PC Manufacturer Question

[SweetArashi]

I've been looking into getting a desktop to replace my laptop for SL/Everyday/Sims 3 use. I'm in no particular hurry, so if there's a good time of year to get a new computer, please tell me.

My budget is 600-900 USD and that's to include the monitor. I already have a fairly good wireless keyboard/mouse.

I'm thinking the following build:

8GB RAM

Intel i5 4th Gen Processor

1GB GPU [Whichever is pretty good in that price range]

Windows 8.1 [Apple is out of my reach and I'm unfamiliar with other OSes and I'm not a techie]

The RAM for both the GPU and motherboard I might go up on. It depends on what I can find that will fit the budget. I would generally like to be able to have someone [or learn to do it myself] upgrade the parts as necessary. I like Hewlett Packard, but if there's a better company out there, I am open to suggestions. And I live in the USA.

[dd Temin]

If you are in the USA..You can get reasonable priced gaming desktop  called  "CyberpowerPC ".   Tigerdirect.com has them. "IBuyPower is another  gaming  pc  brand.   also from Tigerdirect.com.

Get Nvidia GPu ...gtx 550 TI  or better. 2nd digit  indicates the speed.  1st digit is the model year.......I think newest is 650 or 750.   So 560 is faster  570  even faster etc. However faster GPUs generally need higher wattage PC power  supply.

Get 8 gb min Ram for PC. Most gaming  desktops come with  8gb anyway.

 Better off with  windows 7 operating system if you can get it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8210348&CatId=114

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8433453&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=10&body=REVIEWS#tabs

Happy Holidays all

 

 

[Orca Flotta]

I wouldn't go with any of the big brand manufacturers, they give you some cool components for the bragging factor but cheap out on other stuff, like mobo, PSU and memory. And Apple is out of the question, not for the price alone but for many other reasons as well.

Like dd temin already wrote, if you're in the US then Tigerdirect and Newegg are reasonable alternatives. Heck, I have no idea about the market in that country but they seem very reasonable and flexible and good value for the buck. Both of 'em let you configure your dream machine, put in what you want/need and only that. No crappy components you never gonna use and no pre-installed bloatware that serves no other purpose than spying on you.

Yeah, deffo go that route, make the computer YOUR OWN and show a finger to HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and what else ^^

 

[Perrie Juran]

---

Orca Flotta wrote:

I wouldn't go with any of the big brand manufacturers, they give you some cool components for the bragging factor but cheap out on other stuff, like mobo, PSU and memory. And Apple is out of the question, not for the price alone but for many other reasons as well.

Like dd temin already wrote, if you're in the US then Tigerdirect and Newegg are reasonable alternatives. Heck, I have no idea about the market in that country but they seem very reasonable and flexible and good value for the buck. Both of 'em let you configure your dream machine, put in what you want/need and only that. No crappy components you never gonna use and no pre-installed bloatware that serves no other purpose than spying on you.

Yeah, deffo go that route, make the computer YOUR OWN and show a finger to HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and what else ^^

 

---

Perhaps while you are busy slamming those big evil corporations you should do a little bit of a background check on Tiger Direct and Newegg.  

[Jean Horten]

Go to a local computer store and have a machine built according to your needs. Then you can even get around that  Windows 8.1 crap. Buying at a local dealer has several advantages, you don't have to ship the machine way across  a whole continent in case of repair, you don't need to deal witrh anonymus  call center guys if you  have problems etc pp.

It's a computer, it does not matter which brand name is written on the case, the inner values like cpu/gpu/memory/psu are important.

J.

[SweetArashi]

That's true!

I've very often thought about building my own computer, from barebones kits. But I don't even know where to begin. I've never done it before.

[iceing Braveheart]

---

SweetArashi wrote:

I've been looking into getting a desktop to replace my laptop for SL/Everyday/Sims 3 use. I'm in no particular hurry, so if there's a good time of year to get a new computer, please tell me.

My budget is 600-900 USD and that's to include the monitor. I already have a fairly good wireless keyboard/mouse.

I'm thinking the following build:

8GB RAM

Intel i5 4th Gen Processor

1GB GPU [Whichever is pretty good in that price range]

Windows 8.1 [Apple is out of my reach and I'm unfamiliar with other OSes and I'm not a techie]

The RAM for both the GPU and motherboard I might go up on. It depends on what I can find that will fit the budget. I would generally like to be able to have someone [or learn to do it myself] upgrade the parts as necessary. I like Hewlett Packard, but if there's a better company out there, I am open to suggestions. And I live in the USA.

