Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: jtdragon on September 18, 2008, 05:53:29 AM
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I got a new pc last month and would like to past on to all how it works for AH II. It is a HP Pavilion Elite m9350f, with a AMD 9850 quad, 750 HD, 9800/512 GT card, 6 gi ram. using 24" Gateway HD display with HDMI input.
This system handles AH with all sliders set to max and still runs at 60 fr while I listen to my music with the media player. been real happy with it. COST $1200 at Best Buy.
How about others past on there good store PC's.
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Newegg.com
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I got a new pc last month and would like to past on to all how it works for AH II. It is a HP Pavilion Elite m9350f, with a AMD 9850 quad, 750 HD, 9800/512 GT card, 6 gi ram. using 24" Gateway HD display with HDMI input.
This system handles AH with all sliders set to max and still runs at 60 fr while I listen to my music with the media player. been real happy with it. COST $1200 at Best Buy.
How about others past on there good store PC's.
Sorry to let you know. But most people here build their own computers for about half the price with almost the same efficient features.
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Near as I've been able to tell.
the best part of the "deal" with store bought machines.
Are the ones that come with a monitor and printer.
And the best part of those "deals" IS the monitor and printer.
If all your going to do is surf the web,do some Emails and maybe some household book keeping, Burn a CD or two.
You can get by just fine with the store bought Deals for a pretty long time.
If your going to be doing any serious gaming. High end graphic work,Video editing.
Store bought will hold you for a little while.
Be be prepared to be in the market for upgrades pretty soon
For what you would spend at a store.
You can build cheaper yourself. and in most cases. Cheaper AND better.
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I got a new pc last month and would like to past on to all how it works for AH II. It is a HP Pavilion Elite m9350f, with a AMD 9850 quad, 750 HD, 9800/512 GT card, 6 gi ram. using 24" Gateway HD display with HDMI input.
This system handles AH with all sliders set to max and still runs at 60 fr while I listen to my music with the media player. been real happy with it. COST $1200 at Best Buy.
How about others past on there good store PC's.
I built mine (as I always do) with better hardware for about $700 less... And I didn't have to deal with all the useless software that gets included with store bought PC's...
Factory built store bought or online bought PC's are inherently over priced and quite problematic for the most part... Unless you are paying top dollar, you are getting less than standard components, a useless warrant, a bunch of usesless software you'll never use, and something you won't really be able to upgrade much.... So, kudos to you for buying in to the big name PC's!! You should be proud for being overcharged and underserviced!! It's the American way!!! :rock
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Oh come on. You guys are being a bit harsh. Some people don't have the knowlede or the inclination to build. For them a store-bought machine is probably just fine and there's no harm in them sharing this forum too.
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$1200 isn't bad for a full computer that does everything you want including gaming.
I'm looking at a system upgrade, and just mobo, cpu, memory, and video card is $750. If I had to buy everything else including monitor, keyboard/mouse, case, PSU, dvd writer, operating system, etc., it would cost well over $1200.
For that specific computer, some parts were most likely priced higher than you would have paid if you'd upgraded them yourself (video cards often cost twice as much if you have the computer manufacturer install it instead of doing it yourself) but the basic system seems reasonably modern and it's obviously fairly fast, so the little bit extra it cost is pretty much sunk into the warranty and service. If I buy my own parts and make a computer and then it dies, I have to troubleshoot it and try to get either the retailer or the part manufacturer to cough up a replacement. If a store bought computer dies, you just bring it back in and they ought to fix it.
Heck, my Dad's last Dell paid for itself in the first 3 months. It had a soundcard and power supply go bad and Dell sent someone out to replace both of them. At 11 months, the cdrom drive failed and Dell cross-shipped a new one and we installed it ourselves, returning the broken one using an included shipping label. The total cost for us to fix the 3 problems was 30 min on the phone and an hour or so of installation time. If we'd had to make those fixes on a DIY computer, at the very least we'd have had to pay for shipping and the computer would probably have sat there unusable while the parts were being shipped.
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Example
Best Buy
PNY - NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT 512MB PCI Express Graphics Card
Model: VCG96512GXPB $169.99
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0500000%23%230%23%2311a~~cabcat0507000%23%230%23%233b~~nf398%7C%7C504e59&list=y&nrp=15&sc=abComputerSP&sp=%2Bbrand+skuid&usc=abcat0500000
Now Same exact brand and model number
Newegg
PNY VCG96512GXPB GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express
$104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133216&Tpk=VCG96512GXPB
The one thing you wont get at Best Buy.
Is the best buy.
I use Best Buy as a glorified convienience store.
If I want something small. and /or I want it RIGHT NOW.
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Oh come on. You guys are being a bit harsh. Some people don't have the knowlede or the inclination to build. For them a store-bought machine is probably just fine and there's no harm in them sharing this forum too.
This is true.
I like to tinker. Not everyone does
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Wow. You guys really jumped on that poor guy.
