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battle of pre-built PCs

S

siftings81

Member
hello, after much consideration I've decided to buy/not build a pc.. I'm currently still using an outdated pentium system and use it to browse the web/word process/music... I would like to play dvds and light gaming with my new pc.. I've already bought a monitor, so i need the rest. below is what I found at ABS and have a budget of around 850 dollars. Any recomendations from other companies?

AMD Athlon XP Processor 1600+ (1.40GHz) with QuantiSpeed(TM) architecture Item#1836
Gigabyte AMD 761 GA-7DX Motherboard
256MB DDR SDRAM PC2100
30GB Maxtor 7200RPM ATA 100 HD
**Pioneer 16X DVD ROM
64MB ATI Radeon 7200 SDR AGP
Sound Blaster Live! 5.
Altec Lansing AVS500 Speakers w/Subwoofer
Zoom PCI 56K V.92 Modem
1.44MB Floppy Drive
Microsoft IntelliMouse
Microsoft Internet Keyboard w/o Handrest (No NT Support)
Windows XP Home Edition
In-Win ATX Mid Tower 300Watts Case
3 Years Limited Warranty Standard
total = 800 + 45 shipping
 
falcon
voodoo
whamo? (something like that, no personal experience)

in that order. falcon hands down, imo, makes the best "out of the box" rigs. but you pay out the ass for it. alienware is supposed to be good, but their prices are too high for what you get.

i just have bad feelings about buying from places like the one mentioned. dell is (or has been) great if you want to go the intel route. plenty of good systems at that price.

monarch computer ranks up there with pre-builts, always been real happy with those guys.
 


<< falcon
voodoo
whamo? (something like that, no personal experience)

in that order. falcon hands down, imo, makes the best "out of the box" rigs. but you pay out the ass for it. alienware is supposed to be good, but their prices are too high for what you get.

i personally would never consider buying a rig at that price that's prebuilt. no telling what boards/nic/sound card you may get. dell is (was anyway) good for prebuilts if you go the intel route. they have plenty of good rigs at that price. >>



Voodoo's Canadian (thus cheaper) and PCGamer LOVES them.
 
That doesn't look too bad, besides the fact that i'd get XP Pro or Win2K rather than XP Home Edition, but that is just my personal choice and you may not require or want to pay for the extra functionallity. Looks nice, and well worth the price for the 3year warranty.

One other thing, if possible try and get the Geforce ti series over that Radeon, because they are a bit better and cheaper I think.
 
I'm really not interested in a dell. I would like an amd processor with a decent graphics card. I've seen ABS (buyabs.com) reviewed in computer shopper several times, and thought of them as a reputable company.
 
Alienware is good, but mighty MIGHTY expensive.

One problem i see with the computer you outlined is:



<< Microsoft Internet Keyboard w/o Handrest (No NT Support) >>



and on the next line:



<< Windows XP Home Edition >>



Seeing as how XP is NT based, that might be a problem 😉 A minor point, but a point none-the-less.
 
Screw all the big guys. buy local. you will get a better deal and exactly wat you want but shop around localy also cause the price can change a few 100 dollare from store to store. Most small guys will build you what you want for the price you want. Even going to the extream of beating a company like dell's prices.
 
I would really reccomend you build it yourself. You will only save a little $$$ that way, but you will have the added pride of building it yourself & it's really not that hard. The hardest part is actually choosing the components, which you seem to have already done a good job of. I would reccomend a Seagate Baracudda IV instead of the Maxtor drive however because it is faster & quieter (although I'm not sure how they compare pricewise). As far as assembling it the hardest part is probably actually instaling the CPU cooler, and that really isn't all that hard (depending on what heatsink you get).
 
Building a PC no longer cheaper than buying a pre-built PC. If I went up to Intel and said, "high I'de like one P4 chip" and Compaq went up to intel and said "High, I'de like 2 million P4 chips", who do you think would get the better rate?. Buying a pre-built is a wise choice unless building is your hobby.
 
The video card is going to hold you back if you plan on playing in resolutions over 800x600x32. If you like to stick to that resolution or lower, then that card will do you just fine for some light gaming. It should also be fine for DVD playback, of course an MPEG2 decoder card is the way to go if you really want to watch a lot of DVDs on your system. I would also recommend a different sound card. The Hercules Gametheatre, Phillips Acoustic Edge, and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz all seem to have better audio quality than the SB Live! series. I think I would also pick some other speakers. Perhaps it is just my opinion, but I have listened to two sets of Altec Lansing speakers. I didn't like the way either of them sounded. One set was the ACS54s, I can't remember the model of the other set. There doesn't seem to be any depth or richness to the sound. It's just 2D digital garbage. Again, sound is purely opinion. So, if you have heard them and like them, then by all means stick with them. Good luck with your purchase, but I still say build your own. =)
 
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