Must buy pre-built PC

[bloodandsoil]

I'm stationed in South Korea and my wife is in California. She needs a new computer at home and unfortunately I'm not there to build one (like I normally would). So I'm stuck with the option of ordering her a pre-built PC. What do you guys think of the following offering from Dell for $1219? Here are the main stats:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core?2 Duo Processor E6300 (2MB L2 Cache,1.86GHz,1066 FSB)
MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write
MONITORS 20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
VIDEO CARD 256MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GS

Will this play World of Warcraft and Oblivion and other newer games? Is it a good deal?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

The machine looks good. Only thing I'd maybe change would be to add another gig of RAM, because it couldn't hurt.

Your wife is a gamer too? :thumbsup:

 

[bloodandsoil]

Yea she's a casual gamer...nothing hardcore.

Will the 7900GS hold up?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: bloodandsoil
Yea she's a casual gamer...nothing hardcore.

Will the 7900GS hold up?

I did some searching, and no one was having problems with playing Wow and the like that I could find, so it should be fine.

EDIT: My wife plays Guild Wars (PC) and Okami (PS2)... She completely addicted--it's great.

 

[Kromis]

7900GS is a mid-high range card so.....

Of course!

 

[Roguestar]

The best bit about buying it from Dell is that while you're away she'll have a warranty to cover stuff you might otherwise fix .

Looks like a good system.

 

[lenjack]

I would also look at Lenovo.

 

[RKS]

Originally posted by: lenjack
I would also look at Lenovo.

I think the OP is looking for a desktop.

BTW: That is similar to what I just purchased for my mom.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: bloodandsoil
I'm stationed in South Korea and my wife is in California. She needs a new computer at home and unfortunately I'm not there to build one (like I normally would). So I'm stuck with the option of ordering her a pre-built PC. What do you guys think of the following offering from Dell for $1219? Here are the main stats:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core?2 Duo Processor E6300 (2MB L2 Cache,1.86GHz,1066 FSB)
MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write
MONITORS 20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
VIDEO CARD 256MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GS

Will this play World of Warcraft and Oblivion and other newer games? Is it a good deal?

looks good it also has a warranty...go for it...also good luck!!

 

[bloodandsoil]

Haven't bought the system yet. Just got some money in from tax returns and I'm ready to buy. But I have a couple questions first.

Should I upgrade these parts or not? Is it worth it?

Intel® Core?2 Duo Processor E6600 (4MB L2 Cache,2.4GHz,1066 FSB) [add $150]. That's an increase of 540Mhz, plus getting twice the amount of L2 cache.

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs [add $130]. Twice the memory, which might make a difference considering that the system will be running Vista Home Premium.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: bloodandsoil
Haven't bought the system yet. Just got some money in from tax returns and I'm ready to buy. But I have a couple questions first.

Should I upgrade these parts or not? Is it worth it?

Intel® Core?2 Duo Processor E6600 (4MB L2 Cache,2.4GHz,1066 FSB) [add $150]. That's an increase of 540Mhz, plus getting twice the amount of L2 cache.

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs [add $130]. Twice the memory, which might make a difference considering that the system will be running Vista Home Premium.

Yes on the ram for sure, on the CPU it really depends on what she will use it for. If normal work and surfing and gaming I would stick with the E6300, but if she does anything CPU intensive like video encoding, rendering, heavy number crunching, etc... the E6600 would be well worth the upgrade.

 

[bloodandsoil]

Okay that's a very clear response. Thank you.

I have another question. Should I go with the entry-level 256MB 7300 LE or upgrade to the 256MB 7900 GS? It costs an extra $200.

System will be used mostly for surfing and gaming. I wouldn't describe it as "hardcore" gaming though.

 

[styrafoam]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=388&card2=443

My understanding of the 7300le's is that they get about 5 fps on the aquarium screen saver. Any kind of games would need to be set to the bare minimum detail level to run most likely.

 

[s44]

Spend $200 on a separate video card? Even a non-techie should be able to install that.

 

[KutterMax]

Definitely go with the 7900GS over the 7300. You mentioned Oblivion as one of the games she would run and it is very demanding.

Also - is there an option to get a 7950GT? These have really fallen in price lately and will offer a nice performance boost.

 

[mb]

Stick with the E6300 - it is plenty fast.

Go with the 7900GS as the 7300LE won't give her much of any performance.

Go with 2GB of RAM especially since it will be running Vista.

