Is this a good game system to order from ibuypower?

[SaltyNuts]

Its the Gamer Mage D355. $1149. Comes with Phenom II X6 1055T CPU, 8 GB Ram, Radeon HD 6870 graphics card, 1 TB hard drive, and 40 GB solid state drive. Oh and a blue ray drive

Here is link:

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Gamer_Mage_D355


Any overall thoughts on this? I don't typically play games that require huge graphics needs (like first person shooters), but would like something that will run, for example, Battfield Bad COmpany 2 (and 3 when it comes out) at pretty good resolutions/speeds.

And any thoughts on what I might upgrade and downgrade? I was thinking the 6 cores is probably a waste - downgrade to 4 cores maybe (suggestions as to which) and use the money save to maybe the an 80GB solid state drive.

Also, is ibuypower pretty legit?

Thanks for any help!

 

[BoomerD]

Why not build it yourself? For that price, you can build a nice i5-2500K rig that will seriously out-perform that PII-1055 rig.

 

[Anomaly1964]

What he said ^

 

[etrigan420]

That's a more than adequate system.

I just perused it real quick, but you could probably cut it down to 4GB of RAM, save yourself a little coin, and not notice any difference in performance. I run 8GB only because DDR2 was ultra cheap when I bought it...but it probably doesn't really do anything to improve my performance over 4GB.

iBuy is a pretty legit builder, from what I've heard and seen.

If I was to buy a pre-built I would certainly consider them.

 

[dac7nco]

iBuyPower is reputable. I just priced out a much faster 2500K system with an SSD and a GTX560Ti for the same amount of cash; I wouldn't spend anything on an Phenom-II gaming system, unless you're hooking it up to a 720p TV, using something like a 5650. I understand buying pre-made; you don't have to wrestle with individual warranty shit yourself. Keep in mind though, that if something fails, you'll likely be shipping them the entire system. That is a definite minus if it's your only system.

Daimon

P.S. - iBuyPower's configurator charges WAY too much for RAM.

 

[LuluTheMonk]

Here's a build:
i5 2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 combo $334
CORSAIR H50 $62 AR
G.Skill DDR3 1333 8GB $80
XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB $224 AR
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB $135
Samsung F3 1TB $65
Samsung DVD Burner $19
SeaSonic S12II 520W $75
Fractal Design R3 $100
Total: $1094 AR

Comparison:
1055T vs 2500k

Basic Differences:
My build:
Faster CPU, Larger/Faster SSD, Rebates

Their Build:
Has some software, Blu-Ray player, 12 in 1 flash media card reader, prepackaged

**edit**
I think this is the equivalent blu-ray reader + writer
LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD $70

 

[DaveSimmons]

Ibuypower will build you a similar Sandy Bridge i5-2500K ("Paladin E810"), except with only 4 GB RAM, for $1,115

The 2500K utterly dominates the AMD, almost 100% faster in some games.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=288

If you're an AMD fanboy, you need to wait for Bulldozer, the Phenom is a poor choice in this price range.

 

[aphelion02]

doublepost

 

[aphelion02]

You can do so much better:

i5-2500k + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3-B3 Combo -$335 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.622956

CM Hyper 212 -$35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065

GSkill Ripjaws X 8gb RAM -$70 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426

XFX 6950 1GB -$215 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150523

Corsair F120 120GB SSD -$230 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233125

Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB HDD -$80 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152245

Corsair TX650V2 650W PSU - $90 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

Antec Six Hundred Case - $50AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129079

Samsung Bluray / DVD drive - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151222

Total : $1188.73 after shipping, rebates and promo

Compared to the ibuypower build:

-Way better CPU
-Better Graphics Card
-Better larger SSD
-More Storage
-Faster Bluray drive
-Assurance of quality components
-The pleasure of building it yourself.

You could even bump up to a GTX570 or so if you go for a smaller SSD instead, but you said you weren't a big gamer so the 6950 is probably already way overkill.

 

[trexpesto]

+ Cost of windows, possibly speakers, mouse, keyboard

 

[mfenn]

You can do so much better:

i5-2500k + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3-B3 Combo -$335 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.622956

CM Hyper 212 -$35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065

GSkill Ripjaws X 8gb RAM -$70 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426

XFX 6950 1GB -$215 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150523

Corsair F120 120GB SSD -$230 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233125

Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB HDD -$80 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152245

Corsair TX650V2 650W PSU - $90 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

Antec Six Hundred Case - $50AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129079

Samsung Bluray / DVD drive - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151222

Total : $1188.73 after shipping, rebates and promo

Compared to the ibuypower build:

-Way better CPU
-Better Graphics Card
-Better larger SSD
-More Storage
-Faster Bluray drive
-Assurance of quality components
-The pleasure of building it yourself.

You could even bump up to a GTX570 or so if you go for a smaller SSD instead, but you said you weren't a big gamer so the 6950 is probably already way overkill.

This is a much better build than the Phenom II X6 1055T + 6870 build from iBuypower. However, it will total about $160 more than the iBP one once you figure in the value of Windows ($100), cheap kb/mouse ($20), cheap speakers ($10) and your greater base cost.

To cut out most of that I would say to:
- Drop the Hyper 212+ (-$35)
- Cut the SSD to 60GB Corsair Force (-$80)
- Cut the HDD to F3 1TB (-$15)
- Cut the PSU to NEO ECO 520C (-$30)

 

[trexpesto]

Sounds like $30 if you can use a "dot edu" email address:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2155011

I got a family upgrade pack (3-lic) for $99 or something, I think you are supposed to have an existing win install. Took for-ev-er to get the updates installed afterward. Over one hundred of the suckers.