Build vs Gateway

D

dwd3885

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 20, 2005
Messages
244
So I have a deep thought question. I am looking for a new AMD system. Preferrably dual core. I want to game on it some, nothing much though. I want to spend less than $1,000 and I need to be able to pvr, not necessarily MCE though. I can get either this system from Gateway:

http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_gt5032.shtml

Or

NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A - OEM
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -
Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface Tuner Card - Retail
COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
BFG 6600 PCI-Express - OEM

The Gateway would cost $869+tax and the one I build would cost me $975 total.

Advantages of the Gateway:better processor, bigger hard drive, dual dvd drives, Windows MCE, quieter probably.

Advantages of mine:easy to upgrade when i want to, power supply a lot better, video card better than integrated.

What should I do?
 
Try this:

Having a mod delete this, then repost in either the OEM section or the General Hardware Section :)
 
well i figure more people read in here anyway and it IS about AMD systems
 
I would probably get the Gateway and then add on a video card. You get warranty, and all the hard work is done for you. That rig is a pretty good deal, at least IMO.
 
DIY! Its the only way you get exactly what you want and you will get better build quality by doing it yourself.
 
Build it yourself... Maybe.
Hmm
Case + PSU $150 -Antec P150-
MOBO $100 -??- 939 Nforce 4
CPU $300 -3800+ X2
RAM $100 -2 x 512-
HD $100 - 250 GIG WD 16mb Cache
Video Card $200 -6800GS-
Rest $200?? -windows, 2 drives, floppy-

About $1000, I think.

Thats off the top of my head. Could get a cheaper case and psu, and a cheaper GPU. Unsure what mobo. Prices from newegg.

I would build it myself, but it is up to you.
 
Well it looks like you can add a PCI-E video card to that Gateway. So if you buy the Gateway and a separate videocard, it would be around the same price if you built it yourself. But the Gateway would be superior
 
i think that is what i'm going to do. I'm going to buy the gateway, see how the 6100 integrated goes, if it's not good enough for me, i'll just buy a different vid card, maybe a new power supply. worst case scenario, i spend $50 and get 90gb more, Windows MCE, dual dvd drives, media reader, 4200+ X2.

I think it will work out. I'll let you know
 
n3g471v3 d3c1b3l said:
I'd never buy a gateway.. I've worked on several...
DIY, dude. You will be happier in the longrun
Click to expand...
The system in my sig was once a Gateway. Since then, I've upgraded the video card, RAM, and I even swapped the motherboard. I haven't ran into any problems...mind explaining what gave you a hard time?
 
I have to agree with everyone else. When you buy a prebuilt system you give up a lot for very little in return.

Prebuilts almost always have a locked system BIOS and usually have boot sectors on the HDD that prevent you from upgrading stuff (ie. adding a drive down the road). You also get no manuals and usually no warranties for individual components (obvously b/c everything is OEM).

The only arguable advantage to going with the gateway might be "ease of use". However, in my experience prebuilt computers have just as many software/hardware related problems as homebuilt systems.

So in short, DIY.
 
GVX said:
I have to agree with everyone else. When you buy a prebuilt system you give up a lot for very little in return.

Prebuilts almost always have a locked system BIOS and usually have boot sectors on the HDD that prevent you from upgrading stuff (ie. adding a drive down the road). You also get no manuals and usually no warranties for individual components (obvously b/c everything is OEM).

The only arguable advantage to going with the gateway might be "ease of use". However, in my experience prebuilt computers have just as many software/hardware related problems as homebuilt systems.

So in short, DIY.
Click to expand...

I would absolutely agree with that, with one small exception. If you just need a basic internet and word processing box, you oftentimes can find a OEM cheaper than DIY and since it would likely be for a novice user, sometimes it is a better option.
 
TheOmniscientCreator said:
The system in my sig was once a Gateway. Since then, I've upgraded the video card, RAM, and I even swapped the motherboard. I haven't ran into any problems...mind explaining what gave you a hard time?
Click to expand...


What I ment to say is that i'd never buy a prebuild system; weather is is a gateway, e-machine, dell, compaq, HP, or even an alienware... There is always some sort of limiting factor... (ie. upgradeable, not customizeable, legacy hardware, cant get into the BIOS, bad cable management, etc...)

When you DIY, you get to pick each and every one of your components, and while you can fuck yourself and run into some/all of the above problems, if you do a little research you will be ok.

Also, you can say. "I built that".. it goes a long way. You might learn something... Hell, you might just gain a little more experience or something... I don't know... I'd just never buy a prebuilt.
 
coffee33 said:
Another vote for build it yourself. :)
Click to expand...

Build that thing yourself dude, unless you like bloatware, recovery partitions on your hard drive, proprietary parts, shitty case with poor airflow, locked bios and everything else that everyone said. You are comparing apples to oranges with your pricing. The gateway will have a cheap ass mobo, crappy psu, etc. I doubt the gateway will have a WD Harddrive.
DIY
ribs
 
I think some people have outdated ideas about the quality of OEM's. In the past, they were horrible, but I have seen many OEM's that not only use standard parts (vs. proprietary), but also I have seen a few use premium parts. An example is HP....I have seen them use ASUS mobos in alot of their OEM's. I have seen OEM's use nforce chipsets instead of Via or worse. I totally agree about bloatware, but I think partswise OEM's have gotten alot better. Especially when you consider you can get a socket 939 sempron in an OEM before they are generally available for sale.
 
The only plus to an OEM (imo) is the included software. If you can factor in the OS, and still get what you need out of a home build....do it. Alot of people (including myself) dont like the limitations put on an oem mobo. Plus theres no fun buying what can be built.

ribs1 said:
I doubt the gateway will have a WD Harddrive
Click to expand...

It comes with either a WD or Hitachi.
 
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