available that can be used in place of the original Linksys firmware. I am using Tomato on mine and it seems to be more stable than it was with the Linksys firmware. I haven't had to reset it in months.

 

[Schmoe]

It is that exact model. Hmmmm, good points green accord. As you obviously can tell, I'm educating myself on all this. I've taken all this new computer stuff that I've been ignoring as a challenge. I'm going to start reading up on all the various terms/terminologies and understanding these systems better. Quit being lazy in the brain. I did find out that Ipod's don't work really well with WPA. I did read that I could take the MAC addresses of the wireless units and assign them to the router and block everything else. I just got to figure how to do it and get their respective MAC addresses. I think I can, I think I can........what's so special about the linux kernel??

 

[Schmoe]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
They could access your router and screw up all the settings and set a password on it that you don't know. That's what's most likely.

It's possible that if someone wanted to look up or do something on line that they wouldn't want tracked, they'd do it from your wireless network. This is fairly common practice. That way, when the FBI comes knocking, they're knocking on your door.

Less likely is the possibility that they might listen for and capture transmissions on the network, which are unencrypted, and use those to gain information about you. It's not difficult, but it is unlikely.


But if they did use my router, wouldn't their IP address show up from their machine? Yeah, it be a real PITA to have to prove to the police or FBI if someone looked at some child "stuff." But in the end, I think I'd be vindicated. Good point on transmissions, I'll make it a note to use my hard wired-in computer when using credit cards. I use my work computer for all my online banking. One thing about Uncle Sam, they really, REALLY try and keep up to date on all the viruses and bugs out there. Plus, my credit union only recognizes one computer at a time.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe


But if they did use my router, wouldn't their IP address show up from their machine? Yeah, it be a real PITA to have to prove to the police or FBI if someone looked at some child "stuff." But in the end, I think I'd be vindicated. Good point on transmissions, I'll make it a note to use my hard wired-in computer when using credit cards. I use my work computer for all my online banking. One thing about Uncle Sam, they really, REALLY try and keep up to date on all the viruses and bugs out there. Plus, my credit union only recognizes one computer at a time.


Nope because its YOUR IP address that the FBI would be seeing. Everyone that accesses YOUR IP through your router.

Trust me, you NEED to lock it down. I've got the same router (its an excellent one) and take your time and use the security. WPA2 personal/TKIP+AES would be a better one to use (The WPA can be hacked pretty easy)

Change the name of the router to main or your first name. Anything but linksys. Change the password to something in Administration tab.

Then once you get everything working (with the Wii, Ipods, wifes laptop and such) then disable the Wireless SSID Broadcast.

Will this 100% eliminate ANY change of "issues"? No, but high 90% it will.

Actual story. The State/FBI here have a perp who is downloading stuff with children that is highly illegal. They get a warrant and knock on the door. They take every computer in the house for a few weeks, charge the home owner for accessing illegal "stuff" and later find out that it was an neighbor who was accessing the bad stuff via you know who's UNSECURED router. How did they find out? Once they could not find the images on the confiscated computers (when you delete something it is STILL on the hard drive most of the time) AND the downloading was continuing while the FBI HAD the computers, they went back to the house and found next door accessing the router. The victim did get back his computers and charges were dropped, but only after he was on the TV/Newspaper and radio.

The media did report on the neighbor and his arrest but did not comment on dropped charges on the original guy. (and I called on one TV station myself to do one of those "consumer stories" on how to prevent things like this happening and their comment was it would be "boring"...)

Bottom line, here is a chance to lock everything down, LEARN how to do it so if something comes up (like another Ipod or laptop) you are ready for the fight!

Take care, Bill

PS: If you need help let me know via PM and I'd be glad to help!

 

[Schmoe]

Bill, I'm may take you up on that. Let me get back to the house this evening or better yet, tomorrow. If I had someone to walk me through all this and make sure it all works, I'd feel 100% better because I know I'm not the only one with these issues. Now, I did see the MAC addresses show up on the Linksys software I was going through two days ago. Is there someway I could just tell the router only take/send stuff to those specific addresses? Or is it not that easy? I'm just concerned because I've read that the Ipod doesn't like WPA. Then I have no idea what the Wii prefers or my wifes Dell laptop. Hopefully out of all three, one type of security would suffice.

 

[Bill in Utah]

I've got a few Ipod touches, a Wii, 3 laptops, 2 net books, one Wi-Fi radio and 1 desktop computer all running off the Linksys wi-fi(along with 2 other desktops, Bluray player and Vonage which are wired into it)

I work from noon till 3 am Fri and Saturday so if I'm slow in responding you know why!

Yes, you can tell the router to allow ONLY access to the MAC addresses and that is VERY secure. No one else could get in. Now with that said, I'd STILL change your router password so it can not be hacked.

Let me know!

Bill