So he should have built his own huh? I priced out all the components that system has on Newegg: MB $90, 9850 $170, PS $90, case say $45, 9800GT $130, HDTV tuner $65, 6GB PC2-6400 RAM $99, 750GB HD $99, DVD $25, card reader $15, KB $24, mouse $13, WiFi $17, IEEE-1394 $13, Vista Ultimate 64 OEM $180, shipping say $25 minimum. Total: $1100. Wow.. big savings of $100 if he built it himself. (Plus the opportunity to royally mess it up in the process).
Cut the guy some slack. He got a fairly good deal.
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Point is, how much of that stuff that the store makes you buy do you really need?
I certainly exist just fine without card reader, old keyboard, I have a much loved 7 year old labtec laser mouse. No way I'm replacing that jewel. I have no need for wifi or ieeee-1394, and I'd really rather install any OS myself thank you very much.
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The best part about building your computer is getting the OS for free.
:noid :noid :noid
The benefit of putting an OS on yourself is YOU get to choose what you want.
None of that pre-loaded crap a store bought PC comes with.
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JT...the only thing I'll say is check where the HD is in the case. If it's mounted vertically at the front of the case by the air intake DO NOT put it on the floor.
I just recently had a friend bring me her older Pavillion computer because it wouldn't boot. After opening the case to see what was happening, I found the HD was coated with dust, hair and dirt from being on the floor. This caused the drive to overheat and die.
If they haven't changed where the drive sits, it's a ticking time bomb.
Edit: One more thing. Be sure you have the OS on CD/DVD. If not, be absolutely certain you back up your system. I had to replace her HD, and guess what she didn't have on CD? It cost her another $100 for a new copy of XP Home.
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For those who don't have the time or talent (like me) to build a machine, you might want to check out vigor gaming. Three year warranty ,lifetime support, and not bad prices. Not trying to ruffle feathers, just an option.
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...Wow.. big savings of $100 if he built it himself...
I don't believe anyone would argue about saving $100 these days.
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I don't believe anyone would argue about saving $100 these days.
It depends on what you value your personal time at.
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well last year i bought wal-mart emachine 2.8 gig $579 then upgraded to geforce 8800 gts pro vid card $149 and 1 gig memory $49 and the game has played awesome for me ... getting 56-60 fps constantly. total cost $777 ... i think that is a good price
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Thanks Hawk, did do the backup DVD,s. I have built two PC's but this time when I started pricing everything I wanted the savings just were not there and time was a factor.
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I've used Dell computers at home and at work and like them a lot. For about $450, you can have a Dell machine that is plenty enough for gaming (Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB hard disk) then add a $100 graphics card from, say, newegg.com. That's perhaps competitive with building it yourself, and probably cheaper than building it yourself if you figure in any cost whatsoever to your own time.
Over the years, I've used Dells, HP's, Compaqs, Gateways, IBM's, and custom built and have been in on buying decisions for about 300 computers over time. I like Dell the best.
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I've used Dell computers at home and at work and like them a lot. For about $450, you can have a Dell machine that is plenty enough for gaming (Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB hard disk) then add a $100 graphics card from, say, newegg.com. That's perhaps competitive with building it yourself, and probably cheaper than building it yourself if you figure in any cost whatsoever to your own time.
Over the years, I've used Dells, HP's, Compaqs, Gateways, IBM's, and custom built and have been in on buying decisions for about 300 computers over time. I like Dell the best.
One of the biggest advantages pre-made machines have over home builds is if you don't have an OS (or disks for it) then you need to drop $130+ at least on an OS where as a pre-made machines lower the cost when incorporating parts + OS.
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One of the biggest disadvantages of premade computers is that they come with the worst OS made in the last 10 years + a huge amount of bloatware. And in the worst case you still don't get the install disc for your OS.
It pays to get the real OS license in the long run.
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In case anyone is wondering there are some deals at Best Buy on decent spec pre-built Dell's and Gateways now for less than $900 including the monitor and printer. Personally I can build it myself and have a blast making the thing scream without the bloatware but sometimes you have to steer people into the pre-built world.
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The last home built computer I had smoked the mother board ( bad CPU fan). I had to replace it in short order due to Wife needing a computer quickly. Her comment on the new HP from sensless buy operates seamlessly. That was the only good comment from her, other comment made - why won't it run the Small Business Suite (MS) as quickly as the home built. 2 trays full of programs & running two HP printers at the same time. I started upgrading it (at her request, less than 60 days after the purchase). :noid :rofl
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best buy is a rip off. Next time go online probably would have saved around $300 or got better computer.
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One of the biggest disadvantages of premade computers is that they come with the worst OS made in the last 10 years + a huge amount of bloatware. And in the worst case you still don't get the install disc for your OS.
It pays to get the real OS license in the long run.
Very true as well.
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best buy is a rip off. Next time go online probably would have saved around $300 or got better computer.
Their deals for premade comps are generally fairly good between other competitors. However, the accessories (and dork squad) is where they make their profit. $33 for a 6 ft USB cable? Did Jesus himself use it for his printer? Perhaps signed by the 1933 New York Yankees? $40 to install my anti-virus and "system optimization"? Why don't I just give you all my credit cards and I'll close my eyes.