Build vs Gateway

[dwdty9]

So I have a deep thought question. I am looking for a new AMD system. Preferrably dual core. I want to game on it some, nothing much though. I want to spend less than $1,000 and I need to be able to pvr, not necessarily MCE though. I can get either this system from Gateway:

http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_gt5032.shtml

Or

NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A - OEM
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -
Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface Tuner Card - Retail
COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
BFG 6600 PCI-Express - OEM

The Gateway would cost $850 after rebate and the one I build would cost me $975 total.

Advantages of the Gateway:better processor, bigger hard drive, dual dvd drives, Windows MCE, quieter probably.

Advantages of mine:easy to upgrade when i want to, power supply a lot better, video card better than integrated.

What should I do?

 

[Maximilian]

Link didnt work, cant diss the gatway without knowing whats in it.

 

[Weatherton]

The difference between integrated graphics and a 6600gt are not even comparable. Don't discount that fact. The link you supplied does not appear to work, but I would personally build my own since you get full freedom to choose every part and upgrade later.

 

[dwdty9]

ok, fixed the link. thanks so far

 

[acole1]

Hard choice there.... The software is what kills you

Your machine would probably be more upgradeable, and probably more reliable, but gateway has tech support (I presume) that might come in handy. It just depends on where you want to go in the future IMO.

 

[Maximilian]

Yea, to bring that Gateway up to spec with the built pc you would NEED a graphics card, so add anything from $50-$400 onto the gateway rig dependant on how pretty you want your games to look

The 6600GT is a decent card, itll play farcry doom 3 quake 4 etc, the integrated graphics will do this too, but itll be slow as hell and look like crap. You will not want to play the game due to this.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: acole1
Hard choice there.... The software is what kills you

Your machine would probably be more upgradeable, and probably more reliable, but gateway has tech support (I presume) that might come in handy. It just depends on where you want to go in the future IMO.

We ARE tech support, we're free too

 

[acole1]

Originally posted by: Soviet

Originally posted by: acole1
Hard choice there.... The software is what kills you

Your machine would probably be more upgradeable, and probably more reliable, but gateway has tech support (I presume) that might come in handy. It just depends on where you want to go in the future IMO.

We ARE tech support, we're free too

Haha true..

You know a 6800GS would make the gateway pretty good, and it would only make it slightly more expensive than his build.

Decisions decisions...

 

[dwdty9]

i really don't care about tech support, never used it before! well, what i was thinking of doing earlier, was adding a pci-e graphics card to the gateway, but i would have to upgrade the power supply because it's a puny 300-watt 15a 12v rail. So then it would be more expensive than my own build

 

[dwdty9]

how long do you think i could keep the gateway without having to upgrade? i do a lot of digital media type stuff (photoshop, audition) media encoding, etc. hmm

because basically, if i wanted to upgrade the motherboard, i don't know if i could fit a regular size atx mobo in it. i'd probably have to get a micro-atx. not that it would be a bad thing, with intel and amd making a ton of those boards lately

 

[dwdty9]

and the gateway's hard drive has only 2mb cache compared to 8mb on mine. How much difference does that ACTUALLY make?

i bought an HP system before, probably 2 years ago. and it lasted me for 1.5 years until i needed to upgrade. But that was with a middle of the line XP2800+, 80gb hard drive. I upgraded to the ATI 9800 Pro and then the system went down about 6 months later due to me not realizing i should have upgraded the power supply ! i never did

 

[bamacre]

Build.

If you buy that gateway, you'll kick yourself in 12 months. These prebuilt HP and emachine systems are horrid designs, cases suck, power supplies suck. If you build, everything is standard. You can re-use the same case, PSU, and software on your next upgrade venture. Plus, with the gateway, you're limited to a 1yr warranty, as where the hardware you buy will all likely have longer warranties. The only prebuilt I'd use would be a Dell, and they don't have AMD.