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PC for a cousin

P

PrayForDeath

Diamond Member
My cousin wants to buy a new gaming PC. His current box is an Athlon XP 2.1 Ghz (not sure about the speed) 512Mb RAM, Geforce 4 TI4200.
So I wanna get him something that will last him for a while. The parts are not what I need help with. The problem is, I wanna get him something prebuilt so I wouldn't have to deal with his everyday problems. I was looking at Dell and HP's websites, and they both have overpriced desktops with cheap video cards. So that's not an option for a gaming pc; I checked ibuypower.com, and found a good customizable system. The thing is, I am not sure how good ibuypower.com is. How good is their customer service? As I said before, I don't wanna deal with the technical problems on this pc, I just want it delivered to my cousin and never worry about it later.

cliffs: how good is ibuypower.com? Are there any better places to get prebuilt gaming systems? (around 900$)
 
I don't know about ibuypower, but Monarch is a reputable parts seller and does custom spec'd builds for a reasonable assembly fee and they offer a warranty

Monarch
 
Well, let's look at your Weekly Gamer Special on ibuypower for $894:

X2 3800
GeForce 6200 TurboCache
512MB DDR
160GB HDD
1-year on site
no monitor

Not a bad deal, but you get no monitor, and you have to admit that a GF6200 TurboCache is a God-awful video card for a "gamer" system. Big problem here is that the GF6200 TurboCache is going to be slower than the Ti 4200 he already has.

Now, look at the Dell XPS 400 you can get for $903.54:

Pentium D 820
GeForce 6800 256MB
1GB DDR2
160GB HDD
2-year on-site
free 19" LCD

It's not the best processor in the world, but I certainly don't think it'll be holding him back anytime soon, and he actually gets a decent video card and a nice LCD. Sure, you could get a better video card, and the LCD is analog, but I don't think you'll come close to beating this deal.

You only get 1-year on-site by default, but I think adding the 2nd year is a reasonable choice. You certainly don't need to spend the money on that, but I think it's smarter than any other hardware upgrades... except I might spend the $25 for the Audigy.

(to build it, choose the cheapest $999 XPS 400 and upgrade to GF 6800, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, single DVD-RW drive, 2-year on-site service, then apply the 34% off coupon from gottadeal)
 
"Save 34% on any Dimension Desktop purchase of $999 or more. Coupon expires 2/23/06 at 5:59 am CT or after 4000 uses, whichever comes first."

The 400 is an XPS, not a Dimension. That coupon won't work.

THIS would be less than $800 shipped.

😀
 
Originally posted by: bamacre
"Save 34% on any Dimension Desktop purchase of $999 or more. Coupon expires 2/23/06 at 5:59 am CT or after 4000 uses, whichever comes first."

The 400 is an XPS, not a Dimension. That coupon won't work.

THIS would be less than $800 shipped.

😀
Click to expand...

Oops! Well that sucks. It really doesn't work on the XPS? They used to be called the Dimension XPS.

It'd still be a decent system as long as you get the GF6800, and that's only $1149 with the monitor. You'd want to pick up another 512MB at NewEgg, though.

That's really sad. The Dimension E512 can't get anything better than a Radeon X600 SE.
 
Originally posted by: Tostada
Originally posted by: bamacre
"Save 34% on any Dimension Desktop purchase of $999 or more. Coupon expires 2/23/06 at 5:59 am CT or after 4000 uses, whichever comes first."

The 400 is an XPS, not a Dimension. That coupon won't work.

THIS would be less than $800 shipped.

😀
Click to expand...

Oops! Well that sucks. It really doesn't work on the XPS? They used to be called the Dimension XPS.

It'd still be a decent system as long as you get the GF6800, and that's only $1149 with the monitor. You'd want to pick up another 512MB at NewEgg, though.

That's really sad. The Dimension E512 can't get anything better than a Radeon X600 SE.
Click to expand...

Yup. If you go to Dell Home, and move your cursor over Desktops, you'll see the word Dimension isn't next to XPS systems. Same thing with Inspiron and XPS laptops.
 
Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I don't know about ibuypower, but Monarch is a reputable parts seller and does custom spec'd builds for a reasonable assembly fee and they offer a warranty

Monarch
Click to expand...

Hmm, I totally forgot about Monarch, I'll go check'em out.
I was not gonna order the "weekly gamer special" from ibuypower, I was customizing my own with a 6800gs etc..
He doesn't need a monitor by the way.
 
Originally posted by: killuminati
AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883103005

or

Intel Pentium D 830 (3.0Ghz) :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102812

or

Intel Pentium D 920 (2.8Ghz );
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883191001

Peace & ciao !!!
Click to expand...

The Athlon X2 is surprisingly decent for $800, but it still only comes with a Radeon X600 SE.

I think the thing you're overlooking is that the whole reason he wants to buy this system is to avoid having to support it, and he's not going to get much in the way of tech support from an Acer off NewEgg.

The other two are $1000 systems using on-board Intel graphics, so that's certainly not worth considering.
 
Originally posted by: Tostada
Originally posted by: killuminati
AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883103005

or

Intel Pentium D 830 (3.0Ghz) :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102812

or

Intel Pentium D 920 (2.8Ghz );
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883191001

Peace & ciao !!!
Click to expand...

The Athlon X2 is surprisingly decent for $800, but it still only comes with a Radeon X600 SE.

I think the thing you're overlooking is that the whole reason he wants to buy this system is to avoid having to support it, and he's not going to get much in the way of tech support from an Acer off NewEgg.

The other two are $1000 systems using on-board Intel graphics, so that's certainly not worth considering.
Click to expand...

Yeah exactly.
I guess I'll have to take the risk and get a pc from ibuypower.
 
Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Yeah exactly.
I guess I'll have to take the risk and get a pc from ibuypower.
Click to expand...

Huh? That system from iBuyPower had a GeForce 6200 TurboCache, which is worse than the system he already has! 😕

Also, have you looked up ibuypower on resellerratings? I wouldn't be expecting much in the way of customer service from them.

You specifically said you wanted to buy the system prebuilt to avoid dealing with his everyday problems... I don't know of anybody who has truly stellar tech support, but I'm guessing a place like Dell will do a little better than ibuypower.
 
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