New PC-General Advice-Input Appreciated.

[ke2urhoe48]

Hey,

I am new here, but after viewing some threads it seems that the members of this message board are friendly and insightful about PC information. I am thinking of buying PC from Cyber Power Inc, and this is the system I have picked so far.

Standard case w/ upgrade to 500w power supply.

(Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 CPU @ 3.0GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache 64-bit

INTEL LGA775 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEAT SINK

MSI P35 Neo-F P35 Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1333 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio()

(Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory(Corsair or Major Brand)[+0]More Brand...Corsair or Major Brand

No video Card for now. Going to purchase one from a vendor seperatly(Thinking the 9800 GTX for 150$ from tigerdirect.com)

250GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER

Plus generic Sound and Speaker system.

Shipped to my door this system will cost a little under 700 dollars, so with the Video card around 850$ Any suggestions would be appreciated.

One question I have is if it is worth the extra 36$ to upgrade from the e8300 to the e8400. Will there be major performance increase/decrease between the 2. My goal would be to play games that are relatively system intensive, like Crysis or AOC. Also I will be upgrading from 2 to 4 gig of ram seperatly also.

Once again the input would be appreciated.

[SOSTrooper]

You can probably save a lot of money if you buy the parts separately from Newegg or other online vendors. Here are some price examples from Newegg.com:

Intel C2D E8400: $175
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L motherboard: $108
4GB Corsair DDR2 800: ~$70 after rebate
Seagate 500GB SATAII hard drive: $85
Generic case: $50
Corsair 650W power supply: $80 after rebate
XFX 9800GTX: $170 after rebate
Samsung DVD Burner: $30

Total: $768 + shipping and tax (if applicable).

Mind you this includes the video card AND has a lot of up-to-date parts, plus a much better power supply (for the video card) and a bigger hard drive. The lesson here, Cyber Power rips you off with their pre-built crap.

[Dufran3]

Agreed, a rip off. Tried going through iBuyPower, but ended up returning the blue screening POS. Build yourself if you can, although no Warranty, Manuf. warranty is usually enough.

[Klank]

When you get something like that you are not just paying for the parts but also the labor. Really they are not overcharging you. You are just paying the peoples salary that build the things as well as paying for the warranty.

If you want to save on cash and have a better idea of whats going on in your computer then building it your self is definitely the way to go. The big down side to this is when you do run into a problem then its all up to you to fix it.

When I was building my current computer I was having major restart problems. Turned out that my motherboard was running the ram at 1.5v but it would only run stable at 2.15v. Took me a few days of reading forums to figure that one out.

Its not often I wish I had just bought my computer prebuilt but at times like that it would have been great if I could have just sent it somewhere to be fixed and not had to worry about it.

[Sideswiper]

The advantage from buying frmo CyberPower is that they can set up everything on your computer. If you don't purchase a video card then I'm sure they'll screw you on your technical support ("Sorry sir but since you installed your own video card we can't be held responsible for whether or not your computer is working.")

That said, I'd recommend building a computer yourself, or find some local computer stores and bring them a list of parts and get price quotes on having them make it for you. That way if you need tech support you just drive to the shop.

[ke2urhoe48]

I appreciate the feedback guys, and I am worried about buying the parts individually from new egg.com because so many different things can go wrong, but on the other hand the nearest computer parts store is over 30 minutes away and that is not a drive I want to make every time I need to switch out a part.

I would not mind paying a little extra from Cyberpower in order to have a 3 year warranty and having the tech support available if things go wrong. Also having it shipped to my house for a plug and play.

[Koggit]

If you wanna do prebuilt, how about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227066

[mav451]

When you get something like that you are not just paying for the parts but also the labor. Really they are not overcharging you. You are just paying the peoples salary that build the things as well as paying for the warranty.

If you want to save on cash and have a better idea of whats going on in your computer then building it your self is definitely the way to go. The big down side to this is when you do run into a problem then its all up to you to fix it.

Heh I consider this a plus. I don't trust anyone but myself when it comes to diagnosing problems...but then I have come a long way since building my first back in 2003.
In addition, fixing things yourself is a self-rewarding process - not to mention a GREAT investment for yourself. It's same with cars. Would you rather be ignorant of what's going on? Or actually have the experience to be able to tell when someone is bullshitting you?

I say ARM yourself with knowledge. It helps not just your wallet, but gives you the independence of doing what you want, when you want.

[Klank]

Heh I consider this a plus. I don't trust anyone but myself when it comes to diagnosing problems...but then I have come a long way since building my first back in 2003.
In addition, fixing things yourself is a self-rewarding process - not to mention a GREAT investment for yourself. It's same with cars. Would you rather be ignorant of what's going on? Or actually have the experience to be able to tell when someone is bullshitting you?

I say ARM yourself with knowledge. It helps not just your wallet, but gives you the independence of doing what you want, when you want.

Its not so much that I can't figure it out or anything like that. I do agree that its rewarding to do the work on your own. However sometimes if I have project deadlines or something and I just need things to work then its really annoying to have to sit there and troubleshoot problems.

[ke2urhoe48]

This is what I have built so far on Newegg.com
3 year manufacture warranty.

e8400 3.0 core 2 duo - 175$
DVD/CD burner-drive- 21$
Zotac Gefoce 9800 GTX- 185$ (After rebate)
4 GB Corsair DDR2(800) Ram- 66$ (After rebate)
Asus P5k Pro MOBO -105$
Case + 600 Watt Rosewell Power Supply Combo- 100$
Wireless PCI card-20$
(I have a 500GB HD that I borrowed from my parents Gateway home PC that came with 2 of them!!)

With alot of shipping deals the total comes to around 700$.

[Dufran3]

mind posting those shipping deals, trying to compile something on newegg also.

[mav451]

Its not so much that I can't figure it out or anything like that. I do agree that its rewarding to do the work on your own. However sometimes if I have project deadlines or something and I just need things to work then its really annoying to have to sit there and troubleshoot problems.

I agree that the learning curve is steep, like anything you're new at. But I find the more experienced you are, the less likely you'll be spending a great deal of time (much less any) troubleshooting problems. In fact, I think after my first year or so building and learning how to troubleshoot on my own - I was versed enough to be giving advice just a year or so after. But yeah, it's critical you have enough time to learn.

Fortunately, I did this during frosh years of college, so a ridiculous amount of free time available.

[Sideswiper]

I'm a huge proponent of building it yourself, however if you are going to buy from Cyberpower I would recommend letting them build the whole computer, video card and all. Either do all of the tech support yourself or do none of it... don't get caught in some weird gray zone where you have to argue what is whose responsibility.

[ke2urhoe48]

I did not use any codes or anything, the power supply I got was bundled with a case that had free shipping, total shipping cost was like 22$. Would have been less if I didnt buy a keyboard :(

[slimjim2004]

Don't get the GTX. Get the ATi HD 4850. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747

[fullhavok]

build it your self, it's not that hard, google help, check you tube for help, there's a million training vid's to help you out. & NEW EGG rock's, great deals & if you combine shipping, ( some times they even have free shipping ) can save you big time. & knowing you built her , its the greatest feeling. also check out FRYS.com * zipzoomfly.com they helped me out big time. i saved around $500.00 for my last built. ( & she's smoking fast!! she'll kick anything that the big companies sale pre built )