Is this a good deal?

[Sp4de]

Ok, Before we get started. I dont want to make my own computer. I refuse to do it. I am to young and thats how I messed up my current computer. So $1,764.00   for

Operating System: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2        

Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 630 w/HT Technology, 3.0GHz        

Memory: 2GB DDR2-533MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x512)        

Hard Drive: 250GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive      

Primary CD/DVD Drive: 16x max. DVD-ROM      

Secondary CD/DVD Drive: 48x max. CD-ROM Drive    

Front Productivity: Ports Front USB, FireWire and audio ports        

Monitor: HP v75c 17" CRT Monitor  

Graphics Card: 256MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce FX 6800, DVI & TV-Out  

Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS for MS Home or Pro OS

Speakers HP Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer

Keyboard and Mouse HP Multimedia Keyboard, HP Optical Mouse  

All from HP.  If you can find me a better computer or suggest different things to add or take off please do so.  Like I said before I want to buy a computer, not make one or change any parts.
Thanks for reading - Spade

[SkyWolf]

Originally posted by Sp4de

Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 630 w/HT Technology, 3.0GHz        

Memory: 2GB DDR2-533MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x512)        

 

Just me... but I hate Prescott processors and I'm told DDR2 is teh suck.

[mipoikel]

Looks ok for me except teh monitor is teh suck.

[mipoikel]

1 more thing. I am HP reseller myself ...

Remember buy extra carepack with it. HP consumer PC:s are at least here with 1 year warranty. I sell mostly business products and thats not a problem with them but every now and then someone buys pavilion or something and I never sell it without 3 year carepack.

[StarOfAfrica2]

Just a suggestion?  Before you go buying a HP, why dont you try going to the local computer store and see what they would charge you to build a machine thats optimized for gaming?  $1800 bucks is alot of green for a HP, especially after the horror stories I've experienced working on them and heard from others.  But then its not my money.  Still, couldnt hurt to ask would it?  Shop around, make a list of items you'd like to see in the rig, and take that list to see what it would cost to have it built.  

If you tell them its a gaming rig, they'll use a case with good airflow characteristics, use a heatsink that will keep you cool even when the CPU is being stressed, and usually their warranties are as good as anything you can get from a boxed PC off the shelf.

[Delirium]

I'd go with an Athlon and build it yourself, my Prescott was a real pain in the a** and it is currently sitting on a shelf while my back up computer is using a Athlon 3200.

It seems like a daunting task, but it is easier than it looks, and you can always post questions on here.

Don't give HP or some repair shop your money, put the money into your machine instead.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I'd build a system based on Athlon 3xxx+, some asus motherboard, 1 gig of ram, WD raptor sata hd + some large storage hd, 19" TFT screen and a Geforce 7800.

That, box, keyboard, cheap soundcard etc. should bring you no more than 1700 bucks if you build it yourself.

2 gigs of ram is an overkill atm. FX 6xxxx series geforce I could live with. But the 17" crt is a joke. 19" is the minimum.. Retailers selling 17" today should be burned at the stake.

[SkyWolf]

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
Just a suggestion?  Before you go buying a HP, why dont you try going to the local computer store and see what they would charge you to build a machine thats optimized for gaming?  $1800 bucks is alot of green for a HP, especially after the horror stories I've experienced working on them and heard from others.  But then its not my money.  Still, couldnt hurt to ask would it?  Shop around, make a list of items you'd like to see in the rig, and take that list to see what it would cost to have it built.  

If you tell them its a gaming rig, they'll use a case with good airflow characteristics, use a heatsink that will keep you cool even when the CPU is being stressed, and usually their warranties are as good as anything you can get from a boxed PC off the shelf.

I'll probably get *****ed upon for saying this...but if you are going to buy instead of build....try Alienware or Vicious PC. Gaming rigs without the HP stuff.

[Krusty]

There's no future in DDR2. If you can get high-end DDR and you'll be golden. They have some at 500-odd MHz I think (they have stuff faster than 400)

EDIT: I mean, that is, if you mobo has 2 slots DDR and 2 slots DDR2, which a lot of PCIe boards do these days.

[StarOfAfrica2]

Originally posted by SkyWolf
I'll probably get *****ed upon for saying this...but if you are going to buy instead of build....try Alienware or Vicious PC. Gaming rigs without the HP stuff.

I dont know why you'd get that idea on this BBS?  

Alienware is rather overpriced IMO, but then if you built something, and you could get someone to pay you what amounted to a 300% profit, why not?  

Seriously, Spade said he didnt want to build his own.  I SERIOUSLY advise against buying a HP or Emachines or Dell for gaming.  Yes people use all 3 of those, even playing AH, and yes they do work.  But not nearly as well as a system built to handle gaming on purpose.  Those computers just "handle it", but a custom gaming rig will do it and leave you performance to spare.  

If I were to decide on a rig and didnt want to build it myself, I would take this parts list to one of (or several of) the local stores and shop a price.  

