Buying new cheap PC - CAG advice needed

J

Johnny Postman

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Time to finally upgrade to a new PC. Trying to do it cheaply and there's one I spotted I can get for under $500 at Best Buy. Not looking to run Crysis but maybe Company of Heroes at medium settings or Sins of the Solar Empire - after I upgrade the graphics card to a 8800GT.

Anyway - any CAG opinions on this system - both the quality and whether it will have any longevity before needing another major upgrade? BTW... right now I have a Dell P4 3.2EE with ATI 9800 XT so I am not even sure how much of a bump up this new system will even be.

Here it is... Acer Aspire Q6600, 2GB ram, 500GB HD, etc...

detailed specs - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=product&tab=2&id=1192232280889#productdetail

Thanks
 
It's OK for $500, and I don't even see any reason why you couldn't play Crysis after putting an 8800 in. But it sounds like you're trying to talk yourself out of it?
 
I don't think that system can handle the power draw of an 8800gt. These low priced systems often come with weak power supplies that either provide way too little wattage, or not enough connectors for the video card. The 8800gt draws around 247 watts under load: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/page14.html

Considering most of these power supplies are around 300-400 watts, and even then have trouble putting that out consistently, you might have problems with frequent crashing using a cheaper system.

All that being said, the BB website tells me no specifications about the power supply this system has, which probably means it is a cheap one.

That system should be able to handle an 8600gt, however.
 
I bought an Acer Aspire computer back in 1995. The hard drive crashed right away and it was a bit of a nightmare dealing with the phone maze of people reading from scripts.

Of course, I don't know if Gateway or HP or whatever would be any better, and that was a long time ago.

I like building it myself or buying it from smaller shops. I'd bet if you bought a machine from ibuypower.com that the customer support would be English speaking people who could understand your problem.
 
[quote name='Sideswiper']I bought an Acer Aspire computer back in 1995. The hard drive crashed right away and it was a bit of a nightmare dealing with the phone maze of people reading from scripts.

Of course, I don't know if Gateway or HP or whatever would be any better, and that was a long time ago.

I like building it myself or buying it from smaller shops. I'd bet if you bought a machine from ibuypower.com that the customer support would be English speaking people who could understand your problem.[/quote]
Well that was one experience...13 years ago.

Do you think Mercedes Benz would be a bad brand if you heard of 1 person having a bad experience with it?
 
[quote name='Clarke']Well that was one experience...13 years ago.

Do you think Mercedes Benz would be a bad brand if you heard of 1 person having a bad experience with it?[/quote]

I bet he meant 2005. I don't think Acer existed 13 years ago.
 
[quote name='poisonedpawn45']I don't think that system can handle the power draw of an 8800gt. These low priced systems often come with weak power supplies that either provide way too little wattage, or not enough connectors for the video card. The 8800gt draws around 247 watts under load: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/page14.html

Considering most of these power supplies are around 300-400 watts, and even then have trouble putting that out consistently, you might have problems with frequent crashing using a cheaper system.

All that being said, the BB website tells me no specifications about the power supply this system has, which probably means it is a cheap one.

That system should be able to handle an 8600gt, however.[/quote]

Those tests usually measure total PC power consumption, the purpose is to compare the difference between cards, not the actual card consumption. The 8800GT does recommend a PSU capable of supplying either 22 or 26 amps (I forget which), which is higher than most junk power supplies. So the end result could be the same where he may need to upgrade. Problem is, current capabilities of a PSU are harder to find.
 
that looks to be a little crippled (coming from someone that bought a Dell...) Only has 2 DDR slots and they are filled so your at maxed at 2 GB w/o swapping in bigger sticks. Also, it only has 1 PCI-e slot available (both PCI slots are used...although, judging by the rear picture, this may not be the case) so that limits you if you want to add wireless down the road.

The Q6600 is simple to "tape mod" to 3.0 Ghz
 
[quote name='h2dk']that looks to be a little crippled (coming from someone that bought a Dell...) Only has 2 DDR slots and they are filled so your at maxed at 2 GB w/o swapping in bigger sticks. Also, it only has 1 PCI-e slot available (both PCI slots are used...although, judging by the rear picture, this may not be the case) so that limits you if you want to add wireless down the road.

The Q6600 is simple to "tape mod" to 3.0 Ghz[/QUOTE]


You are so right about the tape mod. I did it yesterday to my Dell Inspiron 530 with the Q6600. It runs at 3Ghz now. So easy, definitely worth it.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone - I decided to stay away from the Acer.

My two choices now are to wait for another Dell deal on fatwallet/slickdeals or the Gateway gt5628 which a local BB has at $490 for an open box model.
 
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