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Help Selecting a Desktop for a Friend

O

OrangeWolf

Gawd
Joined
Jan 6, 2011
Messages
884
Yo dudes,

I've got a friend who needs to purchase a pre-made Desktop PC. They will not be building it themselves, I can't build it for them (distance), and I want to make sure they're getting the best bang for their buck.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Browsing, playing Sims 3 and a few other games (nothing super intensive, but it'd be nice to have a little wiggle room)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500, tax and shipping included, though they may be convinced to go a bit over if it's really, really worth it. But please try to keep it <$500.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
The 'tower' -- friend has a monitor, keyboard, mouse.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
n/a
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080, 21.5" (I think it's this one)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
n/a
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Prebuilt, so it should come with one. They strongly prefer Windows 7, so that's nearly a requirement, unless something with Win8 completely blows it out of the water.

A few weeks ago, before Dell did whatever with it's Vostro line, I'd have suggested they get a prebuilt Vostro and upgrade the CPU to one with HD4000 and call it good. But that's not really an option anymore. In fact, I can't find anything with an HD4000 in this price range. Most have HD2500, and I don't trust it to play Sims3. And I wouldn't buy something with it anyway, personally.

Are there any of the new Haswell (Gen4) Intel CPUs out there in this price range yet? Because that would be ideal I think.

I did find an A6 Lenovo option that should play Sims3 decently, but I want to know what's out there that's better. Also found a few from Cyberpower/iBuypower, but I don't trust those companies.

No used/refurbs please. New computers for the win.

Thanks
 
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Well that Lenovo is sold out. In any case, considering the usage, aim for an A8 series CPU at the least. Generally better GPUs with the A8s.
 
Yeah, if gaming is a primary concern AT ALL, go AMD. The Core i3 processors with HD 4600 will not be out for another quarter, and Intel is in no rush because they have excess Ivy Bridge stock in the channel. This means that computer OEMs will be pushing whatever they have clogging their inventories (typically HD 2500 crap).

AMD is an excellent choice, but they are rapidly losing OEMs because of the extra cost of stocking more inventory, combined with the fact that AMD lacks the premium brand image and TV advertising. This means you might have to settle for 2nd-tier OEMs. OR maybe you can get something refurbished like this?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7813043&csid=_61

Sorry, but Windows 7 will be hard to find these days on OEM systems. You could have managed it 6 months ago, but not now.
 
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Yeah, it's a few months late to find good deals on Win7 options. Mostly still see those in either (1) refurbs or (2) business PCs, but the business PCs are running higher than I've seen in the past (especially with the Vostro line out).

Will check for an A8. Do they feel fairly snappy (in general, I know there's more than one) by the way? I've been happy with my AMD x4 965 BE in terms of that.
 
Okay, so I checked out more stuff on Newegg (this is a hard price point to deal with). Some of this might have been linked earlier, or something very similar. They all have Windows 8, bah!

$435 -- HP Refurb with Win8 (negatives) but A10-5700 & 8GB RAM (good specs for the price as far as I know)

$360 -- HP Refurb with Win8 (negatives) but A8-5500 & 8GB RAM seems like a good deal for that price.

$399 -- Win8 (negative) but a new ASUS. Only 4GB RAM though and the A8-5500.

$479 -- New Acer with Win8, i5-3330, and a 2GB Geforce 630. Not very good reviews, but not sure how accurate they are given they're, well, Newegg reviews.

I swear that Lenovo with Win7 wasn't sold out earlier, but it is now.

I can't find anything else I'd buy that has Win7 on it, and that's very frustrating.

Am I right about places like Cyberpower and iBuypower and whatnot? I've always heard not to trust them.

Also these two (HP Envy & Asus) on Best Buy's website look surprisingly good for <$600 new. Not sure if I'm missing anything there or not, but again... Win8. Damnit.

If it was me I think I'd probably grab the cheapest, the refurb A8, and go from there. Otherwise not sure. What about you guys? Anyone able to find something with Win7 and either an A8 or at least an i3 with HD4000?
 
Yes you are right about Cyberpower and iBuypower. Don't buy from them unless you want to screw yourself.

As for the HP and Asus, nothing wrong with them per se. I generally don't recommend HP these days since it seems their quality isn't sufficient any more. I'd trust a Dell refurb over a new HP most of the time. Speaking of which, check out Dell Outlet. Limited time probably but there is this Dell Outlet Business Optiplix 3010:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...arch.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfb&cs=28&puid=e24c117a
 
That link isn't working, but I'm guessing it's something similar to this one: Dell Optiplex with an i3 & 1GB Radeon GPU & 4GB RAM. And Win7!

Good call Danny!
 
I just remembered that Dell Outlet links are basically "temporary" and for your eyes only. So posting links from Dell Outlet doesn't help.

Actually what I posted was a fantastic deal: For $450, you get a Core i5 3470, 4GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and Windows 7.
 
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