What site should I build this pre build?

MikeydCT

CAGiversary!
What site should I buy* this pre build?
CyberpowerPC Black Gamer Ultra GUA250 Desktop PC, Walmart has the lowest price I found $469.00 and the highest price from Staples $699.99. Where should I buy this?
I don't want to build my own, I have tried most of the year to due so and all it has got me is a headache. I wont be playing like Battlefield 3 on it so this is fine for me.
Here is Walmart link http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cyberpowe...-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-with-Win/17811825
 
1) What do you want to do with this computer?
2) What games do you want to play?
3) Budget, what are you willing to pay for a new PC?

First of all, CyberpowerPC is a terrible company. A few of my close friends who bought them were not satisfied with their service and honestly they only got them because of their cheap price; don't be fooled, you get what you pay for. You'd be better sticking to a name brand pre-built PC from something like that of HP, Dell, Acer and so on.

Second, calling that a "gaming desktop PC" is crazy... My cellphone is more powerful than that piece of junk. The AMD FX 4100 isn't exactly a full "Quad Core" cpu since its actually two modules, each with what work like 2 separate cores, but the instructions pipeline does conform down to one at different places to increase efficiency without going overboard with redundancy -- without getting too technical, think of it as a two headed man with one mouth and two stomachs... ok, that got weird...

In any regards, the FX series barely beats out its older x4 and x6 cpu's as well as the last generation entry level i3 2100 series sandy bridge cpu. Adding insult to injury, it took less than a year after FX's release for intel to release their updated Ivy Bridge chips, so the newer i3's still give the FX a run for its money. It also sucks more juice (95w vs 65w) and gets even more maddening with overclocked (which you probably don't care).

The advert and details section also omit a lot of actual details; they don't even tell you the speed of the RAM (probably 1066 or 1333 since its a cheapo 760g motherboard). Not only that, but walmart has the system listed with an nvidia GT 610 card, while the description linked to cyberpowerPC's pdf has it listed with an nvidia GT 520. Truth be told, the 610 is actually a rebadged 520, which is about the same speed as the Intel HD 2500 gpu core in their latest ivy bridge cpu's.

Part list of the cyberpowerPC machine:
PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 610 1GB Video Card ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I ID ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.42 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite Power 460W ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.28 @ CompUSA)
Total: $417.63

And that's using actual quality parts, but tried to stay as close as possible to the same parts. If I'm not mistaken, cyberpower uses the crappy diablotek 500w psu's; even then, not exactly like you need that kind of power for a system spec like this.


For not a lot of money more, here's a parts list that's a bit more resilient.
PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card ($50.60 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 311 (Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite Power 460W ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.28 @ CompUSA)
Total: $495.81

You get a speedy dual core with HT (so 4 threads in total), a very nice z77 chipset motherboard with room to grow, an extra 1TB of storage, a much more powerful GPU for not much more and a bit cheaper/bland case. You could still pull back and go with a cheaper motherboard, half the storage back down to 1TB and not even have a dedicated GPU.

Alternatively, you could spend an extra 15 bucks to get the Intel i3-3225 on amazon that bumps the onboard GPU core from the HD 2500 to the HD 4000, that's about 30% faster than the nvidia GT 520/610 ($30) cards in most gpu limited games. The AMD 6670 ($50) is twice as power as the more expensive nvidia GT 440/630 ($60) card. To put things into perspective, the GT 440/630 is just a bit faster than the intel HD 4000 gpu core; in some games, its on par.

GPU list (fast to slow):
AMD 6670 (+ $50)
Nvidia 440/630 (+ $60)
Intel HD 4000 (+ $15)
Nvidia GT 520/610 (+ $30)
Intel HD 2500 ($ 0)

But keep in mind, different games will perform differently on each gpu so it will depend on what software, programs or games you plan to run. The list above is loosely based so take it with a grain of salt.
 
[quote name='pacifickarma']You could even build a budget system with an AMD A8 or A10 APU, which gives the option of adding a GPU later for a performance boost.[/QUOTE]
A decent option with a decent entry level gaming gpu core, but the biggest problem I have with the A series AMD cpu's is that they are locked into the FM2 socket; they aren't exactly as open or expandable as the more abundant AM3+ socket mobo's on the market. Plus the A8 quad core is a slow ass quad core; about the same power as a cheap Pentium dual core.
 
ive changed my opinion on you jbaz, you dont know what you are talking about when it comes to legit htpc gaming but you are helpful and mostly knowledgeable.
 
