Augment Computer - Is this good for the price?

[warrencarr]

I've been looking at this computer - http://www.augmentcomputers.com/#!apollo - Just wondering if its a good price for the specs. Its prebuilt.

Price - 799.00 USD
Specs -
CPU : Intel Core i3-3220 (3.3GHz)
Video Card : NVIDIA GTX 650 1GB
RAM : 8GB 1333Ghz
Hard Drive : 1TB HHD 7200 RPM
Power Supply : 480 Watt
Optical Drive : DVD

 

[pw257008]

does it come with Windows? don't see anything on the website about it

 

[warrencarr]

It comes with Ubuntu, but you can have Windows 7/8 installed for 99.

 

[Fayd]

hell, you can get a dell of better specs with windows 7 installed and a monitor for 100 less.

i.e., no, it's a terrible deal.

 

[piasabird]

First of all it is Ivy Bridge so the processor and the motherboard are not worth as much as you would think. Second it only uses 1333 DDR3 ram which is slower. Just go to newegg and price out the parts. If you are going to spend that much it should be Haswell 4XXX series processor and 1600 DDR3. For Gaming most people want an i5 CPU with turbo boost. I am not a gamer so I don't know if that video card is much better than the Integrated video on an Intel Processor.

GTX 650 lists at $139 at Newegg.
i3 3220 $124 Newegg
Hard Drive $70 estimated
DVD $18 estimated
Case $60 estimated
Power Supply $45 estimated
Win 7 $99 estimated Maybe cheaper if on sale.
8 gigs RAM $75 estimated
Motherboard? $100-$145 estimated depends on chipset and quality. Could be more.

I am building a computer at home for an HTPC in Mini-ITX?
I am using items like
Case - Cooler Master 130 elite $45
MB - Gigabyte Z87N Wifi Mini-ITX $129
CPU - i3 4330 3.5 Gig 4 Meg Cache, HD GRAPHICS 4600 $124 Got it on sale.
HD - 1 TB HD West Digital Blue $70
DVD - Used old one I have $18 Lite-On DVD (r) DL All Formats
Pwr Sply - CX430 $45
OS - Win 7 Home Ed 64 bit $99
I have a Keyboard/Mouse I could use for installation
Ordering a Mini Wireless Keyboard to use as remote control ? $15-$35
Need Speakers if you want them. I am using a HDTV with HDMI.
Monitor Depends on size or use your old one. I am using an HDTV $600
I already have one along with a HD Antenna.
I have a small 19" Widescreen Dell Monitor and I paid $100 for it 2 years ago. This monitor is extremely good and causes no strain on the eyes even when watching movies.
A 22-24 inch monitor might be fairly well priced. Make sure it has the right connectors. i.e. VGA, DVI-I, HDMI, Displayport, Thunderbolt, etc. The cheaper the monitor the fewer the interfaces to connect it with. Mine was VGA only.

 

[warrencarr]

Thanks! Very helpful!

 

[lakedude]

You are going to need Windows if you plan to game so add $100 to the price of hardware.

If you don't plan to game that system you posted is overkill.

For a gaming system I suggest starting here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2192841

and going with the R9 270in place of the GTX 770 to save $140. That should put the final price at about $849 which is in the ballpark of what you were looking at.

You would have a much, much better system!

If you needed to save money you could skimp a bit more on the CPU and memory as well but I wouldn't. You could also skip the SSD and just run off the 1TB HD but again, I wouldn't unless money was really tight.

 

[you2]

For a mini itx I woudl go with this build:
inwin 656 case ($79)
h81 (msi or asrock) $79
g3220 ($59)
4gb gskill ram ($44)
120gb sd (pick your poison) $80
--
or wait a bit till items are on sale and save $40
-
The only thing your machine adds is a stronger (but not strong gpu). The i3 is a bit faster than the g3220 (but the mobile i3 is slower).

 

[cbrunny]

Took a quick look at that augment computer website today... nothing there seems like a good deal to me. It is pretty much exclusively over priced. I agree with the other posters, you're better off building your own.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Are you ordering from the US? If not that could change the availability, but for a previous gen i3 and a fairly weak video card, it seems way overpriced, as other have said. Dell or Lenovo outlets would be a good place to look, or maybe try something like Cyberpower if you want to configure it yourself. I can understand if you dont want to build yourself, but even if you go to a retail store like Best Buy or Office Depot, you could get a similar system without a video card for 500.00 or less, and put in a 100.00 HD7750 and you will have a similar system for 200.00 less.