---

Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus - Mid Tower Computer Case with Windowed Side Panel and USB 3.0

$54.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119256

Western Digital WD Black WD5003AZEX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

$74.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

EVGA 02G-P4-2761-KR GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

$249.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130935

Thermaltake Smart SP-650MPCBUS 650W Intel ATX 12V 2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

$89.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153186

CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMY8GX3M2A1600C9A

$99.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233586

ASUS Z87M-PLUS LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 uATX Intel Motherboard

$134.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131984

Intel Core i5-4670 Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I54670

$219.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116898

SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model SH-118BB

$16.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151267

 

Grand Total:* $941.92

 

 

[Orca Flotta]

Perhaps while you are busy slamming those big evil corporations you should do a little bit of a background check on Tiger Direct and Newegg.

Naaw, I don't have the time to waste. Also I never said those are big evil corporations, they are just manufacturers acting accordingly to deliver products which make them the best profit. And I couldn't give less of a damn on TigerDirect and Newegg, only heard they let you configure your own machine, which is the (only) way to go if you really want a PC that is 100% yours.

Of course Jeannie's advice is the best. I got my computer the same way, by having it made at a local store. But she seems to forget that in the US many people live in terribly remote places, we can't even imagine in the EU. They just don't have a small PC shop (at least not with reasonable pricing) just down the road, so they are dependant on mail order ... and that means a company with some ooomph behind it. I guess it's much easier to have the lastest Applecrap delivered to your Rocky Mountains getaway than a totally custom made gaming machine.

And, yeah, I'd never buy a pc from soemone who forces the OS (+bloatware) on me. I recently filed thru my CD and DVD box and tossed around 100-200 DVDs in the garbage. Often unused, never opened. Just a waste of money ... my money. :smileyindifferent:

[Perrie Juran]

---

Orca Flotta wrote:

<snip>

they are just manufacturers acting accordingly to deliver products which make them the best profit.

</snip>

---

Which is exactly what NewEgg & Tiger Direct are doing.

Listing what will make them the best  profit.

Granted, you will have more flexibilty and choice with them.

But it is still all about the profits.

Lastly, while it is true that you did not use the word "Evil" in your post here, are you going to try and persuade us that is not what you think they are?

[Dresden Ceriano]

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Orca Flotta wrote:

<snip>

they are just manufacturers acting accordingly to deliver products which make them the best profit.

</snip>

---

Which is exactly what NewEgg & Tiger Direct are doing.

Listing what will make them the best  profit.

Granted, you will have more flexibilty and choice with them.

But it is still all about the profits.

Lastly, while it is true that you did not use the word "Evil" in your post here, are you going to try and persuade us that is not what you think they are?

---

I wouldn't think of either Tiger Direct or NewEgg as manufacturers, but more as retailers.  I would imagine by manufacturer, Orca was thinking of Dell or HP, who do indeed stuff their offerings with a bunch of useless crap.

...Dres

[Orca Flotta]

I would imagine by manufacturer, Orca was thinking of Dell or HP, who do indeed stuff their offerings with a bunch of useless crap.

Thanx, Dres, it's exactly what I meant. Perrie confuses apples (no pun intended) with oranges here. Of course when you're in business, any business, you're trying to maximize profits. HP does it, Apple does it, Tigerdirect and Newegg are doing it as well. But a manufacturer calculates his machines for price brackets and in 90% comes out with not optimal products for SL. That's why we find so many PCs not optimized for for our special useage pattern. While a retailer just tries to find the cheapest prices for the actual components and leaves the manufacturing part to us.

I don't care, for I am a customer and try to minimize my expenses, by looking for the best offers on the market. And, sorry to say, all the huge manufacturers are comparing rather badly. Particularly when you're not a specialized gamer but an allrounder with a tendency to spend most of their online time in SL. For that you need a computer with a generous amount of oooomph, but not in all aspects. So there are some nifty tricks to avoid overspending. For example: get the bestest gpu and good cooling but save on cpu and RAM.

So I rather spend like half an hour or a day on market research and clue myself up ... and then I go out and  configure my own machine with everything I need/want and no less but also no more.

And here the retailers come into their own right. I dunno about the USA but in Germany the system builder/configurator websites have an inbuilt foolsafe function that will alert you once you're going the wrong way. It's like "Sorry, but you can't put this graphics card in that case", or "Sorry, the mobo of your choice doesn't support this processor". The rest is just as easy as Lego. And, as always, YouTube is your friend with lots of building tutorials and components recommendations 'n stuff.

[SweetArashi]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CSJITZO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3D0BSKPH287PR&coliid=I3VFUHP86WD4TM

So this is what I have my eye on right now. Its reasonably priced.

I did have some concerns about the PSU... according to reviews its got a 600 watt PSU. Is that enough for what it has in there already or do I need to look elsewhere?

To top it off, I'm not even sure if its got a wifi card [i'm not sure what you call that] in it already.