Abit Fatal1ty AN8-SLI motherboard (I dont like the current SLI setups, but at some point they'll get it right, and for the money you are spending, might as well go all out).  This is a Socket 939, nForce4 motherboard, top of the line.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127206

$202 at newegg.com

Might as well go whole-hog on the video card too.  Get the matching Fatal1ty X800 XL video card with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM, PCIe x16.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814123161

$392 at newegg.com

Case?  Try this Asus Vento 3600.  Nice airflow dynamic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811173008

$139 at newegg.com

2 GB of Corsair XMS memory in the Dual Channel kit, low latency, guaranteed for life, and ready to rock n roll.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575

$289 at newegg.com

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo core CPU with 2x1MB Level 2 cache.  2.2 Ghz, and guaranteed to excite any true geek.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546

$525 at newegg.com

Thermaltake Silent Purepower power supply, 420W.  Good, reliable power.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153006

$38.99 at newegg.com

And last but not least, what is a new computer without a nice new monitor to see those pretty pictures on.  I didnt choose an LCD, because I'm not real sure what would make a good LCD gaming monitor.  I do know what you want for good images on a CRT for gaming, and 19" is minimum (to me).  But you have to have good refresh rates supported, a good dot pitch, etc.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001110

$189.99 at newegg.com

Total of all this?  $1775.98 + shipping and handling.  Add another hundred for Windows XP (if you dont already have it) and whatever the shop charges you to put it all together (around 50 bucks in my experience, your mileage may vary).  Pretty darn close to what you were going to spend on that HP, and this would blow that HP so far out of the water you could put it in orbit.  And thats just searching ONE supplier.  Do that with several suppliers, find some deals, cut back on some of the high end components I listed and live with some that are not quite as top of the line, you could spend considerably less.

[JTs]

ok so your young and messed up one computer.  learn from it build your own. its easy tab a into slot a. kind hard to mess up.  alot of guys will help you here. and most of us know what where doing.  SOA gave you some good parts but since your in socal go to frys or pc club for the case and pc power and cooling for the psu.

[buzkill]

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
I dont know why you'd get that idea on this BBS?  

Alienware is rather overpriced IMO, but then if you built something, and you could get someone to pay you what amounted to a 300% profit, why not?  

Seriously, Spade said he didnt want to build his own.  I SERIOUSLY advise against buying a HP or Emachines or Dell for gaming.  Yes people use all 3 of those, even playing AH, and yes they do work.  But not nearly as well as a system built to handle gaming on purpose.  Those computers just "handle it", but a custom gaming rig will do it and leave you performance to spare.  

If I were to decide on a rig and didnt want to build it myself, I would take this parts list to one of (or several of) the local stores and shop a price.  

Abit Fatal1ty AN8-SLI motherboard (I dont like the current SLI setups, but at some point they'll get it right, and for the money you are spending, might as well go all out).  This is a Socket 939, nForce4 motherboard, top of the line.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127206

$202 at newegg.com

Might as well go whole-hog on the video card too.  Get the matching Fatal1ty X800 XL video card with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM, PCIe x16.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814123161

$392 at newegg.com

Case?  Try this Asus Vento 3600.  Nice airflow dynamic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811173008

$139 at newegg.com

2 GB of Corsair XMS memory in the Dual Channel kit, low latency, guaranteed for life, and ready to rock n roll.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575

$289 at newegg.com

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo core CPU with 2x1MB Level 2 cache.  2.2 Ghz, and guaranteed to excite any true geek.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546

$525 at newegg.com

Thermaltake Silent Purepower power supply, 420W.  Good, reliable power.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153006

$38.99 at newegg.com

And last but not least, what is a new computer without a nice new monitor to see those pretty pictures on.  I didnt choose an LCD, because I'm not real sure what would make a good LCD gaming monitor.  I do know what you want for good images on a CRT for gaming, and 19" is minimum (to me).  But you have to have good refresh rates supported, a good dot pitch, etc.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001110

$189.99 at newegg.com

Total of all this?  $1775.98 + shipping and handling.  Add another hundred for Windows XP (if you dont already have it) and whatever the shop charges you to put it all together (around 50 bucks in my experience, your mileage may vary).  Pretty darn close to what you were going to spend on that HP, and this would blow that HP so far out of the water you could put it in orbit.  And thats just searching ONE supplier.  Do that with several suppliers, find some deals, cut back on some of the high end components I listed and live with some that are not quite as top of the line, you could spend considerably less.

i assume you left out hard drives because there are way too many good choices to even try and list them?

[StarOfAfrica2]

And because I'm not going to get into the whole "To RAID or not to RAID" question, and this board handles both SATA and IDE drives.  When giving advice to someone who doesnt even like putting a computer together himself, I live by the rule of K.I.S.S.  Let him buy what he wants, its pretty much a no-brainer on HD's.  The performance increase of the hardcore RAID setup with matched drives is really not that great for the headaches you have to go through if it crashes.  That computer I laid out with a good quality IDE drive will not only scream, it will last forever if you dont go trying to make a rocket boosted demon out of it.  For my money, were I spending it, I'd invest in a good quality SCSI card and ............ well never mind.  I said I wasnt going to make recommendations.  

[buzkill]

I agree, the performance gain i got from RAID really wasn't worth the headache of even the software installation....i did it for the storage, and with my 40 gig IDE drive plugged in all the time, i haven't had a problem i couldn't recover from.