Best buy advice

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cryptictravler

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I am going to purchase a new rig in the next few weeks. I intend to game though not intensely, probably just the Bioware and Blizzard releases for the next 3 years. My question is this,I usually avoid going to Best Buy, but currently have $350 in Best Buy gift cards. I am looking for a new desktop and have a decent monitor and my cash budget is around $700. Are their products so deficient or overpriced that I am better off buying elsewhere and using the giftcards for something else or should I give them a solid look?
 
Here's the biggest problem with Best Buy:

None of the pre-built PCs that are actually stocked in their stores are suitable for even moderate gaming, let alone intense gaming. Moreover, most of their PCs have only integrated graphics that cannot handle even moderate gaming - and the few discrete GPUs that are in their PCs are not even up to GeForce GT 640 level, let alone the GTX 660 or higher that I'd normally recommend for such moderate gaming (I only speak for NVIDIA GPUs since I have no recent experience with AMD GPUs).

And unless a graphics card upgrade is on sale, I'd avoid Best Buy for hardware upgrades because their regular prices are too high.

This leaves you with no cost-effective choice for your gift cards besides using them for non-PC-hardware related purchases.
 
They sell parts there too. You could build your own PC and purchase some of the parts there to use up the $350. Depending on the parts you might even not really lose anything over buying online.

However, you can get also get a decent PC from them for a decent price, with one caveat.... Inevitably one or more parts will be skimped on. Usually it will be parts that you can't easily identify from outside, even if it has window, and that are not normally reported on specification pages. The exact RAM, Mobo, PSU, specific HDD Model, etc. So unless you can find information on that same PC from elsewhere you are kind of rolling the dice on those parts. They also skimp on anything OC related, so that is right out as well. All this doesn't mean it won't be a solid build, but it does mean it will have a severely degraded upgrade path and servicing it yourself will be more challenging.

Here is an example of what I am talking about, at about your price point:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/desktop-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/1822035.p?id=1219065406526&skuId=1822035&st=pcmcat287600050002_categoryid$abcat0501000&cp=1&lp=7#tab=overview

As long as you aren't OC'ing and don't care too much what all the parts are inside it, that should be a solid gaming machine.

Before buying though I would consider building. Maybe fill out the information as detailed in this thread:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1349433

And see what people come up with for $1050.

Here is what I came up with for almost exactly the same price as the system I linked above:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2NBnB

More RAM, SSD for your OS, better case, better PSU (which saves you money over time btw), ability to overclock for some extra performance. The videocard isn't quite as good, but it is close enough and keeps the price down quite a bit. You can get the SSD at BB for the same price. Chances are a few other parts will be there for close to the listed prices as well.
 
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cryptictravler said:
I am going to purchase a new rig in the next few weeks. I intend to game though not intensely, probably just the Bioware and Blizzard releases for the next 3 years. My question is this,I usually avoid going to Best Buy, but currently have $350 in Best Buy gift cards. I am looking for a new desktop and have a decent monitor and my cash budget is around $700. Are their products so deficient or overpriced that I am better off buying elsewhere and using the giftcards for something else or should I give them a solid look?
Click to expand...

Best Buy is the worst place you could go for a "performance" desktop that does more than browse the web and light media viewing/streaming. The prebuilt systems aren't designed for gaming or serious resource-intensive tasks (e.g. video editing) and the individual components cost more in comparison to most computer parts retailers (or even Amazon, in most instances).

Use some (not all) of your gift card for your monitor and peripherals and spend the cash elsewhere. Don't forget to answer the sticky questions listed within arentol's first link.
 
tiraides said:
Best Buy is the worst place you could go for a "performance" desktop that does more than browse the web and light media viewing/streaming. The prebuilt systems aren't designed for gaming or serious resource-intensive tasks (e.g. video editing) and the individual components cost more in comparison to most computer parts retailers (or even Amazon, in most instances).
Click to expand...

In terms of what is actually stocked in actual brick-and-mortar Best Buy stores (as opposed to what is available online through their website), I agree wholeheartedly. At best, the most expensive prebuilt system that's actually stocked in their stores have only very low-end discrete GPUs included. And most components sold there are more expensive than other places sell them for. And Best Buy would rather sell the OP all-in-one systems that cannot be easily upgraded than towers that allow for any significant upgrading.
 
Best Buy sells Amazon gift cards in their stores. They normally stock them next to the Kindles. Use your Best Buy Gift cards to purchase those and then buy what you need from Amazon.
 
E4g1e said:
In terms of what is actually stocked in actual brick-and-mortar Best Buy stores (as opposed to what is available online through their website), I agree wholeheartedly.
Click to expand...

Do you think a purchase from the online store would be workable?
 
Sell the Best Buy gift cards. You should be able to get at least 80-85% of the value.
 
silverbullet99 said:
Best Buy sells Amazon gift cards in their stores. They normally stock them next to the Kindles. Use your Best Buy Gift cards to purchase those and then buy what you need from Amazon.
Click to expand...

^^^ BEST ANSWER ^^^

In case some Best Buy clerk gives you some noise, I quote someone posting on a Best Buy forums thread:

"I was able to find out that you should be able to buy any other gift card we carry with a Best Buy gift card. The only exception is that you may not purchase what is referred to as an 'open loop' gift card, e.g., one that may be used at multiple locations. A Visa gift card would be a good example of this."

http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-B...ft-card-with-a-Best-Buy-gift-card/td-p/737033
 
cryptictravler said:
Do you think a purchase from the online store would be workable?
Click to expand...

IMO, it's not worth it. I've heard too many horror stories about the BB online store.

The best "answer" remains converting your BB gift card into an Amazon gift card. You have many more options at Amazon than Best Buy.
 
Save your Best Buy card for something else, they are too expensive for parts.
 
You could buy a desktop, monitor and then video card and maybe some extra RAM for your Desktop and do a little customizing. I did that in 2011 when I got my desktop and it was better suited for playing games then a friends custom built PC and he spent more on his then I did on my "half" build. He wasn't to happy with me after I showed him that, lol.
 
ThePie69 said:
You could buy a desktop, monitor and then video card and maybe some extra RAM for your Desktop and do a little customizing. I did that in 2011 when I got my desktop and it was better suited for playing games then a friends custom built PC and he spent more on his then I did on my "half" build. He wasn't to happy with me after I showed him that, lol.
Click to expand...

You won't find a prebuilt desktop tower for $350 in Best Buy that would allow for sufficient future upgrades.

Plus, for a gaming machine, it helps to spend more money. That's how you get better parts (like an SSD or a video card) that enable better performance in games. (The OP has $700 in cash in addition to the $350 BB gift card. We can easily build a good gaming machine for $1000.)
 
The only thing I'd buy from Bestbuy for a PC is a hard drive or maybe a monitor if the price was right and the parts had decent specs.
 
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