Aaron C-T Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 ... don't know which exactly to get. At the moment I'm mainly looking for a desktop with 64bit Vista Home Premium/a Windows 7 upgrade, 4 GB of RAM, at least a 500GB HDD, with a dedicated graphics card with at least 512MB video memory, a TV Tuner would be sweet but isn't exactly a necessity (would allow me to sell the TV for some extra cash). I'd be using this for art (Maya 2009, Photoshop/Illustrator), recording music, and possibly for creating games. I'm looking for something under the $1,500 mark, although the aim is below $1,000. I've picked out 3 PCs that I think fulfill the requirements, but if anyone knows of any other deals or has any recommendations I'd love to know. Dell Studio XPS 435 w/ 24" Monitor- $1,399 Gateway FX6710- $1,199 Gateway LX6810- $799 ($779 @ Best Buy w/ free Win7) I'm also unclear on just how the Windows 7 upgrade works, I know Best Buy is starting it after June 26th, but I'm not sure if that applies to the manufacturer's as well and I'm looking to do one of the $30-45/month things, which I think only certain companies (Dell) offers and I'm not sure how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesker Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 Yeesh. Build it yourself. It really can't get any easier than legos :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted June 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 How much would I actually save that way, though? And wouldn't I have to shell it all out at once, not have any warranty, and have to buy a copy of Vista or Windows 7? I'm going to do a quick setup and see what it looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 You do have warranty... it just happens to be on individual parts rather than a whole system. Honestly, if you can't diagnose your problems yourself, I would recommend just ordering your computer from someone else. But Dell and Gateway probably aren't the answer. I'm not even kidding when I say that Dell is at least 50% higher than what you could get looking elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesker Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 Building it yourself, you'd save a lot and get a more powerfull machine. Probably of better quality as well. Just write down what bare minimum config you want and check through a bunch of parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted June 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 DW: I can figure out most problems myself, but there are the few odd things that happen. What other vendors would you recommend? Edit: Apex SK-386 ATX Black Mid-T Case- $39.99 BIOSTAR TPower I45 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard- $159.99 Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache- $219.99 ATI Radeon HD 4830 512MB- $89.99 CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB- $95.00 SAMSUNG Spinpoint 1TB HDD- $89.99 HP 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe- $25.99 Rosewill Internal Card Reader- $12.99 Microsoft Vista Home Premium- $224.99 ASUS 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor- $119 As far as the OS is concerned it seems like I should buy this instead, as it's $99.99 as opposed to $225, but I'm not sure what the deal is with the OEM version. System so far would cost 833.92, which is a bit more than the price of the Gateway LX6810-01, minus an extra 4GB of RAM and the TV Tuner, but with a better video card and more storage space. Still missing the fan and maybe a few other things? I can bring that down a bit by dropping the card reader and 1TB drive and going with a 750GB, or 2x 500GB. Also unsure of the motherboard as I couldn't pull it up in Newegg's Memory Configurator and I'd prefer at least another 2GB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 You could try cyberpowerpc. I can vouch that they'll at least send you a working computer and they'll do any labor you need within the first year. I got a family member's laptop from them and it's fine anyway. Also, I wouldn't be buying windows vista right now if I were you... not unless you can get a guarantee for a free upgrade to the equivalent version of 7. Also, make absolute certain that whatever you get it's a 64-bit OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted June 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 I'll check out cyberpowerpc for sure then. As far as Vista goes- yea, definitely. If I buy the computer from a vendor I wouldn't necessarily have to worry about it- I'd call and make sure I get the free upgrade, etc. If I build it on my own, though, I'd probably buy Vista from Best Buy after the 26th, which is when they start their free upgrades, I'm just figuring the in-store prices are roughly the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesker Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 cyberpowerpc is expensiiive. Also I heard the internet has Vista for close to nothing these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted June 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 It's not Vista I want- it's Windows 7 Home Premium. I mean, the concept of piracy still counts for sure. I don't know how I feel about pirating an entire OS, though. I might get shot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 cyberpowerpc is expensiiive. Also I heard the internet has Vista for close to nothing these days. I challenge you to find someone who will make a full system at the specs you request at a cheaper price. Seriously, it might not be as cheap as ordering your won shit and slapping it together, but if you are one of these guys who prefers the ability to post the problem on someone else if you can't solve it, it's the cheapest you can get it done as far as I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Winslow Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 Don't get ATI. NEVER GET ATI. they have such shit standards these days they think it's perfectly okay for a graphics driver to crash and require a hard reset. just get an Nvidia 9600 or