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Buying a Computer from company

D

dasaki

n00b
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
14
Was about to pull the trigger for a computer for my friend; however, he decided he wants to buy it from a company rather than have me build it just in case we run into any complications. Budget is around 900-1000 after shipping.

His needs: He does need the E8400 or the Q6600 IMO, b/c the thing he does are cpu extensive (online poker multi-table w/ database and hud). Graphics card wise just anything to play cs: source moderately well (don't think he needs SLI or crossfire). Can anyone recommend any sites to buy from and what to buy from those sites in the budget or am I asking for too much? I know I can build a solid q6600 for 800 but I can't seem to find one priced at 900-1000 when buying from a company. Any help is appreciated.

1) Where should he buy it from? Avadirect? Maingear? (they seem very pricey)

2) What should he get?
 
1) AVA Direct, Maingear, or Puget Systems. Do not go with CyberpowerInc or IBuypower. Both of those companies are well known for putting together poorly made PCs and have very very questionable parts. Yes those other boutiques do seem pricey (add about $200 minimum to any DIY build for an idea of a boutique's price), but he is getting a quality build and great support for that extra cash.

Though.....he could use the extra $200 or so on better parts but learn how to troubleshoot problems himself...

2) Some more questions that need to be answered:
- What parts does he need for that $900 budget? (Assuming the extra $100 is for tax and shipping)
- What size monitor does he have?
- Will he be overclocking?
- What features does he need in a motherboard?
- How long is he planning on keeping/using this PC before buying a new one?

For now, here's a prelim build:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $190
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L Intel P43 Motherboard - $90
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80
VisionTek 900241 Radeon HD 4850 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $190
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $62
Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $26
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $98
Antec 300 ATX Case - $60
---
Total: $796 plus tax and shipping.
 
1) either of those places are good, and they're pricey because they deal with the problems that you guys don't want to deal with. :p If you want the most for your money, suck it up and build it. ;)

2) P43/P45 chipset board (gigabyte, asus, or msi), 2GB or more of DDR2-800, WD3200AAKS/WD6400AAKS or Samsung F1 640/750/1TB, samsung or asus dvdrw sata, corsair/antec.earthwatts.neopower/pc.p&c/seasonic/tt.toughpower, 9600gt or hd4850, and an aftermarket cooler if he wants to oc -- he can even pay them to oc it. ;)

edit: oh look, danny listed those things much better than i did... its friday. :p
 
Danny Bui said:
1) AVA Direct, Maingear, or Puget Systems. Do not go with CyberpowerInc or IBuypower. Both of those companies are well known for putting together poorly made PCs and have very very questionable parts. Yes those other boutiques do seem pricey (add about $200 minimum to any DIY build for an idea of a boutique's price), but he is getting a quality build and great support for that extra cash.

Though.....he could use the extra $200 or so on better parts but learn how to troubleshoot problems himself...

2) Some more questions that need to be answered:
- What parts does he need for that $900 budget? (Assuming the extra $100 is for tax and shipping)
- What size monitor does he have?
- Will he be overclocking?
- What features does he need in a motherboard?
- How long is he planning on keeping/using this PC before buying a new one?

For now, here's a prelim build:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $190
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L Intel P43 Motherboard - $90
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80
VisionTek 900241 Radeon HD 4850 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $190
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $62
Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $26
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $98
Antec 300 ATX Case - $60
---
Total: $796 plus tax and shipping.
Click to expand...


- What parts does he need for that $900 budget? (Assuming the extra $100 is for tax and shipping)
Just the computer
- What size monitor does he have?
He wants to be able to do 2 24" monitors or a huge LCD TV monitor
- Will he be overclocking?
I think I will be overclocking for him I'm not 100% sure if he wants me to though
- What features does he need in a motherboard?
Standard? Nothing too fancy no hdmi needed or anything.
- How long is he planning on keeping/using this PC before buying a new one?
At least 3 years. Wants to be at least a little future resistant.

I find it hard because I am looking for the same parts on a custom build and can't find it so I have to settle for a product that I don't know. (in the drop down lists)
 
enginurd said:
1) either of those places are good, and they're pricey because they deal with the problems that you guys don't want to deal with. :p If you want the most for your money, suck it up and build it. ;)
Click to expand...

QFT. I stopped encouraging my friends to build their own boxes, not because they are more trouble, but because some people just want to "feel" that there is a big company standing behind the computer.

