Spec me a new system please

A

Arkan

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Messages
188
Ok, been out of the loop for quite sometime. I have no time to order parts and assemble myself a system so...i'd rather purchase one complete.

I want a good gaming rig in the $800 range (minus the monitor) I can get that separately.

What do you recommend? Links to the system would be welcomed.
.....anything available from "Best Buy"?
 
If your not going to build your own and have a budget greather than $800, I'd go with either VM or Puget. Both these companies have fairly active members (including VM's founder) on these boards. Bitching to VM on the phone is miles more effective then bitching to Bestbuy/Dell/HP/Futureshop on the phone (or in person)... or at least thats what I've heard. I've never owned a product from either company personally.

That said getting either one of those companies to squeeze something into a box for around $800 is harder than i thought it would be. Maybe your best bet is something like a dell...
 
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eh...you'll get ripped off pretty bad if you buy a prebuilt. I guess you could buy the base gaming VM machine with a 550 watt PSU and put in a Radeon 4870/4890 that you get off newegg...but still..money down the drain.
 
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Are you guys serious? A buddy of mine (who's been building PC's for years) told me it's probably more cost effective to buy a pre-built.

Ok then, if that's the case, could you please help me out and spec me parts from "NewEgg"?
Like I said, i've been out of the loop for several years and have no idea what's out there now-a-days.

Don't worry, I can assemble the parts and troubleshoot. Built several PC's over the years.

Looking for a gaming rig in the range of $800-$1000

If I assemble it myself, I will not need a computer case. I'll use the one I have now but swap out for a better P/S.
If spec'd out for parts, i'm more interested in mobo, processor, memory, and graphics card.
The CD/DVD drives and HD's I can handle myself.

TIA
 
Never go to your friend for PC advice again.

Radeon 4890
Whatever combo for the Phenom II 940/945/955 that gives a big discount on a CPU+Motherboard.

Your pick on the PSU.

Personally, I'd buy a 750-850 watt PSU from corsair or something.
(leaves options for future upgrades and SLI capability)
550 watt corsair if you want to save some money
430 watt antec earthwatts if you really want to save some money.
Here is another good deal from the hot deals section (WARNING: REBATE):

Thermaltake Toughpower W0178RU 850W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$259.99 - $80.00IR - $35.00MIR - $25.00 promo code "HARDOCP727PSU25" = $119.99 with free shipping
Promo Expires on 8/3/09
Click to expand...

Whatever RAM. 4GB of DD2 or DDR3 if it's around the same price. I'd get DDR1066 or higher RAM. DDR800 RAM should be fine unless you are OCing a Phenom II 945.

EDIT: Oh and get a western digital 640GB Black hard drive or something that runs fast.
 
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It all depends on how much you value your time. :p BTW, there's some questions in the sticky that are still unanswered. ;)
 
No offense but buying a prebuilt is worthless and basicly a rip off. you can build a Rig way cheaper and destroy a prebuilt price. These companies are just in it for the money and you basicly dont get top notch for what you pay.

just look at this rig at VM: http://www.velocitymicro.com/wizard.php?iid=75

you can build the same rig for 1500 bucks easy or even less and they are charging almost 5K
 
If you want something simple and not soo high end, this will be a decent gaming rig with option to return if you are unsatisfied

Compaq Presario AMD Athlon X2 7550 2.5ghz + 20" lcd monitor (1600x900) for $449.99 at Costco (90 day return policy)

Video Card - PNY 9800GT 512MB for $109.99 at Best Buy (14 day return policy)

PSU - Antec EA500D for $69.99 at Best Buy (14 day return policy)

Total: $629.97
 
Arkan said:
Are you guys serious? A buddy of mine (who's been building PC's for years) told me it's probably more cost effective to buy a pre-built.
Click to expand...
Your friend is right depending on the situation:
1) For a general home/work PC for word processing, web browsing, flash vids etc, a prebuilt is usually more cost effective as the cost of the OS is heavily subsidized/discounted.
2) For a gaming PC, a prebuilt is rarely cheaper than a DIY Gaming PC. The few cases when it's cheaper is when extremely substandard parts are used. So no, a prebuilt gaming PC is not cost effective
3) For a server for a business, it's more cost-effective and better business practice to go the prebuilt route.