something and save yourself alot of misery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 There is nothing wrong with ATI. And I've had more than enough driver crashes with this NVidia card I've got. 8800GT, 512 Megs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowgoten Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 *hugs his nvidia GTX card* Nvidia cards are dirt cheap nowadays, I stick with them and can't complain about much of anything in regards to crashing or anything. And if you grab a gtx card (make sure your case is big enough to house the fucking monster) your comp will be sure to eat any big time game you throw at it at least for another year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesker Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 I challenge you to find someone who will make a full system at the specs you request at a cheaper price. Seriously, it might not be as cheap as ordering your won shit and slapping it together, but if you are one of these guys who prefers the ability to post the problem on someone else if you can't solve it, it's the cheapest you can get it done as far as I've seen. I could very easily tell him what parts to get, but why deprive him of the fun of building his own PC? Also, checking reviews for cyberpowerpc online will show you it's a company you don't want to deal with anyways. "You get what you pay for" comes to mind. Scatta, d/ling a OS is really no different than d/ling a song- just a way bigger file size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZFG Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 I say to build you'r own. You can get a decent computer for a much less dollars(or other valutas). You can also ensure yourself to have the best without having to pay ridicoulusly high price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1LT Worm Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 I'll probably order my next computer from them. The computer with similar specs to the ones listed are about $300 cheaper or so (with the Dell, it's about $700 cheaper without the rebate) Of course, this is without an operating system. I'm sure you know ways around that though. Plus, you'll get a bit more customization.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 I could very easily tell him what parts to get, but why deprive him of the fun of building his own PC?Also, checking reviews for cyberpowerpc online will show you it's a company you don't want to deal with anyways. "You get what you pay for" comes to mind. Scatta, d/ling a OS is really no different than d/ling a song- just a way bigger file size. Checking the reviews of any PC vendor online will tell you that they are shit. Cyberpower actually checks out above the curve compared to most of them. Believe you me, I've researched this shit in depth. And again, it's a moot point if you don't mention a group that does the job at a better price. Just making a quick point here: http://www.resellerratings.com/store/iBUYPOWER http://www.resellerratings.com/store/CyberPower http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Dell http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Hewlett_Packard http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Gateway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asuma Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 It's much cheap building one. I built one that cost 500 bucks and I can play Crysis, (24FPS Medium) and GTA 4 (about the same). My build is like this. RaidMax Scorpio $49.99 Athlon 64 X2 Black Edition 2.7 GHZ Duo Core (64$) ESC Geforce6100PM-M2 V2 Mobo ($50) 9600 GSO 768 VRAM ($80) 160gb Western Digital HD ($40) $285.95 However, if you don't want to build a computer yourself, then you can buy like like DW said. Forgot ram. Anyway, You can build a pretty powerful computer for under 500 or just over 500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesker Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 Checking the reviews of any PC vendor online will tell you that they are shit. Enough to keep me away from them and not to suggest them to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 So your suggestion to people who don't want to build their own box then is what, to throw themselves at the mercy of Walmart and Bestbuy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted June 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 I looked around Newegg and tried to bring the price of the last configuration I posted down while trying to match what was in the Gateway/Dell systems. Necessary: Apex SK-386 ATX Black Mid-T Case w/ 300w PSU- $39.99 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz- $229.99 GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard- $134.99 NVIDIA N9600GT-MD1G GeForce 9600 GT 1GB- $80.99 Kingston HyperX 2GB- $28.99 Add-ons: Broadway Com Corp 600W ATX Power Supply-$34.99 OCZ 700W Power Supply- $89.99 APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 500W ATX Power Supply- $39.99 PNY XLR8 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066- $69.99 Extras: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD752LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache HDD- $64.99 LITE-ON Black 22X DVD Burner- $21.99 Microsoft Black USB Wired Desktop 600- $27.99 This time there's a better processor, a motherboard that supports more memory, and less storage space. Comes out to $739.99 for everything. $514.99 for necessary components. $109.98 for add-ons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 You'll be wanting to add an optical drive to that build. Hard to install an OS without one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asuma Posted June 20, 2009 Report Share Posted June 20, 2009 I'm not going to say not get an ATI. I'll say this however, a classmate of mine ATI fried while he worked in Adobe Flash. The card wasn't that old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 My suggestion: get an nVidia card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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