In reality, those big companies really don't stand behind the computer, they just tell you how to wipe it all back to square one, a feature they call, "support". They also don't help you to either learn how to fix your own problems, but more importantly, they don't help you learn how to learn how to fix your own problems.
 
dasaki said:
I find it hard because I am looking for the same parts on a custom build and can't find it so I have to settle for a product that I don't know. (in the drop down lists)
Click to expand...

Then just list the parts that you don't know in this thread and we'll tell you if it's a good choice or not.
 
Do not buy a quad core if your on a budget. Why would someone recommend something so stupid? Your are on a budget, a quad core is virtually worthless for gaming, and you get less performance per dollar "Get it anyways because it's cool!"

Some people have no clue.
 
The e8400 and the Q6600 are nearly identical in price.
The Quad can easily be OC to reach the speed of the 8400.

Unless you want to cheap out and buy a really low priced C2D, the Q6600 is a great deal right now, more and more games are going to come out that utilize multiple cores, I can see nothing wrong at all with the advice to use a Quad. Unless I'm wrong, the XBox 360 and the PS3 both use more than 2 cores.....why settle for less???

I'd spend the extra dough on a GPU upgrade myself. The 4850 advice is spot on, but the friend might want to consider a 4870 or even wait for the X2. Also the GTX 260 is pretty cheap right now and is a good card for the price.

A builder gives you support. That's essentially what you "buy" from them. That and their experience building many models either just like yours or close. You hope they have R&D'd all the problems that can arise and fixed them before they get to you. But, as someone else said......the one thing a builder doesn't want you to do is learn how to do anything.....because then they have lost future sales.
I learned that from Alienware. When I was a noob, I wanted to upgrade my PSU, I didn't have a clue, my machine was out of warranty. Alienware told me that was a very high level upgrade and I shouldn't attempt it myself. I should send the box to them and let them do it.....shipping+part+labor+shipping back.......alot of money. All I wanted from them was for them to sell me an upgrade unit I could install.....they wouldn't do it.
So.......I researched, came to the [H],and away I went......that was 2004.
Now I build my own.:D And have a ton of fun doing it.
 
bigdogchris said:
Do not buy a quad core if your on a budget. Why would someone recommend something so stupid? Your are on a budget, a quad core is virtually worthless for gaming, and you get less performance per dollar "Get it anyways because it's cool!"

Some people have no clue.
Click to expand...

Your statement is is indeed true. A "budget" is a allocated amount of money the Op has to purchase the new computer.If the Op can use the Quad Q6600 (170 at newegg) or wants the e8500 (189 at newegg), both processors fall within this price range, and should be given for options to buy.
 
gwarren007 said:
Your statement is is indeed true. A "budget" is a allocated amount of money the Op has to purchase the new computer.If the Op can use the Quad Q6600 (170 at newegg) or wants the e8500 (189 at newegg), both processors fall within this price range, and should be given for options to buy.
Click to expand...

I agree.
But one needs to be given the options and do the research as to which CPU or any other component for that matter, fits their needs.

A blanket statement like "people are stupid" just doesn't help much.;)
Since I have two Q6600s I guess I'm really stupid.:eek::eek:
 
Okay, so I did some online shopping and priced it out on all three sites avadirect, maingear, and puget. I couldn't even do the q6600 on maingear or puget so I put the E8400 there. The prices came out as $1036 on avadirect, $1496 on maingear, and $1852 on puget. All prices are pre-shipping. So I guess I'm going to go w/ avadirect.

I tried to get my friend to build his own PC or have me build it or have me help him, but he'd rather pay the premium for having them do it b/c he doesn't want to risk anything (getting dead parts, messing up while building, etc). Also, it is not worth it for him to spend the hourly learning to build it / building it.

The q6600 is definitely in my budget range if there wasn't a $300 premium to buy from a company. And even still I do believe it is in my budget range b/c I was aiming for 900-1000 and I got it at 1050. So, I went over just slightly but hey, it's only because I splurged on the gpu.

Also, I believe the q6600 overclocked is a great processor from what I hear and it's price is almost exactly the same as the e8400. And I said he uses very cpu extensive stuff; therefore, I chose the q6600.

Questionable parts I need help with:
1) Antec sonata 3 w/ 500w psu, or antech 300 w/ nspire 500w or nspire 650 or ocz gamexstream 600/700w
2) Microstar radeon hd4850 , gigabyte radeon hd4870, asus radeon hd4850 diamond radeon hd4850
 
For gaming, the HD4870 is better -- but also more expensive -- than the HD4850. The HD4870 is a good choice if you're gaming on a 22-24 inch monitor, but for anything smaller than a 22 inch LCD, stick with the HD4850.