[quote name='retrad']ive changed my opinion on you jbaz, you dont know what you are talking about when it comes to legit htpc gaming but you are helpful and mostly knowledgeable.[/QUOTE]
If you want to debate about HTPC again, do it in the other thread without name calling, bias and ignorance. Thank you. Carry on.
 
Yea... I just built myself a new Gaming PC... That can run BF3 @ 60FPS plus all the other games that I want to play... I'd definitely build it yourself. You can get an OS... cheap... on some... uhhh... lets say... Share ware sites... then you can dump your money into a quality build... My signature has my specs...

I paid under $450 for the build... only thing I didn't have to buy, was a chasis (aka case) and keyboard.

I'd say if you are doing a build, I'd recommend an AMD (Intel is better, but not for the price) You can overclock an AMD much easier if you need more performance out of your CPU.

I wouldn't go the APU route... Only because u can always upgrade ur GPU later down the line if you want to.

If you need help, please message and I'll give you my e-mail if you want some help. :)
 
APU's are really meant for cheap HTPC compact boxes and really in hind sight they are older laptop cores without power restrictions. Even then, its hard to justify AMD's E series compared to the cheaper Pentium lines form Intel with a decent enough gpu core to power a display, 1080p flawless video playback and some TF2 action. Although, nothing that a $15 graphics card could handle.

AMD has always been a value-centric brand and offer very good pricing on their low end cpu's; anyone building a sub 500 box should look at both Intel and AMD for solutions. But I wouldn't exactly spend my money on an FX chip for its "overclocking" abilities, as they will burn through your PSU like hot lava. But you have to give AMD credit for creating a CPU that can actually take that kind of thermal abuse, even though it has a terrible performance/wattage ratio when OC and it really doesn't boost it very much.

AMD fan boys always say its due to windows 7 and claim windows 8 will work better, but nothing I've seen lately on the pre-built even suggests that's true right now. I guess we have to wait and see. Kinda of lame to wait a year and a half for your CPU to gain a power boost because the software is not optimized yet. Best wait till they perfect the technology and software instead of paying the premium price to be an early adopter. (but again, that's what they said about HT with Intel and it took them just as long to get software to work properly on it; MMX if you want to go back even further).



Also, I never fully got why people are proud of listing system specs in a sig for a computer that costs the same as one GPU... I do take pride when I build my latest and greatest rigs for myself or for clients, but I really don't care if others knew what I had unless they asked for advice. Getting fragged is equally as frustrating on a $10k machine as it is with a budget box. The skill is in the mind.
 
[quote name='JBaz']1)
First of all, CyberpowerPC is a terrible company. A few of my close friends who bought them were not satisfied with their service and honestly they only got them because of their cheap price; don't be fooled, you get what you pay for. You'd be better sticking to a name brand pre-built PC from something like that of HP, Dell, Acer and so on. [/QUOTE]


I bought from CyberpowerPC and I disagree with this strongly. I had no problems with them. The PC came with a bad hard drive, I let them know and they replaced it for me no questions asked. You will spend hundreds of dollars more to get less if you go with HP or Dell. Obviously building it yourself would be the best and cheapest way to do it, but if you just couldnt be bothered and still dont want to pay a crazy jacked up price then go with Cyberpower, I really dont think you will be disappointed.
 
Sorry, can't take a company at whole's worth when they claim that a GT 610 is a gaming card for ultra gamers... They are a laughing stock of any boutique gaming builders and there's no shortage of negative press or bad customer reviews.

Although, I do have to admit they aren't a completely terrible company and their service has massively improved over the last few years, but they still suffer from ad fails and slow shipping. Honestly, I'd check out the competition and look at iBuyPower that make reasonable rigs, but they are a bit more expensive than CyberPowerPC. In any regards, just buy with your credit card and if you have a dispute with CyberPowerPC, you are easily covered by your CC in the event you get a sour experience.

But honestly, building your own is such a simple proposition these days; its hard to even consider a prebuilt for anyone anymore.


Also, stealing this from the other post I made:
PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 650 1GB ($69.99 AR @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $427.90

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-23 12:17 EST-0500)

Nets you double the storage, faster RAM, better motherboard, aftermarket CPU cooler, quality case, quality PSU, a proper budget gaming card and windows to boot. You could always ax the CPU cooler for $15 bucks off the end price and its all from newegg.
 
bread's done
Back
Top