 

[mithrandir2001]

Dell's pricing has not been very aggressive as of late. They seem willing to cede share to HP and others.

Consider what I bought from Dell 3 months ago:

Intel E6300
1 GB DDR2-667
250GB HDD
16X CD/DVD burner
16X DVD-ROM
nVidia 128MB 7300LE
Floppy
15 type Media Reader
39 months PC-Cilin
XP MCE 2005 OS
XPS case (more bays/PCI slots than Dimension E series)

While I give up the monitor and better video card (about $400 value), I gain an extra optical drive, a floppy and media card reader at least. The kicker is that I paid $649. I don't understand, therefore, why the system you list costs $1219.

In the pre-built PC arena, I personally like the design and pricing of Gateway's current "premium" line.

 

[Boyo]

Definately go with the 2GB of RAM. It's almost a must for today's rig. Stick with the E6300 and upgrade the video card to a 7950GT. You'll get more bang for your buck that way for what you want.

 

[Frintin]

You will not be happy with a 7300 video card if you do anything 3D (they are ok for your general mail, office, internet browsing activities...little else.)

7900GS is a good card. It will show it's age in about 5 months if any directx10 games show up. It will be hard to get max settings out of Oblivion, but is for almost any card at high resolutions.

2g of ram is a great choice...not fooling around when I say Vista needs it.

I hope Vista Home basic is not what you are getting with that rig. Vista Home basic is not worth the cd it is printed on, nor the 3 pounds of paper and plastic they are using on Vista packaging (Vista has a crazy plastic/paper container.)

Stay safe over there in Korea and thank you for guarding our freedom!

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: bloodandsoil
Okay that's a very clear response. Thank you.

I have another question. Should I go with the entry-level 256MB 7300 LE or upgrade to the 256MB 7900 GS? It costs an extra $200.

System will be used mostly for surfing and gaming. I wouldn't describe it as "hardcore" gaming though.

Definately go with the 7900GS or better, but Dells upgrade price is a ripoff. You can pick that card up for around $150 and sell the 7300. Swapping a video card is an upgrade your wife should be able to do by herself

 

[tcG]

$1200 for a computer like that is disgusting.

I would look into something like IBuyPower.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: tcG
I would look into something like IBuyPower.

Not promising, really.

Those HardOCP reviews are truly fascinating, though I guess if you're going to do her tech support yourself it doesn't make a huge amount of difference.

 

[tcG]

? INTEL Core 2 Duo Processor E6300
? Intel P965 Chipset Motherboard
? IBuypower CPU Liquid Cooling Technology
? 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2-800
? 320GB Serial-ATA 7200 rpm Hard
Drive
? NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT 512MB
Video Memory
? 18x Double Layer DVD+/-RW Drive
? 16x DVD-ROM
? Build-in 7.1 Channel Sound
? Logitech X-530 5.1 Surround Speakers
? Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
? NZXT Apollo Gaming Case

$1229

http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby-intel.asp

Also comes with a free router.

So you get a much better video card, awesome speakers (as computer speakers go), faster RAM, and for $52 more ($1281) you get a highly overclockable motherboard in the name of the P5N-E SLI.

 

[styrafoam]

Originally posted by: tcG
? INTEL Core 2 Duo Processor E6300
? Intel P965 Chipset Motherboard
? IBuypower CPU Liquid Cooling Technology
? 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2-800
? 320GB Serial-ATA 7200 rpm Hard
Drive
? NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT 512MB
Video Memory
? 18x Double Layer DVD+/-RW Drive
? 16x DVD-ROM
? Build-in 7.1 Channel Sound
? Logitech X-530 5.1 Surround Speakers
? Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
? NZXT Apollo Gaming Case

$1229

http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby-intel.asp

Also comes with a free router.

So you get a much better video card, awesome speakers (as computer speakers go), faster RAM, and for $52 more ($1281) you get a highly overclockable motherboard in the name of the P5N-E SLI.

You don't get a "MONITORS 20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel " for $1219 though. If you add a 20" lcd at Ibuy it bumps it up to $1648. Adding logitech z5500's(which will stomp a mudhole in the z530's ***) bumps the price up by $269 for a grand total of....... $1648.

At the base price on the dell you get a monitor and adequate video card, while the base price on the Ibuy gets you bump in HDD space and video card. For what the OP wants out of the computer the small upgrades will most likely go unnoticed.

 

[catalysts17az]

Buy the system as is and when you get back do the upgrades yourself and save some money, but if you must in this order get the 7900gs, then another gig of ram.