As for the manufacturers (of the HD4850, my opinion): Diamond < Microstar (MSI) < Asus

For the cases, the Sonata III and the Three Hundred are good choices. The Sonata III was designed more for quiet operation, whereas the Three Hundred was designed more for optimal cooling. (IIRC, you'll need to get some front-mounted fans for both cases. The Sonata III uses one 120mm fan while the Three Hundred has room for two 120mm fans.)

The Earthwatts 500W power supply (that comes with the Sonata III) is good enough for the HD4850 but not for the HD4870. If you can, though, choose a different power supply than the nspire and the OCZ GameXStream. Try to find a 500-750 watt power supply that has active PFC and is 80 Plus rated, from Corsair, Silverstone, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, Thermaltake (ToughPower series only), and Cooler Master (Real Power Pro series only), among other brands.
 
I agree with tiraides. You can add a 2nd 120mm fan to the SonataIII, IIRC.

Listen to that big dog, chris... you DO NOT NEED a quadcore for gaming. Oh wait, UNLESS you're playing SUPCOM and CRYSIS all day. Otherwise, there's no need for a quadcore for the SOLE purpose of playing TODAY's games. If he does anything else besides play games, then there may be a need for it. Come up with another reason to get it, if you really want one. :p There's a bunch of 'em... you don't only game, you use CPU intensive apps blah blah blah... future games/apps blah blah blah... super heavy duty multitasking blah blah blah... multiple virtual machines blah blah blah... flight simX blah blah blah... and the simplest one is: because you can get one for the same damn price. ;) Its not a waste if it costs the same and you get the same or better performance. :rolleyes:

At 1680x1050 or 1600x1200 AND HIGHER, you're NOT CPU limited, you're GPU limited. So, only if you're gaming at 1440x900 or lower would the CPU matter slightly more than if you were gaming at a higher res. If you want to game at a native res of 1920x1080 or higher, get a dual GPU card or SLI/Crossfire.
 
magoo said:
I agree.
But one needs to be given the options and do the research as to which CPU or any other component for that matter, fits their needs.

A blanket statement like "people are stupid" just doesn't help much.;)
Since I have two Q6600s I guess I'm really stupid.:eek::eek:
Click to expand...

/was sarcasm.

I too have 2 quads - X3210, Q6600


 
Final part choices
# ANTEC, LifeStyle Sonata III Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX, 500W PSU

# GIGABYTE, GA-EP45-DS3R

# INTEL, Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core

# G.SKILL, 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL4 (4-4-4-12) SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

# MICROSTAR, R4850-T2D512, Radeon HD 4850, 512MB GDDR3 1986MHz, PCIe x16 CrossFire, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail

# SEAGATE, 500GB Barracuda 7200.11, SATA 3 Gb/s, NCQ, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache

# SONY, CRX320EE Black 52x32x52-16A DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive, EIDE/ATAPI, OEM

# MICROSOFT, Windows XP Home Edition w/ SP3, OEM

# WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

Buying home because I have a license for vista he can use and they require me to buy an operating system or else he doesn't get support. Please comment. (trying to minimize costs rather than maximize at this point in time)
 
How much more would it cost you to purchase either the Western Digital or the Seagate 640GB hard drive (instead of the 7200.11 500GB HDD) and a SATA DVD burner (over the IDE combo drive)? I believe that those two changes would be better improvements for not much more money.
 
I concur with Tiraides. Those two improvements would be worth the smal increase in price depending on the increase.
 
Okay doing those upgrades, Is the 500w power supply enough power to handle overclocking the machine to 3.0ghz. I don't want anymore than that. Just want to keep it at a steady 3.0ghz (i've never overclocked a machine before)
 
The Earthwatts 500W PSU that comes with the Sonata III case is good enough, if that's what you're asking. If you plan on overclocking, I recommend an aftermarket CPU cooler, as the stock HSFs are no longer good enough for that task.

As for your OS issue, is the warranty just for parts and labor or does it also deal with OS issues? If it involves the latter, getting XP Home from them and using Vista instead may cause some issues that could affect the service you or your friend may receive. (I'm not trying to scare you; I'm just suggesting that you take a look at the warranty before ordering.)
 
I decided to actually order no OS b/c the warranty still covers the parts/labor even if I dont' have operating system support.

Thanks for the confirmation that the earthwatts is good enough. Is this OCZ Vendetta a good enough cooler?
 
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