Author Topic: Build or buy PC  (Read 2129 times)

Offline drdeathx

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #30 on: November 09, 2008, 11:40:18 AM »
$70 more for a lesse card makes no sense Baldeagle.... Don't want to disagree with your expetise but the reviews say this ais a no brainer.
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Offline Getback

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #31 on: November 09, 2008, 11:43:46 AM »
Regardless of the talk about pricing I still think you got a pretty good deal.  You only paid about a $200 premium buying it at a store once everything is factored in and hey, the store needs to make a profit too.

Please come back and tell us how you like it after you get it up and running.

I agree. I mean it is truly custom built. I think you could pay $2,500 to $3,000 for a comparable system. I've looked at other ready made systems. Usually they cut back somewhere. Maybe on the Power Supply or the ram, or on something else. You did well Mia.

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Offline mia389

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #32 on: November 09, 2008, 07:29:15 PM »
Regardless of the talk about pricing I still think you got a pretty good deal.  You only paid about a $200 premium buying it at a store once everything is factored in and hey, the store needs to make a profit too.

Please come back and tell us how you like it after you get it up and running.

I am thinking I will get it tomorrow. The waiting is killing me. After I install the programs and tweak XP I will download AH and see how it runs. All settings are going to be turned up to max. I have always locked frame rates at 60 but I am going to see what it gets without locking them. My old PC was running about 20-25 FPS.

Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #33 on: November 09, 2008, 11:59:51 PM »
I am thinking I will get it tomorrow. The waiting is killing me. After I install the programs and tweak XP I will download AH and see how it runs. All settings are going to be turned up to max. I have always locked frame rates at 60 but I am going to see what it gets without locking them. My old PC was running about 20-25 FPS.

I lock mine in AH at 60.  In my racing games I run ~150 fps consistantly with all settings maxed... sometimes higher and they are more graphically demanding than AH.  If it starts to tear lock them.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2008, 12:03:42 AM by BaldEagl »
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Offline drdeathx

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #34 on: November 10, 2008, 01:03:42 AM »
Mia again the 4830 at $129 and the 4870 at $175 are much better cards!!!!!!
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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #35 on: November 10, 2008, 03:01:39 AM »
That and velociraptor is not worth the pricetag for gaming use. All it can do is shave 1 second off your _loading_ time while having no effect on framerates.

You can build a raid 10 with comparable performance AND double redundancy for less than the price of one velociraptor. I wouldn't buy one for home use. Running MySQL database, maybe.. But not for games.
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Offline Denholm

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #36 on: November 10, 2008, 09:48:00 AM »
The only area where I could have seen a better decision is the area of your Operating System. Windows XP Pro would have been a better choice. Nice comp. :aok
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Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #37 on: November 10, 2008, 11:06:47 AM »
Mia again the 4830 at $129 and the 4870 at $175 are much better cards!!!!!!

The ATI 4870 benchmarks 0.007% better than the 9800 GTX on the Tomshardware charts.  I don't think that qualifies it as much better although it is $20 less.
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Offline Reschke

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #38 on: November 10, 2008, 11:19:55 AM »
Hey let the guy be...He didn't go drop money at Alienware that should say something. At any rate I think he did pretty good on selecting his parts and having someone build it for him. I know when I was in that business I absolutely loved putting custom systems together since most of what we did were just assembly line deals that I sold to customers.

When and if he ever gets tired of the 9800 he can buy something else then. Besides the price he paid is probably just a small amount higher than what the store paid for it a few weeks ago.
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Offline Getback

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #39 on: November 10, 2008, 03:57:08 PM »
I like ATI cards. As stated earlier in this thread, I think, I had and nvidia 8600 card that just wasn't up to it. So I gave it to my mom. Well she had issues with the driver and we installed a new ATI 3870 and no more issues. Howsoever, I know Baldegl likes his nvidia card and I learned later that if you are going nvidia get one 8800 and above.

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Offline 633DH98

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #40 on: November 10, 2008, 04:50:57 PM »
How is this for premade?

Apevia X-SniperG Mid-Tower 420W Case
Gigabyte GA-EG31M-S2 Intel G31 Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 CPU
(2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
ATI Radeon HD 3850 PCI-E 16X 512MB Video Card
LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD
PS2 INTERNET MOUSE W/ WHEEL
(2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 3

3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

PRICE: $696.00
DecoyDuc  2 Nov 2008 - 16 Nov 2008  RIP

Offline Fulmar

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #41 on: November 10, 2008, 05:20:58 PM »
How is this for premade?

Apevia X-SniperG Mid-Tower 420W Case
Gigabyte GA-EG31M-S2 Intel G31 Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 CPU
(2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
ATI Radeon HD 3850 PCI-E 16X 512MB Video Card
LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD
PS2 INTERNET MOUSE W/ WHEEL
(2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 3

3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

PRICE: $696.00

Only downsides I see to that are:
1) The power supply that comes with that case is REALLY iffy.  Some of Aprevia's higer end PSU may be good, but I Newegg'd that power supply and its cost is $14.99.  That just spells trouble.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148033
2) The board is a micro ATX, I'm not a fan of them IMO for expansion reasons.

Every other part seems to be rock solid (no brand on the RAM?).  I would stick the extra money into a name brand PSU and maybe a better motherboard.  If you're going to buy/build a computer I'd select components that are on par with each other in quality.
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Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #42 on: November 10, 2008, 05:27:52 PM »
How is this for premade?

Apevia X-SniperG Mid-Tower 420W Case
Gigabyte GA-EG31M-S2 Intel G31 Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 CPU
(2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
ATI Radeon HD 3850 PCI-E 16X 512MB Video Card
LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD
PS2 INTERNET MOUSE W/ WHEEL
(2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 3

3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

PRICE: $696.00

I'd add a sound card to it too.
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Offline 633DH98

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #43 on: November 10, 2008, 05:55:34 PM »
Expansion?  What is that?  (Laptop user for around ten years)   ;)

Better power supply makes sense.  Another $50-70?

Sound card?  Is it really necessary with the E8400?  How much for a card that actually frees up processsor cycles?
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Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Build or buy PC
« Reply #44 on: November 10, 2008, 07:38:55 PM »
How much for a card that actually frees up processsor cycles?

$90
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