Arkan said:
Ok then, if that's the case, could you please help me out and spec me parts from "NewEgg"?
Click to expand...

Please answer all of the questions in the sticky titled "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST" so that we can help you better.
 
Sorry about the sticky. you guys have been great so far.

Ok, here goes:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing?
Comp will be used to music editing, pic editing, web browsing, and FPS gaming.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Total budget is between $800 - $1000
3) Where do you live?
N.Y.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Mobo, CPU, RAM, Vid card, P/S, and H/D
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Reuse case, DVD burner, CD burner, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
19" now but plan to upgrade to a 22" widescreen
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now....before I spend the money on another rifle
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
SLI
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, XP
 
Do you happen to live near a Microcenter?
What case will you be reusing?
Do note that you need at least a 24" monitor for SLI to be cost-effective.
 
I have no idea where "Microcenter" is or what it is.
Case is an Antec
Ok about the SLI
 
Westbury is about a 45 minute drive from me so, it's do-able.

oops, case is an Enermax 2BD-601A-CM01

chieftec_dragon.jpg


I don't know if being close to that store would matter much anyway. I would have to pay sales tax on all the items. Having to pay shipping from NewEgg may equal out.
 
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Arkan said:
Westbury is about a 45 minute drive from me so, it's do-able.

.....

I don't know if being close to that store would matter much anyway. I would have to pay sales tax on all the items. Having to pay shipping from NewEgg may equal out.
Click to expand...

It matters a bit as Microcenter has the Core i7 920 for only $200. The same CPU costs $280 over at Newegg.com. Dunno how much gas it'll cost ya to drive over to MC and how much tax you'll be charged for the CPU though.

Assuming that MC is out of the question:
$450 - Intel Core i7 920 + Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Motherboard Combo
$105 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$150 - XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$80 - Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU
$95 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
-----
Total: $880 plus shipping

The combo knocks the price of the Core i7 920 by $40. Hmm now that I think about it: That extra $40 for the Core i7 from newegg.com is probably worth the two hours (1.5 hours to drive, about half hour to browse and checkout) + gas costs to get it from MC.
 
Danny Bui, thanks for taking the time out to list what you think is the best bang for my buck. I'll seriously look into your recommendations.
 
Define "plan to switch to a 22". Is that a month? A year? When the depression ends?
 
thats a nice system danny linked. i would consider that one for sure. a good quad phenom system would be good to...im just to lazy to link one. im sure someone else will.
 
i7 is a waste of money for gaming. If your apps are CPU intensive it might be worthwhile to get an i7 but in gaming you will see no improvement.
 
4LC4PON3 said:
No offense but buying a prebuilt is worthless and basicly a rip off. you can build a Rig way cheaper and destroy a prebuilt price. These companies are just in it for the money and you basicly dont get top notch for what you pay.

just look at this rig at VM: http://www.velocitymicro.com/wizard.php?iid=75

you can build the same rig for 1500 bucks easy or even less and they are charging almost 5K
Click to expand...

Have you even clicked the link yourself? The link you provided has a i7 975. Can you please spec a computer out that includes a 975 for less than 1500?

On topic, I agree with Joseph, i7 920 is not ideal for this price range, and not for gaming either. If you don't plan on overclocking, a higher speed core 2 or phenom will give identical or better performance for this price while spending less.

This is regarding gaming of course. If you plan to do some really cpu intensive tasks, then look into the i7 otherwise theres not alot of point to spending the extra money on the i7.
 
Can any of you guys spec me out a different processor then before I pull the plug on this rig? I would like a better gaming processor, preferably something from Intel.
 
If you are gaming, go AMD. i7 is the only worthwhile lineup from intel and for gaming you won't see much of an improvement(if any) and certainly none worth the price increase.
 
yeah haha i missed that part thanks for the update i still think its a rip off
 
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